My production reflections for FMP

1. Production Reflection
Rhys Sadler-Scott

2. Process- Production week 1: Tuesday
Today I finished off my final script for the documentary including the interviews, narration
and general layouts of the shots I will do. I had to study other documentary scripts in order
to see how they are usually formatted. It is a lot more difficult to do this then to write the
script for a movie or TV show, as for a documentary in the style I am doing it, you can only
plan for what the presenter will say. Not the interviewees. I also left a note on the bottom of
the script detailing how this was only a general idea for the scenes that I could include I will
still film as much stock footage and interviews as I can, in order to make sure that I have a
lot of options available to me, and to make an extended edition for personal distribution
should time allow.

3. Process
I also fine tuned my pre production, and created a call sheet for my Documentary.
With this, all pre production is completed. I hope to start filming the Documentary
tonight. And edit the footage tomorrow.

4. Production week 1- Wednesday
Today I began my initial filming for the Documentary. To start it all off, I filmed my
first interview with the School psychologist; Elly. She was more than
accommodating to my filming and I was able to get several good shots of her office
and her opinion on autism and the School. Which I edited together into a coherent
interview later at college. Where Elly describes her professional view on autism and
the joy she has coming to work. I used PremierePro to tie these shots together, as
well as make a credit to Elly appear in front of her as she talks.

5. Process
Next I added a song from the licensed soundtrack that I have elected to use from the album
by the artist “Koethe” in the background. Which I think adds some interest and fits with the
tone of the scene very well, as well as emphasizing the point of the Documentary. The
gentle, uplifting melody is perfect for the inspirational, educational tone that I am aiming
for in my final film. Tonight, I plan to film another interview, and a few panning shots of the
school, which I will edit tomorrow. I will also look into recording my voiceovers for the
Documentary.

6. Production Week 1- Thursday
Today I put some finishing touches on my interview with Elly, like some stock footage
of the building, and rearranging the order of the shots so they flowed better. I took
some stock footage last night, as well as another interview with one of the care team
leaders at Breckenbrough. I shot us coming into her office from several angles, and
also took some stock footage of the units and rooms the boarding students sleep in, to
add to what she was saying. Tonight will be my busiest night for production, but also
my most lucrative, I have several interviews lined up, as well as some stock footage,
presenting shots and aerial shots. Which I will begin editing tomorrow if all goes well.

7. Production week 1- Friday
With my aerial shots of the building filmed, as well as several more interviews with both
students and staff at the School. I decided today would be a good time to start recording
voiceovers for the film. Though first, I started drafting together my first cut of the film.
Which as of now, amounts to about 6 minutes. The remaining time I have will most likely
be dedicated to voiceover shots and presenting shots, with perhaps one more interview
if I have time. The cut I have edited so far, I am very happy with, though there is the
occasional volume or lighting inconsistency that I am not always sure how to address,
they are much less than I would have expected from the first few shoots.

8. Process
I have recorded as much dialogue as I could in advance
of filming. And though I have not yet been able to
properly check the quality, I am hopeful that I will have
some usable narration by next production week.
Though I did hit a roadblock today when one of the
computers I used rejected my work on PremirePro, this
will not put me behind schedule for completing my
work. Which in fact is going faster than I would have
thought. Next week I will begin taking pictures for my
poster(s).

9. Production week 2- Tuesday
Today I did a little bit of fine tuning on my documentary, but due to the lack of new
footage until tonight, I decided to start work on my trailer. The trailer will be just over
2 minutes in length and includes footage that was not seen in the documentary, in
order to make it feel like a separate piece of work, rather than a clipped version of the
documentary, this was also done because I needed to use shorter, sharper shots to
make the trailer visually appealing and not drag on. I used both rehearsed and
reflexive footage to make the trailer and featured extensive usage of the drone
footage I obtained last week. I edited the trailer to the royalty free song; “Have To” by
Koethe. Which has an uplifting and fast paced melody. So I used positive, snappily
edited shots to match this. I am happy with the end result, though there are still issues
with the sound, such as when the music quiets and the volume of when the people
are talking, which is often too quiet to hear over the music, but I believe this will be
easy to fix. Therefore I am very happy with today’s work.

10. Production week 2-Wednesday
Today I finished production on my Documentary trailer and started working on my
final poster, which I will make in a polaroid-esque style, featuring several snapshots of
the building on a table, with the tagline, title and date under/over the main image. I
also began implementing some voiceover narration on the final documentary, which
currently stands at 6/10 minutes long. The narration will require additional runtime
and stock footage. Which I have not yet begun to film, and won’t have an opportunity
to do so until next week, due to permission rights on filming students. The voiceover I
recorded is clear enough, but the is a strange muffled noise in the background that I
will have to work on editing out tomorrow.

11. Production week 2- Thursday
Today I continued refining the sound work on my trailer, which I now believe to be finished and
ready to submit, though I will hold off on doing so until I have all the footage I need for the main
documentary, as I may want to include some of it in the finished product. I also re-recorded my
voiceover narration on a different recorder, which is of much better quality then my past two
attempts. Now that I have the necessary voiceovers for the finished product, it is much easier to
edit scenes together and know where they should go. All I have left to do now, is film some more
stock footage and the closing scenes. I will also attempt to obtain a little bit more drone footage
if I can. As I think the film would benefit from some different angles. My only concern is booking
out the camera for next week, as I have only been able to obtain it for Tuesday night and
Wednesday morning. Which leaves my only window to film a school day a very short one, so I
will have to make sure the footage is of good quality. Overall though, I think the work is well on
schedule. Tomorrow I will try to continue work on my poster.

12. Production week 2- Friday
Today I completed the voiceover work on my final documentary, as well as adding in
some new drone shots that I acquired last night of the building from far away. The
documentary is now approximately ¾ of the way finished. Most of today was
dedicated towards creating my poster, which is coming along nicely. I decided to
present it as a series of polaroid's with quotes from the documentary along the
bottom, this is to give the poster a feeling of nostalgia and Schooling days. I am still
not sure what to put in the background, but I am leaning towards a simple wooden
table. I am also not entirely sure where to put the dates and title, but I am confidant
that it will be easier to determine once I have completed the rest of the poster.

13. Production week 3- Tuesday
Today I sharpened the footage on my final trailer so that it flowed together better, my
main issue is that I need footage of the students during the day, which I only acquired
permission to film last night. So tonight will be the beginning of the final phases of my
filming, including the ending scene of the documentary and some more stock panning
and building shots. Tomorrow I will begin filming the students, hopefully by Friday I
will have all the footage I need. I also completed production on my initial poster. For
which I used several photos, encased in a rectangular polaroid-esque effect to give the
poster the feeling of being on a school noticeboard. I enhanced this effect by adding a
wood paneled background and drawing pins in each picture, as well as some shadow
and stroke effects for an overall image.
I finished the poster off by adding
the title at the top, and the date at
the bottom. Overall I’m very happy
with the results. I think it is very
reminiscent of schooling days, with
an implication of what the
documentary is about in the quotes
on the pictures, but not too much
information, in order to make the
viewers of the poster curious.

14. Production week 3- WednesdayToday I shot some new footage of students at
the School in lesson and other stock panning
shots of the building and the exterior. However,
due to an issue with the brightness and
saturation of the shots that I was not able to fix
in time for filming, I was unable to obtain as
much footage as I had wanted, which means I
will have to reshoot and finish filming during the
final week of production, which I had hoped to
dedicate my time towards editing, so this could
be disruptive to my schedule. But I think I should
still manage to get everything finished by then.
I was however, able to complete
production on my trailer and continue
with my final documentary, which now
stands at 7 minutes and 15 seconds out
of an approximate 10. If there is
enough time at the end of production, I
would like to go back and try to clean
up the sound on the interviews in the
trailer a little, as there is a noticeable
faint hiss in the background of some
shots. But as it is, I am very happy with
the finished results.