CR: Critical Reflection

 Here is my self-critical reflection essay for my 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?

Critical Reflection

For our media project, my group created a crime documentary called The Cult of the Living World and a thumbnail. The documentary follows a journalist who secretly investigates a mysterious cult that claims to support environmental causes but is involved in kidnapping and violence. The thumbnail and documentary were designed to work together to give mystery and suspense. Branding in media studies is about creating a clear identity so audiences can recognise and connect products.its about things like colours, fonts, visual style, sounds, and repeated themes that link them together. Strong branding is important because it makes a product stand out and helps audiences know what to expect. In our project, we used branding to connect the thumbnail and documentary. Both focused on mystery and secrecy, which fit the cult theme. The thumbnail shows a blurred figure in the woods, which acts as a hermeneutic code because it makes audiences question who the figure is and what they’re hiding. fig. 1 This links to the documentary’s handheld, low lit footage, where the shaky shots create the same unsettling tone. fig. 2 I was partly inspired by Wild Wild Country (Netflix), which used cult imagery and archive footage to build its brand identity. Stuart Hall’s reception theory also applies here, since audiences can decode the hidden leader differently, some may see her as dangerous and unpredictable, while others may read it as cult secrecy. Keeping her hidden across both products kept that mysterious tone consistent. Before making the documentary, I researched conventions of crime documentaries to see what makes them effective. They were interviews, archive footage, handheld shots, diegetic sound, and low lighting to create tension. We used many of these, but also challenged some to make our project stand out. Most crime documentaries and cult stories show male leaders, which links to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory where men are seen as powerful while women are sidelined. By making our cult leader a woman, we subverted this expectation and gave her the position of power, which makes her more unsettling. I was influenced by The Blair Witch Project for its handheld style, especially for the secret footage of our journalist character. Wild Wild Country also inspired the use of interviews and cult imagery, which helped us mix realism with mystery. My research into real cults showed how chants and rituals are important, so we added a Latin chant scene where the journalist slips up and gets caught. fig. 3 Overall, my research helped me balance conventions of the crime genre while adding twists to feel different. We aimed our documentary at late teens to young adults who enjoy true crime, horror, or spiritual stories. We designed it with them in mind, using Netflix-style conventions but adding darker touches to attract paranormal fans. The thumbnail’s blurred figure and rough police sketches work as hermeneutic codes, sparking curiosity about the cult. In the documentary, we blurred the face and distorted the voice of the journalist’s partner in an interview. This made audiences feel like they were being trusted with hidden information, while also building suspense. According to Uses and Gratifications theory, our product links to surveillance by informing audiences of the cult’s crimes, while the eerie style keeps it entertaining and shareable. Mixing horror visuals like shadows with crime conventions like interviews and archive footage kept our audience engaged and made the cult seem more disturbing. Our documentary represents three main groups: the journalist, the cult members, and ordinary people. The journalist is represented as brave and determined, willing to risk himself to uncover the truth. Handheld shots and secret camera angles put the audience in his shoes, making the investigation feel tense. The cult members are shown as threatening and mysterious through shadows, chanting, and distorted sound, which makes them feel unpredictable. Everyday people are represented as scared or cautious, reflecting how communities react to disappearances or dangerous groups. The main issues we explored were cults and environmental extremism. The cult was “green” and pro-environment, but we showed how their message was twisted into violence and control. fig. 4 This links to real world debates about how serious issues like climate change can be exploited by dangerous groups. We also used stereotypes of cult imagery, like candlelight rituals and forest gatherings, because these visuals are familiar and signal “cult” to audiences.