Evaluation of My Documentary

When planning and producing my Documentary, overall it went to plan and went really well. As I was doing a Documentary, I decided to include two interviews to get two differing opinions. I decided that it would be a good idea to include one interview from someone who is in authority, Tony Central Sussex College’s PCSO.
I also decided to interview someone who had used both substances, Jen a college student.

Scene one

Because I wanted to film a scene of my documentary inside Sainsbury’s, I had to get clearance from a manager that it was ok to do so. I wrote them a letter, explaining exactly what I would be filming, the time and date I wanted to do it, what the film would be used for and whether or not it would affect any of the customers. I also spoke with the manager of the shop; they allowed me to film there as long as I didn’t get in the way.

When filming scene one, I had to be really careful not to get in the way of customers, so I made sure I set my tripod and camera up at the end of the aisle out of the way. I filmed a series of close-up, medium and long shots of the alcohol all lined up on the shelf.

Scene two- Interview with Jen

Scene two is an interview with a college student Jen, filmed by Kerri Amos my assistant. She first filmed me asking the questions and then filmed Jen answering them so we didn’t have to keep pausing the camera and moving it. The shot is a high angled medium shot.

When filming scene two we did come up against some problems, when we started filming the interview and played the footage back, I noticed that there were lines through the footage. I had to go and get a new camera and re record it all.

Scene three- Interview with Tony PCSO

The interview with Tony a PCSO, went really well. Kerri Amos filmed for me because I was in the interview. It was filmed in the same way as scene two, firstly filming me asking the questions then Tony answering them.

Editing

When planning for the documentary, I thought I would be able to show the whole interview, but it turned out that the interviews were to long. As a result, I decided to pick out the most relevant questions and cut the rest.

I also had to scrap two other shots which were in my plan, because I thought that the interviews were more important. I was going to include a slide show of statistics and a shot of someone smoking what would appear to be a joint. I did film both of these but ended up just cutting them out.

I ended up also scrapping the voice of god over the top of the shots, because I didnt think there was much point when the interview makes everything very clear as I introduce the people im interviewing and the subject. I also have a title page which says Cannabis Vs Alcohol so it is quite self explantery.

Time management

I made sure that I managed my time so that I could get everything fitted in. First of all I, planned out what I was going to film, found people to interview, got clearance from Sainsbury’s, filmed and edited the footage.

Production diary

20/04/10

I created a mind map using Mind Jet to help me brainstorm my ideas for my video. I brainstormed lots of different genres along with some good subjects. I also made a list of different programmes which I have watched to help me with my idea.

19/05/10

Today I came up with the idea for my documentary, along with the target audience and the working title for my production. I also completed my call sheets for each scene.

21/05/10

Today I completed risk assessment forms for each location that I intend on filming in. I had to think of all the possible hazards that could occur whilst I would be filming and then calculate the severity of the hazard if it did happen.

20/06/10

Today I wrote a list of questions to ask during the interview with Jen and the police/security officer. I also found out some key statistics on alcohol and cannabis and wrote them up to use in my documentary and compare. I found out the number of hospital admissions for both, number of deaths and main health problem that occurs due to using the substance.

Monday 28th June 2010-

Today I got clearance from Sainsburys to film in there shop down the alcohol aisle. I had to write them a letter, which explained what I would need to do, if it would affect the customers and what exactly the footage would be used for. I told them that the footage would only be shown to students and tutors at the college, that I would just need to set up the tripod and camera down the aisle to get a few shots of alcohol only, and that I would only take about 15 minutes to film. I did not need to affect any of the customers, when they needed to get by I just stopped filming and moved out of there way so they could get by.


Tuesday 29th June 2010-

Today I filmed Jen Kellys interview, it went well apart from my camera making the footage playback with lines across it! I had to go and change the camera during filming and film it all again. I did end up changing the location of filming, I was planning on filming in a class room, but thought it would be easier to film outside because there were not any class rooms unoccupied. I filmed outside on a bench, which was the same sort of set up as I was going to do in the classroom.

The interview went well, firstly we recorded me asking the questions which I will then intercut with Jen awnsering the questions. Kerri Amos was my assistant, she helped me film.


Wednesday 30th June 2010 -

Today I did an interview with Tony a PCSO who works with Crawley College, I asked him a list of questions including which he thought was more dangerous, Cannabis or Alcohol. I interviewed him in one of the rooms in learner services, Kerri helped me film and set up.

Monday 5th July 2010-

Today I edited my Video using Imovie, I had to watch back all my footage and make alot of cuts. I intercut the interviews and have chosen the best parts to put into my documentary, as it is longer than 3 minutes if I dont do that.

Wednesday 7th July 2010- Today I am going through my work to check it is all there and I am going to complete an evaluation of my work.

Thursday 8th July 2010- Today I finished editing my video, by adding a title page at the beginning and a credits page at the end. I also made some music to go with the the first sequence of shots of alcohol.

Research into documentaries

Channel 4 Documentaries cover lots of different subjectsm, including crime, social class, science fiction, health, religion, race, predjudice, animals and more.

Some of the documentaries I have watched include-

Ambreen: The girl Boxer - This is a documentary about the first muslim girl to box in the UK, and how her religion affects her doing this and about the predjudice she gets for persuing it.

Leaving home at 8- This is a documentary about families who opt to put their children into boarding schools over public schools.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding- This is a documentary which follows gypsy brides as they plan there extravagant weddings.

www.channel4.com

Mind Map Of Video Ideas