Documentary: Research

This blog has the research that I (Nayana) did for our mockumentary.

The research I did gave me a broader view regarding documentary/mockumentary and its elements; I learned more about the conventions in mockumentary and aligned with what already exists. 

Making a Murderer, 2018, S1E1

The genre of this documentary is an expository and participatory documentary with a sub-genre of true crime. Some genre conventions include the use of a handheld camera making it shaky with low-resolution audio hence engaging tense. There was also the use of dark, ominous music and past footage. The target audience could be adults because of the mature content it holds as it speaks about rape crime. There are representations of the authorities and the main character, Steven Avery. Steven Avery is put into light with a positive side s as there were scenes of his relatives hugging him, showing he is an innocent and nice man in the community. The sheriff is shown on a more negative side as the narration that accompanied his scenes spoke severely about him hence convincing the audience that he is the villain in the story. There were also clips of the organizational chart which was accompanied by dark music. I liked the use of clips and footage as it made me tense and caught in the mood.

Life in a Day, 2020

The genre of this documentary is a poetic and observational documentary with a sub-genre of lifestyle. The target audience could be everyone but children as it shows life and it can be a life lesson. There are a lot of representations here but it shows primarily the birth of new life. It is portrayed beautifully as it plays calming music during births and there are also representations of economic status as it shows different methods families use to deliver a birth including going to the hospital, at home, and in a pool. I liked the inclusivity of this documentary as it features many different types of people, different places, and different statuses and opens a new point of view to the world of how everyone can experience so many different things on the same day. 

Gordon Ramsay Uncharted, 2021, S2E2

The sub-genre of this documentary is travel and food. Some genre conventions include the use of establishing and drone shots, to show the scenery of the place he is in. There were also some slow-motion scenes during the cooking to produce a visually pleasing moment in the documentary. There were also a lot of close-ups of the food to highlight the food eaten and represented by him. The target audience is everyone because it can be educational content. There were a lot of authentic representations of Indonesia, showing a positive and negative side as in the beautiful scenery and the brown river. There were also scenes of the rainforests which were given in admiration. There were also representations of the locals which were a bit negative as it shows them smoking and primitive lifestyle as well as the culture which was given in a bright, colorful way. The cultural event shown was also very festive and lively. I liked the representation and colors used in the documentary and how entertaining the content was.

American Vandal, 2017, S1E1

The sub-genre for this documentary is related to school and teenagers with the intention of a mockumentary. Some genre conventions include interviews, "hidden camera" footage, and shots of students in school. The mockumentary style makes it a satirical version of a documentary or a documentary not taken seriously which can be seen in the plot taken by the series which is the vandalism of genitals drawn on the teachers' car. The target of this show would be young adults or teenagers especially because this content might be a bit too vulgar for children. There were many different student representations shown, from the difference between a visually good student and a bad student and stereotypical features for the bad student given in the scene where the narrator told us to guess who did the crime while showing different pictures of students while accentuating on a student who has already been deemed as a naughty student. I liked the humor taken for this series as I find it entertaining and interesting, I also, in particular, liked how the narrator engaged with the audience as I felt more included.

The Movies That Made Us, 2021, S2E4

The sub-genre of this documentary is production and movies. Some genre conventions of these documentaries include interviews, insights, scenes of the production, no complicated nor advanced shots, and just very insightful and educational. The target audience for this series is those who are interested in making movies or adults who have nostalgia for the produced movies as they assumably grew up with them. The representations shown here are the struggles of making a movie, the creative desire needed, and just process of turning a novel into a movie. There is not much representation of people or events in this series. I liked the use of interviews here as it exposes many points of view within the production hence it was very educational but I don't think it is for everyone as in my opinion, it has quite an exclusive audience, and not everyone would understand nor be entertained by these types of genre. 

Lunatics, 2019, S1E1

This is a mockumentary showcasing different types of "lunatics". Some conventions they conformed to were the interviews, many different shots, the satirical script, and serious music. The target audience for this would be teenagers and adults as this wouldn't be appropriate for younger audiences especially when it showcased adult content and vulgar words. Some elements they add to the episode include the hand-held camera montages, "realistic" scenes with no obvious dietetic sounds such as the added laughing track, interviews, and satirical comedic versions of real jobs like fashion managers and characters such as newly moved college students. I like how they added voiceover on top of the montages, as it feels like they are explaining personally themselves to the audience. I would personally like to imitate the interviews and montages shown, it was done in a more unseen camera and hand-held which I find would match the theme we are going for. One thing I didn't really like is how they didn't capture all the different people in the introduction so it kind of failed to intrigue me as an audience through the first 5 minutes although if we watched longer, would be interesting.

American Vandal, 2017, S1E1 (Big Analysis)

American Vandal, a 35 minutes (episode) documentary released in 2018 and created by Tony Yacenda talked about the vandalism of genitalia on the teacher's car which was drawn by a student and Dylan is getting suspected for it when he could not be the one behind the crime. The genre of this docuseries is mockumentary with a touch of true crime. The convention of a mockumentary is the satire content, which is seen by the absurd plot they used and true crime that they used past footage, the cliche board with strings many interviews, and some pixelated footage. The target audience of this could be young adults or teenagers as the jokes used are most likely to be understood by the 16-25 age group. 

There are many different types of footage used such as CCTV shots, social media content, and interviews. A lot of the shots used was medium shot used to focus on the character's actions, mostly in the interviews but was also used in other scenes as well. There were also some eccentric angles which were to indicate a "hidden camera" to show insights and like a secret POV of the scenes. This makes the whole part feel more personal which makes it more interesting for the audience to watch.  The editing of this particular episode is more simple and straightforward which makes it easily understandable. There were also graphics used to accompany voiceovers in some scenes, as in the recreated parking lot and cars, this was also a great way to visually represent what they were going for. The music used in this documentary was very serious and tense making it a more "realistic" convention of a true crime. The voiceover narration was useful in this case where we got an objective sight, the narrator also used a serious tone to get the true crime atmosphere. The interviews and recorded conversation was used to give different testimonials of the situation which exposed different experience each subject had which can drive confusion.

Cunk on Earth, 2019, S1E1 (Big Analysis)

Cunk on Earth which was directed by Charlie Brooker, and released in 2019 was 30 minutes per episode. This mockumentary discusses the fictional character, Philomena Cunk, as an eccentric and clueless "historian" as she explores various histories and inventions of the Earth. This comedic mockumentary also talked had the genre of historical and educational. The intended target audience for this would be adults as the humor played in the series is all very witty and ironic so the young audience might not understand while viewers with the same nonsense and clever humor and history enthusiasts would be very amused. 

Cunk on Earth often used very deliberate, dramatic shots to have exaggerated visuals but also used some traditional conventions of such documentaries which include the long shots of landscapes, past footage, still camera during talks, and often funny commentary from Cunk. There were many intentional uses of visuals, comical comparisons, and close-up shots to show the reactions in interviews highlighting the satire and parody elements making it more entertaining for viewers. The pace was also very quick in order to keep the audience engaged and the use of jump cuts and inserts also enhanced the character's cluelessness on top of the humorous values. There were 2 kinds of music used; light music for comedic segments and serious/tense music for the educational segments although it was used ironically. Cunk's voiceover is also a core part of the mockumentary, her very consistent tone delivers her clueless and confident personality, although delivering incorrect historical information was also very entertaining for the audience. The interviews done in the series show the contrast between Cunk and the experts, especially the way the experts/scholars respond to Cunk's bizarre questions and theories. 

This mockumentary's main message is to entertain the audience with its satirical and witty humor, with efforts to educate the audience although that is not its main purpose. I do believe Cunk on Earth has successfully delivered its main purpose which is to entertain, I love the humor they used and the personality they chose for Cunk as it is something we rarely see in media. Although it surprisingly had the potential to be educational as they did introduce a lot of landmarks with the inaccurate delivery of information, it is definitely not a reliable source for education.

Thumbnail Research

This blog post only contains the research for our inspirations for thumbnail, for the actual development you can check my development post 

This thumbnail is from the sitcom, The Office. Our thumbnail typeface will be similar as we will use a typewriter font as it shows simplicity and seriousness but when done specifically, it shows a satirical and comedic value.

This thumbnail fits everyone who is part of the show and we liked the idea too. We want to fit all Daves at once to show all the actors who are playing and we also thought it looked cleaner but unlike Keeping Up With Kardashians, we want to make their poses more relaxed and more of each personality. Either way, we are most likely to follow this layout for our own thumbnail.

This was also one of the ideas we considered. As we will have a picture of all Dave taking a selfie we wanted to use that as the thumbnail as well. I thought this would give a friendly touch and gives a sneak peek of what will be inside of the mockumentary but what we didn't like is how it essentially just highlights one of the character personality when we want to put all in equal light hence why we scraped this idea at the end.