Thumbnail Research + Development

Here is the analysis of how the thumbnail was made and developed, done by Gio & 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. 

Here it is post greenscreen with Carrick in it.

Here it is on Netflix with Jaden's description.

Here it is again but with feedback from Carrick about the decription.

Self-Reflection: The name was, as I mentioned in my weekly progress, surprisingly something we had not thought of 7 weeks in... but it was easy to find something fitting; 'The Newman's Plot' has a certain charm to it that fits. As for my contrubution, I didn't help with the thumbnail but I did help with putting it in a Netflix-styled menu, making it seem like it was an actual Netflix show you could watch.