Here is my research for the crime documentary project.
1.
The Worst Roommate Ever, 2024.
Documentary Opening 1: Worst Roommate Ever | |
Before You Watch | |
Look only at the thumbnail and title.
| I expect this documentary to have a lot of build up and suspense. The title of this document is “Worst roommate ever”. The letters are bold and take up almost half of the thumbnail. The lady in the image looks very drained and disturbed, her picture looks similar to a mugshot. Her face is very pale but also has colours of red in it, making it look like she’s been crying. I expect her to open up and rant about her roommate a lot, as well as telling us some of the stories she has during the opening. |
After You Watch | |
Who is the target audience? Give one example of each and explain the meaning:
| Teenagers, Young adults, Adults. This documentary would be intriguing to many different groups of people but I don’t think it’s suitable for children, because of how scary and graphic it is. Camera: There were a lot of close shots, as well as over the shoulder shots to show the environment and the location of the house. This makes the audience feel more involved so they can feel like they’re there. Mise-en-scene: The lights were very dim throughout the documentary and the shots of the houses made it look very boring but also gave the audience a traumatizing feeling. It almost felt like a horror movie. Editing: It included many jumpcuts and flashbacks to old photographs. This gives the audience some context, but also gives them more curiosity because they’re eager to know why those flashbacks were needed. The jumpcuts helped the opening get to the point so they could pull the audience in to continue watching. Sound: There is a lot of suspenseful music, as well as drums that go off every few seconds. This creates an eerie feeling for the audience and gives it a very dramatic vibe. |
Would you continue watching? Why/Why not? | Yes, I would definitely continue watching because the first few minutes already hooked me in and I want to know more. The way the scenes were edited created a lot of mystery and there’s a lot of the unknown that has been hinted at the audience that makes us eager to know more. |
2.
What Jennifer Did, 2024.
Documentary Opening 2: What Jennifer Did | |
Before You Watch | |
Look only at the thumbnail and title.
| I expect this documentary to have lots of suspense and scenes that build up tension, because in the thumbnail, there are two sides of Jennifer shown. One side is her smiling, looking happy, whilst the other side is completely in red, which usually represents anger or danger, and Jennifer looks defeated and upset. The title “What Jennifer Did” is on the side in bold writing, but it’s quite small compared to how close up and big her picture is. The thumbnail also has a distorted effect which gives the audience a creepy or uncomfortable vibe. |
After You Watch | |
Who is the target audience? Give one example of each and explain the meaning:
| The target audience seems to be teenagers because the main character in the story, Jennifer, is a teenager herself. It’s a documentary filled with suspense, tension, mystery and confusion. Many of the scenes during the opening were zooming in shots during an interview with Jennifer at the police station. This creates lots of tension for the audience because as the camera gets closer to Jennifer's face, that gives us the idea that they’re beginning to reveal something about her and what she did. The atmosphere of the scenes were all very dark, the only bright colours that were shown were red and blue coming from cop cars. The rest of the colours being seen were mostly beige and black. Visual flashbacks were playing throughout the interview of the 911 call that was made the night of the crime that was committed with Jennifer’s voice, sounding very audibly distressed in it. This really hooks the audience in because they can feel how scary it was to be there while the incident was happening. Mysterious music was playing the entire time but towards the end, it fades out as the title card appears. The music helps create an eerie vibe and makes the scenes more impactful overall. |
Would you continue watching? Why/Why not? | I would continue watching because there was a lot of mystery shown in the opening and the narrator kept on saying sentences that hooked me in, like “we would’ve never seen it coming”, and “this is the most interesting case we’ve looked at”. A lot of curiosity and suspense was built, especially towards the end so now I feel like I have to continue watching. |
3.
Conversations with a killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes, 2022.
Documentary Opening 3: Conversations with a killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes | |
Before You Watch | |
Look only at the thumbnail and title.
| I expect this documentary to be very creepy, just from the colours and the edit of the thumbnail, it already gives off an eerie vibe. The title is very large and it’s all in black bold letters. The image of John in his clown makeup with a rope tied around his nose, as well as his angry facial expressions really captures the audience and creates a sense of curiosity. |
After You Watch | |
Who is the target audience? Give one example of each and explain the meaning:
| I think the target audience is young adults and older, because it is 18+ and it seems like there are going to be a few disturbing scenes just from watching the opening. There were various scenes where the camera started off in a medium shot and slowly zoomed into a close shot of a woman during an interview. This creates tension and shows the audience what she’s feeling as she tells her story and how much it affected her. Lots of flashbacks of old videos and pictures of John and his victims were shown to give the audience context and help them begin to visualize what they’re about to see. Crime/mystery music was also played to make the audience feel more nervous and scared, as well as laggy/old quality editing because that usually makes the vibe of the content more creepy. The colours and lighting of the opening was very dim, except for the title card towards the end of it. The title card used bright colours, neon blue and neon red. These are the colours for police cars which the audiences should be familiar with, so that will indicate the crime aspect into it. |
Would you continue watching? Why/Why not? | I would continue watching this because seeing flashbacks of the victims makes me wonder what happened to them and I want to hear all of their stories. |
4.
American Nightmare, 2024.
Documentary Opening 4: American Nightmare | |
Before You Watch | |
Look only at the thumbnail and title.
| Just from the thumbnail, I’m expecting this documentary to be very upsetting and creepy because since it’s a photo of a couple, smiling, looking happy, I know there are going to be lots of unexpected twists and turns. |
After You Watch | |
Who is the target audience? Give one example of each and explain the meaning:
| I think the target audience is teenagers/young adults/adults, because the age rating is 16+ and this documentary is about a young couple. The opening immediately starts off with a flashback of the couple on the beach. There’s sad music in the background and the quality of the camera makes it look like a precious memory, so it gives the audience a nostalgic, heartwarming feeling in the beginning. It then cuts to a 911 call of the boyfriend saying that his girlfriend had been kidnapped. The camera cut paired with the intense music that it switched to as well creates great drama and tension because it indicates that it’s the start of the story starting to unfold. |
Would you continue watching? Why/Why not? | I would continue watching because the opening is already very confusing and there’s a lot in this story to unfold, so i’d like to see it through to the end. |
5.
The Deadly American Marriage, 2025.
Documentary Opening 5: The deadly American marriage | |
Before You Watch | |
Look only at the thumbnail and title.
| I expect this documentary to be quite creepy because the flashlight quality of the photo makes it very unsettling for the audience. The title wasn’t shown/available on my netflix, only the photo was shown but the title “The deadly american marriage” speaks for itself. It looks like it will be a disturbing documentary. |
After You Watch | |
Who is the target audience? Give one example of each and explain the meaning:
| The age rating for this documentary is 17+, so I think it was meant for young adults and adults to watch. It’s based on an American couple in their 20’s-30’s. There were high angle shots of CCTV police interviews between the wife and her father. This is a very commonly used trope in crime documentaries as it gives the audience context as well as making it seem more intense. The lighting was very advanced during the scenes where the detective was explaining the story, she had a shadow and only about a half of her face was in the light. It shows the high production quality that this document has. Mysterious music was played throughout the entire opening to create tension and fear for the audience. There were cuts from interviews to the crime scene so the viewers could keep up and get visual content of what it looked like while they listened to the story. |
Would you continue watching? Why/Why not? | I would continue watching because it’s very high quality and the edit of the opening really pulled me in. |
