DOCUMENTARY UNIT
In this unit we are creating our own documentaries, due to COVID they have to be made at home, using our own equipment. On this blog page I have logged each stage of my work.
W/B- 05/03/21- F I N A L F I L M - - E V A L U A T I O N - In this project we undertook a huge project, to create a documentary by ourselves based around the title, Isolation Stories. This felt very overwhelming at first, although I have access to Premier Pro, it is software I have little experience with, therefore I knew I had a lot to learn before I was able to put together a film. By researching, creating mind-maps and story boards, I was able to formulate and develop an idea that I felt I was able to relate to and create a successful documentary from. From the brief I interpreted my own ideas and title; Alone in Isolation. This is a documentary based around loneliness and mental health as an affect of lockdown. I have personal experiences with this topic, so I felt very close to it.
Friends. family, as well as famous artists, all influenced my work and helped shaped my documentary into something I am really proud of. At the start of the project I learnt a lot from 'visiting' virtual talks, based on film making. In a bittersweet way, I am grateful for the movement to online learning, due to COVID, as previously I would not have been able to afford to travel to big cities and access these talks in person. Kevin B. Lee, is a filmmaker and director, he did a free talk on desktop documentaries. This was a massive influence as I had no real understanding of what a desktop documentary was, this inspired me to utilise my screen recording software more and include news clips. I am very pleased with the research and material I had collected before filming and editing. Without this crucial stage I would have struggled to put together a film on such a delicate topic. Through out lockdown I have been involved in a mental health support group and through this I was able to collect lots of relevant research to my topic. As well as this, I was also able to collect statistics I could incorporate. I used this research to give prompts to my interviewee and after the interview I was so happy with the footage because of this! Because this was a desktop documentary, I did not consider Mine En Scene as much as I would have if I had filmed the footage myself. However, I did consider colour a lot when adding photos and videos. During the editing process, I tried to consider colour and how I could use different colour schemes to create a different mood/ atmosphere. At the beginning of my documentary I incorporated some videos of life before COVID, I decided to change these to black and white. Black and white images always have more of a dramatic and emotional effect so I felt it was very fitting. However, towards the end of the documentary I included a montage of photos and videos taken of happy moments during the past year, I choose to keep these in colour. It is at the point in the film that music changes to happier, upbeat, positive music, so I felt that the images should reflect this and also be in colour. This project opened me up to many opportunities. I have always been very drawn to advertising and commercial photography, therefore film is something that I have never explored much before. Using advanced editing software, Premier Pro, has been really interesting and an opportunity that I wouldn't have had otherwise. I am happy that I can potentially utilise this knowledge in higher education. However, the most obvious constraint of this project has been the lack of face to face support due to COVID. I have had to learn a lot from YouTube tutorials, due to learning being moved to online Through out this project my ideas changed and developed a lot. As I did more research into the topic of loneliness and isolation, I began to realise that mental health was something that fit in really well with this topic. Additionally, I conducted primary research, by talking to the ladies who are part of a mental health organisation I am apart of. This gave me a better insight into different topics and news articles I could include. This is something that is very close to my heart and I felt I would be able to address in a sensitive, yet positive way. As I spoke to Calullah, the lady I interviewed for my film, my ideas naturally changed as well. I never planned to have a little montage at the end, however, I thought her quoting 'everything will be okay in the end,' was really moving and that a montage would fit in well. Additionally, during research on editing techniques, a montage was something I enjoyed learning about. A massive part of the creation of this film that I found really enjoyable, was the process of socialising and collaborating with different people. Lockdown has been a very isolating time in my life, therefore to have the time to spend to talk to people, whilst creating, has been really valuable. There are many techniques I have learnt through this process. Premier Pro is not something I have a lot of experience on, so through the use of YouTube videos I learn many new tools. Using KeyFrames and adding screen recordings to videos , may be something I can use in future projects. I am really happy with the outcome of this project, this is a documentary that I can relate to and I think that it was a really positive spin of the brief! This was the first film I have ever created and I am very proud of the final product, I believe that the amount of research I conducted was a vital part of the successes I had. I also loved working with the sound design aspect of the editing, choosing music that worked with my clips was a challenge, however it was a part I found very interesting. However, throughout the process I was faced with many problems. If I where to re-do this project I would ensure that all my clips and interviews where filmed in the right orientation, as them being portrait really effects the flow of the film. To conclude, this documentary project really inspired me to be more open minded when receiving a brief. At first I thought this would be a massive challenge and that I would not enjoy it, however in the end I have a final piece that I really enjoyed creating.
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W/B- 29/02/21This week has probably been the hardest part of making the film, in terms of technical skill and ability. After collecting all of my footage and choosing sound, the next step is editing the clips down and creating a final cut. Luckily, I have access to Premier Pro, which is an advanced editing software created by Adobe. - O N E - The first thing to do is open up Premier Pro and create a new file, I made sure to save this to the cloud to ensure it is safe and backed-up. Next, I imported all my footage into my file, I was then able to see all my clips in the project section and able to drag and drop them to the sequence. - TWO - The first clip I wanted to include, at the opening of my documentary, is Boris Johnson announcing the first lockdown back in March of 2020. I believe this adds context to the documentary, but also suspense, as this was a very hard time for everybody. To include this clip, I firstly found it on Youtube, then I screen recorded (using command, shift 5) from the point I wanted. I then cut the clip in Premier Pro. - THREE - For my video title, I wanted to experiment with a cool effect, I felt like it appearing on the screen like a type writer would add visual interest- as I already knew that there was going toe lots of text in the film anyway. To do this I followed a Youtube tutorial... below are some of the steps I followed. Looking back I think I regret spending so much time on this, although the results are okay, it was very advanced and took up a lot of quality editing time I had and I don't think the pay off was enough. -THREE - After adding the opening clip and the title, I started to focus on my own footage. On some of the clips I wanted just the sound- and not the video, therefore I had to unlink the audio and picture on my timeline. This was quite easy and meant that I was then able to add my own video on top of the audio. - FOUR - Some of my clips where slightly too small (or too large) to fit the frame, therefore I needed to use the crop tool. I found this in the effects bar and dragged it onto the desired clips. I was then able to crop each clip to the right dimensions using the sliders. I also had the option to 'zoom', this a box you can tick where the program automatically fits the frame. - FIVE - To give my documentary a sense of reality and to further amplify how serious mental health and loneliness is, I searched YouTube for some news clips I could include. I had to make sure they fit the tone, but also had no loud background noise or music. Including these clips really added to the atmosphere of the documentary. - SIX - I then explored playing with the volume and sound design. When importing my music, I didn't know how to control the volume or know how to create fades, so I took to YouTube to learn off of tutorials. I disproved how keyframes work, adding those gave me more control over when and where the music would be more dominate. On parts where I had no talking and just images, I focused on the music a lot more, to add atmosphere. However, on parts like the news articles, where there are lots of diegetic sound, I made the music a lot quieter, so the stories could be heard. Overall, I had a lot of fun during the editing process. Although it was hard and I had to teach myself a lot of the editing techniques, I now feel as if I know so much more about how Premier Pro works and how to navigate around the software.
W/B- 22/02/21This week I have focused on the sound design side of my documentary. At the beginning of the week I managed to get some key feedback on the clips I had recored so far. Due to COVID, we are still not in face to face classroom situations, so feedback was via a Teams call, therefore I shared my clips on Youtube. Having feedback from a tutor was really helpful as it made me realise I had lots of footage and that I could now start focusing on other aspects of the film, e.i sound and editing. Now that my film is focusing on loneliness and mental health, I want to have quite a calming tone to it. The interviews and clips I received, are what I want to be the main sound in the film, so the music I choose has to be quiet and calming, so not to take away from the voices and interviews. Something to consider when choosing sound, is using royalty free music. This will help avoid copyright and avoid breaking laws. My film is a private student film, therefore it won't be used for monetary purposes, however, it is good practice to follow the rules of real film makers. I found this music via Youtube and I think it was very fitting for the purpose of my film, it is quiet and not overpowering. Before I pulled it into Premier Pro, I played this music at the same time of one of my interview clips, to see if they worked well together. It really changed the tone of interview and I really liked that. This is definitely music I want to include in my documentary.
W/B- 15/02/21During half term this week, I have focused on collecting clips and pieces of film for the documentary. This has definitely been my favourite stage of the project so far. I can see my idea go from a storyboard, to a finished product! Collecting Clips Most of my film is going to be in the style of a desktop documentary, thus meaning that it won't physically be filmed by me, but instead screen captured and edited by me. Now that I am developing the idea of how loneliness in COVID effects mental health, I wanted my first clips to be personal to peoples stories of how they have felt during lockdown. After getting the appropriate release forms signed and completing the risk assessment, I asked a group of people to describe how isolation has made them feel in three words. Every single person I asked said loneliness- so these clips feel very appropriate to use and would work well for an introduction to my film. After gathering clips, I realised that when reaching out to people I didn't specify the orientation of the videos. Therefore some of the videos I received where portrait, rather than landscape, the video portion of these clips are now useless as they wouldn't fit into the frame. To overcome this issue I will have to isolate the sound from the video and use photographs or relevant video clips with it. W/B- 08/02/21New Inspirations This week had started with me planning to gather clips, following my story board. However, midweek, I had a little bit of inspiration from something personal in my life and this made me re-think my idea and story board. Orignal VS New Originally my idea was to follow a series of stories of people who have experienced loneliness in different ways during lockdown- I wanted to do returning interviews with certain people. Yet now, I want to focus on the mental impact on loneliness and lockdown- I think this is more relatable and should be addressed more. This new idea came about after I recently became apart of a mental health non-profit. On the group page 'loneliness' is frequently used to describe how everyone was feeling, nearly every message discussing mental health mentioned how people where feeling lonely. Primary Research DISCLAIMER: These are screenshots I have taken to show as primary research, however, I have removed names and personal details to protect identities. After seeing these comments from real people, about their relationship experiences with loneliness during COVID, I think it is so important for mental health to be addressed in my documentary. I think it is important for me to adjust my story board now, to make the process of filming smoother, with my new ideas.
W/B- 01/02/21Release Forms After my research stage last week, I am now focusing on collecting release forms from people I am including in my documentary. Release forms are extremely important in film and photography, as a student it is good to get into the practice of them and understand their purpose. They are in place to protect you or your piece of work, from any legal action. I found a student release form template online, I then sent it out to everyone I wanted to use in my documentary to virtually sign. Risk Assessment Another crucial part of the planning stage is to complete a risk assessment. Risk assessments are put in place to assess any hazards you may face when filming. Due to the fact I am not filming on location or in the studio, this risk assessment is slightly different. My documentary is a desktop film, therefore my hazards are based around using the computers and online safety. Throughout the process I will be additionally addressing my health and safety booklet, in my this I have acknowledged computer and internet safety. Below, you will find my finished risk assessment for the project and the link to my H&S booklet.
W/B- 25/01/2021This week I have focused on researching and exploring the documentary style. This will help me when filming and editing as inspiration from others is always important to acknowledge to learn and grow. Free Talks and Tutorial Events Due to Covid, face to face teaching is not possible, therefore hundreds of thousands of teachers and lecturers all across the world have given students access to live talk and seminars. I was lucky enough to be told about a few of these amazing tutorials, relevant to documentary making. I have chosen to include this in my research to demonstrate the sheer amount of free resources available at this time. The first talk was with media artist, Kevin B. This live demonstration was all about the basics of desktop documentaries. A desktop documentary uses footage from the internet using screen capturing, rather than the traditional way of filming with a camera. I am planning on using footage from Zoom and Skype interviews, so this talk really helped me understand how I would incorporate that footage into my documentary. This chat was very relevant and I learnt a lot from it. Director Francis Lee, ran a live Q&A that I managed to catch this week. A lot of the conversation was not as relevant but it was without a doubt very interesting, giving me a clear insight in what life as a director or filmmaker was like. It was also very useful to hear from a sound designer. Sound is something I have not considered much in my film. A day in the life of Coronavirus Britain is a documentary that Channel 4 released not so long ago. It follows what the new normal is like for the UK. It is quite comedic, which I think in this particular time is very important, keeping things like this light and fun help people stay positive. After watching this program I am considering keeping my documentary light hearted, rather than deep and solum. Above I have linked the final part of the research stage, where I explored the website Short Of The Week.
Next week I am going to focus on collecting some release forms so I can get started with filming! After completing some important research I defiantly feel I have more direction, especially after watching the Channel4 doc, I have even gone back through and adjusted my story board to hint at more of a light hearted theme. W/B- 18/01/2021After outlining key features and themes in my doc proposal, I am ready to create a detailed story board, highlighting scenes and dialog that I want to include. To help me design my story board, I created a few sketches of scenes I want to include. Because I am a visual learner this helped me get my ideas down on the story board template on Word. For each frame I wrote a few words on what sort of sound and picture I would include. I also sourced some images from google, so I could visual picture some of the editing techniques I wanted to include. To view my final story board, please see the link below!
W/B- 11/01/2021Developing a Brief and Adapting to COVID-19 Rules This week we introduced our new brief, which is to film and produce our own documentary. Due to the on going COVID-19 situation, we have been adapting our brief to work around the new implemented lockdown. With these new rules, colleges and universities have moved to online learning for the foreseeable future, meaning our original brief; creating a documentary of any topic, in groups, using college tech, is now unachievable. As a group we have been working on a new brief, that includes working from home and filming on our phones. My Thoughts On The Brief and Preparing a Proposal At first this new brief seems slightly overwhelming, I feel out of my comfort zone working on a project that I have little knowledge about. However, it opens the doors for more experimentation and I am able to create a documentary that is personal and full of my own input. To begin the project I will need to create a documentary proposal, this will outline the theme of my film. By mind-mapping my initial ideas I feel I will be able to create a considered and well-thought-out proposal. Why I have Chosen This idea After creating a basic mind map, I choose an idea to develop on. Isolation alone is something I can relate to, as I am currently in lockdown living on my own, so I feel this is an idea that I feel commutable tackling. I also know a lot of people who are in the same position dealing with loneliness and have been affected, especially their mental health, therefore I feel I could get some good interviews to include. Below I have attached my finalised brief and proposal!
stage five - release formsRelease form are an important part of creating a piece of work. They protect the director from getting into any legal action over the work. I ensured to get release forms signed by anyone I wish to use in my documentary.
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AuthorJasmine Victoria Morris Archives
March 2021
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