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 sucessful 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.Thishelpedusunderstandwhat sortof thingsa gooddocumentary will need.
I learntthat some conventions of documentaries are visual styles theseare interviews(talking
heads) andexposition.The interviews(talkinghead) wereof the curaorsand the public,these
interviewshelpuswithourprimaryresearchandsecondary,asyouhave the curatorswho are
already knowledgeableaboutthe Lewischessmanandthe publicwhosome know whattheyare and
some whodon’t. The effectsof interviews(talkingheads) are thatithelpsouraudience understand
more easilyaboutthe originsof the chesspieces. Inadocumentary,the expositionoccursatthe
beginningandintroducesthe importantthemesof the film.Itisimportantbecause itmakesthe
viewer'sfirstimpressionandintroducesthe viewertothe content.
The reasonfor choosingthese conventionswasbecause Ifoundthem more professional andmore
suitable forourdocumentary.Talkingheadsandexpositionhave awide effecttoour documentary
as theybothbringinteresttoaudience andmake itmore clearlyforour audience.Ifindthatthey
bothare the most important part of a documentaryastalkingheadshelpsshow otheropinionsand
differentopinions,expositionbringsthe beginmore live andsetsourtheme fordocumentary.
The visual style forourdocumentarywas what yousee the mise-en-scene, forexample the locations
to backgroundetc. Our visual style wasveryformal andwasveryclear as we had ourin the actual
area where the Lewischessmenare placedinthe museum.Thisshowsthe audience were the key
informationisinthe 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 choosethe bestonesasa groupand use themin
our documentary.

2. The pre-production tasksIundertooktohelpwithmakingthe documentarywasthatIhelpedcreate
the endof the storyboard,these wasuseful asitgave our groupa visual image of how we wanted
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 difficuiltforustocreate our
documentary.
The thingsthat wentwell forourresearchingandplanningwasverymuchour secondaryresearchas
it helpedusfindoutmore informationaboutthe Lewischessmen.The secondaryresearchwasused
indocumentarywhenthe curatorsgave in the inputintothe questionwe askedthem, the curators
knownearlyeverythingaboutthe chesspiecesastheyhave alreadystudiedthem.The curators gave
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
disagrementsthroughoutit.
As a groupwe all choose whatwe likedthe bestandwhatwe will use forour documentary.
Everyone inthe grouphad responsibilities androlestodo,we all swaprolesevery lessonwe worked
on it,so everyone participateswithourdocumentariesfairly. Forexample we workedonthingslike
editing,creatingbins,creatingmusic, exportingdocumentaryetc. Thishelpeveryonegainnew skills
and bettereditingskill,thiswillhelpeveryone individuallyinthe 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 error or anyjumpyparts that needs tobe fixed.Thishelpsusstayorganisedas
a group and alsohelpswithourtime managements.There were some errorsthatneededtobe fixed
as our musicbecame veryjumpyandwe had missingfootage atthe endof our documentarythat
neededsome fixing.Atthe endof our documentarywe thoughtitwouldhave beenabetterideato
add extrafootage of an interview, inthe interviewswe usedourteacheranda studenttoact 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 interviewsfromadiferentcuratoraswe had the 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.agroupeveryone manage tolearnsomethingnew that
haven’tlearntwhenitcomestoediting,thiswillhelpusletterwhen oureditingskillsare needed.
Our documentarysuitedourtargetaudience asitwasfor people whowanted tolearnaboutthe
chesspieces,andourdocumentarywouldteachothersaboutthe originsof the chesspiecesaswe

3. had the entire questionthattheywouldgenerallywanttofindoutaboutthe Lewischessmen.Italso
providesmore informationthatwasonthe side if people wantedtoknow more.
At the endas a group we each gainedfeedbackfromotherpeople thatweren’tapart of our group.
We got toldthatwe couldhave improvedminorpartsof ourdocumentary,forexample ourmusic
repeatingoverandoveragainthroughoutthe whole documentary.Howevertheysaidmajoritywas
well createdandeditedtogether.