Documentary - Personal Reflection

Overall, I am unbelievably proud of myself and my groups efforts towards this project. I feel that there have been many times where we could have easily just accepted defeat and taken the easy way out but every one of us kept true to our idea and powered through until the very end.
There were many risks taken during this project; There was no way we could be 100% sure that we would get the shots of the flatmates that we wanted, because of this we had to spend most of our days just loitering around the flat until people came out of their rooms and were willing to talk to us.

One thing that I do think that I have lacked in is ongoing research during the project. I feel as though I have been so engulfed in the practical side of it that I haven't done as much written work as I originally would've hoped. I know now that this is something that I am going to have to work on in future projects as it will help me track my progress.

I also feel as though my knowledge of documentaries is very minimal. I feel as though I would have had a much better idea of how to film a documentary if only I had watched a lot more in my own time ; This would've given me a much better understanding as to what styles of documentary make them so different from one another.

With all of this being said, I am very happy with the outcome of our documentary. I feel as though the feedback that has been given so far has been amazing and is pleasing to hear that it had such a good impact on those, especially students who can relate to living with strangers. This project has definitely opened up my perspective on documentaries and I hope to use my new found skills in the future if I ever make another one.

Documentary - Editing

When the editing began, it was initially quite a difficult process. I was using Premiere Pro which isn't the editing software that I am usually familiar with; This caused some problems as it was though I was trying to edit a documentary with a piece of software that I had no clue how to use. The edit had a very slow start as I found it difficult to adapt to using a transcript to help with the editing. Eventually after a day or so I got the hang of it and the transcripts made things so much easier whilst editing. 

After trying to edit on Premiere Pro for a few hours I was really struggling. For some reason the clips that I was importing were not staying in their designated folders and every clip that I imported was being imported 3 times instead of just the once. Because of these reasons, I decided to change to the editing software that I was most comfortable with; Final Cut Pro. Once I started using Final Cut, the whole edit began to take shape. The clips seemed so much easier to trim and put together. 

There was a point in the edit where there was a clip of myself and Callum singing. Because this clip was recorded on an iPhone, I wanted to try and give more of a 'home video' kind of look so I wanted to try and add a old camcorder filter to put over the clip. I searched online for a downloadable filter but was unable to find one. The clip still looked good without a filter but hopefully in the future I can try and find a filter if ever I need it again.

Documentary - Filming

When filming began, we established that we were going to have to make a schedule to keep on track throughout the week. We tried to stick to the schedule so that when we came to the editing part of the documentary, we would have all of the clips the we wanted to have.

Schedule:

Monday - exterior shots of house, communal filming to catch housemates interacting

Tuesday - shots of housemates rooms to get their personalities, interview two housemates

Wednesday - (main filming day) film four interviews, communal shots in the kitchen, come back in the evening to catch meal time

Thursday - interview final two housemates, film housemates just doing their thing in their rooms to capture their personalities

Friday - general housemate interactions, review footage to make sure we have all shots that we want

Although we have a schedule of what we want to film, it is very open to change due to the fact that some housemates are only available on certain days and therefore we have to respect this and work around their own timetables.

Even though we may have some adjustments to our timetable, I'm sure we'll be able to get everything shot that we want to, and we'll have enough footage to play around with in the edit.

Documentary - Understanding the Contributors

We have to understand what issues we may face when dealing with the public and the people we want to film, but also how to be responsible and considerate when filming them in their daily lives.

Things to be considered are:

• Allowing people to have some control over how they will be portrayed
• Negotiating the permission to film
• Does the presence of the camera affect what is being filmed
• Is the camera acknowledged or hidden
• What, who, when and where to shoot all crucial choices and may affect the viewers opinion on those filmed
• How will the contributors be perceived by the public
• How can informed consent be obtained under the influence of drugs, alcohol or mental health issues
• Why might people agree to be filmed

One of the things that I am most cautious about is how the presence of a camera may affect the way that people act and behave. When filming this documentary we want the contributors to feel as relaxed as possible so we can get the most true and honest footage of them as a person. One way that could help this problem is by having the camera at a long distance but zoomed in. This way the camera will still capture the same footage but it won't be in view of the people being filmed.

Documentary - Expanding Our Idea

Our group decided to go ahead with the idea of following a group of housemates in the student village. The reason we decided to go for this idea was because we thought it would be quite interesting to see how 8 different housemates act with each other and see how they are coping living with people who at the start of the academic year they had no clue who anyone was. The question we wanted to ask was although everyone in the flat has come from the different backgrounds and upbringings; How easy is it for 8 strangers to live together? What do they really think of each other? And is there ever any conflict?

Because I am part of the flat myself, I would have to be interviewed as well. The main aim we wanted from filming the people in my flat was to make sure that they all felt as comfortable as possible and that they didn't feel intimidated by a big camera crew just intruding their personal space and asking questions about their thoughts and opinions of their flatmates. I feel as though we made sure that they all felt as comfortable as possible; I tried doing this my making myself feel comfortable in their rooms be it laying my feet across their beds whilst talking to them or just slouching in the chair, just little things that would slightly but surely make them feel a bit more eased when answering the questions.

Documentary - Initial Ideas

When discussing ideas for our briefed topic of 'Community', my group touched up on a few different ideas, some of which were to do with social clubs, housemates and even sports teams. After putting a few ideas out there we decided to start sorting out roles for the documentary. I put myself forward as being in charge of the framing of the interviews because I feel like I have a good idea as to what needs to be included in the shot and what doesn't to make it look engaging enough for the viewer to keep listening to the subject. I also put myself forward to be in charge of asking the questions to the people we would be interviewing because I felt that seeing as I live with them, they'll feel more inclined to talk to me as a friend instead of feeling pressured, answering personal questions asked by someone they've never met before. We also established that George, Danielle and Luca would switch roles around on the boom and camera so that everyone got a feel for the equipment.