Critical Reflection

The docuseries “Blank American”, stylized as “________American” is meant to explore the various ways that people, specifically Generation Z, maintain aspects of culture without living in that culture. The perennial immigration story is given a twist here because the series explores the life after immigration and focuses more on the children of immigrants rather than immigrants themselves (although two of the subjects did immigrate from other countries to America they were very young at the time). The series explores the overall use of the mediums of food, art, and technology/media to maintain a cultural identity in America.


In order to properly create a docuseries, researching existing material that had a similar topic or target audience was crucial. The docuseries “Ugly Delicious” achieved something close to what the desired accomplishment was with this project. They used one medium throughout, food, and explored different cultures and methods of cooking one food while this series is using various mediums to maintain different cultures. We incorporated several elements from “Ugly Delicious” in “________American” including using multiple subjects instead of focusing the documentary on one person/culture. Another docuseries “The Toys That Made Us” used a lot of b-roll when mentioning the past but kept it engaging by making the cuts fast and having a variety of visual stimuli instead of a few old photos. “________American” definitely emulated this during the history/context portion of the excerpt where the voiceover about the history of immigration in America is played over a diverse group of images that are copyright free.


However one way that the project challenges documentary conventions is having two narrators instead of just one. “________American” has two narrators to make the project even more engaging because one narrator might have been too monotonous. Now in hindsight this may confuse the audience more than grasp their interest but the intention was to try and subvert conventions in a way that would help gear the project further towards a younger audience. Another convention that was somewhat subverted is the use of music or background music. No music is used in the excerpt, purposely, because the focus is supposed to be on the subjects and what's on the screen stead of the music. The point of this subversion was to not detract from what was being said and have the focus truly be on the answers to the questions.



Technically, another way the project challenges conventions is the use of a singular angle to film the subjects the production was restrained by the circumstances of the pandemic so software like zoom and Microsoft Teams had to be utilized to attain the level of diversity that was necessary for the project. The audio for some of the interviews is mediocre and one way to fix this was to get microphones but then again because only two subjects were interviewed in person, this would’ve only fixed the audio for a small portion of the excerpt. The camera quality is also quite poor because we had to rely on the webcam of the subject’s laptop while really only one subject was able to have quality footage, free of grain.


Because the target audience, which is Generation Z, has such a short attention span, including a wide variety of images and videos interspersed with the interviews was one way the project sought to maintain interest. Usage of stop motion videos to add variety to the project helped to diversify the shots and kept the excerpt engaging. Stop motion is unique in that the subjects are represented by chess pieces and props were created to better visualize what the subjects are saying. Since they discuss complex ideas and situations, breaking down the nebulous idea into a more palatable or bite size format helps drive home the message of the project and keeps the integrity of the message while also giving the younger audience the opportunity to better understand it.


The subjects included in the project are a testament to the diversity of Generation Z and the commitment of the series to showcasing several identities and maintenance of various cultures. “________American” was able to include a variety of races and ethnicities even though only five subjects are utilized. Representation and diversity was really important to the project because the idea was to create a docuseries that would represent a multicultural generation and show how hybrid American cultures were becoming more commonplace. However one critique of the representation is the lack of male representation but perhaps this accidental/circumstantial exclusion can provide a refreshing view since documentaries are dominated by males.


“________American” is a docuseries geared toward Generation Z. That is why there are so many visuals, they keep the excerpt engaging so that the target audience is not bored. Generation Z has a notoriously short attention span, that is why our episodes were planned to be 20-25 minutes at most. Generation Z is the most multicultural generation in history, so using a diverse group of subjects allows “________American” to appeal to a wide audience. Although the target audience is skewed younger that doesn’t mean that older age groups wouldn’t relate to the series. Since the topic is almost universal and personal to millions of people around the country/world the series is easily marketable.


Integration and continuity of the brand identity between the social media page the magazine article and the documentary excerpt showcase the cohesive nature of the brand. Since the stories told by each subject are so personal and the questions asked are so deep and thought-provoking the idea was to create a digital scrapbook. Because subjects refer to their memories and their past as well as their present, a scrapbook best represents looking back at the past but also pages can be created to commemorate the present. This was maintained through the beige background of the title cards in the excerpt and the beige background of the social media as well as the name plates included in the excerpt. The tape graphics used in social media all work together to perpetuate the scrapbook idea.


Even though the excerpt is not perfect what it really breaks down to is time. Although even if we did have even more time I’m sure there would still be beautiful imperfections that hamper the effectiveness of the excerpt. The diversity of the subjects is both a strength and a weakness because while various races/ethnicities are represented we did not have any male subjects. The social media integrated the scrapbook theme with the excerpt and the magazine article also emulated that aesthetic with its background. Overall, I am proud of the work my partner Shreya and I were able to create.