This blog post contains the final products of the video and thumbnail of the documentary
Video
Mockup
Thursday, 27 July 2023
Documentary - Critical Self Reflection
We were instructed to make a 5 minute documentary opening with a subgenre of our choice, and our group chose the subgenre of mockumentary. The mockumentary is about a person who fears interactions with women.
How do your products represent social groups or issues?
The documentary is about a person who fear interaction with women, and that person is the main character. In the real world, this person is akin to an incel. Typically they are represented negatively in media, with common stereotypes including stupid, ugly. smelly, unattractive, and unemployed. Because we are making a makeover of this person, we both reinforce and subvert the stereotypes surrounding them. In the beginning, we will portray him negatively, however, as we progress, the person becomes better and better. In our mockumentary, we call this phenomenon as Bufo Ferulabitus, a disease also known as Conc. The patient (main character) was dressed poorly. The interactions we had with the patient was accompanied by sad and eerie music, which creates this negative and creepy aura when the audience sees him.
This can also be seen in our thumbnail, where it features the main character staring at a bright television screen in a dark room. A common stereotype of these people are that they waste their time glued onto a computer screen. We decided that this would be the main attraction in out thumbnail. The dark room symbolises the isolation that these people experience.
The issue that our documentary is tackling is the dangerous and growing culture of incels, or people who develop hostility towards females due to feeling unattractive and unwanted. We are hoping that we could spread awareness of this issue in a comedic way.
How do your products engage with the audience?
Our target audience are teenagers, mostly male, and those who fears interaction with women. The themes and jokes that are found in the documentary align with them more so than other groups of people, as out jokes are relatable to the issues that the modern generation share. Thus, everything from the thumbnail to possible social media sites are made based on their interests. Our mockumentary is satirical, and although it is inspired by a real world phenomenon, nothing in it is meant to be taken seriously, so viewers should not expect to have their lives changed from watching this show.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
We are inspired by the show American Vandal and Cunk on Earth, as we share the same themes. However, we also draw inspiration from other shows and create original ideas to make sure we are the most unique in the mockumentary subgenre, which according to the genre theory, is essential in ensuring that viewers don't get bored watching your show. From our research, we concluded that there are several things that are commonly found in almost all documentaries. Those are J-cuts, narration with random shots (usually long shots of something). We then incorporated these common features into our documentary. We also conducted research on thumbnails by scouring through Netflix and observing other thumbnails of other shows. We concluded that thumbnails should not be too overly complicated, and that the title should be big and clear. We implemented those conventions by having a big title and not having too much things on the thumbnail. The only observable thing you see in our thumbnail is the main character staring at a television screen.
Documentary - Post production
Our film was recorded by our good friend, Gus Yudha. Therefore, I had to extract the clips from his SD Card. Unfortunately, we encountered lots of issues in this transfer of files. First of all, we need to make sure that we had the time to meet each other. Even then, either one of us often forgets to bring the SD Card, or forgot to transfer some clips. This lead to us wasting huge amount of time just waiting to get the clips. In the future, we will dedicate more time to transfer clips, and be more organised by having a checklist to make sure every clip has been transfered.
After I have gotten all I needed, i started the editing process. The biggest issue we had, other than the missing clips, were background noise. From wind noises to people talking, the background noise was way too loud for any editing to fix, that we decided to retake around half of our clips. This was a major setback which resulted in me having to stall my editing process to wait for retaken clips. We are now more wary with where we film and will try not to rush the production process.
When I was compiling the clips together, I discovered that our film is way too long. Even after lots of cutting and removing clips, we were still over the five minute limit. We had to make the tough decision to abandon several clips that have been shot. This mistake was made because we did not follow the designated time per clip as stated on the storyboard.
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| 5 minutes and 11 seconds, over the 5-minute limit |
After much debate, we reached a compromise where instead of abandoning the interview scene, we would put clip of the interview through out the scene where we confront the patient.
To increase accessibility and ensure that everyone is able to watch the documentary, we thought that it would be bast to add subtitles.
Before we added music, the documentary felt dull and boring. According to our team's research and analysis on documentaries, background music should fit the feeling of a scene, for example, a sad scene should be accompanies with sad music. However, it should not be dramatic or too much as to steal the attention of audiences. Therefore we scoured the internet and compiled background music that are sad, dramatic, intense, and neutral.
We originally had a script for the first hook, but because we were already over the 5 minute maximum, we decided to scrap the plan in favour of a more simple black screen with the word MANNDEMIC. Again, this taught us to plan better in the storyboard, give proper times on each scenes and also follow the storyboard during filming.
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| Final edit |
Documentary - Production
This blog post contains the filming process
First and foremost, to organise ourselves, we made a calendar to keep track of our work. This calendar proved to be very useful to remind ourselves on when to film, as we are also involving other people in our project, so our filming schedule had to be adjusted to their availability. If we were to miss a filming day, it would cause massive headaches and trouble for us.
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| Filming Schedule |
Because none of us had any good camera and microphone, we recruited one of our friends, Gus Yudha, to help us with the recording.
Behind the Scenes
The main issue we had during filming was finding a time when everyone could film. Despite being given lots of time to record, we could only find one or two days in a week where everyone were available. This meant we had to make use of our little time as efficiently as possible, recording everything and anything we could record. This proved to be a bad idea because the quality of the recording severely decreases when we rush everything, as we don't take as much retakes, or even perform a proper review of the clips we recorded. This resulted in us having to redo almost all of our scenes. This proved to be a major time waster as we had to make new arrangements with other people and delay the editing. However, we used this opportunity to fix mistakes we made and incorporate other new ideas to make better recordings.
Documentary - Development
This blog contains ideas, storyboard, and script of the documentary.
IDEAS
Target Audience Profile (written by Niki B)
Demographics:
- Age: 16-20
- Gender: Male
- Location: Int
- Ethnicity: all
- Education: Mid
Pscyhographics:
- Interests: Sports, Games, Women, Film
- Values: Center left/liberal
- Lifestyle: Incel, Rulebreaking, Active, Stoner,
- Social Class: Middle - High
Needs and Challenges:
- Lack of Game
- Can't talk to girls
- Never touches grass
- Constantly high
Media Consumption Habits:
- Watch on phone and computers
- Social media and streaming sites
Emotional Connection:
- Inspirational, Funny,
Prior Knowledge:
- Toilet Humor
- No knowedge, just interest in people embarassing themselves.
Accessibility and Inclusivity:
- Subtitles
- We will ask the opinions of females because we don't have any in our group
Call to Action:
- Make the guys more confident in themselves in talking to girls and presenting themselves in the dating world
- Show success.
Possible Titles
- Manndemic
- Homo Erectus
- Man Down
- Coitus Evitus
- The Red Plague
- Humanity's End: Coitus Evitus
We chose Manndemic because it is a play on the word pandemic. We are portraying this disease as a widespread virus that has infected many men, therefore categorising it as a pandemic. Manndemic was changed to Mandemic (with one N) because we came to a realisation that double N does not make sense, considering the fact that Mandemic was a play on the word pandemic.
Possible Thumbnails
Thumbnail Sketch (sketched by Niki B (top) and Jason (bottom))
We decided to go for Niki's sketch on the bottom left. This decision was made because it perfectly captures a common stereotype of Conc people, such as being isolated, stuck to a monitor, in the dark. In the sketch, it shows a man starting at a television screen, in the dark, and alone, which conforms to the stereotypes.
Taglines:
Escape from the Comfort Zone
Bridging the Divide
The tagline that we chose, 'Escape from the Comfort Zone', perfectly summarises the mockumentary, where we force the Conc patient to face his fear of women and attempt to interact with them.
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| Glow effect, tagline, original MANNDEMIC with double N |
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| Glow effect with tag line |
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| Glitch effect |
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| Plain |
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| Plain with tag line |
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| Plain |
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| Final Thumbnail |
STORYBOARD
(Storyboard created by Niki B with the help from our friend Ilna)
The storyboard has been revised numerous times as the script changes. Unfortunately, even with the help of the storyboard, we still had trouble in editing as we ended up with more clips that combined surpassed the five minute limit. This issue can be traced back to the lack of consideration for the duration per scene. We should treat the duration with extra attention and care next time to not waste any more time in filming.
SCRIPT
(Majority of script written by Jason)
Scene One: Intro @ Park
Damarius
The Conc. Scientific name Bufo Ferulabitus
Damarius
They are the unfortunate men with an absolute fear of interaction with the opposite gender.
Damarius
whether it's because they are terminally online, or they simply lack the confidence to even approach them.
Damarius
The root of the problem is a disease called Bufo Ferulabitus. Highly infectious and dangerous.
Damarius
We visit the nest of a known Bufo Ferulabitus patient
-narration ends-
Scene Two: The House
-In front of Steven’s House-
Damarius
Alright, now we are at the front of the nest of a Bufo Ferulabitus patient named Steven. We are going to enter and find out more about his disease.
-Damarius walks to the security guard-
Security
Clearance please
(Side midshot of Damrius showing clearance for crew and himself)
-cut to security explaining what to do-
Security
Remember that the Conc by direct contact is an incredibly infectious disease.
-undershot of security from between the crew members-
Security
If he takes any of you hostage, the SCP foundation will not negotiate the release of any of you, is that clear.
-cut noise, start foreboding music-
-slow jump cuts of us walking towards the door-
-music stops, door knob opens-
-phone camera POV shots of Damarius clearing the first few angles slowly heavy breathing-
-After clearing, POV shot of Damarius diving to behind the countertop-
Damarius(Whispering)
Ninja… Huaiyaaa
-cut to camera behind him recording him crawl + smash zoom-
Damarius(whispering)
Ninjaaaa…. (synced with smash zoom)
-Rest of the crew start jumping as well-
-pov shot of Damarius looking for the patient-
-cut to camera behind him of him returning cover-
Damarius
I see the patient in his natural habitat, right where I expect him to be. We must creep up behind him slowly to avoid combat
-creepy music starts-
*cut to camera hiding behind countertop*
*POV shot of Damarius poking the patient with a stick*
Patient(agressive)
HISSSSSSSS (preferably like a snake)
*smash zoom into patient*
Damarius(slightly worried)
Its ok we have no women with us! Its ok! Its ok!
Patient
*Hyperventilating from aggression*
Damarius
we're here to ask you a few questions are you alright with that?
*patient nods head*
Damarius
So when did you contract this disease?
Patient
*Unintelligible murmuring*
Damarius
Could you repeat your answer?
Patient
*Faster unintelligible murmuring*
Damarius
*Facepalms his face in disbelief* (stressed) the interview can’t go like this
Damarius (in narration)
I was in despair, I didn’t know what to do. And as if things could not get worse.
*accidently drops the microphone*
Damarius
Oh god what do we do now? *looks at crew* *Camera quick pans to crew* Can you guys pick that up?
*Crew shakes head while saying no*
*Off camera steven picks up microphone, approaches Damarius, camera pans back to Damarius, Damarius jumps back*
Damarius (In total fear)
AHHHH! IT'S GOT A WEAPON! QUICK PLAN B! (POV shot of crew or Damarius, Steven slowly approaching Damarius*
*Crew pulls out pictures of kpop idols and starts chanting gibberish, steven freaks out, camera continuously switches POV and main camera, Steven drops the microphone and hurdles in a corner, Damarius pulls the microphone back using stick while steven screams*
Damarius
QUICK RUN FOR THE DOOR!
Scene Three: The Mother’s Interview
3 weeks later + Establishing shot of Damarius walking in the school
Damarius (emotional)
: Steven’s case is a very interesting one. If we can’t find answers from inside that house then we can find it from someplace elsewhere.
Damarius (emotional+tracking midshot)
Right now we are at the school where Steven grew up to meet a very special woman.
*Shot of Ms Nana sitting down, blurred background*
Mother
Steven was a very healthy boy, very interactive with everyone, incredibly extroverted. He was normal (stuttery), everyday he would play video games with the other boys, have laughs with them at the canteen, he was my second favourite child. (sobs)
Damarius (off camera)
When did it all change?
Mother
It was after the birthday party at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. He came home with an extreme fever and the next morning he just wasn’t my Steven anymore. At first I was celebrating, I didn’t have to feed his butt any more.
Damarius(confused)
I’m sorry, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria?
Mother
yes
*insert vine boom here*
*Shots of freddy fazbear’s pizzeria*
Damarius
why was he there in the first place?
Mother
It was Johnny’s birthday party, he went there. He was looking forward to the party for a long time.
Damarius
The other boys? Were they fine?
Mother
They were.
-Montage of social media content slowly turning into incel-
Damarius (narration over montage)
Indeed it was after the visit to Freddy Fazbear’s where Steven started showing the symptoms of the incel. As it was a holiday right after that, the infection was minimised as he started inadvertently isolating himself at home playing genshin impact. Over time his masculine behaviour started to deteriorate. (start clips of him starting to make cringe tik toks) His abnormal behaviour was closely watched by the SCP foundation who quickly closed down Freddy Fazbear’s
(Breaking fourth wall, in the office)
Damarius
With that in mind, we had to find out more, we are going to Freddy Fazbear’s
Throughout the duration of production, the script has been edited numerous times to fit the errors we made and complaints we received. We also had to abandon several parts as we would have had more than five minutes worth of clips. These issues can be combated by making better storyboards and being realistic in when coming up with ideas for the script, because having to change major parts of the script during production because of innapropriate content is a huge time waster.
Documentary - Weekly Plan
Week 2
Learnt some things about doc. Analysed three documentaries.
Week 3
We watched a full documentary and analysed it. I will analyse another in my own time. Formed a group for documentary project.
Week 4
We decided what mockumentary to make and have constructed the audience profile. This week, I finished the research for documentary. We are now planning on starting the storyboard to get it finished as soon as possible.
Problems: Had no idea what to do
Solutions: Brainstorm harder
To do: Brainstorm harder
Week 5
We started drawing the storyboard and brainstormed some ideas
Problems: Had no idea
Solutions: Brainstorm harder
To do: Finalise script, storyboard, gather casts and cameraman
Week 6
Made script,
This is our proposed filming schedule, as of 25/08
AUG SEP
Problems: Tight schedule, storyboard unready
Solutions: invest more time to complete Storyboard
To do: Record, finish storyboard
Week 8
Finish filming
Problem: Bad and missing clips.
Solutions: Record and retake some scenes
To do: Record
Week 9
Record narration, improve storyboard, finish editing.
Problem: The film is too long. Over five minutes
Solution: Shorten it down, add narration to explain and for transition
To do: Edit, record
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