Hyper Reality

 Boudrillard suggests that audiences prefer the hyper reality.

Heightened reality is media produdcts that are adapted from reality, but still easily distinguished from reality, although clearly somewhat fictional.

Examples:

Miss Americana - Hyper reality, puts taylor swift in a good light, shows her doing good things she normally wouldn't do when on camera, conforms to swifties who want to be convinced that Taylor Swift is all good, doesn't show anything bad she does regularly, if she does on camera its deliberately not publicised

Final Product - Doc

 

Our Finished Product

Our Final Thumbnail

How it would look like on our chosen streaming service as a thumbnail to click on

CSR - Doc

This is the Critical Self Reflection for our Documentary Project

For this project, we had to produce a 5 minute documentary about anything we wanted, as well as a social media page and a thumbnail for said documentary

Our idea is to make a mockumentary about a transformation process (sort of a mix between a reality tv show and an observational documentary as we struggle with dealing with this one incel. Incels are stereotypically negatively represented in media, so we try to show that we’re able to change even someone like that. That’s the concept that the documentary has, but in an unserious way that makes it a mockumentary. What started out as a transformational documentary, slowly turned into a fight for our life in this intro as we had dumbed down our main subject to animalistic natures, making him a disease patient instead of your average incel.

How do your products represent social group or issues?

Our products uses the concept of a celibated version of a pandemic/epidemic. We represent the people similar to us / people around us, known as incels who are stereotypically retarded, ugly and smelly. Our representation in this mockumentary conforms to those stereotypes. These stereotypes are normally found on social media videos such as Instagram, TikTok and Youtube, but we are showing it on higher quality platform, being a documentary series. The character Jennifer Cambridge also conforms to a lot of stereotypes on asian parents, being disappointed in their children and having a complex, although exaggerated here, of loving them. We also mimic the stereotypical documentary hosts that tend to get too curious or familiar with their subjects. This is shown in the host character as he gets very close to the subject in such a short span of time, resulting in him facing the consequences of his actions, being chased down by Steven.

How do your products engage with the audience?

Our Products engage with the audience mainly through representation and relatability, Users and Gratification is efficiently applied here as it brings out Personal Identity as well as Social Relations for people who go through similar experiences. The jokes we use are also subtly adult-like, and so we attract a slightly more mature audience as well. The engagement doesn’t really conform to the idea of intellectual engagement, as it is mainly just slapstick comedy on here, however for quite a few of our jokes there is a bit of media literacy needed to understand them. We also follow genre conventions of certain documentaries where they approach wild animals. This is shown in the scene where we approach our patient carefully, as if approaching a wild animal. According to our media teacher, this could be something out of Bear Grylls, which would be a nice reference for the audience to enjoy as they watch the character interact with his surroundings.

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

Through extensive research we came to the conclusion that with the members on our team, we’d do best on a mockumentary, and we took lots of inspiration from Borat for having lots of drops of adult comedy. The mockumentaries that we researched generally are unserious, funny, have the graphics and production of a documentary such as camera work, editing, and concept but do it all in a sort of amateur manner. We conform to this. I went further into research for the filming stage, by watching a thriller movie series called 'Creep'. Through this film I was able to understand a lot more about the different kinds of camera movements and angles that were needed to make a shot look like it belongs in a 'live' sort of documentary. The camera movements in Creep 2 whenever they were in a chase scene especially, gave me lots of inspiration for what we did then in the chase scene at our patient's house.

Storyboard - Documentary

 This is the storyboard that I drew up with the assistance of an art friend, Ilo, following the script that was written by Jason and Baron

Post Production - Doc

This is the editing process done by my groupmate Baron


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.




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.



Final edit

Screenplay - Doc

 This is the Screenplay for our Documentary Project

Scene One: Intro @ Park

“Start with black screen”

Black screen with data and statistics about incel

(Short pause)

(news reports start playing)

Damarius(kind of like the guy from american vandal)

 The Conc. Scientific name Bufo Ferulabitus

Damarius 

They are the unfortunate men with an absolute fear of interaction with the opposite gender.

(start incel montage - look at @cringecentral on ig)

Damarius

whether it's because they are terminally online, or they simply lack the confidence to even approach them. 

(full shot of Damarius at school speaking to camera)

Damarius

 The root of the problem is a disease called Bufo Ferulabitus. (start clip of us wearing hazmat suit) Highly infectious and dangerous.

(J-cut to stevens house)

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 Coitus Evito 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 Coitus Evito 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 incel-

-cut to camera behind him of him returning cover-

Damarius

 I see the incel 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 incel with a stick*

Incel(agressive)

 HISSSSSSSS (preferably like a snake) 

*smash zoom into incel*

Damarius(slightly worried)

 Its ok we have no women with us! Its ok! Its ok!

Incel

 *Hyperventilating from aggression*

Damarius

 we're here to ask you a few questions are you alright with that?

*Incel nods head*

Damarius

 So when did you contract this disease?

Incel

 *Unintelligible murmuring*

Damarius

 Could you repeat your answer?

Incel

 *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!

(this part is tentative, steven hunting)

*POV shot of cameraman trying to open the door*

Cameraman

 Crap!! It won’t open, There's the security guard!

*POV shot of cameraman looking at security guard outside, security guard signalling to stay quiet*

*Main camera overlooking the situation, hiding behind the countertop, steven missing*

Main Cameraman: Where is he?!

*Blackout, shouting turns to whispering, undershot of steven doing FNAF 1 Freddy jingle + flash*

*POV shot of cameramen trying to work together to get out from behind countertop*

*Montage of trying to escape*

*one cameraman gets captured*

*everyone else escapes*

-START INTRO SEQUENCE-

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

Scene Four: Updates

- 2 weeks before- Freddy Fazbear’s visit

*POV phone camera recording cameraman 1 inside acting like an incel*

*Phone switches camera*

Damarius

 I think he's got the virus (disappointed + despair)

-Because that one idiot got infected, we all had to quarantine-

*Phone shot of Damarius being shoved in Jimny*

Possible Hooks

-1st hook-

Damarius (during freeze frame)

 Today our goal is to change this into …

*black cut, camera following us sneak into parking lot 

*Hiding behind wall / bush

*Handheld zoom in on incel holding a conversation w a woman, looking more proper

*Camera zooms back out to medium over-the-shoulder of Damarius looking proud

*mic guy drops the mic, we panic

*camera zooms in on incel noticing the sound, looking in our direction

*run back the way we came from

Production BTS - Doc

Here are behind the scenes pictures of our filming journey

Statement of Intent - Doc

This statement of intent was thought up by Baron and I, and was typed down by Jason.

Media Language
We will have a lot of undershots to show that "Bufo Ferulabitus" is a very dangerous disease. We will use a lot of dark foreboding music when approaching "Conc" patients. We simply need to make them look threatening. For the surrounding people affected, we will use full shots with blurred backgrounds with more emotional moody music to show the despair that they feel because of the "Conc" infection. The documentary will likely have a dark and foreboding theme so music similar of that of horror movies may be appropriate to help build that feeling. Creepy ambience will also be a large tool for us to create this feeling as well. Editing will be relatively slow like that in horror movies. However we will resort to goofy edits (such as smash zooms, sound effects, etc.) to make the scene more funny that in actually is.


Representation
We are going to give a negative but comedic representation of men who could not get women (incels). They are going to be ridiculed heavily. We choose to follow stereotypes for incels often used on the internet: Terminally online, slightly-morbidly overweight, and nerdy. We will represent them as victims of the disease. As our documentary will be shown to many people who have no knowledge of incels, we will show the disease as something that they must avoid for the better. According to representation theory, incels will get meaning from media pieces like our documentaries. Because of that we feel that it is socially important to show that incels are victims not predators.


Industry
This work will be distributed through youtube. Our audiences are terminally online so it would be incredibly easy for them to access our media content through that method. They are also still at school so they may not have a source of income, making youtube a good option as well because it is free for everyone to access. We will also advertise via tiktok, youtube shorts and instagram reels as they are very useful in making things go viral quickly. Their video format is almost identical which would help us promote as it would be cheaper. We will also have a main instagram page to put more content in (such as release date, link, special guests features and promotions).

Development - Doc

This is the development for our documentary with ideas, planning and screenplay

IDEAS

Transforming an incel into a rizzler, reality show type. Incel is dumbed down to animalistic nature when exposed to women.

TIMELINE

Black screen with data and statistics

News montage

Montage of incel

Interview with incel and mother

Random clips of incel daily life

TITLE

Mandemic - good, catchy

Homo Erectus

The Male Plague

Man Down

Coitus Evitus

The Red Plague

Humanity’s End: Coitus Evito

CHARACTERS

Incel : Jeffery

Interviewer : Damarius

LOCATION

School - Mom interview

Jason’s house - news report

Gemi’s house - incel nest

TOOLS

Hazmat suit (raincoat)

Gloves

Mask

Face Shield

Green Screen

Budget Recording Equipment (Branches for microphone stands, etc)

Trash bag uniform

Calon Actor

Incel: Melon, Deva -> audition them

Damarius: Niki B,

Cameraman: Gus, Jason, Baron

Incel Mother: Ticia, 

News Reporters: Jonathan

THUMBNAIL

These are the initial sketches for our thumbnail ideas.

Here are two thumbnails i took inspiration from for this concept

This is our final thumbnail

- The black room with the man behind a brightly lit screen is representative of how stereotypically, people like our main subject 'Steven', incels, are usually considered shut-ins who don't usually step out of their own room, hooked onto something on their screen/internet

- The crack on the screen signifies how he would be considered a 'broken' human being, straying away from the concept of society, no longer conforming to the idea that humans are social creatures.

- The Netflix logo on the top left is to show where our documentary would be released to be viewed by audiences.