2. Research and Planning is a major contribution to our documentary
because it helped us come to all of our main decisions. We started off by
mind mapping our ideas down and deciding which topics would be best for
us; an interesting topic which the audience could relate to but also which
we could relate to so that made it easier to write about. Once we had
decided to create our documentary on Mobile Phones, we then began our
research through the internet/ google. We had to get a lot of information on
the topic because that would allow us to include many facts and stats and
then we would also be very familiar with the subject ourselves. A good
element of research was a professional documentary we watched called
‘Supersize Me’ which helped us to analyse clearly the codes and
conventions and get some ideas which we could add to our own work.
There were many other websites and programmes we used. Online we
used; YouTube – to record videos of our focus groups and to also watch
other documentaries for more ideas. We also watched BBC ONE online;
because this had a lot of documentaries we could analyse and also that
was the channel we were going to put our documentary on so we could get
some ideas of what the channel programmes were like. This helped us to
decide overall to choose that channel because we saw the target audience
we wanted to aim towards liked this channel and the programmes that
were on there aimed towards both younger and older ages.
3. To plan for our documentary we started off by jotting down any random ideas that we had
to contribute, therefor we could test them out and if they didn’t work we knew not to use
them. One thing we did was draw storyboards to figure out what sort of shots we would
want in our documentary and how we would even out the vox pops in between interviews
and back ground footage. We also wrote and then typed up our script for the documentary
and the radio trailer so that we could make some changes to it if it wasn’t right. We used
Tyber on the Solihull sixth form college page, to write down targets for ourselves so that
we could then tick them off once we had completed them and if we hadn’t they would still
be there so we would not forget. All of the information and planning we did and found
went onto our blogger so that there was evidence of coming to all our decisions building
up to the documentary and to show it wasn’t just quick decision making. We used side
share to upload PowerPoints and Prezi's where we would get the embedded code and
then copy that link onto the blog. We also had a WhatsApp group chat which all our group
were in so that we could keep in touch with each other and talk about what we needed to
do; this especially helped if someone missed a lesson because they could just catch up
through the other group members. We also could even the work load out so that everyone
had a fair share to do.
4. After we had made all of our decisions through thorough research and lots of
planning and experimenting, we were ready to start filming our footage. To film all of
our footage we used a Canon HG20 HD camera which was very clear and amazing
quality which made it easier to make the documentary look professional. There were
many different ways to edit the footage on the camera itself; we could zoom in and
out, pan left and right or up and down. We also used a tripod to stand the camera on
so that the shots were still which is clearly shown in the opening shot; the camera
pans across to show the college and is completely still other than moving to the
right. All the pans were very smooth and flowed nicely into the next shot. It enabled
us to record the interviews and vox pops at the perfect angle and not make any
sudden movements.
5. The camera did not give us the best sound quality that we could have; therefor we had to
use head phones plugged into the camera along with a directional microphone which was
used for the vox pops and expert interviews. When we recorded the vox pops there was a
lot of background noise around because these were casual interviews in public areas.
Therefor the microphone assured us that we would be able to hear the interviewee over
the noise. The headphones were extremely useful because they allowed us to check the
sound quality there and then, so that if we needed to redo the vox pops we could do them
immediately instead of later on finding out we couldn’t use them.
When recording the voice over we used a Tascan voice recorder which was simple and
easy to use; all you had to do is press record and stop for each part. When doing this we
would be in an empty, quiet room indoors so that there was no background noise affecting
us because this had to be professional and clear. This made sure our documentary
sounded clear and maintained the same throughout.
6. After we had gathered all our footage we then had to upload it onto the Apple Mac
computers ready for editing and constructing. We did this via a USB lead one which
connected to the camera and one to the voice recorder. We had to upload it all to
Premiere-Pro which was the programme we used to edit all our clips to make up our
documentary. We went through all our clips and deleted the ones we didn’t need and
uploaded to the desktop the ones we were keeping. The ones we didn’t use either had
poor sound quality or didn’t relate enough to the questions being asked. We had a log
sheet where we made notes of the footage we were using and the footage we weren’t
going to use which we put on the blog. There was a media browser on Premiere which we
kept our clips on and it was extremely useful because it kept all the cut down clips we
wanted ready for us to use. After we had arranged all the clips in the order we wanted, we
then had to fade them in or out e.g. dissolve, so that they didn’t just suddenly come up on
the screen- to give it a more professional look. By dragging down the line going across
the timeline, this allowed the clips to transition through one another nicely. We also had to
change the speed on some of the clips; for example: one of the background footage was
very slow of people walking around the college, there for to make it more effective and
look more interesting we decided to increase the speed so that it moved along faster to
then add the text to it at the same pace; keeping the audience interested.
7. We then had to get all of the clips into the correct order and sort out the audio sound. To
put the clips in the right order we were able to drag them to different places along a
timeline that was underneath; with a shot of the clip at the top so that you could watch it
as you were creating. There were different amounts of layers you could use also across
the timeline which meant we could cross different clips over or add text onto certain ones.
We made sure our footage was edited the best we could, then moved onto the audio.
Most of the sound was part of the video clips we had uploaded, so if we wanted to get the
sound separate we had to ‘Unlink’ the video from the sound. We then positioned all the
audio with the correct video clip and began to adjust the sound levels. All of the audio
levels were different; too loud/ too quiet, so we had to drag the audio line either down or
up to make them louder or quieter. We then used a USB to upload to voice over from the
voice recorder, we also had to edit those clips for the sound levels and we had to re-
record a few because once we had placed them with the video clips they turned out to be
too short etc. The soundtrack we chose last and had to adjust that so that it didn’t over
power all of the other audio clips.
8. For our radio trailer we used the programme ‘Garage Band’ which was very simple to use.
We imported a similar soundtrack to the one used in the documentary first to instantly
create a link between the two. We then used outlook.com to email over the audio clips
that we wanted to use over to the Mac computer we were creating on. Through Garage
Band we were able to cut any audio or change the sound levels also, similar to Premiere
Pro. We put all the audio clips into order so that the radio trailer ran smoothly. We had to
put the sound track on repeat so that it kept on going up beat and kept the trailer lively so
that people would want to carry on listening. We had to add in the narration which we
again used the voice recorder for. We had to record more clips for the trailer because
most of the voice over on the documentary didn’t make sense for the trailer as we wanted
to make it different. We used a quiet classroom to do so, so that again it sounded
professional. There was little adjusting to do for these because we had already worked
out how much time we had and what we needed to say at each point; all we had to do
was upload it on a USB and drag it into place. After everything was complete we then
exported our work onto an MP3 file.
9. To create our listing’s magazine we used a programme called ‘InDesign’. The first thing
we did was google images of other double page spreads in magazines to get some ideas
on the layout and sort of images used. We then realised that we should use our own
images; so we had to screenshot parts of our documentary with images that were useful
and would clearly relate to the topic. This was done on the AppleMac and was a very
simple process. We then created a layout for our double page spread- mapping out where
we were going to put the images, text, quotes etc. By doing this it would make it quicker
when we came to creating our overall page because we would know where everything is
going. We had already written out our final script onto a Word document, therefor all we
had to do was copy and paste it onto the page. Word gave an automatic spell check
which once again made the writing look very professional. We chose to screenshot the
most relatable and eye catching images. First, we chose the close up of the mobile phone
in use; this was because it would make it clear at first glance what the magazine was
about and secondly we chose James Bargh who was one of our expert interview’s
because he was dressed formally and looked professional. We altered the brightness of
the photos so that they stood out on the page and it looked intriguing. Later on, we added
the borders in to separate the different sections; looking like a proper double page spread.
After using this programme we defiantly felt more confident as we hadn’t used it before
and the magazine overall was a success.
10. Lastly, for the evaluation I have used a range
of programmes; word, PowerPoint, Prezi,
slide share. I felt if I used all of these it would
show the skill that I have developed through
this whole process and make it more
interesting to read. All together I found the
programmes and software very efficient
throughout A2 media studies.
