Tuesday 31 March 2015
Wednesday 11 March 2015
Documentary Evaluation
For my BTEC level 3 unit I was given the task to create a short factual program based upon a recent or historical topic. My documentary will be based on the herbal substances that are known as legal highs. I have chosen this subject for my documentary because of my friends own personal previous experiences with legal highs and how it effected him physically and emotionally.
Pre Production:
The first part of my production work was the pre production forms and paperwork. The work was saved as a booklet on a PDF which I printed of my computer. The first piece of pre production work I completed was a storyboard. The purpose of the storyboard is to visualise my documentary, this included setting up shots and creating the tone of my documentary, in the industry this would be the job role of the film/television director and the art director. I emailed the owner of the legal high shop and they refused permission for me to film an interview in there, so I needed to rework the structure of my documentary. The second task was to create a production schedule this was to make sure I was on target with my deadline during this unit. After I had finished my schedule I created a recce for the location where I would be filming my documentary. A recce is a a page which documents my filming location and gives me a stronger visualisation of the location and helps prevent any problems and risks before filming. I then got my interviewee to sign a actors release form, this document was signed a week before filming begun. The final task before filming was to create a risk assessment, the risk assessment helps prevent any physical risks that I may encounter during the production stage of my documentary.
Production:
After competing my pre production work, it was time to start filming. The filming of my documentary was on a two-day schedule. Filming took place on location in Ashton-under-lyne, Tameside, because the location was local and accessible by routine public transport it was easy to get to. The first day of filming was on friday 13/02/15. The first day of filming consisted of cutaways and different shots that would appear in the documentary. Although I was successful in getting all my cutaways completed, the poor weather caused problems, the rain was getting on the lens of my camera, so i needed to repeatedly clean my camera. The next shoot was during the half term on thursday 19/2/15, the second day shoot was filming my interview with my interviewee Kurt Barratt. I had completed my interview and got some extra cutaways. Like the previous shoot I had problems with the poor weather. For the filming of my documentary I used a Sony HD Handycam and a 5ft Hano Tripod.
During the third week of production I began editing my documentary. For my editing I used the software Final Cut Express, I used this software because it is used in the media industry. Once I opened Final Cut Express, I imported the footage. Then I needed to drag my footage into the time line, once I did this I needed to render the footage, so that it would be converted into an online readable video format. To render the footage I need to hold cmd and R buttons. After I rendered the footage I needed to cut my video to the appropriate length, I edited the majority of my footage in the chronological order as the would appear in the finished documentary. Once my video footage was edited down I began editing the audio, first I deleted the audio which I was't using, such as the background noise that are in the cutaways. I also created sound beds, which transitioned the volume of the video or the background music, I did this by using the pen tool. After deleting the audio I began importing new audio, the first audio I added was the voiceover I had perviously recorded after filming. I imported the voiceover in chronological order so that I knew where to place it in the timeline and what cutaways I should match it with. After rendering and completing all the edits to the existing audio, the next task was to add music. For my documentary I decided to use dark instrumental ambient music because I felt it fits with the dark themes in my documentary and the serious topic of 'Legal Highs' in my documentary. I had found the music on the website 'YouTube', and downloading the audio using a mpg online server. I then imported the music onto my timeline, then I had to render it. My final editing task was to add captions, I did this my using the text edit tool and moved the file into the top layer of the timeline. I then edited the caption to match the length of the edited video. After finishing all the editing I then exported the saved edit into a quicktime conversion, the quicktime conversion helps the video stream on online video sharing sites such as 'YouTube'. Then I uploaded my documentary onto 'YouTube' using the quicktime video file.
In conclusion my documentary worked out how I wanted it to, although their were a few mishaps, such as not getting an interview with the legal high shop owner, I think my documentary represents my original idea well.
Production:
After competing my pre production work, it was time to start filming. The filming of my documentary was on a two-day schedule. Filming took place on location in Ashton-under-lyne, Tameside, because the location was local and accessible by routine public transport it was easy to get to. The first day of filming was on friday 13/02/15. The first day of filming consisted of cutaways and different shots that would appear in the documentary. Although I was successful in getting all my cutaways completed, the poor weather caused problems, the rain was getting on the lens of my camera, so i needed to repeatedly clean my camera. The next shoot was during the half term on thursday 19/2/15, the second day shoot was filming my interview with my interviewee Kurt Barratt. I had completed my interview and got some extra cutaways. Like the previous shoot I had problems with the poor weather. For the filming of my documentary I used a Sony HD Handycam and a 5ft Hano Tripod.
Post-Production:
During the third week of production I began editing my documentary. For my editing I used the software Final Cut Express, I used this software because it is used in the media industry. Once I opened Final Cut Express, I imported the footage. Then I needed to drag my footage into the time line, once I did this I needed to render the footage, so that it would be converted into an online readable video format. To render the footage I need to hold cmd and R buttons. After I rendered the footage I needed to cut my video to the appropriate length, I edited the majority of my footage in the chronological order as the would appear in the finished documentary. Once my video footage was edited down I began editing the audio, first I deleted the audio which I was't using, such as the background noise that are in the cutaways. I also created sound beds, which transitioned the volume of the video or the background music, I did this by using the pen tool. After deleting the audio I began importing new audio, the first audio I added was the voiceover I had perviously recorded after filming. I imported the voiceover in chronological order so that I knew where to place it in the timeline and what cutaways I should match it with. After rendering and completing all the edits to the existing audio, the next task was to add music. For my documentary I decided to use dark instrumental ambient music because I felt it fits with the dark themes in my documentary and the serious topic of 'Legal Highs' in my documentary. I had found the music on the website 'YouTube', and downloading the audio using a mpg online server. I then imported the music onto my timeline, then I had to render it. My final editing task was to add captions, I did this my using the text edit tool and moved the file into the top layer of the timeline. I then edited the caption to match the length of the edited video. After finishing all the editing I then exported the saved edit into a quicktime conversion, the quicktime conversion helps the video stream on online video sharing sites such as 'YouTube'. Then I uploaded my documentary onto 'YouTube' using the quicktime video file.
In conclusion my documentary worked out how I wanted it to, although their were a few mishaps, such as not getting an interview with the legal high shop owner, I think my documentary represents my original idea well.
Tuesday 10 March 2015
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