Thumbnail Research + Development

This is our research and the development of our crime documentary thumbnail. - completed by Giorgio, and Jaden

Research

Here is a list of the episodes produced by Four Corners with regard to politics and crime. All of them have a catchy short title that either rhyme or are easy to remember. Their target audience is very similar to ours so that is why we picked Four Corners to base our research off of.

Development

Genre: Crime

Sub-genre: Political Crime

Name Suggestions:

The Plot
The Assassin
Newman's Escape
Kill Newman
Bumping Off the New Man
Attempted Disposal
Neutralise Newman
The Newman Plot
Sitting Duck: The Attempt on Newman
Newman's Plot
A National Tragedy: Newman's Edge
Plotting to Win: Labor's Attempt on Newman
Goss' Gamble

After having consulted with our teacher and sought valuable feedback from him, we learnt about cultural code. In this context, the cultural code is that people already know who Newman is as he's a leading political figure. Therefore, we don't need to explain Newman's background as our target audience will already know who he is. Titles like "The Plot" and "The Assassin" were too general according to our teacher and others like "Kill Newman" he just straight up said no to. After the discussion, we were able to bring down the choices to just a few:

Attempted Disposal
Neutralise Newman
The Newman Plot
Newman's Plot
Sitting Duck: The Attempt on Newman

From these titles, we discussed how each one of the titles would work. We looked over them one by one and what the plot of the documentary would be if we used each title. Each title has its own uniqueness about it and cannot fit in all circumstances. We discussed how it would either be "The Newman Plot" or "Newman's Plot". The plot around "The Newman Plot" would be about how a crazy lunatic came to want to plot an assassination attempt against Newman whereas "Newman's Plot" would be about Newman staging the even to make it as if he was looking for sympathy points.

We ultimately decided on the more fun option of "Newman's Plot" as it would fit in perfectly with the cultural code and would definitely stand out to an audience of people who would want to click on it as it's a nationally recognized name and a dark scandal that lies beneath the surface.

Thumbnail Research and Development

Here is the research and development conducted to complete this project - completed by Giorgio and Jaden

I googled "crime documentaries" and these were the thumbnails that came up. I immediately noticed a convention of crime documentaries which are close up shots of either the faces of the criminals or the victims who survived. A second convention I noticed was the blocking of eyes or mouths. These crime documentary thumbnails mostly follow familiar conventions with dark tones, dramatic close-ups, and bold typography, signaling mystery or danger. Faces like those in Girl in the Picture and Amanda Knox draw viewers in by making the stories feel personal, whereas titles like The Tinder Swindler and Don’t F**k with Cats hint at unique, modern crimes that have unexpected twists. Others, like Don’t F**k with Cats, subvert conventions by using intriguing imagery, such as a cat, to draw curiosity. The suspenseful visuals hook audiences, suggesting there’s more to uncover.

Here are a few thumbnail sketches that Giorgio drew based off these thumbnails and the short little analysis we made of them. We want our audience to feel like they are clicking on something that has sparked their curiosity for political crime.

All of these rough drafts are to include a dark theme to them, to draw the attention to the criminal and his plot. We decided to stick with genre conventions and keep things original and in line with what's already on offer. That way, we can work on how we can make ours sort of stand out while also keeping to the conventions.

This is a template from the video editing software that Giorgio used. It included a greenscreen to it which allowed him to edit it to put Carrick in there.