Evaluation of Production Practice and Management Skills

Evaluation of Production Practice and Management Reflection

Through this section of my evaluation, I will look at the production practice as well as my management skills throughout the project. I will do this by looking through 5 aspects of the project:      

Most Successful Aspect Time Management Actors and Crew Equipment and Booking Budget Least Successful Aspect

Most Successful Aspect Pre-Production I feel the most successful aspect in terms of my documentary was its relevance shown by the content research. 2012 is the first year where students will have to pay up to £9,000 tuition fees, therefore the alternative options were definitely a topic that a lot of people would be interested in now more than ever. I know from being a student, I already had a lot of knowledge in the matter. Through the research I learnt a lot more about the topic such as about the organisation 15 Billion who provide apprenticeship programmes that I eventually mention in my final documentary, as well as A-level schemes that I knew nothing about. I tried to include as much of this knowledge in my final piece, but it was difficult taking into account the broadness of the topic therefore I only briefly looked through each option. http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/unit-4-content-research-what-to-do.html http://www.15billion.org/youngpeople/ https://www.greatcareers.co.uk/jobs_hrg/financegrad/your-start-a-level-entryscheme.aspx Another good aspect I feel was at the start of this project, when I was asked to develop three proposals for potential documentary ideas. I had three solid ideas which I felt were all relevant and appealing to the target audience if 16-25 year olds. Lack of Asian involvement in football would have been effective having me as a presenter looking at the problem though my eyes being a young Asian footballer. The Stratford idea could have been filled with abstract shots of the Olympic stadium as well as the new Westfield which would have been equally effective. I felt my idea was relevant and easily

accessible to film that’s why I chose to follow this proposal. Here’s my rationale explaining exactly why I chose my idea of options after school. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/media_rationale/1 Another successful aspect that my documentary reflected was its range of contacts. I found one for every option. Philip Mathew represented the organisation 15 Billion, which I found during my content research. He eventually leaded the information in regards to apprenticeships. Sam Smith was talking on behalf of Adecco who I found last minute due to the delay by Aspers Casino and Workplace. She successfully gave us an experts opinion on young people within the world of work. Finally I found Elizabeth Johnson personally as I had previously done some fundraising for the charity she was representing. She gave a great insight into her charity and how young people can get involved presenting the option of volunteer work. All contacts combined gave us a lot of relevant information. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/contact_list_final/1 Production The most successful aspect in terms of the production stage was my interviews. I have talked about the range of different people that I included, but in terms of the filming element, I only had to record each interview once in which I obtained a range of different angles and answers. I did these within the first month of production as shown by my production schedule. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/feb_prod_sched/1 Another aspect that I felt was well thought out was my range of different camera shots. I felt if I used a mixture of different angles and shots, it would help emphasise the entertaining focus of my documentary. Here are some examples of the different angles and shots I used.

High Angle

Side Angle

Over the Shoulder

Post Production I feel the most successful aspect of the post production stage was the editing. During the first few weeks of the second month of production, I did start panicking as some interviews were done late due to the snow delay. Therefore I had to spend a lot of time outside of lessons editing to get back on track with the schedule which I did successfully. Below is a link of the week it snowed which really affected the schedule of my filming. http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-2.html

Another thing was more specifically the editing of the interviews. I added a lot of cutaways to make the interviews more engaging and relevant. Here is a screenshots of a cutaway. I have also linked the final documentary to show the range of cutaways that I used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVVfYBqyir8

Time Management Pre-Production I think my time management could have been better at the start of the project.

Obviously as I previously mentioned there was time delays due to the snow but also external factors outside of the subject media, such as my psychology exam in the final week of January which compromised my pre-production work in terms of progress, as well as my English coursework which had various deadlines throughout the production schedule. I feel however, I did bring the priority back to this project and whilst giving a lot of my own time I managed to get back on track therefore it was all fine in the end.

Here are two production logs in which I mention some external factors which had affected my progress. http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-2_22.html

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/unit-4-production-log-week-1.html

Also I feel a lot of my time was wasted trying to interview someone from Aspers Casino in Stratford. The reason I chose them was because they were part of the new Westfield, therefore I could get relevant feedback on employment as they have just recently employed hundreds of people. I did not want a retail shop as a casino seemed a lot more exciting. I sent numerous messages to various people and they kept referring me to other links. After some advice from people, it seemed talking to a casino about employment for young people was pointless anyways. Therefore I looked at Workplace who were also based in Stratford. I found I was intent on having a location in Stratford which I felt could lead me to include some abstracts shots of the new Westfield as well as the Olympic site. After delays from them also I decided to look closer to home with Adecco, who were an employment agency. It took one phone call to arrange a next day interview which was very convenient considering the previous time constraints. I have linked below a unanswered email that I sent to Aspers Casino as well as the production log of the week I changed my mind and contacted Adecco. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/aspers_casino/1 http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-6.html

Production During production, I felt I could have managed my time better as I left everything a little late shown by my filming schedule in which most events are during the end of the month. However I managed to do it all in time, even filming some additional shots to connect the segments which I did in an empty classroom. I did find during my interview with Elizabeth Johnson who was a charity worker, that the focus of her answers were relating back to her charity and less on young people and volunteer work. If I had more time I could have booked another interview with her and got some richer feedback from her which would relate to my topic. However I just edited the relevant parts of her interview which did relate back to the main topic which ended up linking in smoothly. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/feb_prod_sched/1 Post Production I feel I managed my time well in the post production stage. I used a lot of my free time such as after school and free periods to really try and finish it to the best of my ability. I felt my graphics were rushed and not to the full potential that they could be. Maybe if I was using Final Cut, it would have been a lot easier to experiment with different graphics. However I was using iMovie which had limited graphics and to transfer LiveType graphics took very

long. If I had more time, this is definitely one of the things that I would improve. I was happy with the voiceovers and all the archive footage. The only thing I would say is that I should have had a proper look through once just to make sure all sound was in the right place as previously it has jumbled up. I only did this roughly which has led the beginning of the documentary without any background music which gradually comes on as the clip goes on. All in all, my time management here could have been better which would have led me to make further improvements.

Actors and Crew Pre-Production I felt I had a good selection of contributors which were all relevant to my documentary. I found two of my final four interviews were not with who I initially imagined. Obviously Jay Barn was a friend so he was fairly easy to contact. Also Philip Mathew, I found from content research therefore it only took a phone call to arrange something with him. However Elizabeth from Medicinema was not in the original plan. I tried phoning BHF charity shop to interview someone from there but they said they would rather not be on camera, therefore I contacted Elizabeth. I have previously done some bucket fundraising for Medicinema therefore I knew Elizabeth beforehand. I also thought Medicinema was different from other charities as it offered a unique service, therefore I felt it would go in well making the documentary more exciting. As I have previously mentioned Adecco was a last minute arrangement which paid of massively as I got valuable information which tied together my documentary. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/contact_list_final/1 I found that my film crew was not as planned. I thought I would have Gurpreet Sheri as the cameraman and Jay Barn as the sound operator. However due to the lack of availability from both of them, I could only take Jay Barn to the Medicinema interview for filming support and the only time I had both my crew was when I interviewed Jay Barn for a young jobseeker perspective. For the other two interviews I had to take people who were available such as Amneet Dhillon and Mohsin Ahmed. I have linked call sheets for all three external interviews to show who came with me as my filming crew. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/call_sheet_-_apprenticeships_2/1 http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/call_sheet_-_medicinema/1 http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/call_sheet_-_adecco/1

Production For my production I used voxpops that were all students which I feel is very relevant to this documentary. I singled out some people and got their views. I do feel however I should have had one more male voxpop to even out the gender bias. I only noticed this after production but feel it could have enhanced the documentary to appeal to the audience more successfully. I have linked the questions I used to gain feedback from all my contributors. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/interview_questions/1

I found that all my contacts were reliable and on time for the interview times. There was also a range, representing each option after school, as well as a young person’s perspective on jobs. I had consistent voxpops showing how young people feel in relation to each segment. I found at the start of the project I was slightly hesitant to contact all the contributors, as I felt I had loads of time. I then remember only managing to get a single interview done in the half term where other people had maybe completed all their ones. This is when I started to hurry and gather confidence to try and contact all contributors as soon as possible. Here are the production logs where I only manage to do one interview during the week leaving me to hurry. http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-4.html http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-3.html

Post Production I did have to cut every interview down massively. My interview with Philip Mathew was 13 minutes long. My interview with Elizabeth Johnson was 8 minutes long and the final interview with Sam Smith was over 15 minutes long. Each was cut down to a maximum of 45 seconds for each. I was the presenter leaving all the voiceovers to be done by me. I found it was easier to leave the voiceovers till the end as I knew exactly how much time I had to say the information in which varied in different parts from 8 seconds to around 36 seconds. I also found it was easier to plan what I was going to say as I could clearly see what would follow after my voiceover. Here I have linked my final voiceover clip which I produced after the documentary which I found was a lot easier for me.

Equipment and Booking Pre-Production During the Pre-production stage, I did not really require any equipment but a computer with access to the internet. I found from this I found all the relevant information I required for this stage of production. During the treatment however, I found that I had to state the equipment I needed which I did briefly. I found during the actual production stage, I realised properly all the relevant equipment that I needed. Here is my treatment which looks at the technical viability of this documentary. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/treatment/16 Production I simply used a camera and a tripod for this project. All the footage was recorded on a DV tape which was then imported onto a MacBook. I found in terms of booking the equipment that I booked equipment out all the times I had an interview booked. On other occasions when filming things like voxpops and other segments, I had to ask whether the equipment was free at the time as I only wished to use the camera for a few periods and not overnight. I took two batteries every time I went out to film just for safety but this was not a problem. I was happy with the quality of the camera and always played back the film clip at the time of recording to make sure to eliminate any potential mistakes.

Post Production Uploading my footage took a long time with me filling two tapes worth of footage. I also had some problems with uploading to my MacBook where it was not recognising the camera. I overcame this by simply using another camera. Also when I uploaded some footage the volume levels where extremely low. I overcame this by once again uploading the footage. I found the laptop was not assigned to anyone else therefore all the times I needed it, it was free which was very convenient. I also used LiveType to make some graphics which I inserted into my movie. As LiveType was not on my MacBook, I had to use a Mac which was being used by someone else but we arranged a suitable time which suited both of us. During the end of my production, I moved the whole project onto a spare Mac as I wished to put some titles in which for some reason were not compatible with iMovie. I therefore transferred my project and then added the graphics which was time consuming but I felt it would impact my grade therefore I did it. Here are the example of the graphics I made in LiveType and iMovie.

Budget Pre-Production During my treatment, I made a plan of a potential professional budget that would be required for this documentary. I found using my budget it would take £5565 to produce this video taking into account the money required for stages of pre-production, production and post-production. This including hiring a camera crew, buying iMacs and editing software. The budget was a new experience for me but gave me a great insight into how a production comes together financially and how much money you need to take on a project like this. Here is a link of my treatment which includes my budget. http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/treatment/16

Production I feel that I stayed within the realistic budget that I mentioned. Only travel costs were expected to arise which were as expected. Hypothetically, I think even with a professional budget, that I would have achieved the production in the budget that I suggested. I included a 10% contingency fee in the £5565 I suggested, which would help out any hidden costs as well as the money left over from my initial budget of £7500. All this spare money is the reason I feel I could comfortably complete this production.

Post Production During the post-production stage, I feel there was no interference with the budget as I have paid for the iMac as well as the editing software which I would have used.

Therefore I can take as long as I want to complete the work and still not affect the budget therefore in this aspect of production, I think I did well.

Least Successful Aspect Pre-Production I think the least successful aspect of my work in this stage of production was my lack of urgency to contact my interviewees. It was a relaxed approach which did not benefit me as when the unfortunate delay of the snow came, I was left in limbo and had to reschedule two interviews a lot later than expected. If I had did these earlier, I could have been easily editing. Also when contacting Aspers Casino and Workplace, I was very patient as I thought I would get the interview eventually. I should have realised to keep a second option clear in mind rather than rushing in the last couple of days to the filming deadline to contact someone else which I did eventually with Adecco.

Production The least successful aspect here I thought was my organisation. I should have made sure my preferred crew were available all the days that I planned to go filming rather than just taking friends. Also I should have had set dates in mind on when to do voxpops and other segments. I did them as I went along which I found was not a good approach as I found myself closing in to the filming deadline with much filming still left. Here is my production log showing my panic with the amount of filming still left. http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-6.html

I also felt that I could have included a lot more shots from different angles in some of the interviews. They all seem to only be once camera shot which seemed monotonous which I have tried to cover up by using cutaways but still I feel I should have experimented with asking different questions from different angles.

Post Production I think the least successful aspect here was the consistency of the editing. With iMovie, every time I would import something all the sound would get displaced. At the end I rushed a quick look through and then uploaded the video. I found the music at the start of the video on top of the archive footage is too quiet as well as sound levels being uneven in certain places. If I could have had maybe half an hour more, I would have made sure that these were all synchronised correctly. Also the end of my documentary shows all interviewees in black and white reflecting a flashback of the documentary. I feel I really should have used a transition here between all the clips rather than just cuts. I feel this was another weak aspect of my video which could have so easily been changed. All in all, I am happy with the documentary and would improve some things, here is my final piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVVfYBqyir8