Kieran Beal outlines their production process for a documentary on automation in the workplace. The initial research phase involves gathering theoretical information from experts as well as statistics on current automation trends. Ideas are then developed further, including exploring visual styles, target audiences, and structuring the documentary. A pre-production plan is made covering equipment, location shots, schedules, and safety. Finally, post-production involves editing footage, adding audio/visual effects, and exporting the final video for evaluation and as part of a portfolio.

1. Production Process
Kieran Beal

2. Initial reaction + research
To start off my project I am to draw up initial basic ideas for what I want to base it on as well as conduct a degree of research into the subject that
I have chosen, I chose automation in the workplace as the topic that I want to discuss in my documentary. As a result of this the majority of the
information that I gather will be mostly theoretical from people such as philosophers and hypothetical theorists. However I will only be gathering
projections that are based on trends and statistics that we are already aware of today so that they are based in truth and not just pure
speculation.
My inspiration for this idea originally came from aspects of media such as movies and video games that also include this topic such as 'I Robot'
and 'Detroit, become human'. However a small degree of investigation reveals that this is a very real problem that we could and most likely will
be facing in the future and so I decided to look into the matter further which reveals an in depth topic that can be heavily researched. So much so
that my video can only cover the basics of it, however this is actually a good thing because it is a better option to give the basics as this short
piece is only an introduction. It keeps the video short, and above all else can appeal to a wider audience by making it easier to understand.
In addition to doing this I will evaluate all the other ideas that I came up with to explain why they would have been valid ideas but ultimately why
I didn't choose to use them, as well as compare them to the idea I chose and why it is a more viable option. Finally I will summarise all of the
collective information that I gathered from multiple sources and evaluate both it's validity and how useful it actually is.

3. Idea development
Through my idea development I am to expand upon the idea that I chose in my initial ideas, this involves further topics that could be discussed in
the video itself, discussing the art style and visuals that I want to include in my video. This can be done through mood boards and custom colour
schemes, designed to assist in creating a mental picture of what the video is going to be like exactly. Therefore I think I will create a colour
scheme and have multiple custom text designs so that I have an options throughout the video, but also create two separate mood boards so I can
then use one to describe the topic of the video itself and then another one to explain the way in which colours would be used in my
documentary.
I will then go onto explain the kind of audience that the video is aimed at specifically, the age, gender, social class, the type of psychographic that
they will fall into. This is so I can have a firm understanding of who exactly I will be aiming my video at and then shoot it and structure it
accordingly. Fittingly enough structure is the next subject to take priority. This is where I am to plan out roughly how my documentary is going to
play out chronologically from start to finish in an order of shots, where I will place interviews and how I will edit my film to make everything run
together smoothly. The next part to my idea development is to create my factual pre-proposal, in which I will be describing what my film is, what
effect I want it to have on my audience as well as why I decided to show my film in this particular style. Finally to finish my idea development
post I will include a bibliography, cataloguing all of the sources that I used to both acquire information for my documentary, and inspiration for
any artisitic styles that I chose.

4. Pre-prodution plan
At this point in the project I will start formulating the practical plan that I will follow during both production and post-production processes. For
the most part however the pre-production plan will be for the initial production I.e the filming in my selected locations. For instance the shot and
equipment list that I have created are to both remind what equipment I will be needing for the production and potential locations. It should be
noted however that the noted locations on this list are only suggestions based on preliminary research for potential places to use, and is not an
actual list of areas that will be seen in the actual product. The shot list that I have drawn up will provide a guide on the day of filming so that I
know exactly what it is I am meant to be shooting and not trying to improvise every single shot.
Another reason that this will be useful is that it will save on production time, the convention on lists is that they are supposed to be completed
from the top down however, if I know what it is I am supposed to be shooting for each scene I can go to the nearest locations to shoot first,
reducing travel time between each filming location and as a result reduce the overall production time needed. This is also something that will
factor into the health and safety list as I cannot over exert my actors onset at the time, I need to make sure that they constantly have enough
energy to keep going throughout the day, the amount of time spent walking between sets is certainly something that is going to factor into that.
In order to further help minimize production time and ensure the well being of all personal onsite, a filming schedule will serve as a guideline to
help to me stick to a very specific timetable and ensure that nothing runs over how long it is supposed to go on for. The sheet setting out roles
and responsibilities for each crew member will define from an early point in time whose responsibility it is to carry out the task they have been
set to complete. The risk assessment and contingency plan will be in place from the start of production to the completion of the post-production
stage. The risk assessment is to identify any risks that could occur, analysing the hazard that such a risk could cause and then proposing a solution
to minimise the risk and therefore hazard to ensure nobody is injured or exposed to danger during production. The contingency plan however is
a list of problems that could occur during production, the concequence to this issue and steps that can be taken to prevent the problems from
happening, the issues raised in the contingency plan are usually from a technical perspective.
Towards the bottom of the plan I have also included two separate scripts, the first is the narrator script, this will be the dialogue that is spoken by
the voice over member at the end of production after it has been proofread to check for any errors in grammar, the presenter script will serve
the same function except it will be spoken by the presenter on the day of filming, the script will go through the same proofreading process.

5. Post-production
In this stage of development I will be constructing and sequencing the footage that I shot during production by putting it through a video editor
(in this case premiere pro) and then commencing the long process of editing. The first issue that has to be solved is the audio. The camera has
microphones built into it but they are of poorer quality, especially when a scene with dialogue is shot from a distance. The solution to this issue
is to use a handheld audio recorder with mics built in for this expressed purpose, then to further drown out any background noise it is wise to
use a boom mic plugged into recorder with directional microphones so that it only picks up the voice of the person it's being aimed at. Because
the camera and the mic have then technically recorded the same audio it is very easy to sync the audio of the recorder with the visuals of the
camera so that you don't have to worry about manually syncing the audio with the rest of video. It is possible for thisnto not work however in
which case the syncing must be done manually, however this is not a very time consuming task. The next step is to cut out any visuals on footage
that you don't want and assemble it all in the right order, the same must also be done for the audio. After that has been completed it is time to
place all of the visual and audio effects into the video that is needed for it to both run smoothly and stay within the genre it is meant to be in.
After the more broad affects have been done it's crucial to get all of the smaller aspects correct, this can include small colour corrections for the
visuals to changing the decibal level on separate audio tracks, this can be because the camera will pick upthe footage with a lack of colour and it
can seem dull, or the audio recorder can pick up certain dialogue and sounds at dfferent volumes and as a result of this it needs to be balanced
to make sure the video plays out smoothly. Then after ensuring that the product is complete by going back and watching it constantly
through post-production to make sure that nothin was left out, the product is complete and can be exported in Premiere Pro using an H264.
Format and a Youtube 720pp preset for me, as this will make the file an MP4 file which can be played on any device, but it can also be uploaded
to YouTube. At which point the embed code can be taken from the video itself and be used to upload onto practically anything that allows videos
to be uploaded. so I can therefore put it onto my website to be viewed and evaluated and allow myself to create a portfolio from it.