This is Preliminary Research I did for the Music Video Project
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Weekly Progress
This is the weekly progress for Music Video Project for Term 2.
Week 1:
Week 1 started things of with a bang, in the begining my original group instantly had arguments of what music video we were going to shoot as we had drastic music tastes but with this all said we were still able to start our research into our genre which I had chosen to be rock/alt rock which didn't align with my orginal group.
Week 2:
Due to the disagreements we made a compromise to switch groups to find people with more similar intrests this greatly helped us as now we could finally secure and lock in a genre which we all agreed to be alt rock. This was honestly such a huge relief as we now have actually made some progress. We also continued our genre research where we had to research 6 music videos in our intended genre. At first I found this a bit challenging due to bad time management which was not helped with the consant need to prepare and partake in our yearbook photo shoots
Week 3:
With the deadline of the genre research rapidly approaching and me procastinating and also finished with half of a research. This week was honestly really stressful as I had to cram 6 researches and due to my pride and passion in this topic I had a bad habit of writting to much and too indepth which did not help the crunch. This also caused some researches to be lackluster as I didn't have time to make them all comphrehensive which really irritated me although at the end I was still able to finish. Thank God.
Week 4:
This week we we're given tasks to do regarding our project which included Statement of Intent, Storyboard and lyrics sheet, Location Scout and Risk Assesment, and Moodboard which for the most part was easy as we were able to quite quickly find a song we all agreed with and most of these tasks we had made in the past with the exeption of Mood Board and lyrics sheet which was really helpful in planning the narrative and flow of the music video and fining the right atmosphere and ambiance. We also reviewed gender theory but I think it will be seldom used in our music video as gender is not really a focus. By the end of the week we also finised our statement of intent as our teacher only gave us 2-3 days to complete it.
Week 5:
In this week we made good and steady progress on our Storyboard and lyrics sheet, Location Scout and Risk Assesment, and Moodboard and by the end of the week they were about 70-80% done just missing some final touches and revisions. I was responsible with helping Max make the storyboard as I was the one who came up with the idea/narrative of the music video which was great especially making the lyric sheet which help find how things flow would together.
Week 6:
This is the last week so we just did and finalised everything from Storyboard to Moodboard. Thankfully our teacher allocated all periods to be about project so we were able to work with our team face to face which was really helpful. By this week we had bascically finished everything as again due to being able to work together we were able to help each other with problems, brainstorm and suggest ideas/solutions. Though like any other media deadline I still had to cram everything to make sure everything is done as I have bad time management and tend to do things last minute.
Semester 2 Term 3:
Week 1:
In this week we went back our school holidays although our teacher told us to shoot during the holiday we unfortunately were not able as most of the members were busy. This meant that we had to shoot during this week and the following weeks. Fortunately we were able to shoot the band scene which compromises a majority of our music video. Although we did have some trouble as our original actor for the singer bailed so we had to get a replacement thankfully my friend who is a singer in a band was available at that time.
In class we began working on our persona mind map which helped us think about our brand and how everything will connect together to form said brand. The mind map was drawn up and decorate by Maisie, whilst me and Sagara thought about the answers to the questions. We also learnt about the theory of stardom which we also had to do classwork where had to analyze a star based on the theories criteria.
Week 2:
In this week we began editing the footage we have which was the band scene however we were able to fully shoot as we lack a lot of clips especially for the narrative. I do worry about being able to shoot everything on time as our locations are a bit hard and we lack communication.
In class our teacher gave us a new task/assignment which was a screentest to get feedback on our video. We had assigned max to make up the questions. He told us that we had to make our questions very specific so that we can get the answers and the feedback we want that is not ambiguous.
Week 3:
Week 3 we began work on our blogs. I began research and development on the digipack and I took inspiration from my favorite album covers from the genre. I also used the website discos to find the insides of the digipack and the back. Where Sagara worked on the branding and Maisie on the social media. In class we also learnt more theories the first was the theory of Fandom which outlines the types of fans are there and how they act. We also learnt about end of audience which talks about how audiences now want more interactivity and how they are become more active and less passive. I think these theories will help us develope a fanbase.
Week 4:
In this week as it is the deadline week we had all project lessons this week. we just used this to finalize our shooting our blogs etc. For the shooting we did the politician scenes which went pretty well even though we were in a rush due to the encrouching deadline and because our actors had plans so we only had an hour or so to shoot with them but in the end we were able to get all the shots we need. This week I also started on the digipak development which involved me on a rooftop making chalk sketches for the front and back cover.
Reflection:
This was probably the most eventful and stressful 4 weeks of my media studies carear. Due to our groups inability to shoot over the holidays meant that we had to juggle blogs schoolwork and shooting which became challenging and was not helped by our lack of communication which meant that our shootings kept getting delayed and were rushed. Thankfully we were able to lock in during the last weeks where were able to get everything shot and develop social media and the digipak. In the end I think with all the challenges we endured we were able to produce a satisfactory end product and this wouldn't have been done without the skills and the effort of my team. In the future I think I should've listened to my teacher and shot during the holidays which would've really destressed us. Now all we need to do is the CR and hopefully it will go well.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Final Video
This is the final video and thumbnail. We made throughout this term.
This is my final video for the documentary
Video:
Thumbnail:
CR
Here is my self-critical reflection essay for my team's documentary project.
CR 1 - How do your products represent social groups or issues?
CR 2 - How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
CR 3 - How do your products engage with the audience?
CR 4 - How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
Thumbnail (Research And development)
This blog shows the progress of our thumbnail crime documentary. This post is primarily written by Kenzo, with suggestions provided by the other group members regarding the designs.
RESEARCH
This is how the overall crime documentary cult genre thumbnail looks:
Even though the thumbnails below are not from a crime documentary, these designs most likely fit with our documentary theme:
The purpose of a thumbnail is to capture the audience's attention at first glance and convey what the media text is about. It's some kind of a guide that helps the audience decide whether they want to click/watch, especially in big, crowded platforms like Netflix or YouTube. Matching the genre convention of the thumbnail makes the content look more legitimate and professional. Having a colourful, playful thumbnail for a crime documentary would defeat the purpose of having a crime documentary, as it misleads the audience from the intended content. In conclusion, a thumbnail is a visual hook that contains information regarding the media text, and the design must match the genre to avoid audience confusion.
Here are the three chosen thumbnails that will most likely going to be a combination in our final thumbnail:
Here are the three chosen thumbnails that will most likely going to be a combination in our final thumbnail:
Here are the two documentary thumbnails that caught our eyes at first glance. The Blair Witch documentary follows a horror convention of dark colour scheme, which emphasises fear through the use of colour red (symbolising blood and danger) and black, representing death or mystery, creating a powerful combination that evokes dread and anticipation in the audience who views the thumbnail. The font used in the Blair Witch is slightly worn out and has an uneven serif typeface, which gives a sense of seriousness. The genre convention this thumbnail gives unsettles the audience, suggesting something hidden happens behind the picture. I think the colour scheme and the font could be applied to our final thumbnail perfectly.
For the "In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal" documentary, the thumbnail uses a typewriter-style font, which makes it journalistic and instantly gives an impression of a real-life investigation. The title highlighted the word "God" in red, which shows the danger and corruption. The colour red might also connotate blood, which may imply there might be murder or a bloodbath in the documentary. The pinned photograph connected by a red string on a detective investigation board is a common way for most crime documentaries to make the audience feel that they are piecing the evidence together as they view the thumbnail. Unlike Blair's Witch silhouette, in this thumbnail, we see the real faces of the cult leaders, which suggests that this event actually occurred in reality. We are probably going to add this to give our thumbnail a sense of realism.
For the final chosen one, we decided to take from a documentary called "Escaping Evil: My Life In A Cult" because this perfectly fits with our documentary theme. The font choice for "ESCAPING EVIL" uses a handwritten, brush-styled serif font that creates an emotional, first-person connection, unlike the other cold investigative documentaries. The font choice of "MY LIFE IN A CULT" uses a factual, clear and serious font beneath the "ESCAPING EVIL" storytelling type font. The genre convention of a group of women dressed in long robes walking to an isolated landscape connotes a secrecy with the fact that we couldn't see their faces, also showing the anonymity within the cult life. The thumbnail was taken in a wide-open, desolate environment tells the audience that it is difficult to break free from the cult.
From these three chosen thumbnails, "Blair Witch" gives a greater sense of horror and less documentary from the use of the cult symbols and the disturbing colour scheme. "In the Name of God" gives off a more investigative crime evidence and documents. Highlighting the word "God" in red draws attention to the audience that there might be religion being twisted, which could probably be a good feature for our documentary thumbnail. "Escaping Evil" gives off a documentary of the survivor's story of personal trauma.
Here are the six ideas that I have sketched:
I decided to develop idea 4 because the corkboard instantly makes the audience feel that they are part of the crime investigation. The red strings connected to pictures of people show that there may be a hidden relationship or bigger scheme behind the scenes. The censored faces or the documents imply there is some hidden information within the investigation that the audience may want to solve.
Below is the research on our typefaces:
From these three chosen thumbnails, "Blair Witch" gives a greater sense of horror and less documentary from the use of the cult symbols and the disturbing colour scheme. "In the Name of God" gives off a more investigative crime evidence and documents. Highlighting the word "God" in red draws attention to the audience that there might be religion being twisted, which could probably be a good feature for our documentary thumbnail. "Escaping Evil" gives off a documentary of the survivor's story of personal trauma.
Here are the six ideas that I have sketched:
Below is the research on our typefaces:
Here is my first attempt at creating the thumbnail:
This will be the starting baseline of the thumbnail. Further improvements will be added. For now, I will use idea#4 as my reference for the thumbnail.
Here is the second attempt at creating the thumbnail:
I added more writing in red to give clearer information about what the board is about to the audience. However, some of the writings were off-placed and the colour grading was not enough, so I think I might fix that in the next attempt.
Here is the third attempt at creating the thumbnail:
I removed the off-placed writing and added some new elements into the thumbnail, such as sticky notes, black highlighter, red circled marker and a few dead plants covered in blood to give a more realistic vibe to the audience. I will plan to add darker lighting on my next attempt and do the final touches on my final attempt.
Here is the final attempt at creating the thumbnail:
This is Lamiya's attempt at the thumbnail:
This is Lamiya's attempt at the thumbnail:
The final choice:
We decided to go with Lamiya's thumbnail as the majority of the group agrees.
We decided to go with Lamiya's thumbnail as the majority of the group agrees.
Below is the reason why we changed the thumbnail idea. This is taken from Lamiya's Post
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The first thumbnail, which was designed by my teammate Kenzo, used a detective board style with notes, photographs, red string and sketches. This is a clear reference to how investigations are often shown in crime media, and it does link to the crime genre. However, when I looked at it in the context of our documentary, I felt that the colours and busy layout made it come across in a lighter and almost playful way. The handwritten notes and doodle like sketches gave it a slightly casual look, which didn’t fully match the dark and disturbing subject matter of our documentary about a cult that does shady things and also kidnaps people. It also looked quite packed with different details, which can sometimes be harder for audiences to read quickly, especially when thumbnails need to be clear even at a smaller size.
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| first draft |
Because of that, I decided to redesign the thumbnail myself. For the final version, I kept the design much darker and simpler, drawing inspiration from Netflix crime documentaries, which often use bold and minimal images that immediately grab attention. I placed the cult leader as the main figure in the centre of the thumbnail, with shadows covering her face. This makes her identity mysterious and creates suspense, as the audience is encouraged to ask “who is she?” and “what is she hiding?” I also added eerie hand drawn sketches that my teammate Kenzo drew layered faintly over the background. This detail connects to the idea of madness and obsession, but in a way that feels unsettling rather than playful. The darker tones and high contrast give the whole image a more professional and cinematic feel.
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| Final draft |
When the two thumbnails are compared side by side, their differences show how the project developed. The first one communicates the theme of crime through investigation imagery, but it gives off a lighter tone. The new one focuses on mystery and fear, using simplicity and darkness to create suspense. Both designs have clear links to crime conventions, but the second matches more closely with the style and atmosphere of our documentary. This shows how our thumbnail design developed from being genre linked where it's just being creative with it to becoming genre accurate and emotionally effective towards the audience.
Monday, September 15, 2025
ClassWork
This a mind map of things I've learnt throught out media studies primarily technical elements. Made By Gusde
This helped us find the right technical elements to encode our intented meaning and make our documentary better.
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Editting
This blogpost shows the editting process. The blog was made by Maha
To edit this documentary, Im using capcut and I bought the pro version. To help me editing in more advanced way and access all effect and tools.
1)
This is our first version of editing, using all of the footage we got.
The feedback I got from the teacher is to add more effect like the glitch, and resolution on the body cam to make it a little bit blur and low resolution to add the realism. Also adding few sound effect that could help to add suspense into the scene, also by removing things that are not important, like too long question from the interviewer, and also the time when the interviewee think and waste a few second. And by adding more footage while the interviewee are still talking, so its not boring for the audience to watch.
I got inspired by seeing some documentaries which about crime, thriller, they're showing lot of sound effect to add suspense and other stuff that conform to a crime, thriller documentary, and one of them is
Far War Cry opening scene, which also about a cult.
This in a new version with more improvements, as I got the feedback already. It is better because I try to put more of the footage and photos showing the cult to make it more interesting, rather than showing lots of the interview scene. Also I gave the effect on the body cam scene which is lowering the resolution and giving static glitch effect, as we want the audience to understand and know that its in the jungle, and its hard to get signals. I also removed the scene where the interviewee were asked a long question and just go straight into the point, because if I leave it like that, audience might get bored of just hearing that long question. Also I put Zoom in some photos and videos, to add suspense and make the audience focus only on that photo.
2)
This video shows where the subtitles are not consistent ,where it all have different size, our feedback to is to change the size and make it all the same, additionally change how the text popped out, where first one we use the typing effect, but Mr. Nick suggest to just put all the sentence without giving the effect of typing, to make audience easier to read and not making the audience in hurry to watch it.
I was inspired by looking at the Netflix documentary where the subtitles are clear and don't use any excessive effect, and just keep it simple for the audience to easily read it.
This how it looks, all of the text are already in same size, I also use a simple type face similar to Netflix, and eras the typing effect which now its much easier to ready and doesn't need to be hurry when reading it. This will help the audience to understand the meaning of the documentary better and doesn't miss information because its hard to read the subtitles.
3)
So this is the scene where the drone scene suddenly be shown out of nowhere after Zalfas Interview which is not match to Zalfas Interview or the plot of the documentary, Mr. Nick also said that it doesn't make sense and the context about the drone.In the drone shot, it shows that the drone suddenly crash because it hit the tree,but audience wouldn't know why did the drone hit the tree what is the problem actually until the drone was hit by a tree ans then fell down and stay still on the ground.
I was inspired by the other interviewee from Ambamovic and Fred,where every time they speak there is their own footage that is the eveidence of what they are saying and talking about,for example Ambamovic talking about the cult and the insider,then we showed the insider camera footage.
This is after we add 1 more interviewee which is the Hacker/Drone operator that worked together to investigate the cult with Ambamovic.In this interview the hacker explain in detailed about why do they flew a drone into the cult head quarters,and why do they crash into a tree is clearly explain in the interview,which now audience could understand about the drone scene.We also add hermeneutic code,which is from how we show the hacker with effected sound and we doesnt show the face, and only dark.In this new interview too,we add several camera angles which is from the side and infront of the interviewee,to make more variation and show to show important information when we shoot it straight infront of the drone operator.
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