Research

 This is my research

Questions:

1. What sub-genre of crime documentary would you categorise this as?
2. Who is the target audience?
3. What typical documentary conventions were used?
4. Did this opening conform or subvert the conventions for this genre?
5. How does it create suspense using the following: 
   - Camera
   - Sound 
   - Mise-en-scene
   - Edit
6. What parts of the opening did you find inspiring?

1.  sports crime/riot crime

2.The target audience bey be leaning to fans of football & sports, as well as British people. This is because most of the documentary was set in Wembly, which commonly has British inhabitants. It also targets football and sports fans, since it gives them 

3.
Some typical documentary conventions were that an interview style approach was used, interviewing witnesses of the event and people that partook in the event. Another can be the excessive use of a narrator style, having a voice-over be played over footage form the event, or establishing shots.

4. The documentary to me felt like it subverted from expectations, that being making the beginning of the crime documentary not feel like a crime documentary. I felt as if it  It felt like it started off as a lighthearted documentary about England's biggest game since 1966. Slowly, it descended into a riot and became a sports crime documentary.

5.
Camera               : Slow panning shots, slow push in/pull out shots were used during interviews and                                     establishing shots to give some entertainment to the viewers if ever they get bored from just sitting and listening to the interviewee
Sound                 : Slow pensive music was used in the beginning to calm the viewers down and trapping them into thinking that this may be a light-hearted sports documentary that they can enjoy.
Mise-en-scene    : English people in crowds are shown while they held beer in their hands in broad daylight. This gives a sense that most of the people in this area are psychologically healthy and may hint at the cause of the event
Edit                    : Throughout the beginning of the documentary, it has a slow pace to increase suspension, and still give a hint to the viewer that it may still be a crime documentary, as well as constantly switching back and forth between shots of the event interview shots to keep viewers wondering what event actually happened there.

6. I really enjoyed the fact that they twisted it, and started it off as a lighthearted documentary. This to me felt very unique and I haven't seen a crime documentary do this.

1. The intro didn't fully reveal the genre, it was more vague and mysterious. However, I believe it could be attempted murder

2. 
This may be targeted to young adults, college students, or anyone that lives in an apartment/ has to live with roommate. This is because people who are in college or are young adults, are commonly found to be living with a roomate or living in an appartament. This may them have a second guess at how their roommate can be like.

3.
Most documentaries, just like this one, depict the crime happening at night and having a police officer present in some scenes to show the event's connection to the law. It also uses victim photos to indicate that this is a real documentary and that it isn't fake

4. Conform, It starts off the documentary with voiceover from the interview and a slow push in shot of the location the event happened. This time the documentary was more intense and straight ot the point all throughout, leaving no room for any lighthearted moments.

5. 

Camera               : Still/Slow pan, push in/pull out shots to show the neighboorhod and establishes to the viewers where the crime took place, while giving an eerie feel by using less intense camera movements.
Sound                 : intense music, and trans-diegetic voiceover of the victim in the interview helps the viewers immerse themeselves in the situaiton, and strenghten connections between scenes
Mise-en-Scene   : Dimmly lit house, and Victim photos were used to make the situation more serious, adult, and realistic. Which it's supposed to be, since it's a crime documentary, conforming to expections
Edit                    : Quick shots of the murder is used to show how the witness felt a sense of adrenaline                                 and a sense of shock. This also helps the viewers quickly be exposed the the victim and keep them hooked

6. I really enjoyed how the opening snippet was very straight to the point. It makes the viewers on the edge of their seat, eager to know more of the story

1. Sports crime

2. The target audience for this can again be sports fans, as this feels like big news for sports fans that is hard to miss, and may want to revisit the event

3. 
This crime documentary continues to conform to conventions, beginning the scene with an impactful moment from the event or an establishing shot of the event, coupled with a voice over or J-cut into an interviewee answering a question.

4. The opening conformed to the conventions where a lot of documentaries, or crime documentaries start with a J-cut and or using a voiceover to further make set the more non-lighthearted tone of the documentary, using trans-diegetic audio, coupled  with the a J-cut. As well as using footage from the event

5.
Camera                : Shakey or handheld camera  coupled with POV camera angle was used to put the viewers in the shoes of the runner, making them have more of an intense feel since the scene shown felt very impactful. This 
Sound                  : Suspenseful music, trans-diegetic voiceover of the witness in the interview
Mise-en-Scene    : Smoky, Overcast lighting
Edit                     : Slow paced

6. I really enjoyed how they were able to have well-lit and colour rich scenes in a crime documentary. Usually crime documentaries have a more serious tone making scenes have more muted colours or not have colours entirely, mainly having more of a gray tone to scenes.

1. Murder Documentary

2. I don't think that there's a specific target audience for this murder documentary other than young adults. Maybe it could also target people living around California since the documentary takes place there

3.
The first 5 minutes of the documentary is heavily surrounding cops, and their investigation on the multiple gunshots they heard.

4. The opening conformed to conventions, beginning with a slow pan of the location where the crime happened coupled with trans-diegetic narration from the witness, almost looking like a typical murder documentary

5.
Camera              : Slow shots
Sound                : Suspenseful music
Mise-en-Scene  : Dark, Night time, Dimly lit
Edit                   : Cut to the beat was used when switching in between shots. The beat used in between shots were gunfire sounds which was used repetitively. This can make the viewer imagine behow grusome the death would 

6. I like how slightly intense the opening feels. It keeps it slow and suspenseful, but intense enough to keep the viewers engaged. but overall, it looks like a typical murder documentary

1. Missing Person's documentary

2. This could target highschoolers as well as young adults, judging from the setting of this documentary. It takes mostly takes place in schools, where audiences who are still in school may be interested in.

3. 
The same typical documentary conventions were used, beginning with suspensful music to get the viewer hooked and on their seats. However, they added reverse shots, during the establishing shot of the school, I'm not sure as to why they did this.

4. I think that this documentary slightly subverts from the serious and dark tone of documentaries. Though this documentary is still serious, they incorporate colorful scenes and mostly scenes in the day. this could be because the victim was still in highschool and would spend the rest of their day in a vibrant  school

5
Camera              : Close up Shots were used during scenes including the victims diaruy. This signifies that the diary somewhat has importance, or a large role in the documentary
Sound                : Trans-diegetic narration, suspenseful/intense music
Mise-en-Scene  : Colourful, vivid during the day to show insinuate that daytime seems more friendy and safe in comparison to the atmosphere at night, where duller colours are present during the night, giving an unsafe feeling or a a sense of uneasyness.
Edit                   : The documentary seems to slightly be fast paced, using quick cuts in between scenes. This could be because the documentary wants to quickly get the viewers attention. And the way they did that is by quickly exposing the viewer to contents that the documentary would have in a short amount of time.

6. I really enjoyed the multiple close ups of the diary as I feel like not a lot of crime documentaries that I've seen have used a dull object as an object of significance or importance. I feel as if that using the diary as an integral part that could lead to the capture of the criminal is interesting to me.

1. Comedic fake crime documentary

2. This could target families. This is because, unlike other crime documentaries, which are supposed to be more adult. The topics touched in this crime documentary is more lighthearted and practically seen as jokes.

3. This documentary follows most of crime documentary conventions, since the entire episode is about making a parody of a crime documentary. Poking fun at the way they are made, from the way they had the interview style scenes, and the way they edited specific sections to include a J-cut or a voice-over from the interviewee.

4. This documentary definitely subverted form conventions. Since it's a joke documentary or fake documentary, this is taken less seriously and isn't real. Because of this, it separates itself from more serious and adult crime documentaries, instead, this documentary is mostly used a way to make the audience laugh.

5.
Camera: Most of these shots were at head level since a lot of the scenes did not have a sense of power.
Mise-en-Scene: Unserious images of the victim are used to make the audience laugh. These images were filled vibrant, a complete contrast to how victim images have more muted colours and serious
Sound: Goofy non-diegetic sound effects like cat meows were used to remind the audience that the documentary that they're watching isn't real and is only a mock documentary
Edit: The editing in these documentary to me feels very minimal, as it almost feels like the pacing of the documentary is almost the same pace throughout

6. I really liked how they completely subverted from the typical documentary, taking a full 180 and making fun of the situation by mocking the way interviewees act and how characters are portrayed in crime documentaries. To me, this seemed very entertaining to watch.

Self reflection:
After a discussion with my teacher, he gave me some advice since my first research was lacking in some aspects. I then revised my research to be more detailed and more specific. I found it to be slightly harder to find and watch crime documentaries in Disney+ since I did not have a Netflix subscription. This lead to me not having access to popular crime documentaries that may be easier to break down. I able to add 1 of 2 of the recommended documentaries to my research, and that was Always Sunny in Philadelphia [S12 E5 Making Dennis Reynolds a Murder] but was unable to add American Vandal to my research, as I currently do not have a Netflix subscription.