Factual project research

1. Factual Project
Lucas Higham

2. Idea Generation

3. Potential Ideas Mind Map
Ideas
Cycling culture
- Obsessive cyclist.
- Whatmotivates these people to
get up at 5am and go on a 5 hour
ride in the middle of winter?
Whybe professional? WHY?
(interview pro cyclist)
A cyclistlifestyle
Lookat a cyclist lifestyle from pro
level to recreational.
The perspective from a big cycling
fan to someonewho doesn'tlike
cycling – what happensin a family
dynamic?
It's a subject I passively enjoy.
Nothing I'm hugelypassionate
aboutthis could resultin a project
that I don't put100%effortinto
although I feel you could make a
compelling documentary.
Maybetoo much to fit into a 3-5
minutes? Need to be concise.
Blu-ray collecting
- Obsessed people buying blu-rays for
the sake of buying blu-rays. Making their
collection a library. They don't watch the
films they own.
- WHY?
- Look at the difference between
collecting habits. Those who have
thousands, every version of a certain
film (e.g. owning the same film on
multiple formats) or those who buy
carefully only own a couple hundred or
less.

4. Conventions of Documentary
Filmmaking
▪Interviews- Talking heads
▪Voice-over (by narrator or the director)
▪Intro at the beginning of film introducing the topic and hooking the audience
▪Text showing statistics, facts, maps and who the person is being interviewed
▪Animation, potentially
▪Re-enaction's of events
▪Archivalfootage
▪Interviews conducted sometimes in studios with back light,key light, fill light.
▪Music to sway the mood as the documentary develops
▪Handheldcamera

5. Research
– Existing Products

6. Existing Product-HeSpent40YearsAloneintheWoods,andNowScientists LoveHim|Short
FilmShowcase
(2017) At this stage of my existing product reaserch I'm firstly looking at a five-minute documentary as the documentary I'm making will be between
three to five minutes. This will help me get a good idea of what can be done in 5 minutes, how a five-minute documentary is structured, how
they convey the information in such a short time frame.
The documentary I chose to look at was produced by National Geographic about a man who lived in presumably solitude for forty years. He
lived up in the snowy mountains and the documentary serves as an interesting light look at what Billy has been up to, of course this links to
climate change. We learn a bit about his personality, his backstory and his scientific work. This being, Billy measured the snow fall every day
for forty years and he noticed it was getting less and less. The temperature was getting higher therefore less snowfall. We see how this
concerns Billy; over the years he's learnt how to adapt to the cold weather soon he'll have to adapt to the warming weather.
This is all accomplished in a brisk yet well-paced five-minutes. The documentary is able to tackle a lot in this time frame, it's helped by a
narration explaining most of the information to us. It has a bit of personality to it as well, showing off Billy's hat collect and how he spends his
day, it paints quite a nice picture setting the stage for us.
Breaking Down the Doc
Part 1 – Setting the stage
(1 min)
Part 2 – Backstory on Billy (25 secs) Part 3- What Billy
does (35 secs)
Part 4 – Why he does it
(1 min)
Part 5 – Concluding (1
min)
Part 6 – Final wordsof wisdom
(1 min)
The first minute helps set the
stage, it hooks the viewer
immediately with a rhetorical
question "Have you ever
wondered if you watch the
snow for long enough what
stories it might tell?" This will
entice the viewer and perk
their curiosity.
We now get introduced to Billy Barr, the next 25 seconds
are devoted to telling us more about the man, humanise
him. We learn about his hat collection, enjoying tea while
reading a book and how he watches Bollywood films. In a
way part 2 and 3 link together quite well as they're both
about Billy and what he does but in different ways, it mixes
up the documentary and it's nice to learn personal
things about the man, it helps us connect and relate to him
so now we care about what he's doing which is
linked climate change so in turn, by the end of it we should
care about climate change, although I'd hope the
viewer already cares about this subject. On the other
hand, the title of this documentary on YouTube
is ambiguous so anyone might click it, if they're unaware of
the subject this film is the perfect gatewayinto learning
more, caring and making a difference which is clearly the
point of the film, is making us aware of this subject and
what people are doing or discovering how the situation
is getting more worrying.
This section of the film is
telling what exactly Billy
does, basically the
purpose of the film, the
reason why Billy is being
looked at. This works
nicely just after having
learnt about Billy, we
care more as the viewer
and we're more inclined
to listen to what he has
to say.
The film now follows
up by showing us why
Billy does what he
does, as the viewer
watching most likely
doesn't go out and
measure the snow fall
every time there's
snow. Billy, at heart, is a
man of nature he
interacts with the
weather and animals
on a daily basis and
living on his own in the
middle of nowhere,
there's not much to do.
Now the film
begins to
conclude,
summing up the
factsand raising
awareness. It
slows down
and encapsulates
Billy's findings
and why they
matter.
The film caps off by goingback
to Billy, the beatingheart of the
film. He offers his final wordsof
wisdomand hope. The film
doesn'tleave us in despair,
rather somethingtothink
about. Surprisingly, itdoesn't
sing the songof how we can
stopclimate change but how
we need toadapt, in fact the
film endson a title text "adapt
to climate change" and a quote
from Billy "fall on yourbutt. Not
yourface." So, it's aninteresting
messageto end on, perhaps
climate change wasn't asbig of
an issueback in2017 whenthe
film was uploaded?
I want to dig deeper into the film's structure and how it conveys the information effectively in such a small runtime, it turns out you can accomplish a lot within that time. I identified six clear
parts that make up the documentary and how it flows from each topic to the next, each part is working in synthesis.
Link to film HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L72G8TLtTCk

7. Audience Breakdown
To find out who the product was made for I firstly must look at who or what produced it, that being the National Geographic.
A quick summery of what the National Geographic is, a highly successful company and society which was founded in 1888. The
society and magazine focuses on nature, scientific and historical issues. The magazine is particularly known for publishing stunning
pictures from around the world of landmarks, countires, nature and animals and their articles disscusing topics on scienece and
nature.
As the decades went on the company has evolved with times now having its own TV Channel and production company where they
produce films and shows focusing on the isses stated before and programs on religion, history, celebrities and events, mostly all non-
fiction media, but they have made some narrative, fictional work based on true events. They have a very diverse and interesting set
of content that should spark interest in most people.
So, clearly the National Geographic have an already established audience, regardless of the topic. There will be people who will
watch because they see the National Geographic logo. They have already established a trust with the compamy to know it'll be eye-
opening and worth their time. This existing audince knows what to expect and even if you haven't experienced a National
Geographic product, you will more than likey know what they are and what they stand for.National Geographic are a massive
company and will be used in educational enviroments too, they produce very useful resources where people go to learn more about
the world.
Now looking at the product I watched, taking in National Geographic's massive outreach as evidenced by their social media following
(YouTube 18.4 million subscribers, Twitter 28.5 million combined followers of two accounts, Instagram 185 million followers on the
main account) and what they represent and who gravitates towards that from histroy buffs, enviromentalists, nature fans or just
someone curious by the title of one of their documentaries.
The short film I wachted acts as a digestable, short look at someone interesting. Unfortunately, nowadays conent is being pushed to
get shorter and shorter, people's attension spans are shrinking (hence the age of TikTok and YouTube Shorts) so perhaps the National
Geographic are branching out to this new audience, a five-minute runtime looks inviting, so they'll click and probably discover more
of these short documentaries and then hopefully move onto National Geographic's longer content. That's how I think the length
correlates with a certain type of audience.
The pre-existing audience, the film should also work for. The topic wouldn't streach a ninety-minute + runtime. What Billy does is
relatively small scale. And the YouTube comments certainly show people connected with Billy and his way of life.

8. Production Methods- Technical Aspects, Creating aTone
andMaking aDocumentary Film Cinematic
In terms of production methodsand howthey areused in the film, they abide by most
documentaryfilmmaking conventions. Allof these conventionsfeed into prodcuing a
successful documentaryin telling us aboutsomething realin a real way- no screenplay, no
actors, just the realperson telling us about whathappened. Butthat doesn't mean to say
documentariescan'tbe cinematic, the use of editing and structureis immperative. Rather
this film is morecorportaein the sense it was produced for theNationalGeographic and its
handeling a lightsubject in a shortamountof time.
This helps me identify howI wantto approch myfilm as I'm tackeling a light subject (as in,
digestable and not doom and gloom) and I'm working in a shortamountof time, yet I still
wantto keep it cinematic. I feel the real way to make a documentaryfilm cinematic is to make
a film rather than a documentary. WhatI mean by this is, most peoplerefer to documentary
films and documentaryfilmmakersas just a documemtaryor a documentarian. Thereisa
clear divide between cinema and documentarywhen they'rethe same thing. Having the mind
set of having a film that happensto be a documentaryI feel is healthy and will be benfit the
film and stop it from becoming a college lecture, a boring ABCof events. It needs punch,
structure, drama. You'reableto achieve this through creating a mood (hopeful, exposé-style
of uncovering corruption, crimemaking theaudience feel unsafe, scared) you craftthat
specific mood through music, editing and camera work.
This film is able to create a mood of hopefulnessand perhapsa slight mystical tone- due to
the title card of "The SnowGuardian"the film shines a lighton what Billy does and his lifestyle
in an enviousway. The opening is also quite ominouswith shots of empty, desolate snowy
landscapeswith the sound of bells ringing as the wind blows, this adding to the mystical
undertones.
The technical aspects employed help guide the film especially the use of voice-over. The
music also gives the film a curioustone and the partswhere the music goes quiteadd
emphasis to Billy just said, lets the audience take it in- very effective.

9. Existing Product –Icarus
(2017)
For my second existing product I decided to watch a film directed towards cycling. I wanted to see how a director approaches a documentary film on
cycling, how they shoot it especially.
The film begins with the director, also starring in his film, mapping out a plan to go on a doping program to show how easy it is to compete in a semi-
professional race. The road he goes down twists and turns in unexpected ways. I love how the film evolves into an exposé. The director clearly went to
make a film on a certain topic and as he went along and discovered things it morphed into something deeper.
Audience
The film begins as an experiment, playfully trying to dope at semi-professional level- it may seem a serious, interesting endenour but what comes later
makes the beginning of the film look harmless. It then takes a sudden turn into a thriller. Fogel the director and main star of the film, conducting the
interviews and digging deeper into this conspiracy, is uncovering scary facts. It’s a wake-up call. It's expsoing courruption in the Russian sports teams in
international competitions. You become hooked and shocked at what you're seeing.
The general audience response was very positive rated an overall 3.8 on Letterboxd, an audience score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.9/10 on IMDB.
If that's not enough to convince you that people enjoyed the film, it took home best documentary feature at The Academy Awards in 2019. People
enjoy a good thrill; it makes it even more intense when you know what you're watching is real. Icarus is also a Netflix original documentary, this was
when documentaries on Netflix were just ramping up, they weren't as frequent as they are now. So, I'm guessing it was a big hit on Netflix- a new
documentary exposing something crazy, of course people ate it up also Netflix documentaries at this level were few and are between. It also helps the
film is really well made. It keeps you engaged, which is important.
Sport enthusiasts would also watch the film due to preestablished interest.
Production Techniques
The film uses graphics and animation heavily. It helps explain to us the complicated matters at hand. It attempts to explain how you get past a doping
test, how to dope and how the Russians mangaed to dope almost all their athletes for such a long time and how they got away with it. The graphics go
from graphs, animations, maps.
The film approches the smaller interviews in a professional way, it abides by the conventions of conducting interviews but when the main interview
takes place which exposes the whole oparation we see it get set-up, we see Fogel ask the questions. It's a big event.
Looking at Icarus, comparing it to the five-minute film I previouly watched, it was interesting to see how differently the time scale
and pacing worked. He Spent 40 Years in the Wood, And Now Scienetists Love Him is able to cram lots of information in a limited
amount of time but not feel rushed. It's focusing on smaller subject matter, that film was useful to analyse everything while I only
took away production techniques (camera, editing etc) from Icarus.
Icarus knows how long it's going to be especially when it establishes its clear road map, its useful to know how long you think your
film is going to be, you can plan towards that. You want to fit in all the information possible, in the way you want to deliver it.
Another difference I found with Icarus and He Spent 40 Years in the Woods, And Now Scientists Love Him is that there is more talking
heads interviews. The five-minute film focused on one man alone, while Icarus is looking at a massive conspiracy involving and
affecting thousands of people. It's about the corruption of a country and telling the truth, breaking the silence.

10. Existing Product -FreeSolo
(2018)
For my third existing product I decided to look at a highly acclaimed documentary film to see what I could learn, so I watched the recent Oscar
winning film Free Solo.
Free Solo looks at crazy climber Alex Honnold as he strives to become the first person to free solo climbYosemite’s 3,000-foot high El Capitan
wall. For those of you who don't know, free soloing is when someone climbs a mountain or any tall tourain with no ropes or saftey gear
whatsoever, you slip, you die. You make one mistake, you die. You fall thousands of feet to your death, not a nice way to go out. It's incredibly
dangerous. Like I said, Honnold is crazy, and the film does a good job at getting that across. In fact, the film is great at getting loads of aspects
across, it's truly one of the best documentary films I've seen.
Audience
The film is produced by the National Geographic who I looked at in my audience research when I talked about the five-minute film He Spent 40
Years Alone in the Wood, And Now Scientists Love Him. So, a lot of what I looked at in that section applies here. The audiene will come from all
over- National Geographic fans, people already familiar with Honnold, rock climbing fans or people who got the film recommended from word-
of-mouth. It's definitely appealing to thrill seekers, people who enjoy watching extreme sport. It has quite a broad appeal.
The response was very positve from the audiences. Over on Letterboxd the film received a 4.0, Rotten Tomatoes audience score served it a 93%
and IMDB gave it an 8.2/10- very high indeed. Clearly people enjoy a thrilling, sporting film about extreme exercise. The film explores why
Alex does this.
Production Techniques
The film is able to capture the danger, amping up the tension and stakes creating an emotional experience, towards the end of the film. It
captures the scale and what Alex is doing, how much it matters. It captures the relationships that are affected by what Alex is doing, how he is
scaring people, risking his life, for what? It captures the drama, the drama of any good film, the conflict between people and the conflict
internally. This is helped by the non-linear structure; we go back-and-forth from past to present. It's revealed to us in stages of events from his
past and how they've made him what he is today. This is, again, brings in the drama and buliding the emotinal involment of the viewer creating a
truly cinematic film.
The film is also astonishingly shot. Yes, they were using incredible cameras, but the angles and lens choice really helped. Even the interviews
looked nice. It helped capture an atmosphere, a scale. What Alex was doing felt like an event, but we also felt real danger too. His climb was
shot, live. We could witness a man die here. We've come such a long way with him. We know so much. He's determined, it's what he lives for,
it's his life. The film felt very grand in that respect.

11. Existing Products –Grizzly Man
(2005)
For my final existing product, I looked at Grizzly Man. This documentary film is an old favourite of mine, I know there will be some techniques
I can look at and borrow for my own. It's one of the best documentary films I've seen, directed by the master Werner Herzog.
Audience
At the time of the release of Grizzly Man, there was no Netflix. No Prime. No Apple TV. The film opened in cinemas and wasn't met with a
shower of awards. It earned in total 4.1 million USD, not exactly a blockbuster. To be frank, it performed very poorly. Over on Letterboxd only
67K people have said they've seen the film, another small number. The aduience for this film was small, narrow. It's an excellent
documentary, but it didn't do enough for people to flock to it. In the modern age Grizzly Man most likely would've been dumped on a
streaming service, much like the previous two Herzog films (Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds is on Apple TV+ and Family Romance LLC
went to Mubi) no theatrical treament. Audiences could find the films on there, they're lucky to get some of the smaller streaming servives, if
they went to Netflix thet mostly would've trended for week, people forget about it, and it's lost in the sea of content. The film wouldn't have
been marketed as a thriller (which it isn't), has no worldwide interest in events depicted. It played in cinemas and let's be honest
documentaries have always been attributed to the small screen, they're not seen as cinematic, this would be another reason as to why it
performed poorly and didn't reach an audience. Suffice to say, Grizzly Man has a poor audience reception. All these factors combined.
Production Techniques
The film employs a heavy use of archival footage to brilliant effect. It's deeply impactful as the man we see, the man we laugh with, look in
awe with- is dead. It creates such a sad sense of dramatic irony. We get a sense of his character, his demeanour- beyond the grave. It's
awfully poetic, it's as much Herzog's film as it is Treadwell's. Herzog chooses the moments well; we really connect with this man. We
understabnd, to an extent, why he's out here. We see his connection to nature, to the animals.
Herzog also narrates the film himself, adding another layer of perspective. Not only his soothing voice but his words help us understand, it's
entertaining, moving the film forward but also almost hypnotising the audience.
During the interviews Herzog does something quite remarkable, he is patient. He lets the interviewee answer his questions, but he leaves
space at the end for them to open up, expose their true selves. Some breakdown, others patiently wait for Herzog to conclude the interview.
It's a really nice technique that's really effective at making what we see, real.
This all adds to the overall tone and genre of the piece. The film is covering a tragedy and it tackles it from every angle. A realistic one- did
Treadwell deserve what he got? Was he doing good? A spiritual one- can we break the line between man and animal? Should we do that? Is
it dangerous? All of this is left on the lap of the viewer as the film draws to a close. Herzog leaves it to you to answer those questions.

12. Research Summery
The Product What I learned How they will help me Potential problems Potential Solutions
He Spent 40 Years Alone in the
Woods, And NowScientists
Love Him
I noticed how they created a certain
tone through the music, editing,
structure and what they chose to
show.
For my project I want to striveto make
it a certain toneand cinematic, seeing
how its accomplishedin this film and
othersI lookedat will help me achieve
my goal.
Choosingthemusic to fit with the film
could be challenging, it needs to be
just right, not the usualroyalty free
rubbishwhich is bad, or I've used
before.
I may need to resort toa track that
isn't royalty free, but isn't well known.
He Spent 40 Years Alone in the
Woods, And NowScientists
Love Him
Using a pause or dip in the volume
of music to emphasise a dramatic
moment to let it sink in. Or a
message being communicated. The
dip in music would occur after that
fact has been spoken.
It will make the film more dramatic,
professional and cinematic.
Might not work in editing, will have
play around with to get it just right.
Only works when the person being
interviewed says something that
warrants a dramatic drop in music,
that might not happen.
Play around with-it during editing,
get it to click.
Icarus Conduct interviews in a professional
way, use lighting in a certain set-up
Will help my film look and feel like a
professional documentary
Interviewsmay be conductedoutside,
on-the-gosoI will be unable to set up
lighting.
I can interview the person where
there is good natural light.
Icarus Knowing how long your film is going
to be, set a road map out to do
that.
The film will feel more professional,
fluid and smoothly paced.
Organised.
I might plan the film to be five
minutes then end up with a ten-
minuet long film.
I can always edit down, just need to
remember what I'm covering and
not go too in-depth.
Free Solo When focusingon one person,
structuretheir backstory
strategically for maximumemotional
impact.
It will make the film more cinematic
and emotionally involving,
therefore making the film better.
I probably won'thave time to dothis
as the first epidode of my
documentary film will mainly focus on
one person, althoughI feel I need
more people givingtheir opinionsand
viewpointsto further makethe film
diverse andfully rounded.
N/A
Free Solo Capturinga certain scale and tone by
choosingcertain shottypes. For
example, an epic, freeing scale- wide
angles, movements. Intimate,
emotional- close-ups, morestatic.
I want to create a mood to
communiacte why it's good, why
it's bad. Communicate a message.
I might not succeed in creating this
tone, I will only realise this during
editing
Re-record some shots to establish
this mood and scale although
having to do this is doubtful.
Firstly, I'll be summerising everything I learnt in the existing products I looked at and how they will help in my own project. How they catered to a specific audience, what techniques they used and
why they were effective.

13. Research Summary
The Product What I learned How they will help me Potential problems Potential Solutions
Grizzly Man Using archival footage can help the
viewer connect to the story and the
people involved.
If I decide to use archival footage in
the film, it will make the film better
by making the viewer more
connected to the story and people.
I can also show things that I'm
unable to film.
Over reliance on archival footage,
it's not my own. Could take away
from my own direction.
Limit the footage used and only use
when necessary.
Grizzly Man Good, clear narration can help
guide the film.
A narration that helps guide a film
will make a film better if that
narration is done right, you don't
want it to be telling you what you
see. It adds another layer. Making
the film more entertaining and
professional.
Narration might not work or be
written poorly.
Try it out in the rough edit, show it
people and see what they think.
See if it works. Show to test
audience.
Grizzly Man During interviews, leave spaces
afterwards or inbetween the
interveiw for the interviewee to
give us something we might not
have expected, get a genuine
response – human.
It will give the inerviews a more
honest feel, making the film better-
the viewer will connect and feel
more. It will help me communicate
the message in a more honest way.
This is down to the interviewee to
give me something more, it might
not work.
Prompt them to say something else
but without giving them a direct
question
Moving forward, some of these points I will take further by conducting tests and experiments so when it comes to production, I
will be ready and prepared. Any problems I encounter will be logged and attended to. I feel my resaerch has gone well, so far. All
the products I looked at has useful techniques that will help my film look and feel more professional. And coincidentally all the
products I looked at were about extreme outdoors sports or events, something I will be exploring in my film. It helped me get a
feel for how these films look and the shots they use.

14. Topic Research

15. Subject/Topic Research
Most of my film will focus on my dad who is an avid cycling fan.
▪ He's taken part in loads of races, time trials, hundreds of bike rides all over the
world.
▪ He was apart of team GB and did a triathlon in Adelaide, Austraila.
▪ In 2017 he took part in the Haute Route Dolomites, 853km (530.03 miles) over the
course of one week.
I'll look at his time during the Haute Route one of the most brutal and difficult rides he's
ever done.
For another interviewee, I have the potential opportunity to interview pro cyclist Connor Swift. I feel it will help me
during the interview to have knowledge and context of his achievements as a pro cyclist.
• Road in Tour de France
• Road for Madison Genesis
• Road in Paris Roubaix
• Tour of Flanders
• In GB Team for World Championships

16. Audience
Research

17. Audience Research
For my audienceresearch I conducted a survey to see what my audinecewants, what they think and why. This will help my film becomemoreand streamlined to
what the peoplewatching it want. I can breakdown the demographicsto see the age of my audince too. I need my film to appeal to morethan just the middle-
aged man who hasbecome victim to the sterotypical cyclist. The film is hereto breakdown whatcycling is and why peopledo it, I feel it's importantto show all
differenttypes of people in the film they will all have differentperspectives.
From these numbers I can see most of the people are younger, my main demographic of the audince watching my project will
be 16 –25. This demographic tend to use cycling only as a way of transportation, my later questions willl deduct how many of
them are actual cycling fans, if they use it for sport or not.
21% are 25+
79% are 16 - 25

18. I secondly asked for which gender the people answering my survey are as different genders sometimes enjoy have a
preference on things they enjoy. It's a general question. The subject of my film isn't aimed at any particular gender.
However,there seems to be the sterotype of the kind of person who enjoys cycling, that being a middle-aged man. It just
so happens that the person I'm interviewing is a middle-aged man. This does not represent the cycling community. In the
hopes to make the film more accessable to everyone and to shine a light on everyone who cycles I will be attending
women's cycling tour to interview some of the riders. This will show people that more than just one type of person cycles.

19. The majority of people, who answered the survey, do not cycle. That doesn't mean to say they won't watch or enjoy the
film, I will employ elements so these people will get something out of the film too. The film will adopt a curious tone and
will be asking the question of why people which cycle which might be a question non-cyclists also ask and wonder.

20. I wanted to concretely know how people ride their bikes. If someone chose
'yes' but rides it every 6 months, that isn't a proper 'yes'. 4 out of the 6
people who answered 'yes' use it for exercise, this narrows down my
audience even more, showing me that I need to include more aspects that
will entice non-cycling fans.

21. This question is to help me find a way to relate to
those people who don't like cycling. Cyclists are
found to be quite annoying on the road and it's
clear that the majority of my audience find them
that way. I will lightly touch on this during the film,
but also try and explain to the people who don't
understand cycling why so many people love doing
it.

22. The next half of the survey was dedicated to the documentary side, since the film will be a documentary. I want to find out
how familiar my audience is with documentaries and how often they watch them. Most of my audince are in the middle,
they've watched a few an occasions, they're not dedicated to the art of documentary filmmaking. I think it helps that my
documentary will be short as those who don't tend to watch that many won't have to pay attension for long and those
who enjoy wathcing them a lot, will still have a good time as it will be well made and interesting.

23. This is to narrow down who watches what. As my documentary will be a
sport one, I need to find out if this genre is popular or not. A lot of people put
crime and nature but a close contender with those two was sport. Sport is
such as wide genre as they'll be hundreds of documentaries on every sport.
So those who watch a film on football, won't be watching one on cycling
(unless they like both)

24. Next, I wanted to find out why they decided to watch the certain genre of
documentary, so I can figure out why they might want to watch mine, how I
can make mine to their tatses. The responses were quite varied. Some
people put, because they wanted to learn more about the world around
them. They're interested in the subject. Real stories make for more intense
watches as youknow it's grounded in reality. My film can't provide
everything, but it can be insightful, education therefore interesting as the
information will be communicated in an entertaining way.

25. Next, I wanted to find out how many people actually watch sport documentaies, to really narrow down what people
watch and what they want. Thankfully, most people do. Over 50% of people watch sport documentaies, this number is
in my favour. Most of my audience will have somewhat of an interest, they'll be familiar with cycling as a sport, and
they know what athletes go through making it relatable for them.

26. Finally, another question about why they decided to watch a sport documentary.
Again, most of the answers varied from educating yourself to general interest, getting
to see what athletes go through, and sport itself can create quite dramatic narratives.

27. Practical Research -
Interview Task &
Experiments

28. Interview Techniques
Interviews are essential to documentaries; they are the key conventions of what makes a documentary a documentary. There is a
certain way to approch crafting the questions to an interview and how you conduct yourself during the interview.
1. Avoid"yes" and "no" answers
2. Prepare, but be spontaneous
3. Have them repeat the question
4. Assume you know nothing, build up on complexity of questions
Now I will apply these techniques to a practical interview, to practise them.
Interview
Things thatwentwell Things thatcould'vegone
better
WhatI learned
I feel the questions I posed helped
mould the topic, it also helped that
the answers I received were very in-
depth.
I could've asked more simple
questions to bulit up a more basic
understanding of the interviewees
interest.
How to approach an interview with
techniques to excel the interview.
I let the interview flow with my
questionsbutalso briningup
spontaneousquestionswhenthe
answer gaveme a gateway into
anotherinteresting topic.
When I began the interview, I forgot
to tell the interviewee to repeat the
question in his response, I had to
break him off early on to ask him to
repeat the question- lack of
professionalism.
It's good to have a general chat
before the interview commences,
set everyone at ease. But while the
chat is going, I feel it would be good
to record it.
The questions bulit up in
complexity as the interview went
on and so did the answers, a good
interviewee.
We sat outside to do the interview,
but it was windy while I was filming,
so the sound of the wind can be
heard during the interview.
If I record an interview outside, use
my camera with my microphone
with the dead cat on to reduce the
noise of the wind.

29. Proof ofConcept
The technqiuesI will explore in my short test of establishing the tone and technqiuesof my film.
Doing a proof of conceptwill help me practise and understand how to do certain technquies. I
will try and establish the tone I want.
• Voive-over – write and record
• Lighting set-up with interview, 3-point lighting
• Add cutaways
• Multiple angles in interview

30. Proof of Concept
In my proof of concept test, I particulary explored three-point
lighting which is a new technique that I learned therefore, I
wanted to put all my attension on that.
It makes interviews look very professional and it will be a
technique I will employ in my film.
We tried some different things out such as using a refletor on
a golden light. This could be could if the colour of the skin of
the interviewee is pale and the white light only makes their
skin look paler, using a golden reflector will bring that colour
up nicley.
Golden reflector

31. Parallax test
Another experiment I conducted was a parallax test. This will enhance any pictures I decide to use in
my documentray, rather than just dragging and dropping them in,it'll make them more interesting to look at. I
took a normal 2D image of a parrot and made it fly with an added camera movement.Now, I don't think I'll need
to do anything that advanced on my film, but subtle movments will be effective.
I started out on photoshop, separting the image into layers. Then most of the work was conducted on aftereffects
where the real magic happens. That's when I was able to make suble movments, using pins, to make the parrot fly.
Then I dropped in a camera effect and was able mimic camera movment.
This will be useful for my project, making it more technically advenced. I also learned some new skills along the
way.

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