I decided that I needed to try and get some full feedback from people of my target area - I took a random sample selection from my Facebook friends and asked them to give some quick feedback of what they felt about the very rough copy - once I have created my second draft I hope to do the same and find out what needs improving to make it more interesting or watchable.
Monday, 25 February 2013
Feedback from Target Audience
I decided that I needed to try and get some full feedback from people of my target area - I took a random sample selection from my Facebook friends and asked them to give some quick feedback of what they felt about the very rough copy - once I have created my second draft I hope to do the same and find out what needs improving to make it more interesting or watchable.
Practice Introduction Editing
Above is a short video clip of me practicing with creating an introduction clip and crossfading a picture that I made - I like the effect it has but I'm not sure if the filming quality is good enough for both layers to appear together. I am going to ask a few classmates for some feedback to my practice introduction to see what they think of what I have created. Below is a screenshot of the internet program I used to create the picture. I typed several key words into the program - chose an appropriate shape - this case a map of the UK then used exported it as a picture file. I then played around with the panning and zooming of the clip when in film and editing.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
The Race to Nowhere
This is the first screen shot that I took of the trailer for 'The Race to Nowhere' it's a documentary that looks at how the American education system is mass producing children that strive to achieve grades but not a career. The reason I took this screen shot was that I felt that it would be quite an easy establishing shot to reproduce - however I may incur some problems such as some students not being able to be filmed or photographed, so I could therefore change the angle of this establishing shot to alter the look of camera angle and shot.
The second screen shot I have taken is of a close up of hands typing on a keyboard. I have already recreated a similar shot - I particularly liked this one as it was closer to the subject in the frame and slightly off centre. This made the shot interesting to look at for the user.
As this documentary is also about education it shared similar in between shots that I could use in my product. I like this shot of the student working hard because it was a side shot, again varying the dynamics of the video clip, averting the eye line and grabbing the viewers attention. I also particularly like the lighting in this shot - the way the lamp has become the focal point and how it is almost doing the talking for the student as to how hard he works - suggesting its past a very late time at night. The lighting and how layout of the shot seems to tell a story.
I chose to screen capture this shot because I liked the casual background to the subject, revealing a different side or personality of the character. The rest of the clip appeared to be children working hard/not playing or relaxing then this was kind of an oxymoron the child was speaking about having to work hard from a young age to get into college but in a relaxed more comfortable atmosphere. This may be the way in which the interviewer has tried to relax the interviewee in order to gain more insightful and interesting answers - I need to think carefully about location and lighting when it comes to reshooting my interviewees.
I chose this particular shot because it is quite a classic head and shoulder shot used in interviews in documentaries. Again I also like the background - it shows the school setting and natural environment in which the subject is usually based, giving context to the clip and shoot. It looks like the interviewer has literally just caught the subject and asked them their opinions very quickly and they've given straight to the point, honest answers.
This is the last screen shot that I took as it was another shot I felt that I could use or recreate to give a similar effect. The close up shot is usually used to reveal emotions or reactions to specific things that happen. In this case it is the reaction to what the subject is saying - it reveals her true emotions about how she is feeling at the time about the upsetting topic she is discussing (suicides in her local area due to stress to perform well in education). I can easily use the close up shot when I am filming my subject - particularly in the reaction to the questions that I ask.
I have found looking at another documentary to do with education has helped me a lot and I feel a lot more confident with recreating my own and putting mine into context.
Further Planning and Organising
This is to further show my planning and preparation for the filming of my documentary. After looking again at this closely I have decided to create another more detailed storyboard and timeline so that I know exactly what camera shot is happening when and where. This help me to understand how to reveal the character as well as get across the point of the students that are going through the post 16 education system.
Creating pieces of plan like this will help me slowly to get on track and handle the work load that I have been struggling with. I feel that if I go in with a plan I will create a productive piece of work with which I have used my time wisely to achieve the best I can.
Famous Documentaries
Above are some examples of documentaries at which I have been looking for inspiration. Mainly for shot ideas, in particular the Johnny Cash documentary has a lot of close up shots and one on one interviews that I can use to base my documentary layout on. The bottom documentary Race to Nowhere gives me more of an educational based look and feel so will give me inspiration for my in between and establishing shots. The top two very famous documentary scenes are mainly about camera angle variety and handheld camera techniques - both of which I need to consider in my documentary making.
Introduction Shots (Response to Feedback)
Here are a selection of videos that I have filmed in repsonse to the idea that I need to have an establishing shot/introduction to the documentary to set the scene. The first shot had the reflection of friend in it that was helping me to shoot the clip so we had to refilm. I also think I will need to reshoot the third video as it is quite dark and not very well lit. Meaning it does not have a very strong impact or influence on the audience - it doesn't draw them into the documentary to carry on watching.
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