Documentary Unit - BIG FAT LIES Final Cut

The Final Product

Documentary Unit - Evaluation of BIG FAT LIES

Big Fat Lies has come a long way in a short space of time. originally in a group of just George and myself we really pushed ourselves to prove that it didn't matter what group size we had. We then had Cailan join us at a vital time to help the last parts of post-production and make sure he liked the idea as much we did.

Why this topic? & our planned filming style
We wanted to prove in this documentary that you can't cheat your way to a slimmer or healthier body, we found numerous facts and figures online before starting that showed a lot of these "hacks" do not actually help at all. To suit our documentary style, we wanted to have a presenter to guide us along our journey. Of course one of us could have done it but we wanted to push ourselves and try and find an actor on castingcallpro to present our show. I was the driving force in finding a presenter and as I narrowed it down to three we came together to chose the best via a skype interview. Andrew was great so we decided to go with him because we think his personality could really drive our documentary.

Locations and interviewees
I was really happy with the locations we sorted for the documentary as they really fit well with the show. We got some great access with Pole fitness and our nutritionist Jayne and Ryan and Carley also came up with vital information. The interviews were not the most engaging but with the B-Roll we shot to go along side it, it did actually work pretty well.

What went well?
I think we got great coverage in some interesting places which we may have originally not gone to. For example Pole Fitness is a segment that divides opinions on people that watch it but it was slightly out of our comfort zone to start talking about, but once chatting with the guys there you really feel that the taboo is not correct.

I think all the shoot days were a success, I don't like complimenting myself but I was really happy with what I personally shot throughout the whole show. I think the footage I got looked great, on my Panasonic DSLR which started out as a back-up cam but we quickly found it made the best looking shots so towards the end it was basically our main camera. The drone shots also added an extra dimension to our show which I personally think does make it stand out. They are not also just random drone shots for the sake of it, they are all relevant to what's being said on screen.

I think the planning layout and footage sharing systems we employed were great. I set up a google doc to share ideas and then scrips etc which meant we could all edit at the same time, whilst Cailan set up a dropbox for footage and graphic sharing after the shoot days. These were incredibly helpful tools that meant we could edit quicker.

Cailan's professional Microphone setup added an extra layer of quality to our project. The voice over work we did initially was superb and we were really impressed with the outcome.

I think that overall when we were all there for the shoot days we worked superbly well as a team, we bounced ideas off each other and were not afraid to say if we didn't like them. Unfortunately though there where a few days where it was just myself and George meaning it was tough to tell if we were going in the right direction as we did not have the extra set of eyes to help.

What could be improved?
Audio in Pole fitness and some parts of John Lewis were bad, we forgot to ask for them to turn the music off in pole fitness and it was just incredibly loud in John Lewis meaning editing was hard, but we did a good job to mask it as much as possible.

It seems you can never have enough B Roll as we did seem to struggle right at the end to fill the final gaps but it wasn't a major issue, but with more time I would have liked to have got more.

George did great job with the pop up facts but they took a long time so we could not really perfect them and we never properly settled on a colour scheme.

One shot that annoyed me was in John Lewis you could see me in the reflection of the crazy mirror layout they had got. It's probably not something you'd see if you only watched it once but I noticed it after seeing it a lot.

With the time constraints we had I think we did a very good job, especially in a team of three I think we really did push ourselves in this project.

What I Learned

The biggest thing for me in this project was getting so many people together for a 10 min documentary, I learned a lot in the way you approach people and the way to keep them onboard. We sometimes had a big gap between emailing and then shooting meaning we had to keep in constant contact which I think I did well.

I think I took the next step in camerawork and editing and I feel that I have made good progress this year and this project looks in a different league to what I made in late 2016.

Whilst we did technically work in groups before we never really had to have the same commitment as to when it was a group project. I feel I have learned how to interact in a group to get the most efficient outcome. Sometimes that meant piling on pressure to get it done, other times it was a case of "leave me alone for a bit". I think as a group we did well at helping each other through it as it was tough being in a smaller group with more responsibility on each of our shoulders.

Final Conclusion

I would say out of all the projects I have done so far in uni, this is the one I am most proud of. I think that George and I would have never have thought it would get to this stage after Ethan left and we were in a group of 2 that looked like it was going to have to fold. I think we did a good job at fitting the project brief, I think our show really does fit a BBC 3 audience of a younger age because a lot of young people are concerned about how they look and how the media pressurises us into it.

It was great to work with George and Cailan and I think we worked very well as a team. There was a slight lack of communication early on in the project which probably meant we had to make up for lost time later but on the most part I was very happy about the individual contributions in this project.

I was really happy with what I filmed, it's the part I enjoy the most so to see my footage on screen and looking like it did, I was very happy. George did an great job in editing and Cailan went to the next step to create an awesome opening sequence that really sets our documentary up how we wanted.

Documentary Unit - The Editing Process

We had split the editing into six parts and we each had two each to focus on. Mine were the Nutritionist interview as well as the photoshoot montage. after some parts had merged I wanted to do more so created the intro, outro and credits.

I like editing so I was looking forward to it, of course we came across problems along the way but as a team we came together and worked really hard to get the final project together. It was good that most of the time all 3 of us were bouncing off opinions on each others work so that we could constantly improve it. Whilst it means that the tension can get high as you put time into something for it to be changed but it means we ended up with a good project, which we are all happy with.

I found adding B Roll really added to all of the project, it meant that the interviews that were pretty boring were brought to life with something more interesting to look at. It was tough to keep the B Roll relevant so it has been vastly edited as at times it didn't make much sense, but after a lot of effort the B Roll looked great.

George made pop up name cards, facts and tip cards which were added to the project to make it better visually for the viewer to know what is being shown on screen.

Some shots needed closer up pictures to show what was going on, it was simple editing but it means that the viewer can follow our story a lot more closely.

Thanks to great feedback from each other and in our meetings with Zoe, Helen and Sam we really nailed the editing and we feel we do have a good piece of work.

I feel we did a great job as a group in editing, we all fairly contributed to it and even though it was tough when placing all into the main project, it meant we all got to have a proper go at editing.

Documentary Unit - Fine Cut

Today was Fine Cut Deadline - This is the cut after Zoe's feedback so we have update some of the things she mentioned.

Some of the big things that Zoe suggested were:

- Less diet pill stuff in the intro
- Interweave the photoshoot with the montage, as Carley's interview by itself is not that interesting.
- The in/outs of each segment need to more seamless.
- Make pole fitness about being body confident and not losing weight.
- Cut down Jayne's interview and try to rearrange it to make sense/ more sense.
- Make the intro better, doesn't work in the car.

Here is the fine cut with a few late additions.

Documentary Unit - Shoot Day 7

We did not plan to shoot any more footage but after feedback from Zoe and Helen we decided that we needed to film more footage. The plan was to collect Andrew, go to Bluewater to get the B Roll of Andrew trying on the clothes as well as General shop B Roll, then head to strood to get some better opening shots for the Pole Fitness segment and then head to George's town to film more audio on my microphone as well as the ending scene of the documentary.

Task 1: Bluewater (John lewis B Roll)
On advice from our rough cut review we decided to go back to john lewis and get the b-roll that we can use to cover what ryan says about the in/out fashion right now. As Ryan is not the most enthusiastic interviewee we had to make it exciting somehow so we decided to get Andrew to do some funny moves and faces when he tried on the clothes. It should make the John lewis segment drastically more interesting to see Andrew in the clothes being talked about.

Task 2: Pole Fitness B Roll

We had good footage from the first shoot but we just needed more of it. We made the trip to strood to get that vital footage to make the intro to the segment a lot sleeker. As Cailan was editing it we asked him what he wanted and more general shots of the area was what he wanted. On my camera I was recording the intro PTC which was eventually ditched for a voiceover whilst Cailan and George got the B Roll that we intended to get.

Cailan got a nice shot of the train pulling away.

Whilst George and I tried to get a PTC Intro.

Task 3: Outro and Audio patch-work
We had yet to record a non-commentary ending so we decided to film that in a quiet location in Meopham, it was simple but worked and left the documentary on a nice note.

We probably could have worked around the audio that we already had but it made most sense to just record the exact parts that we needed. Andrew, helpful as ever stayed around for a few extra hours to make sure that we got what we needed.

That wrapped up our final days shoot, it was not planned to be so late but it was a super-productive day and we all enjoyed working with Andrew once again, honestly we could not have got a nicer guy to present our documentary.

Documentary Unit - What I Contributed

I feel we have done a good job in this unit as we only had a 3 man group whilst others worked in 4's. This blog post is dedicated to what I have contributed to this unit. We have done a great job at all dedicating an equal amount of work to do.

Here is what I have contributed to this project.

- Before Cailan joined we did a lot of research on facts and ideas about what people do to lose weight. George and I split this work equally.

- Once Cailan joined we split the script work equally but as Cailan missed a few days we had to fill in as we had changed our parts we had to change parts of Cailan's so it would make sense.

- I was responsible for messaging presenters and I whittled it down to a few who we then interviewed. All three of us took part in a skype interview and chose Andrew as our presenter. George and I did do a pre-interview analysis and we did think Andrew was initially the best.

- Location prep was mostly split between myself and George as we planned possible activities. I organised Pole fitness but was working at the time they wanted me to call them so George phoned to confirm shooting days. I planned the running sequence which was eventually scrapped but we still used the footage as B-roll.  Between the three of us we decided on a good place for the photoshoot.

- George was struggling to get replies for a Nutritionist interview so I wanted to help a hand. I messaged a few people out and thankfully we got in contact with Jayne who was happy for us to do an interview.

- On the shoot days George and I were present for all 7 shoot days whilst Cailan missed three, however when we filmed we all shared duties between us and normally shot with multiple cameras to make sure we had good options in editing.

- In editing we split the show into 6 main parts and had 2 each. I had the nutritionist interview as well as the Photoshoot montage. I also did smaller parts - Selfie comparison and intro/outro as well as credits. Cailan and George did a great job in editing and camerawork

- Cailan did day 1 of the voiceover work and I did a bit of patch up audio work a week later.

I think when we have all been in we have contributed equally to this project, it was just a couple of days that there was only 2 of us which sometimes meant that we did struggle.

Documentary Unit - Rough Cut

This is the fine cut of "Big Fat Lies" There are blank spaces currently were possible sequences and audio may go. We know we need to cut the sequences down and we will be having an edit session after recording our extra parts on Tuesday. We're really striving to push our skills with this piece as we think we've got a really good piece but we need that extra footage to prove it.

Documentary Unit - Contextual Analysis of Reggie Yates "Extreme Russia, Teen Model Factory"

Reggie Yates is one of the latest up and coming Documentary presenters. After originally making his name in radio he came across to TV and has presented a number of though provoking documentaries to date.

What is great about Reggie is that he is serious but at the same time someone very likeable so you can easily relate to what he is saying on screen.

I will be contextualising "Extreme Russia, Teen Model Factory" and comparing it to our show "Big Fat Lies"  The reason why I chose this show of Reggie's in particular it is about body image and how the media thinks young people should look.


The intro of the Reggies Yates show is like ours, it is an intense intro which shares some key facts about what the documentary is going to be about, it's a montage of music and main parts of the show which draws the viewer in, it's something Cailan did well in our show.

Something else that likens Reggie's show to ours is the "Presenter on a journey" style. It's as much about learning for the presenter as it is for the viewer which means you get the raw reactions and opinions from the presenter. Andrew did a great job at guiding our documentary along with his style which made him a very likeable character to be the face of our show.


Reggie talks to important people in the documentary and they are normally done like this, a very informal interview normally just grabbing someone for a minute and asking a few questions and with no planned questions. This differs from our show as we made sure all our interviews are sitdown interviews in which the person knew what the questions would be. In hindsight I would have liked to do more improv interviews as I feel like you get the most authentic responses. That is the problem with our interviews, they are very static and the characters themselves are not that interesting.

I feel like in our show we are following a taboo subject to talk about, the media like to control how people look and normally it is not questioned. We also followed some taboo subjects like pole fitness which is seen by some as bad but in reality it's no worse than any other form of exercise. It's something Reggie's does throughout this show, he's trying to find the truth behind possible child exploitations in the modelling industry which is a scary thought.

 Like our show Reggie talks to the people who are affected by the issue. In his show it's the parents who are affected and in our show Andrew our presenter is kind of that role as well. He knows that people judge him on appearance, it was an interesting subject we talked about off camera how certain pictures on his profile were getting him certain roles.

Jayne our nutritionist is also affected as she is having to deal with people who are possibly having problems with their weight, and they're asking about how they can lose that weight. Also our personal stylist Ryan, he will constantly be having people coming up to him about what they should wear etc. We had some great chats with our contributors which show that this myth of a quick fix can really affect people from many different professions.

Reggie talks to people who are in the industry and how they think it is going. They have to keep an open ended answer most of the time as they do not want to affect their chances of making it. This obviously leaves reggie speculative about what they say, if they don't feel they can open up about what happens it makes you feel there is something to hide.

The reggie yates series does follow a similar strand/format to what we have been going for. Without realising I have taken a lot of inspiration from his series as I am a massive fan with the way that he deals with controversial topics.

I like the idea of a presenter being the guinea pig in a way, and whilst he wasn't so much in this particular show he does take up that role a lot of the time and we used that role in our documentary.


Of course Reggie Yates is a very particular character and it's hard to replicate someone like him, but we were very lucky to have such a fun-loving guy in Andrew who really was a pleasure to work with. He carried the show with his fun personality and it helped improve some of the parts of the documentary in which we were struggling to make funny.

Documentary Unit - Feedback From Zoe & Helen

After meetings with Zoe and Helen we had mixed feelings, we knew we had some good shots but unfortunately the story did not quite make sense as it currently is. We had to re film a few parts and a little bit of audio and here is a list of what we plan to re-film on Tuesday 16th.

Stuff we need to record - COMM

• “Supposedly a short high intensity workout that uses all core muscles, can help burn weight quicker than a full gym work out and can help build more body confidence. So I’m here today at pole fitness, to put this life hack idea to the test.”
• “I’m here today at John Lewis where I’ll be chatting to one of their personal shoppers to find out what tips tricks and style hacks they can offer to make me look slimmer, without actually having to lose weight”
• “After taking on board the advice Ryan gave, my next step is to meet with a photographer to find out how I can apply what I’ve learned and hopefully pick up some tips on how I can fake my way in to looking slimmer in photos”.
• “In today's selfie obsessed society we constantly have to be prepared to be photographed, cameras are everywhere and when anyone can instantly upload snaps to social media it doesn’t make you feel overly confident about your body image. That's why I’m here today with my friend Carley and she’s going to give me some tips and hacks on how I can appear slimmer in photos without having to physically lose weight”.
• “What is the biggest problem most of us encounter when trying to lose weight?”
• “It was really interesting to see what jane said, and I will certainly be thinking about what I eat more carefully from now on”
• “Even before I started this project I was trying to lose weight, and by doing this documentary ….”
• “My name is Andrew phipps and as an actor I feel like society is geared towards a slimmer body image and that most of the time people will get picked for jobs based on how they look more than anything else. That’s why I’m going to be undergoing a series of challenges from the everyday to the bizarre. As well as talking to a range of experts, in order to pick up some tips, tricks and lifehacks on how I can look slimmer, without having to actually loose a load of weight. This Is “Big Fat Lies”.

Stuff we need to record - PTC

• A review of the photo’s carley took of andrew on one of our laptops?
• A quick review of photos on his phone?
• Andrew Good vs bad selfie (how he would have taken one before Her tips vs after)

Stuff we need to record - B ROLL

• Snacks - Good and bad (Crisps, Fruit, choc bars)
• Magazines, Size zero look
• More pills Footage / Andrew picking them up
• Pole fitness establishing shots
• Andrew trying on the clothes in john lewis
• More John Lewis timelapses
• Andrew reading newspaper

There are a few things we do not really need to film but might do as we may as well considering we have had the problem already of missing dialogue and footage, So this time we wants to make doubly sure it's all there!

Documentary Unit - Sequencing & Actuality

We missed the workshop on Monday to finish our filming as it was a vital part of our documentary which would not be re-arranged. Nonetheless we made a transcript from our sequence and it has already come in very useful whilst editing as we can edit the interviews so much quicker.

We did a written version before George copied it over to Google drive so we could all have a copy. Here is the latest version.

Documentary Unit - Shoot Day 6

This was our final day - Unfortunately we had to shoot in the first day of edit week because that was the only time that our Nutritionist was available. Jayne was very accommodating and was really good at answering the questions even without Andrew there to ask them. I was on the DSLR that has got a lot of the great shots for this documentary while Cailan took control of the Sony XDCAM which should perform well as it was in controlled lighting for the first time in our documentary.

We started off by going through the questions that we pre-prepared for Jayne and we left the suitable gaps in between each question in case we use the audio of andrew asking the questions from yesterday.

After the interview we did some B-Roll of Jayne walking into the room

On my Panasonic, I got 2 shot distances from the interview to make sure that there is a little variety in the interview

After the interview, we needed B-Roll to set up the shot as well as ending it. Our plan for this interview, is for when Jayne mentions something (Ex: Running) We will cut to a shot of Andrew doing that. Running from earlier on in the Documentary.

We got some important B-Roll for the interview scene, we want to set up the shot correctly.

We were super happy with how the day went and we got lots of good footage even without Andrew, and we now can delve right into the editing. Thankfully everyone that we worked with in this documentary was incredibly helpful and kind so it meant that everything was enjoyable to film.

Documentary Unit - Shoot Day 5

Day 5 was our final day with Andrew so we wanted to make the most of it. We travelled to Crawley & Cailan's House to do the voiceover work for our documentary. We spent the large part of the day doing this part as it was so vital. Cailan has a great quality microphone and it will really improve how our documentary sounds. As we still had one shoot day left we had to make sure that Andrew did the audio for that day as well. It may be strange recording it now, but we have the audio there just incase we do have to use it.

The later part of the afternoon consisted of re-filming the running segment at the start of our documentary. We did film this earlier but it was out of focus so we wanted to re-shoot. 

Cailan took my DSLR and George used the Sony XDCAM and I was suggesting the best place for the camera. I was going to use my drone but unfortunately it was too windy.

Andrew introducing the running segment of our show, which was based just round the corner of Cailan's house at a picturesque lake.

Andrew running, this will be used in the montage.

The outro to our running segment.

This will be a time lapse we will use to introduce the running segment.

George getting a close up of the ducks.

Cailan was trying some cool focus shots, some using the background in shot some with the foreground in shot, they will be used for the running montage.

Andrew reviewing Bootea Popcorn that we brought at Bluewater a few days back but did not have time to eat & review at the time. It's a possible segment that we will drop but it is useful to have.

Andrew's goodbye shot and walking into the station - We will need to edit this as it's a little over-exposed.

I used my DSLR and a GorillaPod to get a nice timelapse of the lake from the other side that Cailan did.

Cailan on the cam.

Documentary Unit - Shoot Day 4

Today George and I met up at the studios to transfer the previous days clips and review them at the same time. We wanted to do a quick segment for our documentary about the medias perception about how we should dress and look. George picked up 3 red-top newspapers to look through. We thought they would have a lot of content about the way celebrities dress and look so we focused on them.

My idea for this segment was for each paper to pop up on the screen, however this may be one part that is cut for our final version if we have too much footage, whilst it is nice it is not that important and Helen has already said that we have too much footage.

Starting off with a blank wall

And slowly adding all the parts we cut out.

It would have been nice to have a proper montage but we would have had to have newspapers from a number of days for it to completely fill the shot. Even if it is cut from the final version it was interesting to see how much the media is obsessed with body image.