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1. Factual: Evaluation
Jake Whattam-Smith

2. Research

3. Research Phase Reflection
Having previously had near to no background knowledge on documentaries, other than watching them the odd time on TV, this meant the research
phase was an essential factor to my own understanding and development in this sector. My main aspirations at this point was to watch a few existing
products that I could source easily for the internet, and from here on then analyze the numerous features and development of the video; from the
structure to technical qualities, and audio to aesthetic portrayal, the existing products I had researched, through dissecting their own
similarities/differences and strengths/weaknesses in the key forms of context, content, style, and techniques, offered a wide variety of interest in the
sparse industry of factual products, broadening my ability and expanding my knowledge to boost my initial involvement and skills when creating my
own documentary.
Strengths:
- It's important to acknowledge that before we endeavor to the more specific details in my research, the individual existing products I had chosen for
the processes we're very defined and skillful in their own interpretations. I had always pre-determined that I would gather products of a sparse ability
which showed an extensive technical and strong drive to following a documentary style, but it was equally as important to me that they were utterly
different so that I could fulfill getting a sparse range of different processes and methods across the products, all of which is achieved and strongly
shown in the research and greater understanding I had gathered at the end of this phase, offering a higher chance and scope of opportunities in the
work I will develop.
- Defining each existing product to the key factors of content, context, style and techniques, I recognized early on that these elements are essential
to the upbringing of a factual source of entertainment amongst the media industry. Covering content and context (as they are very similar topics), this
is what information will be stated throughout the video to determine the main focal point and purpose of its creation as it offers a greater
understanding or knowledge to something in particular; whereas style targets the way it has been presented and offered to its audience, such as
through language and audio, techniques focuses on the more concerning details it has been exemplified through things such as editing tricks in post-
production to interview setups and management during filming. These 4 rules point at the fundamental features in a factual piece, giving a greater
insight and familiarity on how to start forming my own initial ideas to the project and getting them across in development, whilst seemingly learning

4. Research Phase Reflection - Continued
Weaknesses:
- Eventhough I strongly believe that the choice of existing products that I had analyzed was increasingly beneficial and helpful to my understanding and
development in creating a documentary, I think either an additional source or change of existing product should have been made to suit and be of
closer resemblance to the topic I filmed my documentary towards (covid-19). This was because of a lack of judgement from myself, not fulfilling what I
was going to cover until a later date, but even so I believe if I had clarified a subject prior to the research phase, I could have learnt a lot more from
simply reviewing documentaries that are similar to my aspirations in the project, possibly increasing time management situations at the time but
making it less stressful and more productive as well.
- I definitely think even after having finished my weeks' worth of research in the project, I hadn't fulfilled and learnt everything that was particularly
necessary going forward in the project, such as with managing an interview scenario from lighting to camera placement and the questions being asked
up until recording it. This comes from once again my own lack of time management when beginning the project during the research phase, focusing
mainly on the numerous aspects to include and what I was going to target, rather than thinking about the more essential components building up to
production and post-production. This may be because of my lack of spending more time on gathering the information from a sparser range and variety
of sources instead of just the physical documentary video clip, something which could have simply been improved by looking and gathering
information from websites and or even books.
Style Example Techniques Example Content/Context Example

5. Research Phase Reflection - Continued
Time Management -
Time management throughout the research phase played a significant role against the amount of work I was producing. Mainly provoked because of a
lack of judgement on what I was to focus my own documentry towards, this maintained an uncertainty in myself and the work, limiting the potential
to gather a full understanding of documentaries which was essential given I hadn't had much previous experience around the subject.
Improvements I Would Make -
It's evident, given that a butterfly affect has progressed from its presence, that I would improve my time management and overall organisation during
this period; by fixing and determining my main interest and focus to the project, which was the expectant issue at the time, this would immediately
resolve and improve the extent of work I had been producing (given I now fully understand what I'm targeting my documentary towards), producing
more detailed work as less stress is carried on into the project, whilst additionally being able to gather more essential and necessary information in the
time that has been cancelled out from a lack of perception previously.
Following from a lack of time management and if I had decided my intentions for the project beforehand, I would have selected more reflective
existing products to the subject I'm targeting, covid-19 and education; by doing so, I strongly believe that this would benefit my own understanding to
the topic I have targetted my project at (covid-19 and education), supporting further development into the project but also broadening my content
research during the research phase, which has lacked a lot of potential information due to my time management issues at the beginning – possibly
improving the written work when discussing the topic of interest or creating the documentary from which I inform my audience about the topic of
covid-19 and education because I have a greater understanding.
I think another key factor I could have improved was when gathering the research initially, I understand that looking at other documentary's has
benefitted a lot because ive been able to collect different techniques, abilities and methods for when creating my own product further down the line,
but if I had considered looking at other sources including websites, books, and or even newspapers, this could have improved a lot in my knowledge
going forward in the project as theres a strong chance I would have learnt a lot of external info behind documentries either in the making of them,
post-production or just about the topic of interest – which was thriving in newspapers and was a missed opportunity.

6. Planning

7. Planning Phase Reflection
The planning phase is always an essential component to any project, as it can determine what, where, when and how you will create your product in
the following few or couple of weeks during production, and this is no exception when creating my factual documentry; if anything, this is the most
crucial part to the whole project for myself, given I don’t have much a background knowledge or presence in documentry creation which means
everything I do now determines the whole rest of the project, so its imperative I get this done right and effectively.
Strengths:
- Regarding that I hadn't created any sort of documentary before, and started this project off knowing nothing at all about producing them, I think I
had done extremely well to gather a variety of aspects in the planning phase; from types of styles and genres, to the numerous different and possible
techniques, story development to interviews and sound capabilities in documentaries, I feel like I've covered a lot of opportunities that have opened
up the potential, with my own creative background, to create something unique and effective amongst the industry.
- I strongly believe that I have managed and sustaineed a very organised approach trhoughout the planning process, comparing it to the liking of my
research phase and previous projects where I could have shown a greater deal of management in time, structure, and organisation; this was achieved
given I had a much more focused and distinct understanding of what I was going to create, a documentry targetting the effects covid has had on
education in England, and to support this ideal evenmore, knowledge I had already gained through previous projects in addition to having learnt some
new processes (including interviews, archieval footage etc) made it seemingly easier to unfold, demonstrate, and plan as a whole because I can show
the different opportunities available to me and my project.
- When beginning the development of my documentary with a summary of intentions, this significantly supported the following structural breakdown
and understanding I had on creating my documentary as a whole; because I had recognized everything I intended on exhibiting in the project
beforehand, this influenced and helped myself form a clear structure of the documentary I was going to create, establishing a much greater
understanding and confidence in myself as a result of planning everything exceptionally and being able to form a framework with the different
features I desire to include - in addition to managing my time, organizational ability, and production schedule in what was the next few weeks
generating a product.

8. Planning Phase Reflection
Weaknesses:
- Although I had covered what seems every aspect to consider in creating a documentary for the planning phase, there are many points throughout
the documentation that lacked its full potential. Like with the potential methods, color schemes, and audio sections, I could have looked into it more
and added a great deal more information and key points to consider in each segment; this was an abundance of missed opportunities which I could
have developed additional ideas and intentions from in my documentary, improving many a techniques and its status amongst the industry.
Time Management -
I think time management wise I handeled different aspects of the planning phase more efficiently and constructively than others, but doing so kept a
balance amoungst the week or two when planning my docuemntry as time was equally gained to being lost amoungst different things; for instance, I
had quite quickely but sufficiently planned out the numerous oppertunities with post-production techniques, like editing tricks and methods, because
I'd already gained a greate background knowledge and experiuance on such processes in other projects and part-time hobbies, whereas when
considering interviews and the procedure needed for them to be directed and form a structure, this feature lacked those attributes making it much
more difficult and challenging for myself given I've never followed through with a procedure like this before.
Improvements I Would Make -
Even though I think I've covered near to all aspects for the planning phase, I think I could have focused more on the possibilities with audio in my
documentary, and added more information for the potential methods that are mentioned, like reenactment, voice overs, exposition etc. For audio
improvements, I would have included some aspects considering some possible audio implementations I had found on the web, listing them amongst a
table that indicates details like sourcing location, duration, whether or not its copyright free, and what its called; and similarly I could have done
another table process that indicates details for the potential methods, but differing by looking at how to make it, where it could be used, the typical
duration of its use, and maybe even examples of it being used..

9. Production

10. Production Phase Reflection: Interviews/Content
Having now completed my interviews and used them throughout the documentary, I think they turned out extremely well considering I begun the
project not having any knowledge or experience on creating them.
- Conducted in different environments for each separate interview, this allows each individual their own environment that they can be reflected upon,
making ease of identification and relatability in the auidence seamless given they now have a greater understanding when viewing the documentary
and the interviews that are present.
- Regarding the results I had gathered in response to the questions being asked for the interviews, it went extremely well. I got everything that was
necessary to the questions being asked and more, getting a range of opinions, judgements, thoughts and ideals, all of which benefits the focus of the
documentary as I want their personal experiences with the topic of interest, covid and its effect of education.
- In addition to the interviews taken place, I think the camera placement/layout, settings, and quality was acceptable if not well achieved in conclusion
to the filming segment, this was evenmore clear during the editing process where the stock footage was improved with colour grading and camera
scaling altered to establish both a sense of appealing and attractiveness across the audiences watching; however, I do think some of the interviews
could have been improved, especially the primary school pupil and maybe university student, with an improvement of lighting the shot and personel
(primary pupil), with an added factor of positioning the camera to eliminate unessecary background objects that may be present (university student),
whilst possibly investing some time to acquire a better, more high-end camera so that the quality can be improved regarding the focus, contrast ratio,
background blur, and frames-per-second.
Regarding the documentary as a whole, whilst considering the fact that I had to condense the documentary on multiple occasions to fit the timeline
requirements of around 3 minutes, I strongly believe the content and volume of information I have demonstrated and shared in my documentary is
exceptional. Covering what I believe is everything to do with the topic of interest, from initial to extended impacts and the thoughts to firsthand
experiences from the individuals being interviewed, whilst offering the context and further knowledge on other aspects of the subject, the
chronological order in which it is showed through helps the audience achieve a great understanding of the entirety of the matter.

11. Production Phase Reflection: Audio
Audio wise, this can make or break a project because it affects so many factors in a video, from the genres or intended moods to engagement and
audience appeal, music or sound effects that are implemented in addition to the general usual pre-recorded sound is crucial to get right, I strongly
believe I succeeded in doing so. Having my documentary set on a very serious topic in times like these limited my options for genres and moods I could
use, but it made a very emotionally compelling and dramatic atmosphere supporting general tones I opted for, something that's emotionally drawing.
- Using the tension building in the opening and ending sequences to my documentary was particularly good at grabbing the attention of my audience
and hooking them in to carry on watching, something that paired perfectly with the montage I had created at both ends which demonstrates a great
use of audio and visuals together, whilst establishing an opening/ending sequence to form a clear understanding of what to expect when something
similar appears later in the documentary (which it does to close of the video showing a repetitive nature and good structure to my work).
- In addition to sound effects, the mian background track had to be long enough in duration to reach the 3 minute requirement, whilst following
through with the genres and mood I intended on reflecting throughout the documentary, so I opted for a much more mellow, atmospheric,
ambient, blowing violin track that was royalty free on youtube, and more importantly mixed perfectly to the sad, upsetting, and attentive connotations
I desire; matching up amazingly to what's mentioned in the interviews and news reels, it offered a substantial difference in comparison to the initial
and ending tension sound effects so that its more obvious to the audience, in the time that it also has many key points and switches in tones for the
different structural parts I can transition across, making it even more seamless, emotionally drawing, engaging, and thoughtful to the topic of interest.
- The dialogue for the interviews and news reels was also perfectly tuned, outputting the right level of sound against the background tracks and sound
effects at an orangey, yellow sound bar read during the editing process; but at times the audio for two of the interviews had gone both too loud and
too quiet, making an inconsistency to my documentary, but this was soon fixed with an alteration to volume controls.
Without a doubt I think that the audio work I had done in my documentary was perfect in every way, from the interview and newsreel speech,
imported sound effects and background track, everything worked well with one another to fulfill my expectations and desire to move the auidence
emotionally whilst keeping it engaging, dramatic and atmospheric.

12. Production Phase Reflection: Editing
Creating and gathering the footage for the documentary during production is one processes but editing and merging all the footage together in post-
production is arguably the most important procedure, reflecting the editor's viewpoint given they produce the final image for the audience, and when
considering my own work, I think I had done very well in achieving the intentions I desired for the documentary.
- Combining my own knowledge and what I believe is to be a good experienced background around this processes, it made the editing stage very
seamlessness and quick to complete to a good level for distribution. Completed in what was about 2 days' work, I had finished my documentary for
release to a very good standard, this was partially down to good organizational skills and management I had brought across from previous projects that
were heavily orientated around editing to improve them, and this was no different for this task.
- In addition to good administration, I strongly evoke that I had used a diverse range of technical ability and editing methods to improve the quality of
my documentary; including color grading, shortcut keys, editing effects , and a better workflow, these aspects that were constantly used in the
formation of my video to greatly impact its creation, making it much more captivating, intriguing, and influential to watch from the audiences
perspective as not only could they gather the information from my sources much easier in the style its portrayed, but it adds my own personal unique
habit for the visuals, audio, and general atmosphere being created.
- Intending on creating a very defined structure to my documentary that could both benefit the audience's attention and interest to keep them
hooked, the editing processes was incredibly supporting and an effective approach to developing its arrangement. With a mix of both cutting,
reconstructing, and managing each segment I had identified to specific measurements so that I could fit with the requirement of around 3 minuets,
this was easily achieved with the addition to many a tools, options, and equipment available in the Adobe Premiere Pro software – which I had used
throughout this phase for editing.
- One issue that did upbring a lot of challenges was the given requirement that my factual project video had to be around 3 minutes; having previously
quoted that it needed to be between 5 – 7 minutes long, myself and other classmates planned and thought out everything to these ideals, up until
being told that it needed to be preferably under 3 minutes, which was a surprise to everyone and affected all our workflows and judgements on
processes, but soon this was identified, challenged, and fixed due to the software's high ability and the numerous tools/skills available, reducing its
duration from what was 6:30 to 3:30 after a few strenuous hours of cutting, removing, and limiting the video clips and interviews.

13. Production Phase Reflection: Improvements
Even though I do think that a lot of the main aspects throughout the production phase were achieved to a great standard, there are a few changes I
would amend when looking back to the gathering of footage, interviews, and editing processes.
- Starting with what's considered the most important aspect to a documentary, the interviews taken place had gone extremely well regarding the
questions and answers and camera placement, however I do think improvements on some of the lighting placements and shine could drastically
improve some interviews more than others; this slight problem could be easily fixed with the inclusion of proper lighting equipment like bright boxes
on tripods, which were available through colleges facilities, but at the time I had disregarded their inclusion because I had thought that lighting would
be not a significant issue, this was clearly an unidentified problem and should have been recognized with the inclusion of a location recce, something
else I could improve given I have now completed the project.
- Before heading forwards to the psot production processes, there are still some aspects around the interviews I would fix, the agthering of footage in
perticular; this doesn’t apply for the teacher, university student, or college student interviews as they were managed very well, but my primary school
pupil interview had numerous double takes on multiple days and schedules because I hadnt fully clarifyed the questions and camera placement for
shooting day. This could be improved by simply having a greater time management strategy at the time, but it's also slightly referanced in my planning
that I had initially intended on having two primary school pupils interviewed, meaning one was disregarded; because of a lack of understanding and
reflection to the topic of covid-19 in their answers, I had removed this interview amongst many other reasons, including the fact that I had to shorten
the whole documentary by a significant amount, which I believe benefited the project amongst all other things.
- Moving forward to the editing processes once all footage had been agthered in interviews and etc more ways, this went seamingly well otherthan a
few minor issues around the duration of the documentry and my own vocabulary parts of text throughout the video; all which were fixed soon after
recognising the defects in my work, but these problems added a lot of additional time to my workflow that evidently impacted future steps in the
project htrough a butterfly effect. This could have been easily avoided if I had a much more detialed and specific plan of actions and stronger
contingensy plan, eventhough I think my planning before production was well structured, I do feel it was mainly down to my own lack of time
management for this phase which caused these numerous issues to upbring.

14. Influence On FMP

15. Influence On FMP: Research, Planning, and Production phases
Given that my Final Major Project (FMP) follows after having completed my factual project, it's important to understand that there are many a
things I had performed throughout the past couple of months that could help and influence this significant part of my whole course grade, elements
that I will take apart, improve and reflect when manufacturing my fmp in both the research, planning, and production aspects that form the whole
structure.
- Beginning with the research phase, these initial steps into the project offers a great insight in what to expect for the upcoming processes
in development of your main product/s, including the research of existing products and content research I had performed for my factual project;
looking back at improvements I would make to boost the project as a whole, which would similarly be present for my fmp, I had recognized in the
later stages of improvements that looking at a varied range of sources (websites, books, etc), along with possible implementations to techniques,
methods and processes for the follow planning and production stages would significantly improve the research and extent of ability being shown to my
peers, something I desire to reflect in my fmp because of numerous capabilities and opportunities available from doing so, whilst gaining a
greater understanding of the topic through not only myself but the audience I desire to target.
- Following through with what's now the planning elements to the whole project, there are many aspects to this project that I would introduce to and
reflect in my fmp, from considering pretty much all factors regarding the development of my product, whilst thinking about the management and
preparation for production given organizational skills and time administration are key points to consider (especially in myself), but of course changing
the focus to suit the intentions and approach of my fmp.
- After having prepared for and investigated everything for what follows, creating and finalising my product in the production phase is where
everything comes together to form what I believe is a great piece of entertainment and evidence on what ive achieved throughout the project, coming
into it knowing pretty much nothing amoungst factual sources, and as a result there are many porcesss I would carry across and demonstrate simularly
to help shape my fmp; understanding and considering both the ways I have generally managed and time distrubted everything, from gathering the
footage to editing, this was so impactful and beneficial in this whole stage so that I could deliver a great product on time that resembeled everything I
had previously intended on reflecting throughout the doucmentry I produced, only further encourraging their use in the production of my final FMP as
I strongly think it would benefits from its presence.

16. Final Product