Max Canning
Unit 1 FMP
Production Overview-
As a brief overview, I really enjoyed the freedom and editing time we were given to make and finalize this major project. As a student, I needed help, I found this with not only my teacher, Lewis Bird, but many YouTube tutorials and content creators that explained and evaluated the essentials I needed to include in my documentary in order to push for the higher grades.
These included :
Paul E.T.
Mark Bone
And... Damien Cooper
Production Diary -
Saturday June 15th...
Day 1 of filming -
The first day of filming followed the plan almost flawlessly. I arrived at my Uncle's house on time with my Grandparents and cousins already present on arrival, we began filming almost 30 minutes after. I set up in their converted garage... otherwise nicknamed the 'Man Cave' where the cousins and my uncle like to watch football and play video games. However, this made it harder than anticipated to clear enough room to set up my tripod, light stand and chairs. I wasn't able to find something stirdy enough to hold up my phone tripod to film a second angle so I had to improvise and place it upon the piano. I set up from the front of the room placing the chairs approximately 3 full steps away from the camera and tripod, something I learnt from Damien Cooper's interview set up tutorial.
Here you can see the camera approximately 3 full paces from the position of the interviewees with the light slightly to the left capturing a perfect triangle shadow under the left eye of the subject.
Here is another behind the scenes photo of the set up, you can see me (the cameraman and site manager) adjusting the light to compliment my actors in the best way possible.
These are behind the scenes photos of not only the camera angle in contrast with the seats, including some insight of how the light looks on the canvas of my subjects. But also the difficulties I ran into trying to control my younger interviewees that struggle to stay focused and listen when I'm setting up, and filming.
This photo is my POV, sat under the camera to prevent the subjects from talking to me and instead encouraging them to talk directly to the camera and remember to speak in full sentence as if it's less of a conversation and more of a dialogue or documentation of events.
The outcome of the interview in contrast with the boy's body and the angle of the lighting came out perfectly. The shadowing and colouring of the light was almost identical to Damien Cooper's tutorial that I studied and followed intensely which I was very pleased about. Having to interview 2 people is something I had not only never done before, but also never even seen before, this was a hardship for me as the boys insisted on doing the interview together, however this final shot I filmed the entire interview with was perfect, and actually turned out to be my favourite and the most professional looking angle.
This second angle, shot with my phone, was placed on a third seat instead of the previously mentioned piano as these subjects are a lot smaller than my others and I needed a second angle that captured the lighting and every expression. This second angle is something Lewis Bird and Mark Bone advised me to do to keep the audience engaged and create a captivating atmosphere when the actors are talking, specifically when they are mentioning personal accounts or experiences that cannot be displayed using B-roll.
Sunday June 23th...
Day 2 of filming -
This day was also successful, however, there were many more hardships and complications in comparison to shoot day 1 that I had to overcome. June the 23rd was the first day of shooting purely B-roll. I took a GoPro, tripod, and camera to a football match between Burwell and Vets that I was taking part in. After a lot of research, including action research, I decided to book and take a GoPro to wear whilst I played in order to capture a POV of what it is like to play football and hopefully to secure some footage that can be played in relation to the documentation of my interviewees. However, the GoPro footage turned out to be very laggy, blurry and choppy, resulting in it being completely useless for my FMP. Luckily, after suffering an injury, I had time to set up a tripod and camera capturing many angles of the pitch and players playing in full action which proved to be my best pieces of B-roll.
Tuesday June 25th...
Day 1 of editing -
Day 1 of editing was probably the hardest day of editing. Organising and piecing together all of my individual pieces/clips took up the majority of my editing time in class. This day was also largely consumed by evaluating the quality and length of both my B-roll and interviews whilst beginning to think about how I would piece them together in my final cut. I started by editing the intro for my documentary by using some techniques I learnt from Paul E.T. including text and video transitions with a gradual music entry to set the scene/mood. I then followed the structure of one of my favourite documentaries that I researched and studied produced by the BBC about Deese Kasinga's story where they included relevant stock footage roughly 15 seconds into the intro with statistics flowing over the top.
Here is a screenshot of the editing I did to replicate the BBC's blurred stock footage effect that stands well with statistics. I had to add the 'blur' effect and research statistics on the quantity of people who play football in the UK to complete this effect.
Thursday June 27th...
Day 2 of editing -
Day 2 of editing was easier as I had already evaluated all of the raw clips I captured during the filming phase. However it was not easy, this was the first day I had to sync the interviews to their audio files which proved to be difficult. Once I had overcome this by zooming in to where the audio spikes to its loudest decibels, I had to adjust the level of the music to fit with both the general, flowing audio and the integrated audio clips I put over the top of the statistics, intro, and stock footage. I continued to sync the audio with the interview as I spent the rest of the lesson cutting out any mistakes or documentations that didn't relate to the questions.
This is a screenshot I took of my editing within premier Pro depicting where I've had to sync the audio to the raw interview footage. You can also see where I've implemented a music transition in the beginning to set the tone which I was guided through by Mark Bone.
Friday June 28th...
Day 3 of editing -
I began day 3 of editing knowing I had to finish off the interview with my first 2 subjects and move on to my 3rd in order to stay on track with my timing expectations. However, this day of editing proved difficult as it was here where I had planned to implement all of my back garden and GoPro footage which turned out to be too blurry and over lit to include. This left me with the task of gathering stock footage that fit a criteria of being free to download, relating to the audio of the interview and making sure it wasn't a copyrighted piece of footage. This was successful yet time consuming, leading to me not being able to move on to the second interview as I had planned previously.
Here you can see a screenshot of the stock footage I decided to include over the top of the boys documenting their passion for football and why they love it so much. This clip was chosen due to its simplicity and aesthetic please with the sunset shining on a similar aged boy just enjoying football on the beach.
Tuesday July 2nd...
Day 4 of editing -
Day 4 of editing I had to wrap up my first interview and move onto my second regardless of whether I was able to add everything I had planned as it took a lot longer than anticipated. In order to wrap up my first interview I had to create blocks for clips I can gather from home. Due to our editing being done on Premier Pro, we cannot access this from home and so our time in lesson is very valuable, I utilised this by evaluating which clips I may be able to record or gather outside of lesson. For instance, a clip of Newcastle United playing is something that falls under this and so I created a block reminder to fall over the top of my edit to come back to at a later date once the footage had been recorded.
Here you can see where I have created a black block stating exactly when and where the Newcastle football footage should be placed over the top of the interview. I cut the block's length to fit how long I needed and labelled it to ensure I remembered which piece of footage went where.
Friday July 5th...
Day 5 of editing -
Day 5 of editing was where I spent most of my time experimenting with new music and implementing new skills I'd previously learnt about transitions. By adding an 'exponential fade' to the beginning and end of different music tracks, one song drifts out as another drifts in which is the perfect way to start new music when introducing a new subject to a documentary. I also spent a large portion of this lesson on the introduction of my second interview. This is where I added text introducing the audience to the time period that this subject is speaking within and how football has changed in comparison to now. I also cut the end of my interview with subject 2 with fast snaps of raw B-roll describing every different adjective he suggests.
This screenshot shows exactly where I faded and added new music to transition from one track to another and introduce a new subject. As for the pink edits, this is where I added photos and an audio of a polaroid camera snapping shots of different footballers that the interviewees look up to.
Here you can see where I have added the date as to when this subject played the majority of their football, to help give the audience an idea of what time period they're comparing their experiences to.
Reflection -
A Reflective Cycle...
We were asked to make a documentary following the brief surrounding either a voyage or a hobby. With this I instantly thought of football as it is something I hold a great passion for and I know a lot about. I also knew I would be able to capture a high amount of good quality B-roll, as I play and watch football very often. In addition, my entire family has either played or plays football and therefore I knew I could interview them and capture in-depth, personal accounts of their experiences playing football.
During the planning phase, I had to take into account the age of my subjects as this was the first time I was filming children, whilst doing this, I understood that I had to book a shoot time that wasn't too late that their concentration would be lapsed, but also not too early that they would be too energetic to control. I did this by communicating with their parents and arranging to meet on set at 1pm which was the most convenient time for all of my subjects, including the younger subject's concentration.
Another factor that slowed the shoot... was the absence of a location evaluation. I didn't include an evaluation of the location of the shoot in my plan, this lead to me being unprepped for when the set location was untidy, leaving no room for me to set up my equipment. This set back the shoot time as I had to clear some space and set up my equipment from then on and had to settle with using the top of a piano as a phone tripod.
I feel as though I developed many new skills with not only the filming of my documentary, but also the intensive research I did before hand that helped show me all the tips and tricks necessary when creating a high-budget-looking documentary. For instance, as I went over earlier, the 3 pace rule for the lighting and camera, to make sure the subject's are not uncomfortable or disorientated, is a new skill I have learnt whilst studying the art of filming documentaries. Another skill that I developed and implemented is the importance of mise-en-scene. I set up my interviews with the surrounding feeling of football, having a flag in the background, and the interviewees wearing something in relation to a club shirt or a goal/ball, this helps to relate back to the title and the setting I am portraying through these shots to highlight the meaning of the documentary as a whole.
The biggest challenge I had to face when shooting, despite the careful planning and consideration of concentration, was maintaining control over the younger subjects. Their spans of attention ran very short and it was difficult to get them to answer my questions either truthfully, seriously or in full sentences. To counter this, next time I would have one of their parents present to have a figure that they listen to assist me in keeping them focused, or even give them breaks within the shoot for them to blow off steam or have something to eat/drink, this may have retained their attention and kept them concentrated for longer periods of time.
In order to prepare for my documentary shoot, I put in place a transport arrangement to ensure I had access to a car and not public transport when transferring the equipment from one site to another. For instance, I stayed in college after hours and waited until a lift was free to be sure the equipment had the necessary security and safety when being transported from College to my home. This was important for me as I have seen projects fail, or drop standard when equipment has been lost or damaged.
However, during the planning phase, not everything went as expected. One thing I did not plan ahead for was contingency time, having my GoPro footage failing and being un-useable for my documentary, I did not leave any time for it to be re-shot or even shot again in a different setting/location. To counter this, next time I would implement contingency time within my plan to cover any mistakes that may take place during the filming phase.
The mandatory skills we had to display included: High quality, steady B-roll, well lit and framed interview and a final edit that merged the two to contrast each other well. I believe I captured a high quality of B-roll that I was pleased with due to the choice of camera location, I alternated the position of the camera and tripod from behind the goal, behind the players and the side of the pitch to capture all different exciting and fast-paced action shots that I hoped for to compliment my interviews.
One thing that did not go so well on shoot however, was the framing of my camera. The centre square that focuses, and is supposed to signify the centre of the lens was slightly off, creating a miss-proportionate shot for my second and third interviews in relation to where their head was on the final clip. In order to ensure this wouldn't happen again, next time I would test the filming equipment and all of its settings/components before even arriving on set. This would give me time to adjust anything that may negatively effect the final look of the shot before the filming has begun.
