Weekly Progress & Plan ⋆⑅˚₊

This is my weekly progress and plan for my documentary project.

Below, is the plan for this project.

Stage	Week	Blogpost No.	Blog Name	Description of Blogpost
Pre-Production	W1	1	Brief	Description of the brief, embed powerpoint
	W2	2	Plan & Weekly Progress	A weekly journal that is updated at the end pf each week. Contains a list of what you do, problems, solutions, and a to-do list
		3	Team	Your team + Links ot their blogs
		4	Research	Research into relevant documentary openings of the same genre (crime)
	W3	5	Statement of Intent	Proposal for the details of your project. Final product, target audience etc
		6	Storyboard & Script/Screenplay	Scene by scene storyboard
	W4	7	Location Scout & Risk Assessment	Possible shooting locations, risk assessment table
		8	Filming Schedule	Schedule of when you will film, what locations, and what you need to prepare
Production	W5	9	Behind the Scenes	Images of the shoot. What problems did you face in the shooting day, how did you overcome them? What was everyones role on the day?
Post-Production	W6	10	Thumbnail (Research & Development)	Research into similar thumbnails. Development of own ideas.
	W7	11	Editing Process	How did you edit? Challenges, solutions
		12	Critical Reflection	Self Reflection Essay
	W8
		13	Final (Submission)	Final doc, thumbnail

Weekly Progress:

Week 1: 

Back in media class again, but this time in grade 12. I’m excited to carry out all the projects and do my best. As I had back-to-school orientation, I didn’t attend that many media classes, so this week served as an introduction and brief to our documentary project. Mr Nick switched our groups, and I’m quite happy with my group. I’m excited to see how this project will turn out. I also did some research into crime documentaries in class.

Week 2:  

This week, we did even more research into crime documentaries and their thumbnails. I think this is useful so we can understand the conventions of this genre. I think i should conduct my own research at home for more crime-specific documentaries. We started our statement of intent today too, where we planned to create a stalking documentary. It seems like I’ll be the main actor again… how did this happen.

Week 3:

This week, we started working on blogs such as storyboard, script, and location scout and risk assessment. I am in charge of the script as last year, I did not really like the dialogue we used for my project. So now, I’m happy to take more creative control over dialogue. This is my first time not storyboarding, as Candra and Maisie are in charge of that, so it’s nice to try something new. So far, we got this blogs done relatively quick. 

Week 4:

This week, my group and I finished up our statement of intent and started brainstorming what ideas we could take from other crime (specifically stalking) documentary openings. This week, my class learnt about power and the media. We learnt about what content is produced, who's its produced by, how it’s distributed and who does it affect. 

Week 5: 

This week, my group and I started looking for actors to act as the stalker in our story. We needed someone who was available and is able to drag away a tall guy, who’s acting as the boyfriend. We looked around and we found someone to both act and voice act as the stalker. We then created a filming schedule, so we can easily plan when we need to set aside time for filming and see who is available on which days. We also started continuing our script and storyboard, as we planned to film on Saturday this week. However, our actor and voice actor for the stalker, Gusde, canceled plans last minute, forcing us to use Sagara as the stalker actor. Thankfully, we saw this coming and asked Sagara to wear dark colored clothing in advanced, making it possible for him o act. Additionally, Candra arrived late due to personal reasons, so we started filming scenes that did not require his involvement first. 

Week 6:

This week, I started writing notes for CR preparation. My teacher created a table with sub-questions that I could answer to create notes for each CR questions. This will help create a guideline of what I am going to include in my CR essay, making it easier for me to create the flow of points. Additionally, since we already started filming, we started brainstorming ideas on what order to put these shots in. While our storyboard serves as a guideline, we still want to change some parts. We plan on filming the next shots such as the main girl’s interviews and reenactments of our first scene this week on Sunday. This was difficult to plan as one of our members had an event to attend to on Saturday, when we originally planned to film. These last minute schedule changes are frustrating, but we have to make sacrifices so we are able to film as a full team.

Week 7: 

This week, it was really difficult to find time to film together as a full team. This week, violent demonstrations and protests have broken out in my country, making it unsafe for me and my team to pass certain areas, film at night and even meet up to film. When we filmed this Sunday, where we bumped into 30-ish police officers when trying to film in a public park at night. We were told we were not allowed to film, so we were forced to find an alternative location. Additionally, we could not film until late at night, as our parents advised us to go home earlier because of the protests. Unfortunately, Candra was unable to attend, so again, we focused on scenes including me, the main actor, and the stalker. We were able to work productively even under stressful circumstances. We also started brainstorming ideas for thumbnails, and decided a pinboard-style thumbnail would be best. However, we can only make it at school due to lack of resources. 

Week 8:

This week, I’m really starting to stress out. We’re getting closer and closer to the deadline, and I haven’t started my CR or finished filming. Thankfully, we plan to film again on the weekends, which will be our final filming session. This time, we brought along more people to help. Since we did not require that many scenes anymore, we were relaxed and instead filmed extra scenes just incase we needed more footage. The thumbnail is finalized, and Candra (the editor) just needs to finish editing the video. I’ve been working on finishing up all my blogs this week, and I’m grateful I do not have to do personal reflections on every post, or else I would get drained very easily. I still need to keep in mind that this is a practice project for the next one. Additionally, the team met up another 2 times this week to chip away at editing and blogs. I was unable to attend the 1st one due to dance practice, but I attended the 2nd one, where we went to a cafe and worked on remaining blogs. 

Week 9: 

One day before submission and I’ve just started the CR. Unfortunately I never learn and I still procrastinate after all this time. Thankfully an essay is much less work than 4 different pieces of media (CCR), so I was able to get some sleep in before I started working on it for hours. I’m a bit nervous, since the video is just freshly done, and other blogs aren’t done yet. However, I’m very motivated to get all this done and I actually like the final product of our documentary.

Team ♬⋆.˚

 Here is my team for the documentary project.

Here are the links to my team members’ blogs:

Maisie: https://mai-regentsmedia.blogspot.com

Candra: https://candra-regentsmedia.blogspot.com/

Sagara: https://sagara-regentsmediastudies.blogspot.com

Brief 𝜗𝜚

 Here is the brief for my documentary project.

Final Product

 Here is the final video for my movie opening project.

Here is the link just incase YouTube takes the video down: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TeeiJRfjbDFgxwUD_MDW5LJOG-0CLJAr

Creative Critical Reflection 4

 Here is my creative critical reflection 4 for component 1.

CCR4 by cassandra dominica

Here is the link to the google drive of my CCR4, just incase.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12twGtiI7qwNH9PEAQPdmU7PosnYK-ThJ/view?usp=drivesdk

Creative Critical Reflection 3

 Here is my creative critical reflection 3 for component 1.

CCR3 by cassandra dominica

Here is the link of the google drive for my CCR3, just incase.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12twGtiI7qwNH9PEAQPdmU7PosnYK-ThJ/view?usp=drivesdk

Creative Critical Reflection 2

 Here is my creative critical reflection 2 for component 1.

CCR2 by cassandra dominica

Here are the google drive links to both the poster and audio for my CCR2, just incase.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hUquvBlN-3SgOz8PR0tiyRrv_W8pYzmH/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/136ECpXo9aHUuGVzBt9eT1kDLUwWWyrgr

Here is the written script for my recording:

Hello, my name is Cassandra and I will be explaining my CCR2, which answers the question “How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?”. 
So for starters — my target audience. My target audiences consists of teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 25. This group primarily includes high school students and college students, with a focus on female viewers while still appealing to male viewers. From a psychographic perspective, our audience consists of thrill seekers who enjoy the adrenaline rush of intense and suspenseful moments. They are also social butterflies and party-goers who often engage in activities with friends and share their experiences online. Being highly active on social media, they consume and spread content quickly, making digital engagement a crucial factor in our marketing strategy. Additionally, they have independent and rebellious spirits that aligns with the themes in our films. 

Moving onto my film opening and how it appeals to my audience. So, so engage with this demographic, we included a party scene at the beginning of our film. This creates an exciting and relatable atmosphere for younger viewers before transitioning into a darker and more intense thriller. This shift in tone keeps audiences engaged and mirrors real-life fears and dangers, making the film more immersive. To further connect with our audience, we subtly incorporated social media and technology element. These details reflect how digital platforms influence teenager’s decisions, relationships and like their everyday lives. Additionally, we included a dramatic fight scene between the teenager and her mom, tapping into common real-life conflicts that our viewers may relate to. By blending real life experiences with suspenseful story telling, we ensure that our film resonates with our audience.                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
Moving onto distribution, we chose the company A24 as they are known for producing and distributing artistic and thought-provoking films, particularly in the thriller and horror genre. A24’s films often feature sticking visuals, psychological depth and unique storytelling, making them stand out in the industry. Their main audience consists of Gen Z and millennials (age groups that align with our target audience) and additionally, they attract people who appreciate films and deeper meanings with complex narratives. By partnering with A24, our film benefits from strong branding and credibility among thriller enthusiasts because they have a good brand image. The company’s reputation for high-quality innovative cinema will help us reach a dedicated audience that actively seeks out gripping and unconventional films.

For marketing and promotion, since our target audience is highly engaged with social media, we will utilize platforms like TikTok and Instagram for marketing. These are the most popular social media apps among teenagers, allowing us to reach them more effectively. Our campaign includes realistic missing person posts to create viral intrigue. These posts will make audiences feel like the movie is happening in real life, building suspense before its release. Additionally, we will post physical missing person posters in locations where students typically go to such as high schools, colleges, coffee shops, parks, libraries and so on. Each poster will feature a QR code that leads to an interactive website filled with hidden clues and a countdown for the movie’s premier. To enhance engagement, we will also create fake party invitations making audiences believe they are invited to an event. However, scanning the invite will lead them to the movie’s teaser instead. These invitations — both the digital and physical invitations — will generate FOMO or “fear of missing out” and exciting, encouraging people to share them online. This strategy leverages social sharing to maximize exposure and anticipation for our film. 

Finally for exhibition, we choose Netflix as it aligns perfectly with our target audiences viewing habits. Netflix is the most popular streaming platform, and our audience prioritizes convenience, preferring on demand access over traditional cinema, like when you go to the theatre. Technological convergence has played a significant role in making digital distribution accessible. The rise of high-speed internet, smart devices and streaming services has changed how audiences consume media. These advancements allow viewers to watch anytime, anywhere, whenever they want, ensuring our film reaches a wide audience. With Netflix’s global reach and strong engagement among Gen Z and millennials, we can effectively distribute our film and maximize its impact and reach

That is all, thank you.

Creative Critical Reflection 1

 Here is my creative critical reflection 1 for component 1.

CCR 1 by cassandra dominica

Here is a link to my CCR1 in a google drive, just incase.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y6fQnjy3_9moAoD_AquOoi70DA8DLlcj/view?usp=drivesdk

Media Language

 Here is a media language blog where I “analyzed” my own opening for component 1.

Media Language

Personal Reflection:

This was actually very useful and fun as I get to describe every detail and every choice we made and the meanings behind it. I actually enjoyed making this because when you create something— like a media text — you always want to talk about it. That’s how I felt while making this. Actually, this was a lot of extra work, but nonetheless, I think it was beneficial. It lets people know why my group made certain choices and it actually also helped me feel confident in my work! On the surface, my opening may seem predictable, basic, which is how I felt at first. However, when you really look into it my opening serves a purpose, has a goal, and actually has a greater depth of meaning. This is the last bit of work before starting CCRs, so I’m prepared to talk more about my opening!

Screen Test: Audience Feedback

This post explains how we showed a rough draft of our film opening to some members of our target audience in order to receive helpful feedback. 

The purpose of a screen test is to gain audience feedback about our work and see if there are any improvements that can be made. We decided to use google forms to create a survey to share with our audience because using google forms would be an easier way for us to filter out the response. Here are our questions: 

1. Would you want to watch the rest of the movie? Yes or no, if so explain.

2. Which part of the movie opening did you really like? Explain

3. Which part from the movie opening that looked goofy / out of place?

4. What do you think we should add and improve for our movie opening?

5. What plot points do we need to make this opening less cliché/unique?

We chose these questions because it gives us a more in-depth explanation on what our opening lacks and excels in, allowing us to make improvements to satisfy our audience. Since this is our project, there may be bias when we ourselves answer the questions above, meaning we need a new perspective. We showed our rough draft of the opening to 3 members of our target audience to ensure that the feedback we receive will reflect the probable feedback of our whole target audience/other members of our target audience. Finding people for the screen test was relatively easy because we had several friends who are editors or enjoy watching movies similar to ours, making them good candidates for our screen test. Here is the draft that we showed our respondents:

Here are the results from the audience feedback:

From the feedback, we learned that our opening was too fast as it jumps straight into the action and it doesn’t hook the audience due to that lack of suspense. Our opening was too predictable, making it boring and not effective as a movie opening. 

From the responses, ⅔ respondents prefered the name “Missed Call: text me when you get home”, however we disagree as it is too long of a title in our opinion, and it doesn’t really fit the vibe we were envisioning. We prefered something shorter to bring more focus to the title and increase its impact and importance. The title “Text Me When You Get Home” no longer fit our opening, because we scrapped the idea that the mother would send the main lead the text “text me when you get home” and replaced it with a missed call instead to emphasise the lead's absence. So, we decided as a team that the title “Missed Call” would be the best choice. 

Since the opening was too fast paced, we decided to add more scenes to build up the story and context, while trying to build suspense. Audience’s will likely get more curious and invested as they follow the story and witness the drugging and kidnapping, hooking them and likely to continue watching. 

This screen test was a useful part of our process because it allowed us to see different perspectives and to know what the audience wants. We chose these 3 people to answer our form as getting the opinions from our target audience (teens) will be beneficial to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our opening, which is essential to make improvements to it. With this feedback, we are able to make changes to our opening e.g. drugging scene to add what our opening was lacking e.g suspense. This makes our overall opening more interesting for them. It’s important to see from the audience’s perspective as movie openings are made for them, meaning we need to meet their expectations and make sure they enjoy it. 

Reflection:
This audience feedback gives us a new perspective on our opening and this allows us to identify mistakes and improve our opening. However, I’m scared the answers are not representative as we only asked 3 people, and they are all our friends. This worries me as the answers may be biased and not entirely honest. Next time if I do this, I’d ask more people and not exclusively my friends.

Typeface Development: Title & Credits

Here is my blog containing our typeface development for component 1. This blog and work is done by Cassie.

A typeface is the design of letters, numbers, and symbols that create a specific visual style for text. It helps shape the way words look, making them feel formal, casual, modern, or even eerie. For our project, choosing the right typeface is important because it helps set the tone of the story. By carefully selecting a typeface, we can make sure our project matches the emotions we want to create. But first, we must know what our title is before we can create the typeface.

Picking the right title for our project wasn’t easy. We wanted something that matched the story and stuck in people’s minds. After a lot of thinking, we narrowed it down to four choices:

-Missed Call
-Text Me When You Get Home
-Invite Only
-Afterparty

Each one had a good reason to be picked. Text Me When You Get Home felt familiar, something people actually say. Invite Only made the story feel exclusive and secret. Afterparty hinted at something happening after an event, maybe something unexpected or dark.

But in the end, Missed Call was what we went with. The title is simple but powerful. In our story, that one missed call is the turning point. In our story, a mother calls her kidnapped daughter, but the daughter doesn’t answer. That missed call is more than just a phone notification, but rather a symbol that shows the loss of communication. It creates suspense and makes people wonder: How will the mother contact her daughter again? 

Our group members decided this title by holding a poll in our group chat, where we discussed each title and came to the final conclusion of Missed Call.

Before choosing a font for our title, I looked at other thriller movies to see what kinds of typefaces they use. Above are some movie posters of a few thriller films that have typefaces I like and I’d like to experiment with. Thriller movies have their own unique typefaces, and I have classified these into these categories:

• Distorted or Glitched – Text looks glitchy or broken, which can make the audience feel like something is wrong or out of place. It also implies corrupted signals or lost communication. 

• Sharp and Jagged Edges – Suggests violence and creates a sense of unease. This has a horror-like texture and messy look that suggests something dangerous is happening, and adds mystery. 

• Bold, Heavy Lettering – The thick and strong letters make the title stand out and feel intense. This makes the title more impactful when shown, and adds a sense of tension, grabbing attention right away. 

• Minimalist, Sans-serif Fonts – Creates a sleek and clinical aesthetic, often used in psychological thrillers. 

• Handwritten or Scratchy Styles – Feels unsettling and personal, like something written in fear, or written by a criminal. Usually used in horror-thrillers.

• Red Accents or Fading Effects – Implies blood, danger, or an ominous presence.

My two favorite fonts are the glitched font and bold heavy lettering. 

I also thought about what names and credits to include. The text needs to be clear but still match the thriller style. It’s important that the audience can read the names of the people involved in the film while still feeling the suspense and mystery.

Here are the fonts we’ve considered:

And since we plan to show the title in a dark background, I made this:

After careful consideration and group polls, we narrowed it down to the 2nd and 8th font, which falls under the glitched text and bold heavy lettering fonts.

This font has a glitch effect, which gives it a digital feel and shows that something is interfering. This might work well for our thriller as we do have a technology aspect in our opening (the missed call) which may be a recurring theme/symbol in the rest of the movie. 

Usually a distorted and glitchy text connotes a distortion of the truth, loss of control or communication, or something being “hacked” or manipulated. While our thriller doesn’t fit two themes, it fits the “loss of control or communication” connotation well as it ties with our kidnapping scene which shows that the mother cannot contact her daughter. This font may imply that the rest of our movie is her mom trying to find and contact her daughter, rather than her daughter escaping her kidnapper. 

However, personally I think our movie lacks more technological elements to use this font. While the font itself is great, it looks more “sci-fi” in my opinion rather than thriller. 

This font is bold, with a subtle texture of “duct tape” almost. This makes the danger feel more direct and terrifying. The duct tape texture alludes to the fact that duct tape is a common tool for tying victims up, which could be the daughter in the thriller, even if duct tape wasn’t explicitly shown. The edges are also not clean and sharp, having some jagged edges, though not obvious. This suggests that some violence is involved, or that something happened that caused damage. This suits our thriller as our protagonist was kidnapped, and pulled away with force while she's unconscious just before we plan to show the title. 

This font suggests a more physical thriller movie, perhaps implying that the rest of our film is about the daughter facing and escaping her kidnapping, rather than the mom trying to find her. This type of font works well with thrillers with dark secrets and mysteries, and the main mystery that arises in our opening is: why did they kidnap her? What's the motive? how will the mother find her or how will she escape?

However, I’ve found one problem with this font. With a white background and black test, the duct tape effect seems clear and cool, however we plan to show the title when the screen is black, meaning the text must be white. 

As you can see, the duct tape effect is not as obvious here, however I think the texture still adds some mystery to our title, and adds a special touch. Without the texture, I think the font would be too generic. So for me, it’s not a huge deal.

———

Finally, we decided to use this second font with the bold lettering because it aligns more with our film.

I (Cassie) experimented with the font, size, color and texture. I noticed that most thriller films used red accents or entirely red typefaces, So I tried it out for our title.

While the red implies violence/blood and connotes danger, the combination of black and red makes this look like a horror film rather than a thriller. Using a darker red suits our opening more, as dark red connotes rage or wrath, while a brighter red could represent love. However, the dark red text is hard to read against the black background.

———

If we kept it white like this, we fear it would be too generic and bland. Plus, it does not really have a lot of meaning relating to our film opening. 

———

Adding red accents in the textured areas made our title look “bloody”, which fits well with our kidnapping theme in the movie opening. This also may be a hermeneutic code: How is blood involved in the next scenes? Did the kidnapper hurt the protagonist? Additionally, the texture on every letter looks repetitive, as we have double letters with identical textures next to each other. 

———

If we add the texture on only a few letters and spread it out, it looks less busy and more cohesive. However, this brings focus to the letters with the texture. In this title, the letters M, S, C and L have no significance. 

———

Here, the letters I, D, A and L are highlighted. When rearranged, this spells out “DIAL” as in dialling a number, which is related to the title itself. It also shows its significance in the story.  The texture is also spread out between letters, making the typeface

———

This is similar to the previous one, however, the letters I, E, D are highlighted instead. When rearranged, this spells out “DIE”, which gives this title a spooky double meaning or perhaps foreshadowing, meaning it isn’t supposed to be deciphered at first glance. However, there's an imbalance as the left side of the design is busier than the right.

———

For our final choice, we held a poll in our group chat for the last 3 options. Finally, we decided on this one.

———

But wait! The title isn’t the only thing we need to make for our typeface. The credits also matter. We’re going to include the actual name of our actors in the credits, such as: Cassandra D Merkus, Kimora C Hartawan, Eileen Milano, Charlyn K Wijaya and Tara C Hartana. 

In thriller films, even the credits help build tension. The fonts used can make the audience feel uneasy, excited, or curious. So, I watched the opening credits for a few thriller films and noticed a pattern.

Here, I looked at movies like Get Out, The Silence of The Lambs, and Zodiac. They all had very simple fonts which showed it was cold, serious and mysterious. So, I picked similar fonts and put them all together again to compare.

After another poll, we narrowed it down to the first and the last one.

This font has a rough and vintage feel, often associated with mystery, secrecy, and unease. It is similar with typewritten text from old documents, crime reports or classified files, making it a great choice for thriller films, especially ones involving investigations or detective work. This means this might work well with our thriller as our protagonist gets kidnapped, making her a victim of a terrible crime.

This font is clean and neutral, often linked to technology as it looks typed out. Its simplicity gives off a calculated vibe, which could work well for a thriller with a "mastermind". Since it feels controlled, it can be unsettling. It also looks like a text message, which could show the mothers efforts at contacting her daughter.

——

In the end, we decided to go for the 1st font, as the typewriter gives off a mysterious feel and the rough edges suggest something bad is happening, making the audience curious.

Colour wise, we are going to keep it simple by keeping the text white to draw focus to the getting ready scene as it builds the protagonists character, rather than to the actual text.

 

And with that, we are done with the typeface development :)

Reflection: 

Doing the typeface development was fun yet tiring, as I had to experiment a lot with the fonts and actually try them out, instead of typing everything out. I had to compare many fonts with each other then discuss their connotations and likes. Then I had to see which one would fit the themes of our media project. Overall, it was more work than I expected but I was happy with the outcome of the typeface.