Media Studies - Timothy Sulaeman: September 2023

Brief

Our task is to produce an opening from an original documentary TV programme, lasting approximately three to five minutes (major task), together with an official social media page for the documentary and a thumbnail for display on a streaming site (minor tasks). Our documentary, Dave(s), focuses on 6 school students who find out they all share the titular name, Dave.

Dave(s) is a documentary that has a variety of different stereotypes. This is because the main plot of this documentary is when they decide that only one of them can have the name, and decide to have a competition to see who ends up being able to keep the name. Our point of interest though is that all Dave's have very different personalities and interests. This builds a comedic effect through the juxtaposition of how each Dave is so different despite them all sharing the same name. This also allows us to broaden our target audience as we can cater towards people from different psychographics. Our main demographic however is mainly people from the ages of 16-25, who are active social media users and up to date with Gen-Z "meme culture".

How do your products portray social groups or issues?

Dave(s) is a mockumentary centered on the lives of high school students, this mockumentary employs exaggerated stereotypes or caricatures of various subcultures present in modern high schools to induce laughter in the audience. Our mockumentary contains stereotypes of jocks, softboys, introverts, LGBTQ members, and a "player"/cool kid. These stereotypes are exaggerated to an extreme level for comedic effect. The use of diverse media language, such as non-diegetic music, further emphasizes the personalities of the characters. An example of this is sensual music to accompany player Dave's scene to emphasize his character. Sound played a large role in conveying the proper meaning, the documentary used the removal of the non-diegetic music and silence to emphasize the awkwardness. This mockumentary uses random camera movements conforms to the conventions of a documentary as documentaries occur live and cameramen would have to follow actions to direct the audiences attention accordingly.

The intention behind this project was to create a satirical mockumentary that embraces a wide array of stereotypes and character representations, each embodying distinct personality traits. It outlines the acceptance of diversity. It seeks to convey that no matter how different individuals may be, everyone holds a meaningful place in society. In today's society, the issue of prejudging or avoiding certain individuals or groups based on prejudice has become more a large issue. This mockumentary strives to challenge and dispel these prejudices.

How do your products engage with the audience?

The mockumentary engages the audience by aligning with the psychographics and demographics associated with the target audience, primarily the modern meme culture. The concept of the mockumentary was inspired by a viral meme involving individuals named Josh, providing a basis for the idea of diverse characters sharing the same name. This meme was made viral as many people shared the name Josh. The production also incorporates references to popular culture and internet memes related to specific personality types. For instance, incorporating memes related to "Gym Bros" into the character Muscle Dave allows the audience to connect with and laugh at the characters' personalities. Another example of this is using viral songs, the song we used for Softboy Dave titled Bad by Wave to Earth is a viral song, made viral through the social media app TikTok, this song is usually associated with really lighthearted activities, which further emphasizes Softboy Dave's charecter. Understanding these references is essential to appreciate the humor, illustrating Barthes' cultural code. The aim is to resonate with the target audience and provide entertainment that aligns with their cultural understanding and preferences.

How did your research influence your products and the way they adhere to or challenge conventions?

After analysing documentaries such as American Vandal and Malam Minggu Miko, it can be seen that mockumentaries conform to specific conventions, such as, utilizing hand-held camera shots for a natural appearance, integrating satire, and presenting caricatured stereotypes. With the study of documentary openings, mockumentaries, documentary thumbnails, and personality traits considered humorous by Gen-Z. The mockumentary's opening was designed to immerse viewers directly into the mockumentary's environment, adhering to the convention of minimal backstory. The research highlighted that effective mockumentary humor is often subtle, relying on a buildup of events leading to a comedic punchline. Satire was incorporated to enhance the humor and provide commentary on relevant social issues. The choice of thumbnail design was influenced by research on documentary thumbnails, aiming to provide a clear idea of the mockumentary's content. Additionally, the research emphasized the importance of understanding the target audience's preferences and utilizing relevant cultural references, guiding the inclusion of memes and cultural codes to engage and amuse the intended audience effectively.

The color tone adopted for this mockumentary was carefully chosen to align with conventions, mirroring natural settings and retaining a lifelike and realistic ambiance. Inspired by examples like The Office, we opted for minimal edits to the color scheme and tone, maintaining a natural appearance that resonates with the audience. Additionally, our thumbnail design was influenced by research on documentary thumbnails, resembling the style of works like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, effectively providing a glimpse into the characters through expressive facial features and body language, complemented by the edited title "Dave(s)" positioned above the lineup of all 6 Daves, this was done to create a simple image that wouldn't distract the consumer. Furthermore, the 6 Daves all have very distinguishable features and our thumbnail does a good job at conveying the features into assumable stereotypes.

Here is the editing process of the movie. Made by me (Timothy)

To begin, I chose the timeline-based and non-linear video editing software application that is Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2020 as my primary choice of software for video editing. To begin, most of the files were transferred from the SD card used to my desktop to begin editing.

The files were then imported into Premiere Pro, I then filtered the shots and deleted all the shots from the media library that I thought wouldn't be useful in the overall edit. The editing software made it easier to sync clips as it has the marking feature which allows the user to mark a certain part in the timeline with a label.

Shown below is the overall timeline of the project.

SIGNIFICANT EDITING CHOICES AND METHODS

Exposure Control (Color Grading)

By adjusting the exposure and the shadows, the originally overexposed video now fits all the other shots used in the edit.

Before

After

Typewriter Animation

By using the linear wipe effect as well as overlaying a white video and playing with the scales, I successfully created a typewriter-like effect to showcase the interview questions.

By using keyframes, I was able to adjust the timing of the animation to provide the viewers with enough time to read the text without the segment lasting too long or too short.