Production Blogs 

Week 9 (10/04/2022) - (17/04/2022)

This week I got photos of sci tech college building, Barnsley town centre, Barnsley college red building for the location recces. I filmed Alex’s interviews and b-roll, he spoke about what mental health issues he has, how they affect him, what helps him (etc.). Did some shots of him walking. I did this because I wanted to get the main part of the documentary out of the way, so I do not need to worry about it anymore, reducing the stress later in the project. Also, I knew this would not take long to film as he is a very blunt person, so his answers were very quick and straight to the point. I also finished all location recces and risk assessments, took screenshots of these, labelled them in my memory stick and did not put them on WIX as I want to wait until I have completed some other planning documents before I put them on my website. I also filmed the sunset at the viewpoint, this is going to be used as b-roll in between interviews and facts and statistics, I also got photos of the viewpoint for the location recces.
 

Completing my risk assessments went well, I think this is because I did them in stages, what I mean by this is that I did all of the crosses on all of them one day in one stage, then put all of this information in the first column and say why and how it is a risk, then on another day I filled in the rest of the column, this worked well because I did not overwork myself, got it done in stages, took screenshots of it ready to put on WIX. I did something similar for my location recce’s I filled in all the top part of the document: name, producer, address, contact number (etc.), then I googled the locations on google maps and took screenshots and added them to the document, filled in the health and safety concerns and why the location was suitable, then when I went to the locations again to get photos. Filming the sunset at the viewpoint, it was effective, and I think it will be good for b-roll.
 

During filming Alex’s interviews, there was a few issues with lighting because I am not the best with camera and Alex has no knowledge of camera or tripods, this was a hard problem to solve. Also, the original plan was to film on two cameras, to get two different angles, however only ended up with one as I could not get the other camera to work properly, the camera was showing just white, and I did not know how to solve it.  Another thing that went wrong was Alex’s interviews and the b-roll footage of him, it did not go to plan.
 

The lighting went wrong because of the cameras focus set and I did not know how to change it, ended up just filming on one camera. Alex’s interviews went wrong as he had not slept properly in a few weeks, so he was not fully there, was not himself, was not motivated to go ahead with filming, wanted to get it done as quick as possible, was not committed in doing a lot, was tired, was unfocused. He did not give very good answers, did not really explain what he was saying, even if I gave another question about his answer, he is usually a blunt person anyway therefore, with the lack of sleep this was even more intense, making his interview overall, very short and not good enough to use as just him. The b-roll went wrong in the way that I could not get a lot of it of him due to him wanting to get it over with as quick as possible, which I understood and tried my best to reduce the number of shots I have of him.
 

To fix the lighting on the camera I changed the focus settings, during filming the b-roll due to the camera just showing pure white, therefore this needed to be changed as having extra footage of him is needed because he is the main character for the project. With the interviews there was not a way I could fix the answers without re-filming the interview, however I did not want to do this unless Alex had sorted his sleeping, although I knew this would take a long time as the reasoning why he had not been sleeping, he did not know and there was no solution for it, as he had spoken to doctors about it and there is nothing they can give him, the reasoning for this is because he is already on a few different types of medication, therefore is unable to be given another type. However, I came up with a solution to work around it by thinking of some other people to interview, asking them, writing questions for their interviews, but still having Alex as the focus as even though his interview was unsuccessful, it shows people how important sleep is, how much it can affect you if you do not get enough of it because during the interviews, Alex has the same facial expression throughout and does not really move, it is like he is there but also not.
 

It affected my product because I made my documentary all about Alex and his mental health, there was no other interviews with other people, it was quite stressful, however it was no one’s fault, I came up with solutions quite quick and easily, making the situation less stressful.

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Week 10 (17/04/2022) – (24/04/2022)

I filmed some b-roll in Wentworth Park, I got some footage of trees, flowers, ducks, ducklings, river, I used different shot types of different things. I also got some b-roll on the Pennie trial of nature to be shown in between interviews and for when facts and statistics. I filmed the sunset again, however I filmed it on a day where the weather had been quite sunny that day, therefore it was better compared to the first time I did it.

Filming b-roll and Wentworth went well because I got it done quick and easily, I had help from my friend, I got different angles of nature. I did the same on Pennie trial, this is good filler footage for when interviews are being shown in my documentary. Filming the sunset went well, this is because I learnt from my mistake and did it when it had been a sunny day, the footage I got will be good to show at the beginning of the documentary and for the credits at the end. Also, I got a lot of b-roll on the way back from the viewpoint, of the journey home, of views, roads (etc.).

When I went to film at Wentworth Park, it was busier than expected, therefore I could not get as much footage as I wanted, due to there being people having picnics where I wanted to get more footage.
 

This went wrong as I thought it would not be busy, when it was, therefore it was unexpected, I had to make sure to not get other people in my shot.

 

To fix this problem I got footage in other places at Wentworth, as it is quite a big park, I made people aware that they were not on film and only filmed in areas where people would not be in shot.
 

It does not affect the rest of my production as I worked around the issue and still manged to get enough footage as I wanted, therefore it is no longer an issue.

 

Week 11 (24/04/20220 – (01/05/2022)

This week I did my shot list and shooting order, I did this after I filmed most of my project, so that it makes more sense to me and is more accurate. I filmed Nia’s interview, she has anxiety herself, I chose her because her opinion is coming from a personal point of view, therefore this will help educate people watching about the subject. I also did an interview with Brandon, I chose him due to him having more than one mental health issue, so hearing him answering the question will be really inspiring for viewers. I also did an interview with Jo, she is a teacher, therefore has helped others with their mental health issues, giving advice where she can, so seeing what she had to say about the topic. I did an interview with Nicky as he has a lot of positive energy, therefore it will bring some happiness to my documentary, so it will show a mixture of moods and emotions, different personalities.

Completing my shot list and shooting order, went well because I finished them in one day, screenshotted them and put them on WIX. My interview with Nia went well, she answered all questions in detail, took it as serious as she could, I think that this interview will help people to get a good understanding of the topic from someone that has history with anxiety. The interview with Brandon was successful, this is because he gave his opinion from a personal point of view, shared some of his experiences, gave both negative and positive answers, this is good as it shows reality. Jo’s interview was successful as she gave an opinion that was different from the others because she helps people on the daily with their mental health, she is not a professional, although she tries her best to give the best help she possibly can. Nicky’s interview was also successful as this will bring energy to the documentary that is only shown in this interview.

Jo’s interview went wrong, as I needed to film it more than once, not only this, but I had to use a lot of time to get this completed and when I did this it was not how I wanted it to be, however I had already wasted enough time. I had to delete most of the as the SD card that was used needed formatting.
 

It went wrong as I had not been deleting footage and photos from my SD card, therefore it needed formatting, which meant I had to delete all files from not just mine but my friend’s memory stick.
 

To work around this problem, I am going to just use the footage I have of this interview, I did not want to re-film it again, as I had already done this twice, which is already time consuming enough for myself and Jo. Therefore, I think it is best for myself and Jo for me to use the footage I have, make the best of what I have.
 

It affects the rest of my production because now when it comes to editing, this interview is going to look different compared to the others because there is only one angle of this and it is from the side, however the answers that Jo gave was good, too good to not use.

 

Week 12 (01/05/2022) – (08/05/2022)

I got some more b-roll this week, in town of people and buildings, this did not take long, which is good as this allowed me to download all footage and label it, ready for editing. I also started editing.
 

Filming the b-roll went well because I got it done very quick and easily, the people I was working with for this, they were really relaxed and easy to work with, this made it a lot less stressful. The editing beginning went well as it made me realise that editing was not going to be as time consuming as I thought, this is a positive as it means I have more time to check my WIX website, to see what is needed to be added. Another reason the editing went well was because so far it looked very professional, especially with the content warning, this is because it allows viewers to decide from the very beginning of the documentary if they want to watch it, this was my focus for this week, reasoning is due to it being very important, as it is preventing what I am trying to avoid, which is triggering people
 

When filming the b-roll I was not as organised as I could’ve been, this led to thinking of a lot of shots on the spot, this led to having to think of ideas there and then, rather than just knowing what I wanted/needed.
 

This went wrong because I was not very organised, however I still managed to get enough footage, that I needed, it did this by brain storming ideas with the people I was working with, we all came up with ideas, this was helpful and made it a lot easier, stressful. In the end it was a successful filming day, as I completed all filming, labelled it all, ready for editing.
 

This problem does not affect the rest of my production, the problem and solution were both done within the same day; therefore, it will not be an issue in the future with the production.

 

Week 13 (08/05/2022) – (15/05/2022)

This week I completed most of the edit, cut the interviews down to how I wanted them, added voiceovers where needed, added b-roll appropriate to what was being said. I also completed all research, not only this but also wrote about all sections, saying why I did it, why it was helpful (etc.).
 

The editing went well, reasoning for this is due to myself getting through it a lot quicker than expected what I mean by this is that I am usually quite slow when it comes to editing, however I think the reasoning for this being quicker is because I filmed each question individually (for some interviews), therefore this reduced a large amount of time during editing. This is due to me not having to listen to each interview fully, to find the question I need for each part, as all footage was labelled, this saved a lot of time. Another thing that went well this week was research because I got it done in a quick space of time, not only this but I did not rush, it did it in full detail.
 

My memory stick is quite sensitive, therefore when it is touched when in the computer, while I am using premier pro, it makes me must close and open it up again, so this was quite frustrating, especially when I had to re-do some things, when I had not saved it before this happening.
 

With other people or I am touching my memory stick, by accident, or without even realising, this is what caused this issue.
 

There was no way to fix this issue, apart from being careful, making sure if I leave premier open on my computer, with my memory stick in, that I had saved my work, as it took the lightest touch for this issue to happen.
 

This effects the rest of production by it making the editing process a lot more time consuming than it needed to be, which was quite frustrating, although there was not anything to do about this.