Dotcom Review-Sonia

The internet is obviously seen as a very innovative, entertaining and useful resource as it not only provides us with immense information, but also allows us to keep in contact with friends and interact with new people through social networking sites such as Hi5, Bebo and Myspace. However such sites are not used for only this purpose. Dotcom explores and informs you of the serious dangers of social networking sites such as the recent issue of paedophiles finding their victims through these sites.

The documentary begins with a hard hitting, fast paced montage showing the recent fascination with social networking sites. It also demonstrates how teenagers fall into the trap of meeting someone they think they know everything about without even knowing their real name and age, therefore putting themselves in serious danger. We also interview Hannah Bickers, from the government organisation called CEOP which tracks down paedophiles on the internet, who gives us some important advice on how to keep yourself safe while using such sites.

Dotcom makes sure you are aware of the dangers and know how to enjoy the internet without being in danger of exploitation.

Interesting facts:

- We were slightly distracted when a woman we approached to interview noticed a piece of her lunch on her hand and licked it off! To make it worse, she kept doing it while talking to us and even when we were leaving!

- Because we weren’t allowed to film in Ealing, we decided to go undercover. All was going well before we were chased up by the security and were very close to getting everything we filmed wiped off!

Sonia

Rohini - 'Dot Com' Review

‘Dot Com’ Review

Directors: Rohini Bali, Sonia Kapoor, Kunal, Nikki Sahota.


It now seems that almost everyone has a ‘Myspace’ ‘Hi 5’ or ‘Bebo’'. ‘This interactive invasion has caused a worldwide phenomenon almost overnight causing an unhealthy obsession with the new media. Gone are the days of socialising in the play ground as our lives revolve around the ever growing internet.

‘Dot Com’ is a fast paced and engaging documentary that innovatively explores this recent fascination with social networking sites such as ‘Myspace’, whilst presenting some of the negative implications brought about by their abusive use.

‘Dot Com’ opens with an impressive, slickly edited montage that immediately arrests its audience. Innovative documentary techniques are used to present the harshness and extreme reality of the dangers involved with the internet such as child abuse and pedophilia. Government organization ‘CEOP’ (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) features in this informative documentary providing invaluable safety tips and information for young people online.

Interesting facts:

- We did not have permission to film in Ealing, so had to film undercover. We had to cut filming short as we got caught but managed to get away with a few minutes of footage.

- The short, opening montage was one of the shortest features of our documentary but took the longest to edit by far!
- Filming was a little scary with one ‘scary Mary’ woman grabbing my arm!

Review

Do you think that the person who you are talking to on the internet is REALLY who you think it is? Are you sure its not someone else? ‘Dotcom’ explores how the internet has become much more popular than how it used to be in terms of the usage of social networking websites such as Hi5, Bebo, MySpace etc, yet also showing negative factors and how these social networking sites are used for other abusive reasons. As you can see by reading the title of the documentary it can clearly be acknowledged that this hard hitting documentary has something to do with the world wide web, and therefore relates to the primary target audience of teenage girls as most of their time is spent on the internet and therefore alerts the target audience that this documentary tackles certain issues in relation to the ever growing internet.

The documentary opens with a fast-paced montage sequence which consists of a number of different shots showing a great number of websites showing logos of social networking sites, along with the profiles of different students, implying how decoratively the profiles have been created in order to attract others to view the profiles. This has been done in order to show the popularity of these social networking sites amongst teenagers and to show how much time and effort is spent in creating these profiles therefore implying how much time is spent on the internet by the target audience.

This documentary shows how teenagers can keep away from the dangers of the internet through the use of reconstruction scenes, online conversations and interviews with an organisation called CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection). Through this the documentary gives out tips to its target audience on how to stay safe and not meet the wrong people on the internet.

Interesting Facts

Choosing the font colour and type for the tips in the CEOP interview was probably the longest process throughout the making of the documentary as a suitable colour and font could not be decided.

Many Many Many more interviews had been taken but were not included due to possible ethical issues...

Kunal