Documentary

Production Diary:

Pre-Production:

We had to start our short documentary project by doing some research. We each researched a short documentary that caught our eye and watched them to see how they were put together. We then learned that there are three types of documentaries: Participatory, observational and expository. We looked into what each of these meant. This was all done in small tasks in groups or pairs over the course of a couple of lessons, whilst we also watched some examples of professional documentaries.

After we had a few lessons learning about documentaries, it was time to start thinking about our own. We first decided what type of documentary we wanted to make (mine was participatory/observational), and then choose a topic we enjoyed, to make it on. My first idea was to do with animals, I was thinking a puppy training class, or a puppies journey during this. However this was difficult as I needed many people's permission, which I failed to get, and quite a lot of time. I then decided it was best to start from scratch with a new idea, which I struggled quite a bit with. However Kelly then came to me and gave me a suggestion of drag, as she had a friend who was a drag artist, and Adam (first year actor) was also a drag artist. This was a very good idea as I knew it would be fun and interesting to make.

I then started to plan my ideas around this. I started by getting in touch with Adam over teams as Kelly was getting in touch with max (her friend). They both agreed to do an interview with myself, and Adam agreed to do his makeup in front of the camera. I pitched my idea to the class and Kane, which it was then able to go ahead. I followed this up with paperwork such as shot lists, storyboards, mood boards and arranged filming dates with the participants.

Filming:

My first filming day was 9th March 2023, and this started with the interview with Adam. I made a question list for him, all about his life around drag. The first take of this interview did not go perfect or how i would have liked so we did film it again, however this one was a lot better. This interview lasted around 3 minutes, which was perfect for editing. We then moved on to the makeup. I set up the cameras around a mirror in the makeup room from two angles and filmed all the way through the process of Adam doing his makeup and wig. One problem during this was that the light dies halfway through, but that was an easy and quick fix, and because I didn't need all of the footage, this was okay. Another problem was that the camera died also a little bit in, and because of this, I lost a little bit of the makeup footage, but because I had it for another angle, it was going to be okay.

We then came up with another idea, that wasn't planned. This was to do a photo shoot of Adam in drag, as he had brought his dress as well, which I originally did not realise. He went to change into this whilst me and Freya (who was assisting me on set) went to set up the cameras and lights in the green screen room. When Adam came in, Freya took photos of him on her camera in front of the white wall, whilst I recorded it on the camera as footage, along with him posing and panning shots of all of his drag (dress, makeup and hair).

My second day of filming was the 16th March 2023. This was my interview with Max. This was set up in the same way as Adams was, except with two angles instead of three. There were two lights to brighten it up. I had written a different set of questions to ask Max, although still about his life in drag. This interview was a little bit longer than the first one, around 5 minutes long, which was the perfect length for my documentary. During this, I put cutaways of different angles, and videos of Max in drag that he sent me via email.

I also recorded a voice over, which included many facts about drag, and these were put in between the interviews, with footage of Rupaul's drag race. This was recorded on Freya's mic and lasted around ten minutes. I had to record this a few times and there was a few sentences and words that i kept messing up, but in the end, it went very well.

Post production

Once I had finished filming, it was time to start editing. This took about a week and a half to complete. I started it once I had gotten all the footage from the filming day with Adam, starting off by editing the interview. This was a bit difficult to match up the audio to the footage, as I filmed the audio on Freya's mic and the footage on the college camera, however I eventually managed to do it. I put in cutaways of him doing his makeup and the photoshoot, which just gave it more interesting factors. I finished this the same day that my interview with Max was, so I then went to do that. When I had gotten this footage, I starting editing it the following Monday. I found this was a lot easier to match up with the audio and the footage, as it was only from two angles. I then put the voiceover i recorded into the documentary, which was ten minutes long and quite hard to find the parts I actually needed, but I managed it eventually. I made sure the audio and footage between each clip was okay, and then went on to do the credits, and then it was complete.

Finished Documentary:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=K7HVVyfaKmM&feature=shares

Research file:

Analysis:

Brave art, A short documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWfUw37Qk10

Having watched this documentary, one thing I first noticed was how nicely shot it was. The shots of the paint, and the woman herself are amazingly done. There are a variety of shots, including close ups, wide angles, and panning shots, all in the introduction. All through the documentary she is talking about her personal experience, therefore it is a participatory documentary. In the beginning, she starts off by talking about her personal experiences in learning how to paint, and all about how it works. Although it explains this very well, It could have given a bit more of a clearer explanation of what the documentary was exactly about, to pull peoples attention into it a bit more, as it is a little unclear towards the start.

In the middle, they included pictures and videos of what the woman was talking about. For example pictures of her when she first started out in her career. This is something I want to include in my documentary, of when Adam and Max first started out doing drag, or of them doing it now. Mainly as cutaways of the interviews, which is what has been used in this documentary.

One thing I would change in this documentary is the repeated similar shots of the cutaways from the interview. A lot of them are very similar which could result in the audience getting bored. This is something that I would like to improve in my documentary, and get a variety of different footage use.

Dear future generations: sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLJscAlk1M

This documentary is very different to the last one, although it is still participatory, but the man is not talking about his own experiences, however talking about the planet and speaking directly to the camera, rather than another person. The man continues to talk about statistics and facts about how the earth has been ruined, but there are not a lot of visuals. In my documentary, I would have included more pictures/videos of what is actually happening, however there are many different locations, of things like deserts, and dry areas, so people may get a better understanding.

I think this documentary is extremely nicely shot and edited. The animations are very clear and perfectly timed with what he is saying. The documentary itself is shot from many different angles, showing things like power, from the man who is talking to the camera, to make it look extremely important, to hook people in to watch it and take notice of the message he is putting across.

Another thing I would have done differently, is have more people's point of views put across, instead of the same person throughout it all. For this type of documentary, it would get the message across better, if more people had participated.

Evaluation report:

Overall, my documentary went extremely smooth, and there was not many mistakes or bumps throughout the process. I had put into practice, everything I had learned from past projects and because of this it went a lot better. I planned very carefully around the timeframe, and set myself short deadlines for each part of the project, the filming, paperwork and editing etc, to make sure I got it all done on time, and I did. However I did need a short extension, as it was hard to plan around Max as he is a teacher, and was not available for a while. I did have a contingency plan for this, which was to do it around Adams journey, however Max did become available last minute, so it ended up working out okay. The things that worked out very well in my documentary were that every aspect was shot from a few different angles, from nice positions, so the footage ended up being really nice. I overshot, just in case I ended up needing the footage if something didn't go to plan. The interviews were a good timeframe for my documentary, so I didn't need to cut any parts out, which made it easier and flow better. I made sure I had the correct paperwork and that everything was planned very well, so nothing went off schedule. I did plenty of research for my documentary, so that I had a very clear idea of what I was doing during planning.

Some things I could learn and improve from, is making sure I have backup chargers for lights and cameras so that they don't die, and I don't miss out any important footage. Another thing I could have done better is made a few more open questions, to make room for Adam to talk a little bit more. Some footage I would have liked to get is Max teaching Adam a makeup look, or mentoring him, however we didn't end up having time for that because Adam had a show and I didn't have time to get Max in for another day because of the deadline.

During editing, Some things I did it the best I could get it and I think it has improved my editing skills a lot, and I have learned how to do a lot of different things from different people, and I think filming overall has definitely improved my knowledge and I have learned a lot from it. The experience of filming and editing as a whole was really fun, but sometimes stressful and challenging, although everything managed to be finished on time.

I separated all of my paperwork, filming and editing out into short deadlines, so I made sure it was all done on time, and I didn’t overload myself with work, to then it may not have been done.

I have definitely improved my filmmaking and editing and time management skills a lot, so I found this project to be very useful to my skills.

Paperwork:

Shot lists: