Documentary - EVALUATION

Pre Production, Planning and Research.

What worked?

I really enjoyed this part of the project as it really allowed me to explore my job role as Researcher and DP. I wanted to know exactly what went into making a documentary and also with current circumstances, I wanted to research how to get the best footage from home, especially as I only had my Iphone.

It was also important for me to understand what went into making a documentary as I mentioned above, with styles like the impact of narration and interview questions. I wanted to ensure as a group I was putting in as much as I could so that I was contributing into our team and ensuring we were making a professional documentary that continued to meet the remit of BBC Three and our target audience of 16-34 year olds.

I found it beneficial from doing this research, as it allowed me to focus on the tips and tricks that I gained from using different resources to also help plan out the documentary. If I hadn't of researched about Filmic Pro on the Iphone, I wouldn't of known a manual camera app existed, which could of hindered the footage I was able to produce and lower its quality. Just like narration too, it was important for me to see how beneficial narration can be and how it can forward your story but on the other hand, I also learnt that narration can sometimes be biased or propaganda, which is exactly what we didn't want. This was beneficial throughout all my research and all implemented the documentary in some way, or broadened my knowledge which meant I was able to have more input.

What Didn't?

There were occasions within the Pre-Production and research stages which sometimes conflicted with other members of the team. As we had been researching different sources, not all the information we had was the same. Although, this wasn't a massive issue as we communicated well as a team and discussed the research we had found. There were occasions in which I didn't always understand wording or a phrase that someone else had put forward. For example, when we put the AV script together, me and George had both had a different style of AV script we had researched and discussed. Although, the basis of the idea was there for how the AV script should be, we both had researched differently the abbreviations of an AV script and what should be in it. I was looking to use 'Montage' for the into sequences; however, George had researched that the word 'SYNC' would be used throughout which synced the footage and sound together.

Although, this was something we found difficult, once we had both explained our research to each other, it became beneficial as we were learning more and teaching each other further surrounding aspects of our documentary. We communicated it well and wrote the script together based on the research we had both found and featured both 'Montage' and 'SYNC'.

What would I improve next time?

Although, as a team I felt we communicated really well, next time I think it is important we delegate jobs and have more calls as a team. We always discussed things as a team, especially when creating important choices within our documentary like the Script, Narration and anything that would impact the final edit and choice within our documentary of 'Fake News'.

However, I do feel at some stages of the documentary parts of the team were unaware of a new choice that had been made or something we had discussed if they hadn't been present. With current circumstances, I can appreciate it's a hard situation to be in, especially as it's an unknown situation and can cause panic and stress but on some occasions I felt as if I was more ahead on projects then other members of the group were and vice versa, there were occasions I was trying to catch up with work because other members of the group had done more. This in turn I felt caused miscommunication in parts of the documentary we hadn't been doing group calls which may have caused confusion.

So moving forward with group work surrounding the pre-production and planning, I think it would have been beneficial to timetable in more catchups and list the things we individually needed to have done by that call. I will do this next time so that I ensure we are all on the same page and everyone is aware at which stage our project is at so that our communication runs smoothly and no one is left wondering or out.

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Production.

What worked?

I always look forward to the production stage throughout our projects the most as it allows us to put all our planning, research and Pre-Production into practice. I found it difficult on this occasion to be able to do this because of the current circumstances we are facing. However, I did try my best as DP, especially as the production normally would be heavily down to the footage we film and provide which is the job of a DP, to ensure I was providing as much as I could to ensure we still held a professional and relevant documentary.

I ensured I researched and provided as much relevant stock footage as I possibly could along with a few poetic shots I created at home, that may not have been relevant to 'Fake News' but they did hold symbolism that could have allowed the audience to think about the information we had provided to them through our narration as a segment between interviews. I feel this was really beneficial, especially through stock footage, as because I had researched thoroughly, I had found a free stock footage website which was licensed so that we could also edit the footage. If I hadn't of done this in current circumstances as DP, I feel we would of really struggled to of created a powerful documentary based on interviews which wouldn't have been enough and it also felt really exciting to see that although I hadn't filmed the footage, nearly all of the cutaways and footage used besides interviews, was footage I had sourced.

What Didn't?

As I mentioned above, I did try and film footage from home, however as our documentary is on Fake News, I found it hard to actually film anything that could have been relevant especially with just me and my Iphone camera. Although, I did try. The footage was not used within the final cut which I feel is valid, yet unfortunate. I should have thought more and spent more time on the planning of any home shots I may of been able to get. I also feel that I could of sourced a newspaper and of used that to try and create some cinematic shots for added affect within our documentary.

I also feel I could have attempted to recreate some of the stock footage I had seen online, especially the scrolling on the phone and someone using a laptop. I could of attempted to create that if I had given myself more time and spread my time between certain aspects of the DP process and not mainly on the stock footage.

During production, 30 minutes before one of our interviews with our main contributor, they also pulled out and advised they could no longer do the interview, this was also a massive learning curve because we hadn't had a back up or replacement interviewee in case this happened. Which meant we had to adapt to the circumstance and do the contributors story narration based instead. Although, I am proud as a team that we adapted to this situation and got the rights to use his social media page so we could narrate, I still think we should have arranged for another interview or had someone in mind in case any of our contributors had pulled out which is not something I or another member of the group had thought about.

What would I improve next time?

Baring all of the above in mind, I think it was really important for me to of learnt the lesson of time and how attitude can work towards if something is a success or not. Especially, as there is likely to always be something that changes or doesn't go how I would of liked it too. If I had worked on my time management for this project and allowed myself the planning time for filming shots at home, I would of had time to think about and be more inventive with what I could have filmed at home and this may of meant there would of been more footage I could have put forward as DP. So, if I was to do this again, I would work on my time management and ensure I was equally planning all aspects of my job role and not of focused to heavily on stock footage. I also want to ensure next time and moving forward with future projects, that instead of feeling disheartened if something goes wrong, i learn to adapt and solve the issue instead of focusing on other areas.

As I've mentioned above, it is important I learn to adapt to any issues that may arise, If i was to do the project again, I feel it's important we attempt to foresee and issues that occur. If we had done that, we would of thought of having a replacement story to have taken place of the Barber who pulled out and was our main contributor. It's taught me how important it is to ensure that you research further to prepare for any issues, If we had of researched further and contacted more contributors, we could of continued with the interview segments and not of had to narrate a social media page which I don't feel had the same affect.

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Post Production and Further Comments.

What worked?

I feel the post production stage was where we started facing challenges together as a team which entailed some miscommunication, we also faced the challenge of computer issues etc too which hadn't happened to us as of yet, we luckily filmed interviews with no issues. We did however continue to support Stan who had issues with premiere pro and came together as a team to do all that we could to help him as the editor. George helped make the credits so that Stan had time to focus on other things because we had fallen behind due to the technical problems. In this scenario, I feel it really helped that we wanted to encourage each other and help Stan as much as we could.

Once we had seen the draft edit, I feel the narrative came across really well and it showed the importance of how researching scripts, narration and narrative had come all together and shape our documentary. I was really pleased with the narrative our documentary held and how well the narration flowed. I felt as the audience it was engaging and avoided the 'properganda' approach I had researched about that persuaded the audience to feel what you want them to feel which I really wanted to avoid and instead, with the statistics I provided as researcher, it allowed the audience to decide on their own ideas and thoughts on Fake News. I feel we remained unbiased and this came across within the edit.

Obviously, as our documentary is on the remit of BBC Three with a target audience of 16-34 year olds, I also thought the narration from Sydney worked really well and will be extremely appealing to our target audience, there was never one time within the edit I didn't feel engaged with the statistics Sydney had given and she did really well emphasising on key words I wanted her to as co writer.

One of the worries I had was due to the Barber, Kaya Cuneyt who was one of our contributors unfortunately not being able to take part, I was worried that we would not be able to convey his story correctly; However, when watching our documentary, we did really well to get his point and story across by using the screenshots and narration. I felt this was still engaging, showed his perspective and also didn't stop the flow of the video, it fitted in well with our theme. I also thought it was visually engaging.

What Didn't?

As I mentioned above, the issues with premiere pro meant it set us back two days with the edit, which meant we weren't able to get feedback at certain stages because the edit wasn't ready. Although, this was frustrating sometimes issues and technical problems can't be avoided and Stan did really well to keep going and provide the edit within the timeframe. It was important that I learn from this mistake, especially as it has made me more aware of time management, although this couldn't have been helped, no one else had all the footage. It's made me realise that if Stans laptop didn't start working again, we would have had to go above and beyond to get the footage onto someone else's laptop as we didn't all download it.

As we also used a free sharing website to share the footage, once the trial had run out we were all now not able to download it. This has taught me that in circumstances like this, everyone should have had all the footage files available to them because if we had off needed to have changed editor if Stan didn't have the resources of premiere pro, in this circumstance, we wouldn't of been able to because only Stan had the footage.

When we first saw the documentary too, I found there were some things I wanted to suggest to Stan as I didn't think it fitted the style we were going for as the writers. I think on occasions too it didn't feel like the script had been followed. In one scene, when the statistics were given the font was in pink which didn't fit the investigative feel we were going for within our documentary and style. There were also some points of the video in which the public segments didn't feel to have ran smooth or make sense. Once we had got onto a call together and discussed the edit, it was a good feeling that we had came together and worked out what needed to be improved to take the edit to the next stage. Although, there were some things wrong with the edit, Stanley soon fixed them.

What would I improve next time?

Next time, as I've mentioned I would ensure that everybody within the group has all the footage, as we're in extreme circumstances it's more important now then ever; however, I feel in general, we should have known to do that as it could of left us without being able to edit, if Stans computer stopped working all together and then no one else had access to all the footage. It would have been awful and we may not of been able to deliver the edit within the time frame needed.

If I was to do this again I would ensure we were fully prepared, I felt within the post-production stage we had fallen behind and panicked about it. Instead we should have got onto a group meeting, discussed the situation and worked out how together we were going to move forward, that's why it has shown me the importance of time management.


Our Final Video.

Influenced by Lies.