Transition - Evaluation

For the short Transition unit, I decided I wanted to fulfil a personal goal of being the only director in a project. In previous units, I had had to focus on many other roles as well as being a director, but for this unit, I was able to focus mainly on the role of a director. This was an exciting prospect for me!

I worked with Cailan Cook in this unit and he was the editor for this project. Even though we had our focussed roles of being a director and editor we had to complete the rest of the roles to a high standard to enable us to fulfil our main role. I feel we both put in a good amount of effort into the roles of a producer at the start of the unit. I managed to secure the filming location, access from the kent film office, find and interview actors and also fill out all the required forms. I felt I had to push Cailan to get any work done in the initial stages, his roles were finding a cafe to film at, as well as writing the script. Our script was delayed a few days which meant I could not show Simon when I had wanted, which in turn did somewhat delay the rest of the process. But this was not an issue as qw quickly managed to get back on track.

After scripting was complete we could all relax more into our roles. The storyboarding process was hard for me as I do not enjoy drawing up sequences on paper, but I realise how important it is to enable a great production. I managed to draw up an idea for each scene that we are going to film including prompts of what we could also do.

From my previous research into this project, I understood the "style" of the shots we wanted to get and I tried my best to incorporate that into this project. I know that Vox uses quite edgy shots which are different to normal TV, so incorporating that into this project was key.

Around the same time, we had to choose our presenter for this unit. I had drawn up a list of 5 people we should interview and I had done all of the arrangements of when we should get on skype and chat with them. I made sure not to have any possible overlaps as well as making sure Cailan would be available. I feel our interviews were very professional but at the same time were easy going and did not make the presenter feel awkward. I did a good job with the questions as we got the important questions, answered and were able to narrow down who we should cast. It came down to NIV and LOUIS in terms of our presenter. Both were more than capable of presenting our piece but both Cailan and I agreed that Louis' Experience and charisma on camera were what made us give him the role. After we liaised with Louis about shoot days we were all set to film, as soon as Cailan booked the kit.

It was agreed that Cailan would book out the kit but it was left until the days before shooting for it to be booked with Ferg. I then had to collect the kit because of Cailan's location. Strangely when I went to collect the kit, Our names had been written over. Even though we booked through Ferg in an official way, for some reason another group had got our kit. This was completely unprofessional and infuriating as we had the kit booked out over the weekend in case we needed to reshoot. However, after we got the kit I had to give the kit back right after we had completed our shoot due to this mismanagement. This was completely not our fault and we still do not know who cross out our names, it was very disappointing that we could not have the camera over the weekend.

The shoot day, however, went very smoothly once we did get the kit. Louis' train was late but that was through no fault of his own and we cracked on with work as soon as he arrived. Louis was calm but energetic in front of the camera, especially for the vox pops at the start of the day. Both Cailan and I did have some anxiety about going up to people and asking for help with the project, so it was great to have Louis' help us with this. The vox pops looked smooth and I was really happy with the quality of the footage. The Panasonic that Cailan was operating was overexposed, but not drastically so he could fix it in post. We did struggle to use the screen on the Panasonic as it was giving us a very false understanding of what the picture was actually like. Saying this we coped well and once we looked at the footage later we were happy with what we got in this segment.

After recording a few standard time-lapse and cutaway shots, we went to film the PTC at the Cafe location secured by Cailan. I had recced the location by myself beforehand and then again at the start of the day while we were waiting for Louis to arrive. Cailan had suggested the shot but the window so we could use the natural light and I agreed with him. I did move around the chairs though as I did not want this shot to be overexposed on one side of his face. After moving the set around and doing some tests I was happy with how it looked. Audio-wise, we went for a clip mic in this section which was ideal as we had a lot of background noise. Use of the boom may have also got in the way of our lighting which was a big no-no as we had not booked any external lights for us to use.

It was evident in this section of our recording that our presenter Louis had not learnt his lines like we had previously asked. This was disappointing as we had hoped with his professionalism and skills that he would have done this for us. This meant when recording we had to secure the script just under the camera so Louis could read the lines while presenting. This just looked odd when we watched the footage back as his eyes are all over the place, looking at the lens and back to the script. Both Cailan and I were disappointed that Louis had not spent some time beforehand learning the script. In hindsight, Louis was not as good at presenting as we had expected, especially in the segment to the camera.  I was really happy with my work as a director in this unit. I felt I had planned the shots really well and on the day I was able to create all of the shots that I had planned. The pre-planning for these directorial decisions really did help me as it lifted the pressure off of me when shooting. I felt I was assertive when needed, but also approachable to Cailan and Louis about what was exactly being shot.

After some hassle with getting the clips to Cailan, I handed him my hard drive with all my work on it so he could get the footage onto his PC.

After getting Cailan the footage I set to work on completing the website and ending graphics. This was a little out of my comfort zone but I was happy with the result. I was trying to help ease any pressure on Cailan at this stage of the unit so he could focus on the edit.

I did shoot a contributor segment with Katie later on in the week, as I had felt all along that we should have a contributor cement the ideas talked about in the video. Katie was great in helping me and I decided to direct a two camera setup sequence, one infront and slightly to the left of Katie and one getting a profile shot with the YouTube channel in the background. I had planned all along to complete this sequence but I had struggled to find an outside source to help us. I did not want to ask Katie as I knew she had her own project to be working on, but I really appreciated the help because I felt this sequence adds a lot to this show. It was shot well and I am happy once again as a Director I had spent time planning this sequence as it went exactly to plan.

After sending this footage to Cailan I was left to focus on my blog and my research on the website. Cailan was doing a good job with the edit and we had planned to meet up. I said I would happily drive to Crawley for him and see the edit there but he cancelled on my late on. I wish Cailan had communicated better with me as if he knew there would be a problem with this day, that he would tell me sooner. It was not all a wasted journey as Cailan said we could have a quick catchup in a nearby Cafe. I was a little surprised that not more had been edited, but at the same time what had been edited was superb. I wrote down what I would do for adjustments, but as the editor, I left the final decisions up to Cailan.

Through all this, we were still waiting on Louis voiceover. He had stated he would get it to us by the end of the shoot week but that never materialised. He had to wait an extra 4 days which a big strain on Cailan prompting him to ask if we should use his voice in the edit. I stated in the nicest possible way, that Vox doesn't ever use a separate voiceover guy to presenter so why should we. I know Cailan thought the tone of his voice would suit the documentary better, but I felt we needed to stick to the guidelines set to us by Vox.

Louis final voiceover was okay, he said he had a recording studio so it would not be an issue. The audio quality was okay but not as good as if we had recorded it at Cailan's like originally planned. I was a little disappointed at how rushed the voiceover felt and Cailan felt likewise. However, it now meant our project had the same voice throughout which was more important. He also missed sections of the voice over and as it was sent too late there is a missing voiceover segment right at the start of our project.

After some feedback from Simon, I was happy that he realised how long I spent planning shots as he did seem to like my directorial decisions. There were a few shots, like the shot of the trees in Tunbridge wells, that should be cut as they made this feel like less of a worldwide issue. After these shots along with a few additions and cuts from the rest of the sequence, we had a polished feature which both Cailan and I were really happy with. It really fit the brand of VOX and was directed and edited to a very high standard. I think we both agree this was probably the best project we had both worked on in university so far.

To summarise
What worked well?

• I think I did a good job with the directing in this project. I spent a lot of time planning before the shoot days enabling us to have less pressure on the day. When at the locations filming I was always sure to refer back to my notes and the storyboards. The shots were unique and were challenging which fit the brand of vox, while also being unique to me. I was really happy with my directorial decisions in this piece. Bar a few shots which I will talk about later.
• I think the locations for the vox pops were really good. We managed to acquire some very intelligent responses to our questions in less time than was expected. I think this was thanks to my recce as well as my knowledge of the kind of people who live in Tunbridge Wells.
• Cailan did a great job with the editing in this unit and I feel we worked well as a team throughout. Always bouncing ideas off of one another was important to keep the ball rolling.

What Didn't work so well? 

• I think Cailan's communication at the start of the unit could have been better. I had to spend some of my time getting him started on his side of the project which should not be needed on my part. He was a little less proactive in getting the work done which did cost us time in the early stages of the project.
• The presenter decision was one that was not in either of our assigned roles, but a decision we were both slightly disappointed in. I was the main person pushing for Louis to be our presenter due to his past work and skillset. I will then take the decision to hire Louis upon myself as I felt he would suit our project better. In hindsight, Niv probably would have been a better presenter for the PTC and voiceover but may have struggled more than Louis with the Vox Pops.

What would I improve?

• I would have spent more time looking for a location to film the PTC. The cafe was good but the background noise is noticeable in the edit which did annoy me. However, it was the best place we could find to film in the time we had. 
• I would have liked to have got a better presenter. Louis was good, especially for the vox pops, but he did struggle with the PTC and voiceover. He suited the style of VOX but not the style of the DOCUMENTARY as much as we would have liked. Louis was very nice to work with, however, and we feel this may have been outside his comfort zone, hence the reason for the lacklustre performance in the PTC Section.
• I would have liked to have shot in a different location, probably London for the vox pops. Tunbridge Wells is a very unique area meaning it makes the issue feel more rural than worldwide. If it was shot in London we would have got a better idea of the scale of this issue. however, in the time we had, Tun Wells was the best location open to us.

This project was such a quick turnaround but I was really happy with the end result. Our issues were less profound than in other projects and I felt we overcame them in a better and quicker way. As a director, I felt pressure at the start of this unit to get all of my pre-planning completed but the work proved vital in creating a great project. My decisions throughout helped form a really great project and one with clear evidence of planning and research. My knowledge of being a director has vastly improved through research into VOX and how they make their shows. I feel I have become a much more competent director through this unit and I did not let the pressure get to me which had been the case in previous units. Cailan was great to work with, but I wish we had a little better communication from his end towards the start of the unit. I was impressed with the final outcome and felt my role as a director had been achieved to a high standard, thanks to my hard work. 

Transition - Understanding Simon's Feedback

Today we had a very important meeting with course leader Simon who looked at the fine cut of our documentary. Both Cailan and I were happy with the progress of the project so far and felt we had done really well considering we were a two-person team.

I took notes from the meeting which I then converted into notes for Cailan to use in the edit. Here are the notes from the meeting

• The whole project is too long - currently nearly at 10 minutes, should be down to around 7.
• Missing the graphics that vox uses - Cailan explained how a lot of the project uses animations and other editing techniques, but we feel we did not have the time to create complex charts to the level of vox.
• The first shot is boring, could be replaced with a timelapse or changed in some way (CCTV?)
•  I explained we could use a time lapse footage sequence we shot which has more movement and would be more interesting. 
• The sequence with the Pink Hair guy can be shortened - Doesn't need to be so long to have the same impact
• Needs to be quicker and snappier - Flow is a little slow as of right now. 
• Remove the self-help sequence - It adds nothing and doesn't fit the flow
• Ending too long -At least add some extra effects over it so it's not so drawn out
• Maybe add extra parts to Katie's section so it's not just the same two shots

I always appreciate feedback from Simon as we always get every single detail covered, meaning we can improve our piece. Both I and Cailan were happy with what needed to be done in the next few days. The only thing we know we can really not do is the high-level graphics charts and tables. We simply do not have the time for it.

After a meeting with Cailan, I helped draw up the list of things he needs to do to the edit in the time we have remaining. 

1. Intro shot needs to be a time lapse, can be same shot but the transition from a time-lapse to normal speed
2. Pink Hair guy in line is "We would only need to...."
3. PTC When talking about "With specific menus...." Overlay some footage from cut self-help segment here - scrolling through the phone. Sequence end line is "........Settings menus"
4. After self-help cut segment the in line is "though you can disable" 
5. Add extra clips into the outro to make it flow better

These are the shots and scenes to be cut completely to save time

• Start of pink guy segment
• Self-help part
• Katie where she says "so it helps with privacy"
• Cut Ms Schak segment
• Side on shots when vox popping - gives away location

Overall I am really happy with the feedback as I feel that it is possible to achieve what is needed in the next few days. I will assist Cailan when he needs, I will probably make the credits page as that can be done by myself. I will help if needed but It will be hard to help on the edit itself as we are based 2 hours apart. We will catch up on Skype to understand the situation throughout our last full day. 

Transition - Full Fine Cut

Cailan has been hard at work over the last few days and has completed a full fine cut of the whole show. With a few days until the deadline we feel it is unlikely that a huge amount will change as of right now. I am really happy with the process that Cailan has made and I have been on hand at all times to assist when needed. I am fully aware that this is his edit. I am simply just suggesting small tweaks if I feel that they are needed. The fine cut sits at nearly 10 minutes long which is fine for Vox as their pieces have a wide range of 5-10 minutes for the most part. Saying this, however, I think we narrow down this project to around 8 minutes long.

After watching this version of the edit I noted down some possible things to change.

1. I thought that a few of the shots that Cailan recorded on the Panasonic were overexposed and probably needed some colour correcting. This should not be much of an issue but is worth nothing.
2. Louis voice still needs to be added in. This is not Cailan's fault as our presenter Louis said he would have the voice over to us by last week and has still yet to record it.  
3. I personally felt that the intro was a little long. I know the script is the way Cailan has always planned but it did feel to drag on somewhat. However, I think this is a vital part of this project and I think we just need to tighten it up with quicker shots rather than changing the voiceover.
4. I thought the found footage shots near the end with Ms Schak talking was unneeded. It could at least be narrowed down as right now it is taking up a large majority of this project. 
5. I felt there could be shots of Katie's YouTube channel when she is speaking as it may make that specific segment flow just a little better.
6. I am not a massive fan of the side on shots recorded on the Panasonic when recording the Vox Pops. Firstly they are not centred in the frame very well and they look a little out of place. I know Simon mentioned that this is a worldwide topic and we should not confine the video to such a specific area. To combat this I think we should focus on the one shot of the person who is being interviewed. The close up gives fewer clues about the setting away to the viewer which may take away some of the impacts.
7. Music needs to continue on through the piece but I know Cailan had not got around to that just yet.

Overall I am really happy with how this project is moving along. With only a few days left it may be hard to complete and fix all the issues, but we both feel we have a solid subject matter and one that has challenged both of us. 

Transition - Setting up Website

We have to create a website for our projects to be launched on, as well as showing key findings which helped inform our approaches to the project.

As Cailan is busy with the edit I felt it would be best for me to do the website part of this project. I decided to use WIX as I had previous experience with the website making tool and I felt competent enough to complete a good website using this tool.

I started by signing up and creating a password that we would all have access too. The website can be accessed through this link: https://abaldwin54.wixsite.com/dataprivacy 

This website already had some edgy graphics and I decided that I would follow a similar route with my design. I did not have access to any of Cailan's artwork at this stage so I simply put some images to create space on the website.

I started off by making sure we had a bold opening image. As of making this website, we had not decided on a full title but we had a few working titles. I decided to go with the tagline "HOW SECURE IS YOUR DATA?" I thought this was abt to our project and summed up what we are attempting to talk about in our project. It is bold and brings the website visitors attention right away to the issue which I think is very important. I also accompanied this tagline with a picture of someone being interviewed which easily shows the style of the documentary we are making. I think these two bold images give a great sense of what this project is about.

Also on the main page, I decided it would be good to have a segment to confirm what the objective of the website is. I also decided it would be a nice touch to include extra pictures of the shoot, direct from the cameras. These pictures mean that the main page is not just a wall of text which is boring to look at and understand. The "about" section will probably have some more work added to it over time. Saying this, I do not want it to become too complicated and confuse anyone who visits the site.

I will show this to Cailan and ask if there is anything he wishes to add to the design. As of right now, I think this is a good start as the main point of the website is the research which we have undertaken.

As you can see at the top of the page, I have a navigation bar which allows users to go through all of the pages and look at all of the information that we have posted. As of creating this website I have not completed my findings so I did not wish to put them on the website before I was happy with how it read. It should be on the website by Tuesday morning. We also need to discuss if we are going to have a production name or if we are going to stay with jus A&C as a backdrop!

There are three blank pages as of creating which are for my research as a director, Cailan's research as an editor and a page for the final project. These extra pages will all be completed very soon but this blog was just showing my first attempt at piecing the website together.

I am happy to have been of some help to Cailan and not putting any of pressure on him to create a website or his page because I know the edit is his main concern right now. I will make sure his segment is added to the website as well as soon as he has time to complete his research.

With only a few days to go, we are in a good position and I am really happy with how this unit has gone. It has been a unit which has been tough on us all with such a tight turnaround but I feel we have kept the professionalism and created something to be proud of!

Transition - Introduction Fine Cut

Cailan has given me a fine cut of the introduction sequence for me to asses and has asked me to point out any glaring features we should change.

I pointed out the main three issues I could see.

• -The First two shots and metro bank shot need straightening
• Not sure about the name its a bit vague unless that's a placeholder 
• - Colour correcting

I think this is a great start from Cailan and I know he intends to pull in Louis' voiceover as soon as it is ready. Unfortunately, Louis has delayed sending us the audio file even though we had stated it would have already needed to be completed by now. I could tell Cailan was getting frustrated with this issue and I tried my best to ease the situation, saying to focus on the PTC and Vox pop segments.

I have followed up the situation with Louis who says he will get the audio online by the end of Sunday. This will still be a rush for Cailan, but it was important for me to keep liaising with the presenter.

Considering this has been a two-person project, I am really happy with how much we have achieved. We have had to double up on a lot of roles taking away time from our main goals. Over the next few days, I hope to see a fine cut from Cailan and I will hopefully be able to give some constructive help about what could be changed. At this stage, I cannot do much to help Cailan in the edit as that is his area of expertise. 

I will be setting up the website over the coming days and will tell Cailan what he needs to do for his segment. I do not want him to have any pressure in terms of setting the website up so I will do all of that. 

Transition Critical Research - Researching of An Industry Professional

Through learning more about how to direct a documentary, I thought it would be best to research into an industry professional and understand what made them so good at their job.

I was going to focus on a documentary filmmaker from VOX, however, they do not have set roles like traditional media which meant it was very hard to find any proper research on them. I decided to look into the career of Film and Documentary maker, Emily James.

Emily James has directed countless documentaries and I thought she would be an interesting person to research into because of this breadth of experience in the industry. She is also a younger director which is similar to the people working at VOX so I thought I would be able to draw some similarities in their work.

Emily attended film school in the early 2000's and went on to win awards and have her work featured on TV at the same time. She was known for innovating new techniques and ways of telling stories to the masses. She never felt that it was needed to follow the same structure as every other show to create a good project. This is the type of open mind I went into this project with. I had watched the internet documentary genre before, but I had never really analysed it and understood it. After understanding the freedom you have with online content it opens up your eyes to new ways of producing content. I had always believed that trying new things is only ever a good learning experience, but I knew for this project I had to push myself to try things I had never explored in TV Production before this moment. Understanding Emily's approach helped me inform my own, and let me understand to try some unique shots because if they work it opens up so many extra possibilities.

A few years into her professional Career Emily directed multiple shows on large stations like Channel 4 and was hailed as one of "the hottest talents in town" by many in the industry. These are big words for someone so early on in their career. She also directed shows which people said included "brilliant satire of the trend towards consumer affairs as entertainment.” I know from watching a lot of VOX content over the last few months that there is always a mixture of wit mixed with hard evidence and facts. Emily has clearly shown great desire to create content which is both enjoyable to watch, factual and sometimes has a little comedy added to it. I made sure through our piece to direct in a way that was serious but at the same time enabled us to see the presenter was not just a talking piece and did have some emotion. I think it was very important from a directors perspective to show the human side. I think I did a good job at this by leaving the camera to roll even when we were not filming, we acquired some really nice b-roll of Louis and the public which was very useful in the edit.

In 2009 she would go onto direct "AGE OF STUPID" which she said "With this film, you won't leave the cinema with your head in your hands. You're going to come out ready to take on the world!". Something that Emily has done throughout her career is creating content that is motivating and gets the message across well to the viewer. In Emily's documentaries having key contributors was key in her story being told in the way, she wanted it. We also wanted a key contributor to help move our story along and thankfully we had a great contributor in Katie. She spoke about how we should protect our data and why it is important. This was the last thing that was filmed and I think it is so important that we did get it filmed because it helps cement the story to the viewers. Without this, it seems like we are only telling you half the story with no external contributors. I made sure we got this segment in, even though Cailan had suggested we cut it. I suggested if we need time back we remove the SELF HELP segment of our show as that was un-needed and not very relevant.

After reading an article with Emily posted in the Independent she stated in one of her recent documentaries "The biggest reason why people were hesitant to get involved was because they didn't want to incriminate themselves. So I developed a very thorough security protocol involving a lot of runners dropping tapes to safe houses and I promised everybody that none of the footage of the build-up to the action would go out until their court cases were resolved." (Independent, 2010) Even though our issue is not as serious as this one in terms of legal issues, we did want to make sure that the people on screen doing the vox pops were comfortable. It's not really a directors job to speak to the public to get them involved, but talking to them about the project and where it was being published was my issue. "Alongside the issue of trust, another obstacle to activists taking part in the film was their reluctance to be singled out and made into stars. "I've tried very hard to make it a portrait of a community and of a growing movement," says James, "but at the same time you have to have some returning characters because the audience needs to attach themselves to real human beings so that they care about what happens to them and care about the narrative of the film." (Independent, 2010) I talked to every person who we spoke to on camera and after Louis had convinced them to be a part of the show I gave them the rundown of what the project was about. Being more confident in the public was a key learning experience and I am happy I got the change to learn this before the shoot as I may have panicked without this knowledge.

As of recent Emily has been focusing on documentaries surrounding the dark web and the black market of drugs as well as directing shows for BBC Storyville. Researching into Emily's career has been important to me learning more about pushing myself as a director. Not being afraid to push myself and try new things is the biggest thing I learned. Throughout this unit, I have tried shots that I have never thought about before as well as making sure we got a load of possible cutaway segments and moments of the presenter being candid. All of these are important in understanding what it takes to put together a highly produced piece with many layers to the story.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Independent, 2010
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/emily-james-lights-camera-activists-2103913.html
Personal Profiles
http://www.emily-james.com/about/
http://www.spannerfilms.net/node/225

Transition Unit - Kit That Was Used & My Reasoning

This blog post is explaining why I chose certain pieces of kit for our production. As the director, I wanted to make sure that the camera equipment that I was using would produce the shots that I wanted. I had spent a lot of time planning the shots and I needed to make sure the equipment was capable of creating those.

Panasonic DVX 200:

The Universities 4K Panasonic is capable of creating incredible shots and has complex manual controls. I was eager to get another opportunity to film with the Panasonic's after we had not used them in the most recent studio production. The high quality linked with the adaptability on the move was important to me as a director and I was happy we were able to secure the use of one. The Panasonic went on to be our main camera for this project, recording the "Main" shots in both the PTC and the Vox Pops. I was a little disappointed with the Panasonic's screen as it is actually worse than that on the old Sony's.

This makes understanding if a shot is in focus very hard. This coupled with the shot on the screen looking inherently darker than it would when exported onto a PC. This meant that when editing Cailan is going to have to adjust the clips recorded on the Panasonic as they all seem a little overexposed. To be clear on the screen these shots looked fine, but when on the laptop they needed a little editing. It was not much of an issue and all our shots were in great working order and more importantly had very solid focus.

Sony AX 53:

I had a Camcorder which also shot in 4K and I was eager to give it a go in this unit. It has impressive auto-focus (which can be turned off) as well as incredibly impressive Balanced Optical Steady focus. This enables you to walk along and have a silky smooth shot without having to use special effects in the edit. This very useful feature was important when creating the super smooth and slick project we had intended all along. These slick shots would not have been possible on the Panasonic as it weighed a lot more and did not have the lens feature. The Sony was often used on a shoulder rig for cutaway shots and the alternate Vox Pop angle. From what I am seeing in the edit, this camera is being used more than the sony in the vox pop segment due to its perfect focus and steadiness.

I was happy to be controlling this camera and was really impressed with the shots I was able to achieve. This camera exceeded my expectations in this shoot and I will most likely end up using it in my final year's project. It's adaptability and size give it the edge over a Panasonic, while at the same time creating a very high-quality shot. The wide angle lens also gave us extra opportunities when filming as we had a lot of tight areas where it was hard to film. This was especially helpful in the PTC segment at the cafe which we filmed the alternate angle with this camera. It was a very tight area and we actually shot it from less than a meter away. The wide-angle gave us the opportunity to get the shot we wanted and have some depth of field.

Rode Microphone:

For the vox pop segments, I took the decision to use the RODE shotgun Microphone as our only microphone for this scene. This may not be what the microphone was intended for, but with there being the lack of one in the store, we had to work with it. Ideally, we would have used a reporter microphone which would be more dynamic and less bulky. However, saying this, the audio quality was great and the presenter holding the microphone lower down meant we had no distortion or peaking. I was happy with the audio quality out in the public especially with the wind we encountered.

Clip Microphone:

I took the decision to use a clip microphone for the PTC in the cafe as I hoped this would be less intrusive and less obvious for the viewer. The other option for this segment would have been the RODE microphone on a boom pole over the presenter. I went for the clip microphone as we tried the boom but we could not get the audio quality that I wished for. The clip microphone worked well, even though the cafe was extremely noisy we managed to achieve some great quality and made sure to adjust it to make sure we had no peaking once again.

Sadly there were still noises in the background which you could hear, like the coffee machine and people speaking but it is not that obvious. In the scenario of a busy cafe, it would have been hard to have perfect audio so I was pleased with how it came out.

Reason for Natural Lighting:

Finally, I wanted to explain why we chose to use natural lighting for the entirety of our piece. Firstly when booking out kit, Cailan did not book any lights which were the main reasons for not using them. However, after further analysis and thought I decided not to bring my own lights as I wanted the scene to look natural and not forced or set up. I knew adding in extra light from an external source would make the shot look overproduced for the scenario we were in. This decision went well as when looking back at the clips we had used the window shot well to equal out the light on each side of the presenters face. When looking back at this scenario I am happy I made the decision not to bring extra lights as it would have only provided hassle with the little room we had to work with at the cafe. In the future, however, I will make sure whoever books the kit out gets lights as they may be useful in most scenarios.

Transition - Shoot Day 2- Contributor Segment at Maidstone Studios

Today was the contributor shoot for this project. It was only a very short segment but I feel it needed to be done as it confounded the documentary. Our contributor was Katie from the year, who has experience with how to protect her data through her YouTube channel. I really appreciated Katie helping as I know they had their stuff to edit as well.

The shoot took place in the audio room at University. It was not the greatest area for lighting or a backdrop, but with little time remaining in the project, it was the best setting we could have got.

My idea for the shot was originally to have the contributor Center of the frame and speaking directly at the camera. However, after assessing the situation and the small room space we had to deal with, I decided to change the shot. Katie would be Left of Frame with her YouTube on the right-hand side on the screen. The second camera would shoot a shot from the side at around an 80-degree angle. We would possibly slightly punch in on this shot on some occasions using a crop tool on Premiere. I left the shot slightly wider than first planned to give us options in the edit.

Here is the example of the main shot - Katie is looking slightly right of frame as I did not want this to seem like a massively set up shot. I wanted it to feel like the Vox video I had studied where the contributor seems to be talking to a person standing just behind the camera. They never speak directly to the camera and I felt we should not either.

Here is what the secondary side angle shot looks like. I think this will work well for a quick cutaway and can be cropped in thanks to using 4k. A cropped in shot will give a different look and I will leave that decision up to Cailan in the edit about what works best. However, saying that I think both shots will link together well as they currently are. Cailan will edit in some cutaway clips of Katie's YouTube channel as well. 

Lighting was probably the only issue I had today. I asked Ferg to help me adjust the lights and it was hard to find a solution that gave great depth in the shot. I went through a couple of different variations of light placement but we decided to go for an idea from Sam Creamer about shining the light through from the other room. This worked fine, but Ideally, we would have had a better location for this segment, But with the time constraints we had I feel this was good.

It was a quick 5-minute shoot once it was set up but it did take over an hour to set the shot up correctly and set up all my equipment as I desired. I used the Universities Panasonic as the Main camera and my Sony 4K Camcorder as the secondary shot. Both gave good depth of field even though it was a small area. In the future, I would have liked to have secured a better location for this shoot, but with the time constraints it is hopefully understandable we could not find one that worked with the direction I was taking. The lighting worked out fine if a little blown out on the right side of Katie. After transferring the clips to my hard drive I uploaded the clips for Cailan to see. I had already mentioned to Cailan it would not be worth the effort for him to attend this shoot. It would be time better spent editing the rest of the project which still needs work. As per a previous blog post, I am happy with the direction the edit is going and I met Cailan near his home yesterday to discuss the project and what was the next step.

We now really just have to collate the images together and Cailan can do his thing in the edit. I really appreciated Katie taking the time to help us with our project, I feel it adds another layer to our project with a contributor who can conpound the topics which have been spoken about in the video. 

Transition - Rough Cut

After a few busy days of editing, Cailan gave me my first glimpse of the edit so far with a rough cut which was focused on the introduction to the piece. It can be seen below.

Cailan had done a voice over for the mean-time while we waited on Louis to record the voiceover for us. Cailan then did mention he was of the opinion his voice suited the documentary more than Louis. I do agree with this statement as Louis may not come across as serious as Cailan when the commentary. However, through all of the research, I had done on Vox, I saw that the presenter who does the piece, also narrates it all as well. I will ask Simon about this issue, However, I am of the belief that the presenter should do the voiceover as it makes the most sense. No other Vox video uses a different voice over to presenter so this would be breaking the structure that we had set ourselves. I do wish Cailan had brought this to my attention sooner as it could have been addressed when choosing a presenter. If he really did not like Louis tone he should have said when we cast. I personally feel Louis will work with this piece in terms of voice over, I agree that Cailan or a deeper voice may sound better, but it would break the consistency of the project.

Other notes I made were the shots of the clock near the begging were not exactly on the horizon, they were slightly off to one angle. This is only a small issue but it is worth being picky to make the best project possible.

I really liked what Cailan had done with my movement shot down to the keyboard, it was smooth but a warp stabiliser had completely smoothed it out and it looked fantastic. The use of archive footage is important, mostly in this segment, as this is where the issue is explained and these images compound that information.

The slight colour correction done has also helped amplify the clip and I am happy that the raw files came out so nice. This means Cailan will not need to adjust to many settings to keep the camera consistency the same - especially through shooting on two very different cameras. I think that this was helped by my meticulous preparation beforehand meaning we just had to set up and go in most instances.

The shots of Louis being candid and looking around where thanks to Cailan keeping the camera rolling between vox pops. He can be very happy with himself for thinking to do this as these shots will become vital if we need a cutaway. There is work that still needs to be done but it is a great start for this project. Cailan is very good at editing and I am not worried about a lack of quality. However, there is so much work to be done in so little time I am sure he will feel some pressure, if need be I will always be there to assist.

I had made the agreement with Cailan that I would come and visit him to see how the edit was going today, however, he told me late last night that those plans would have to be abandoned as his mother was having a friend round. This was a little frustrating because of Cailan's location it is tough to see how the edit is going. Understandably, Cailan does not want to get an expensive train down to edit with me, but this was a great opportunity for a catch-up. I will talk to Cailan today and maybe I can still meet and see him somehow, I was planning to visit as I was already in the area and normally the journey would take upwards of 90 minutes.

Transition Critical Research - How Vox Documentaries are Directed

As a part of my critical research for this project, I wanted to understand the directorial decisions made when filming a VOX Documentary.

I decided to focus on another episode of "SHIFT CHANGE" That I have previously mentioned in my work. This episode is about how there is a struggle to make bad jobs better.

Something I have noticed throughout my research into VOX is now a lot of their project are heavily graphics and text-based. This means, in reality, there are fewer decisions to be made by the director in terms of shot footage.

As a director, however, you can see that VOX uses these graphics and text to help evolve the story and I needed to make sure I collaborated with Cailan about what graphics we were going to use. We decided to have less of a focus on graphics in our piece because of our time constraints and that Cailan did not have as much experience making graphics. This meant we had to be clever with the little time we did have, and have our documentary more presenter based instead of graphics and text. We still followed VOX's guidelines throughout, but with a small amount of time to do multiple jobs we decided not to over-stretch ourselves and have a worse project because of it.

As a director I had noted down the style of graphics that we would need in our show, this included computer recorded shots of the computer screen, scrolling and cropped in found footage that would help prove the facts that we talk about in this video. We knew from the outset that we would not have the time for all of the flashy content that VOX uses because they have large teams and months to edit singular videos, but we managed our time well and decided upon making it somewhat simpler for Cailan in the edit.

One thing that Vox does in every single video is its use of very bold shots. As a director, I knew varying shot sizes would be important, but after understanding VOX more I understood it is vital to creating the visual flow that every VOX Video has. In my storyboards, I set up a large range of shot sizes and upon further meetings with course leader Simon, I implemented more shots on the shoot day. Having a range of shots is not enough for VOX Though, they all need to link and cut together in a rapid way. You can tell that the VOX Directors work closely with the editors in the projects as they always have a fast and flowing sequence.


In the majority of the interviews that I have watched on VOX, they are all directed in a similar way. The person is speaking to someone behind the camera and not directly to the camera. This was vital to understand because if we set up the interviews directly to the camera it would feel way too set up and hard to watch. Vox videos are directed in a way to make the viewer feel at home and that they can relate to the subject. The choice of shots also varies from interview to interview. In some cases, I have seen them leave a huge amount of headroom to make the interviewee seem small in the frame. What makes the directorial decisions so bold in VOX is that they are very unique to them, and little other creators follow a similar route. I took this knowledge into my storyboarding and made sure each interview had a shot where the person that was talking to the camera wasn't directly addressing it. In the vox pop segments, I also planned for a side on shot with both the presenter and the member of the public in the shot. I knew VOX uses a 2 camera set up, meaning my second camera which was focussed on the interviewee and was bold and changed from interview to interview. I mixed up the shot sizes to show that I had learned from Vox that variation is key to creating interesting content. I mixed in close up, mid shots and sometimes two shots of the presenter and interviewee, albeit at a different angle to the side on shot which did not work.


I followed these directorial decisions when creating the storyboards for the contributor segment. The front on shot has Katie looking to the right of the shot, and the shot itself is slightly off centre to show I have thought about what side of the frame Katie is on. Throughout the contributor segment, Katie is on the right of the frame which is a mistake I have made in one of my 1st-year projects.

The use of cutaways is interesting from a directors point of view because they are used rather randomly throughout the piece. Sometimes the cutaway has little relevance to what is being spoken about in the voiceover. This is useful because In our filming I decided to film various time lapses of movement when in Tunbridge Wells which fit really well into our project. I understand that a lot of the time these filling shots are there to show movement and the mass of people. I feel I did a good job in making that directorial decision on the day to record these time lapses as they were very important when it came to editing. I did not go to the location knowing exactly what I was going to film which may have been a mistake, but the time-lapse footage I did create was well directed and interesting.

VOX Does a good job of capturing candid moments of whoever is on the screen which can be left in later for the edit. I talked to Cailan about VOX does this and I decided we should leave the main camera rolling while Louis was finding people to vox pop or while he was learning his lines. This ended up working really well in the editing stages as we had so many nice candid moments that we could slot into the project later on. These are not the style of shots you can script and storyboard, but the awareness as a director to make sure the camera stays rolling was key to capturing these moments.

The framing of some of the shots in VOX is very important. Shots like this interview are bold because of the very bold background and also how it contrasts with the person who is on screen. Although I planned to have shots as bold as this we did struggle to get anything to this effect. I did try some shots which I did not storyboard and they came out good (ie - panning shot from Louis to laptop & also slow pan down to keyboard) and I was happy I challenged myself when the occasion arose. The lack of such a bold shot was down to the eventual location that Cailan had chosen. It did not offer us the opportunity to have something like what is shown on VOX. Saying this, thanks to my strong planning beforehand and quick thinking on the day, the PTC was shot really nicely and Simon remarked at how professional it looked. It is hard to comprehend what a small shooting area it was, but we made a great shot out of a tough situation.

Finally, the use of found footage is very important from a directors point of view. In vox, the found footage really helps move the story along and has bold and meaningful messages. The clips are often very frank. I liaised with Cailan throughout this project about what found footage we should use and he came up with a really good list that worked with his edit. I agreed we should go forward with the footage he had found and it worked really well in the edit, after some video manipulation to make it unique.

The director's job may not be as prominent in VOX videos as it is in other video creation, but I found doing research into the video very important when informing my own approach to filming. I often followed examples set by VOX but then changed it a little to make it my own stylistic approach.

Vox's unique approach to storytelling is one that interests me greatly and I am very happy with our final result. I feel this research was vital in creating a project that was similar to VOX in terms of style as well as putting a little bit of a spin on it through my own directorial decisions.

Tunbridge Wells Filming - Transition - Shoot Day 1

Our main shoot day started at 10am on 3rd May. I had set up a call sheet of when everyone needed to be there. Cailan and I were to arrive at Tunbridge Wells for 9:15am and Louis by 10am. After meeting with Cailan at the station I suggested we go and recce the location once more and talk to the owners of the cafe we have decided to film in. We talked to the manager at Cafe Manna who showed us around the building properly, as well as a few potential filming locations. The area Cailan had suggested was the one by the window which offered great natural lighting. I saw this and was unsure at first because of the loud coffee machine which was nearby. This prompted me to ask if there were other locations and the Cafe Manna manager showed us around. There were areas at the back of the store which were nice, but let in little natural light which meant we would struggle. He also showed us an exterior location and an outhouse which was nice and quiet but the backdrop was not as great as before. As the director, I had to make a decision on which area we should film in. Sadly each area had its downside, but I felt the shot by the window that had been suggested beforehand, would have been best. The manager also stated that during our filming period the coffee machine will not be in use as frequently and we can film around it. The natural light was what was most important as we did not want a grainy picture through boosting settings in the camera and the fact we had no lights available to us.

 These two pictures show the difference in light from changing the angle of the chair, which we will do when arranging them later. This is so there is an equal amount of light on each side of the presenters face.



After we had a nice chat with the manager and decided upon a location for the PTC we went to meet Louis at the station. As is the way with things, they go wrong when you need them most. Louis train was cancelled meaning we would start shooting over an hour later than expected. I had created a call sheet to keep us on schedule but sadly that was near-useless once we got set up. After explaining to Louis what was going to be filmed and where we headed to our first location which was Tunbridge Wells' Royal Victoria Place. We filmed just exterior to the shopping centre with the hope of catching people as best as possible. We got set up and we followed the same premise for most vox pop that we recorded. One camera would get a two-shot and be static in the middle. The other camera would get a close up of the person who was being interviewed. Louis was great in going up to people and getting people to appear on our show. I made sure the cameras were always set up correctly, remembering to adjust the iris and focus depending on who and what was being filmed. We successfully completed 10 interviews with the public with Louis doing a great job in them all. Due to the nature of quickly Louis could engage people in the project, we almost managed to get back on time with my original call sheet. After finishing the interviews I wanted to get some possible cutaway shots and time-lapses that Cailan may need in the edit. I was really happy with the quality of both my shots and Cailan's shots from the interviews and I think that is down to my careful planning of them. I was also very happy with the cutaway shots which I mostly filmed, as I feel these are going to be very important when placing it all on a timeline in the edit.

After we had completed all of the interviews we headed down for a quick lunch at the cafe that we were filming in. It would also give our presenter Louis a chance to see the location himself before filming as well as a chance for him to look over his lines. After lunch, I got to work arranging the shot the way I wanted. I wanted the presenter centre of the frame and there to be a desk or table with the laptop on. After moving chairs from the back of the shot to ensure it looked clean, we got to work. We also had a slightly of centre side shot which was more zoomed in and focused completely on the presenter. Louis did struggle in the first few takes of the script but quickly warmed to it and we got some solid run-throughs completed. I had not written the script but did notice in some instances where it did not seem to flow correctly or was a little wordy. These are things that cannot really be anticipated until the actual actor is trying to say them to the camera without looking at the sheet.

I wasn't sure if Cailan was taking offence to it, but I did ask Louis to change a few sentences to make them sound better. It was a productive task and I feel it was worth going to the extra step and adapting the script so that it is the best possible product. I did not want an almost perfect dialogue scene when we could have so easily made it perfect. I think after the changes it sounded perfect and I was impressed we had once again got it filmed in a shorter period of time than expected.

After we had filmed the dialogue I needed to record the cutaways that would correlate to what was being said in these instances. I wanted to make sure I got these shots and Cailan helped me move the set around slightly so I could get a clean shot once again. I took control of the camera for the entirety of these shots as I had planned them and had a better idea of what was needed. Cailan helped by telling me what the next shot was from my storyboard and this was an efficient process which saw us have enough time to get some bonus shots. I suggested a shot where Louis walks into the cafe, as well as a similar one of him walking out. Cailan suggested a pan down from the cafe logo to Louis walking in which looked great. After that, we said thank you and goodbye to Louis and started to collate the footage together.


Cailan was editing this project as this was his role and we needed to get all the footage to him somehow. I did suggest he bring his laptop, but he did not mean when we tried to get the footage onto his hard drive we could not because of formatting. This was a little annoying but I thought of a solution which meant letting Cailan take my hard drive instead. It was a little bit of wasted time at the end of the day but we were both really happy with how it all came together. This is the shortest amount of time we have had to create a project and it was probably the most successful shoot day I have had since starting university. Now the next stage is the edit which Cailan will be doing, I said I will drive to his house in Crawley to help give my opinions next week which should be beneficial to us both! I am looking forward to Cailan doing his magic and helping edit together a great piece.