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.