Documentary Production diary

Pre-Production

Planning my documentary was quite a challenging task as i didn't know fully what i wanted the topic too be about. Eventually i thought i should do it about Darlington as i have lived there most of my life and i know it really well, i then decided to make it about crime with youths in Darlington as i know quite a few people i can talk too about the subject. I created a mind map of the things i wanted too include in my documentary, for example i wanted to show clips of graffiti too show the state some places get and too give the effect that nothing gets looked after. I did a lot of research into other peoples documentaries too see what they had included, and too see if it could give me inspiration for certain clips. I made a rough storyboard of how i wanted everything too be shown so that when it comes too filming i will know which shots i want to do first and they can be in order. I asked my friend Alex if he could be my main interviewee as he lives in Darlington and knows the area well. I decided what equipment i needed and practiced setting it all up too see what i need too use for interviews, and what i need too film B-roll. I looked at the weather forecast for the days i wanted too film as i had planned for the beginning of the documentary too look dull and sad, so i had too be filming on days that were cloudy or raining, but whereas towards the end of the documentary i want it too look happy, so i needed too film on days that were sunny. One of the last things i needed too do was think of questions for my subjects too answer, this was quite hard too do as i wanted quite a few questions so that we could go in depth of what Darlington is like.

Production 

After i  had planned everything and sorted my equipment out, i got the train down too Darlington so i could film my interview with alex, when i got there i took a look round the room too see what the lighting was like. If the room was too dark then i would have too make it lighter so that the audience can see the subject, and if it was lighter then i would have too make the room darker. In this case the room was very dark so i put the lights on, this wasn't much use as it didn't effect the lighting in any way. I put a lamp on in the background to brighten the room more, the lamp created a very warm picture which was contrasting with the natural light that was coming through the window and shining on the Alex's face. This left me with a background that was very warm and the interviewee which was very cold. Also one side of his face was really dark so i put a light shining at at the other side so that you can see his face more, creating a softer shadow. Now that everything was setup for the interview i asked him all the questions i needed too. Now that the first interview was done i decided too go out and film some B-roll with my shoulder rig, Alex came with me too film some B-roll as he knows some good areas that i can film things like vandalism and houses. Also if im filming in rough areas then its best if i don't film alone, especially if i have camera equipment. I had made a small story board of the places i wanted to film,so that i was more organised as in past filming experiences if i wasn't very organised it would take a lot longer to find location that you would like too film.
When i was at the location i was going too be filming i used my shoulder rig so i could get really steady shots rather than it being really shaky, if my footage was ever that bad then i can put warp stabilizer on in post production, although this is not always the option you should go for as sometimes it makes the clip look unnatural. I filmed a time lapse of the town clock using my intervalometer, this is a remote that you plug into you camera if it doesn't have one built in. I set the camera so that it took a photo every 5 seconds and then i left the camera for about 40 mins, but when i looked back at the footage i noticed that i had accident kicked the tripod half way through which meant the whole picture moved a bit too the right.
After i got all of my B-roll shots it was time for the next interview, i set a time i could come round too do the interview and made sure i had planned all the questions i was going too ask. When i went into the living room was very bright which was very good as i didn't need to add any lighting, also the walls were white which meant that light could reflect around the room. I asked him a couple of questions about Darlington and that was all i needed.

Post-Production

I uploaded all of my footage onto the computer and opened up premiere pro. I wanted a few B-roll shots too open with so i put the time lapse of the town clock too start and placed a title over it. As i was editing my documentary i noticed that there was a lot of lag when playing back the footage, after a while of trying to figure out why this was happening, i realized that i had been filming in 60fps but when making a sequence in premiere pro, i had made it in 25fps. This meant that all the footage was being compressed making it run slow. It took me quite a while too edit all of my footage as there was lots of it and had too make it too the minimum of 5 minutes and the maximum of 10.
After i had edited all of my footage i needed to export the finished product, i changed the export settings to vimeo 1080p as after the exporting process is done i will upload it too vimeo.

Evaluation

I think over all my documentary was good, although it could have been a lot better. There are a few things i would change about my documentary like the voice over for the statistics, if i had planned time better then i would have been able too get someone else too do it, but seen as though i was stuck for time i quickly wrote a script and read it myself. Compared to other documentaries that talk about the same issues with crime, i think i have mentioned lots of information that can be useful and interesting.