1. Review for our documentary that’s about the origins of the Lewis chessmen.
In thisprojectI producedashort documentaryaboutthe LewisChessmenwiththe BritishMuseum
and Chocolate Films.Mydocumentaryis targetedatthe people who visitthe museumandtothose
whomightwant to learnmore aboutthe Lewis chessmen.The Lewis chessmenare agroupof 78
12th-centurychess piecesthatare mostlycarvedinwalrusivory.
For our researchwe did secondary andprimaryresearchon the codesand conventions of short
documentaries.SoIandmy groupcan understandhow tomake a successful documentary. we
watched several differentkindsof documentariesthathadgave us an ideaonwhat makesa good
documentary.We watchedverypopulardocumentariesthatwere verywell knownandverywell
produced,forexample super-size me (fastfood documentary)andTupacShakur's. We alsowatched
documentariesthatwere onthe Britishmuseumwebsitethatwasbasedonthe Lewischessman
itself. We alsowatcheddocumentariesthatwere veryextraordinaryforexample Pongand Apology
line.Thishelpedusunderstandwhatsortof thingsa gooddocumentary will need.
I learntthat some conventions of documentaries are visual styles theseare interviews(talking
heads) andexposition.The interviews(talkinghead) wereof the curatorsand the public;these
interviewshelpuswithourprimaryresearchandsecondary,asyouhave the curatorswho are
already knowledgeableaboutthe Lewischessmenandthe publicwho have theirownopinionon
whattheythinkthe Lewischessmenare.The effectsof interviews(talkingheads) are thatithelps
our audience understandmore easilyaboutthe originsof the chesspieces. Inadocumentary,the
expositionoccursat the beginningandintroducesthe importantthemesof the film.Itisimportant
because itmakesthe viewer'sfirstimpressionandintroducesthe viewertothe content.
The reasonfor choosingthese conventionswasbecause I foundthem more professional andmore
suitable forourdocumentary.Talkingheadsandexpositionhave awide effecttoour documentary
as theybothbringinteresttoaudience.Ifindthattheybothare the most importantof a
documentaryastalkingheadshelpshow otheropinionsanddifferentopinions.
The visual style forourdocumentarywas mise-en-scene (thatiseverythingyousee, forexample the
locationstobackgroundetc. Our visual style wasveryformal andwasveryclear as we had inthe
actual areawhere the Lewischessmenare placedinthe museum.Thisshowsthe audience werethe
keyinformationisinthe Britishmuseumaboutthe Lewischessmen.
We all had toplan outour documentarybefore we evenstarteditbypitchingeachother’sideason
a storyboard.The storyboardconsists of shottypesand drawingof how our documentarywill turn
out. The storyboardstarts off with what will occurinthe beginningand whatwill happen atthe end.
We alsoexplainedeachstepandwhatshottypeswill be using.
Than we all createda plansfor example we made up10 suitable questionsthatwe will givetothe
interviewerswhenwe’reinterviewingthem, we choose the bestonesasa groupand use themin
our documentary.
The pre-production tasksIundertooktohelpwithmakingthe documentarywasthatIhelpedcreate
the endof the storyboard,these wasuseful asitgave our groupa visual image of how we wanted

2. our documentarytolookand ithelpusfigure outwhat shottype isbetterfor what. The storyboard
isone of the importantparts of our planningasit wasthe rough ideaonhow we were goingcreate
the video.Withoutastoryboardwe wouldhave finditmore difficultforusto create our
documentary.
The thingsthat wentwell forourresearchingandplanningwasverymuchour secondaryresearchas
it helpedusfindoutmore informationaboutthe Lewischessmen.The secondaryresearchwasused
indocumentary whenthe curatorsgave in the inputintothe questionwe askedthem, the curators
knownearlyeverythingaboutthe chesspiecesastheyhave alreadystudiedthem.The curators
provide the informationtoourdocumentary.
Our decisionmakingwasgood,howeverthe storyboardwe didn’tmanage to agree onwithregards
to whichstoryboardwasmost suitable forustofollow anduse to helpuscreate the documentary.
We manage to choose one at the end,howeverourdecisionmaking tookabitof time and
disagreementsthroughoutit.
As a groupwe all choose whatwe likedthe bestandwhatwe will use forour documentary.
Everyone inthe grouphad responsibilities androlestodo,we all swappedrolesevery lessonwe
workedonit,so everyone participateswithourdocumentariesfairly. Forexample we workedon
thingslike editing,creatingbins,creatingmusic, exportingdocumentaryetc. Thishelpeveryone gain
newskillsandbettereditingskill,thiswill helpeveryoneindividuallyinthe future.
Our time managementwasverygoodasthe more we have everyone doingsomethingatthe same
time the more quicklywe finishourdocumentary.We will alwayshave one personthatcheckover
to see if there are any errors or anyjumpyparts that needstobe fixed.Thishelpsusstayorganised
as a group and alsohelpswithourtime managements.There were some errorsthatneededtobe
fixedasourmusic became veryjumpyandwe hadmissingfootage atthe endof our documentary
that neededsome fixing.Atthe endof our documentarywe thoughtitwouldhave beenabetter
ideato addextrafootage of an interview,inthe interviewswe usedourteacheranda studentto act
like theywere the public.Thismade ourdocumentarylook betteraswe didn’thave enoughpublic
interviews.
Our documentaryhadverygoodshot angle andgoodshots usedinit,the lightingwasverygoodand
the changesof footage workedoutreallywell asitwasveryvisual andclear.This badthingsabout
our footage isthat we couldof have a bitfor interviewsfromadifferentcuratoraswe hadthe same
curator talkingthroughitmajorityof the time and if we had more publicinterviewsof the people
beingfilmnexttothe chesspieces.
Our editingwasverysuccessful asall of ourfootage fittedinverywell andmanage tomake our
documentarylookverywell place together. Asagroupeveryone manage tolearnsomethingnew
that haven’tlearntwhenitcomestoediting,thiswillhelpusletterwhenoureditingskillsare
needed.
Our documentarysuitedourtargetaudience asitwasfor people whowanted tolearnaboutthe
chesspieces,andourdocumentarywouldteachothersaboutthe originsof the chesspiecesaswe
had the entire questionthattheywouldgenerallywanttofindoutaboutthe Lewischessmen.It also
providesmore informationthatwasonthe side if people wantedtoknow more.

3. At the endas a group we each received feedback fromotherpeoplethatweren’tapart of our
group.We got toldthat we couldhave improvedminorpartsof our documentary, forexampleour
musicrepeatingoverandoveragainthroughoutthe whole documentary.Howevertheysaid
majoritywaswell createdandeditedtogether.