The episodic docu-series The Overlooked focuses on diving deep into topics that are often left in the dark, whether that ignorance is conscious or unconscious. Its second episode (Butterflies in a Glass Cage), as well as the magazine article and social media page, work jointly in order to educate and start the conversation regarding misrepresentation and how this affects not just society’s perception of women, but women’s perception of themselves.
The documentary was created with the main purpose of educating the uneducated and deepening the overall understanding of how small, seemingly insignificant choices in the media creation process can enforce and uphold certain systems of oppression, which in this case was the misrepresentation of women in media. My partner, Kimberly Blum, and I decided to break up our target audience into two main groups: the primary audience (women, particularly introspective teens who are growing into adulthood and are curious about the influence of media) and the secondary audience (uneducated teen-age males as well as older women who may have been oblivious to the male gaze their entire lives). By mostly focusing on younger audiences, especially the likely most affected part of the group (women), we are reaching those who may be the most susceptible to the negative effects of the male gaze and giving them the necessary knowledge to realize the effects in their personal lives (as well as ways to potentially combat them). Because this target audience tends to practice heavy social media usage (particularly on sites like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.) and tend to prefer the video medium, we decided to distribute the film on both Instagram and YouTube in order to be able to gain exposure and share it easily with others. Instagram will be its main distribution platform due to the overwhelming popularity of the app within younger viewers, and YouTube is an easily accessible platform in which users do not need a user or password to view the posted content (this link will be easy to send around and put in our Instagram “bio.” Both sites allow for the posting of long-form content, which works in our favor as well.
In terms of genre, we decided on an expository documentary in specific, since this documentary “mode” sets up a specific perspective on a subject and uses sound, cinematography, and other aspects of the production in order to support this specific view. On top of the supporting visuals and sound, this type of documentary often features a “voice of God” style voice-over and utilizes interviews in order to move the piece along. Kimberly and I chose to adhere to these tropes except for the voice-over for many reasons. We realized that we wanted each interviewee to be able to tell their story in the most authentic way possible without any interruptions from a third-party. Because of this, we mainly used music and the interview audio throughout the entirety of the documentary, allowing for interrupted reflection from Tess Segal, Maya Elizabeth and Sabrina Ares, all of which was manipulated as little as possible in order to maintain the interviews' “realness.” We also chose to shoot very stylized B-roll on a staged set in order to not just visually represent the topic through the use of props, but also engage viewers further. This is especially necessary with our target audience, since they consume video content constantly, excessively and often almost mindlessly; therefore, we needed to ensure that this documentary was eye-catching in order to keep them attentive, especially with their shorter attention spans. Stills from this production were also used in the magazine article and social media, carrying over that captivating aspect onto the different components of the project.
Speaking of the distinct components, we made sure to develop consistent branding throughout, using solid, relatively neutral colors and simplistic fonts in order to create a modern “look” that also had a slight performative edge, mainly because of the documentary props and the topic as a whole. We kept the graphics in the documentary very minimal, the magazine used stills as well as the shared color palette, and the Instagram page consisted of stills, canva graphics, behind-the-scenes visuals, excerpts, and “lessons” learned from either the first episode (Counter Conformity) or the second (Butterflies in a Glass Cage). The Instagram page, which we saw successful docu-series like The Art of Design also use, consisted of a mix of story and normal posts, the story posts acting as a casual gateway for followers to interact with our page (we saw that posting stories casually, particularly stills from the documentary, got people more excited about the final product and consequently increased our social media presence). We also chose to do a Q&A-style magazine article in which the creators get to describe their experience and let “fans” know any future plans. This format allowed the information to be more direct and comprehensible due to the organized question-by-question nature, making it more likely for audiences to engage. We also made sure to add plenty of visuals, especially stills, in order to appeal to our target audience (since they seem to be drawn to more visually-oriented media).
However, I really do think that we could have done a better job at only using specific fonts or specific shades of a color. Originally, all of the more vibrant colors in our color palette came from the wardrobe that the interviewees wore to the shoot (we incorporated it into the branding since it became such a big part of the piece), but we could have done a better job at only using one specific shade of that color rather than not being specific. This also applies to fonts, especially because there is a drastic difference between the fonts used in the lower thirds of the documentary and the social media postings. Also, despite our efforts, we were not able to get the television screens from the documentary to look as real as possible, which also may have brought down the production value of the piece (which in turn could result in the loss of credibility from viewers). These were definitely areas that needed improvement.
Regardless, I believe one of our strengths was the representation of women through all three components. After all, the project itself dealt with how this improper portrayal could be detrimental to this social group, so we did our best to represent women and their experiences as authentically as possible, while simultaneously showcasing the hurtful representation (only in necessary moments, though). For example, when Sabrina Ares discusses the superficial way in which women are shown in film, certain shots (particularly some that focused more on the her body) were shown, purposefully making the viewer aware of how a seemingly insignificant production choice affects how women are viewed and consequently treated in society. This selective incorporation of male gaze-y shots and angles helps visually prove what the interviewees are discussing, helping solidify the message. Additionally, because there is no voice-over and there was little manipulation to the interview audio (the only alterations done were cutting out pauses, stutters, or filler words), the women interviewed are able to represent themselves verbally in the way that they choose, allowing them to properly address the issue as someone that has experienced the consequences of this rather undiscussed phenomenon. We also used the episode’s name, Butterflies in a Glass Cage, to symbolize both the celebration and oppression of women’s “desirable” characteristics in media. The phrase “in a glass cage” is a metaphor for many things; however, in this context, it is a reference to how women (which are represented by a butterfly) are constantly on display - keeping women in a constant state of feeling celebrated while simultaneously trapped within the confines of this painfully narrow representation of what “woman” means.
All in all, this project was a huge learning experience, especially when it came to the production of the documentary. Those it was incredibly difficult during certain periods of the process, I think it made Kimberly and I much stronger creators, especially when it came to on-the-spot troubleshooting and collaborating with others outside the project. Despite feeling like we could have taken things further if we had a longer period to plan and complete all three components, I am grateful for this experience and everything it has taught me about myself, my creations, and the world.
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