I recently watched a new documentary on Netflix called Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. It is very different from what I am doing topic-wise, but style-wise, it is very similar. Some things that are similar to my project that I need to address for my own project style are: the way content is shown as B-roll, in this documentary, they remade text messaging, which is something I am going to have to think about when it comes to referring to the content I’m talking about as B-roll. They also talk about serious topics related to the media, for example when they talk about the stalker and state a text message they say, “I was getting messages telling me to kill myself” (Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, 2025), while also showing the text messages on the screen. I will be doing the same, so the stylistic choices when it comes to showing media content on screen, music and camera position/lighting are things I did take note of.
This then made me think of the skills I’m going to need for this project that I was unaware of. Mainly content, I didn’t even think of the fact that I am going to have to include the content I am speaking of in interviews as B-roll in my documentary. Then the question of different copyrights comes up: Am I allowed to do this? To what extent of content am I allowed to repurpose as B-roll? I need to research this, along with questions, and what I am expecting people to say about their personal identity based on gender/social norms pushed onto them by different media forms. Further, when they answer with what I am expecting, how do I get interviewees to open up even further and go even deeper… How do I make sure they are comfortable with the kinds of personal identity questions I am asking, even gender/social norm questions, which can lead to discomfort. These are all similar questions that I have for this project that I have to look deeper into.
Campfire Studios, & Skye Borgman. (2025). Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. Campfire Studios / Terminal B TV. Netflix.