2. Initial Research and Planning
In the initial steps of creating this project I conducted thorough research on the client and audience
which allowed me to understand both their likes and dislikes. By researching Sunderland culture, it
enabled me to first of all understand who they were as a company as well as their values and ethics
and what they do for the community. After understanding what they stand for and what they
provide as well as finding out their target audience it allowed me to grasp what the client would be
happy with and like me to make as well as giving me a target bracket age to focus my piece to so
that what I would create would engage the audience not only making the audience happy but
providing the client with a product they are happy with as well. Carrying out research on my
audience allowed me to understand what they wanted from the product. Looking at the Uses and
Gratifications Theory alongside Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs I was able to understand why and how
my audience would engage with my product through diversion and surveillance with
diversion/escapism letting viewers escape their real lives and immerse themselves in what they are
seeing and surveillance where the viewer wants to acquire information, knowledge and
understanding by watching programmes like The News or Documentaries. Using this I was able to
influence my ideas and planning in order to create something that not only hit the criteria required
by the client but allowed me to understand not only what my audience would enjoy but what they
would get out of my product. I took all of my research on board when planning my product starting
by mind mapping all of my ideas that would fit in with the theme then researching each idea further
to learn more about what would work after this, I then selected 3 ideas to progress further including
potential locations, cover photo artwork and content. After this I then got feedback on each idea
and decided to progress with an idea that had strong links to Sunderland, worked well with my
audience and would please the client landing on the idea of the story of: Molly Moselle.
Maslow's Hierarchy
of Needs
3. Through my audience research I knew what impact it would have on
the audience and how they are much more likely to watch
something on social media rather than television therefore I figured
that I would create the documentary for Youtube which comes with
its own codes and conventions to engage the audience. With 1.9
billion monthly active users Youtube conducted an analysis of UK
demographics found around 24% of users were aged between 16-24
years compared to Ofcom's findings saying that 16 to 24-year-olds
spend just 53 minutes watching TV each day with my documentary
being over 10 minutes this would mean that I would have to engage
the audience's attention for up to 20% of their daily TV intake
making the documentary a lot less engaging and or noticeable. With
going with the genre of true crime which I knew would engage my
audience however I had to make sure to get facts right and tell this
story in a tasteful manner that would not offend anyone whilst
conveying the story of a real person in Sunderland's history. With its
own conventions true crime documentaries have become a gripping
and popular genre, captivating audiences with real-life mysteries,
investigations, and criminal cases. Some of these conventions
include reconstructions to depict events that allegedly occurred and
help the audience understand crucial moments in a case as well as
talking heads usually interviews carried out with people involved in
the crime, professionals in their field and or family members with
the product I made it allowed me the creative freedom of both a
documentary and a short film whilst staying in this genre, it allowed
me to use elements of a documentary blended with the more
cinematic and creative elements of short films allowing me to
expand my knowledge through two different media formats.
4. Upon starting this project, I had some experience of filming a
documentary using methods and conventions of only
documentaries this led me to understand how to create
a documentary and the theories behind it however I had never
created a short film but as this was something I had always been
interested this is something I definitely wanted to include in this
project. During the production process I made sure to give myself
time to take test shots and time to reshoot things if I needed to as
this was something I didn’t do in the past, this allowed me to not
only review the footage and camera angles but shakiness as most
of the documentary was shot in handheld as well as reviewing
audio quality. This not only allowed me to manage my time
better (a skill that is required to be successful in the industry) but
I was also able to shoot more high-quality footage. To be able to
film in certain location I had to reach out to participation and
venue owners which taught me vital communication skills that I
could carry with me into my career and the industry and although
some of them denied filming this experience allowed me to make
my own creative decisions for the documentary and also gave me
more experience in adapting original plans and being able
to change direction quickly vital for the industry. Overall, the
production process ran quite smoothly with little to no problems
as I gave myself over seven months of shoot time this allowed for
errors and issues to occur but then be sorted or figured
out without disrupting the production schedule or leaving me
with minimal time. If I had another opportunity to do this task
again, I would again plan my production time like this as it was
beneficial to the whole process and left me with footage, I was
very happy with.
5. In post-production I also explored new video effects that are
commonly used in the industry but were new to me such as
working on a green screen. To add another creative element
to the documentary I wanted to use a green screen to add
elements as they could not be achieved practically. Since I had no
experience using a green screen overlay, I decided to do some
research through the internet and found a tutorial on YouTube.
Through this research I found that in the search
bar on premiere pro, if I searched for the ultra-key and found it, I
was able to add it to the clip which removed the green screen
allowing the effect to be layered over existing footage.I also
developed my skills in audio by learning how to dampen
background noise and increase the audio I needed as well
as blending audio tracks adding sound effects and creating an
overall soundscape. This project allowed me to develop my skills in
Premiere Pro allowing me to become more confident in editing as
well as raising the profile of my documentary making it appear
more professional. If I was to change anything about the post
production process I would have potentially given myself more
time to work on it as although I gave myself 3-4 months the
majority wasn’t edited until the final month due to having to
reshoot sections and scheduling conflicts however, I am happy
with the overall look and edit for the documentary. Looking at the
project as a whole I am happy with all three final products and feel
that they work well in relation to what the client wants and what
an audience would want from a documentary like this based on
the feedback I have received I am happy with my final products
and what I have created and learned over working on the project.
