Production - Team Debrief [Monday 28th January]

On Monday we needed to have a group conversation about how the weekend went as well as understanding what we can improve on going forward. It was a hectic three days, with the dissertation hand-in on Friday, Race license on Saturday and the karting sequence on Sunday. This was very early to be shooting key sequences, but as a producer, George decided he wanted to get the race license scene completed as it was the least predictable.

Having a chance to view the majority of the footage that was shot over the weekend allowed me to come to our group conversation with a few notable points for discussion. We had agreed as a group not to take any critique to heart, as it was all about improving ourselves and creating the best project possible.

My questions & topics of discussion for this initial team meeting were: 

1. I thought Cailan's footage was great on all three shoot days, he had followed my sequences very well and had got the majority of shots I had asked for. I thanked him for his efforts which ensured we have a lot of possible cutaways from his camera.
2. I felt the Karting PTC  that I did was not very natural. This along with questions that did not allow for great answers meant we will need to re-shoot this sequence. I  was disappointed with myself in that I did not liaise with George about these questions. Even though we want a natural and honest reflection on the circumstances, what is said needs to hold value and I think I could do a lot better in this instance.
3. A few of the miscellaneous sequences involving the race license should be re-shot. This is typically only obtaining some extra B-Roll, rather than any PTC. Apart from Cailan and Jon (My friend who is a great camera operator), we did not obtain much worthwhile footage from the other two cameras. I have expressed my disappointment George because we cannot re-shoot me doing the license so we will have to work around the lack of on-track footage. 
4. I was getting worried about the contributors and locations as of right now, we do not have any bar myself, my Dad and Sam [My race team mate]. I have told George that while it is my job to pick the people we want to include, it is down to him to sort out how and when these will be filmed.
5. I brought up that we needed to definitely scout the diary room sequences in the next few weeks. I have put George in contact with a race team owner who hopefully is allowing us to film in his car garage. The dates for shooting are yet to be finalised, but a test beforehand is vital.
6. New opportunities have arisen, meaning we could have extra sequences where I am driving a car on the track. Both would be at Brands Hatch allowing me to have more knowledge of the track before racing, as well as allowing further opportunities for us to craft cinematic sequences. These are yet to make it into the script, but I want to speak to the group about how we could include these, as they are great opportunities. 
7. I wanted to work on the schedule with George, remembering to try and cater for Cailan's availability, as he currently works MON, WED, FRI. This is fine for the most part, but there will be a couple of events that involve us shooting on those days, and which he needs advance warning to book them off.
8.  I wanted to give George some interview footage I already had, allowing him to show me how he would edit an interview, as well as telling me what other shots he would like to make the scene more interesting.
9. I had thought about the audio, as we had not used a clip mic for the majority of the stuff we had shot so far. I realised that the audio quality was not perfectly clear in all areas. This led to me bringing up the point that we should probably always record with a clip mic, as then we will always have clean audio.
10. Also, I just wanted to mention to George that we would need to book out kit ASAP, as Ferg had already said the track and dolly were booked out for a large segment of February.

Notes from Meeting

• It was decided we would re-shoot the karting sequence on February 24th [Sunday] which would allow us to shoot the PTC where I speak about my memories of this track and what it means for me. Before we re-shoot these, I want to clearly plan out exactly how this scene will look and sound. The reason for this being, our last take did not fit the tone that is being set throughout our documentary. The fact that this is an early scene means that the tone needs to be right, or it would really throw off the viewer. I will also be subtly adjusting the questions to ensure they give me the opportunity to naturally speak about how I feel about this track, expressing how important it is to me. 

• As a group, we realised that we could have benefited significantly from further camera tests before one of our big shoot days. The karting footage genuinely looked great and we have a vast amount of coverage. Brands Hatch, however, was a struggle due to a rapid change in circumstances. The fact we did not have trackside access also massively hindered my plans. As a group, we should have been proactive and done a shoot without trackside access just in case, but sadly we did not find the time when we were all free, alongside writing the dissertation. The main issue here was that we organised a key sequence too early and did not give ourselves enough time to plan accordingly. The footage we got there was still good and I am happy with what we got, I just know it could have been better. Going forward I have now currently scheduled 5 extra days just for recces and practice shoots before we shoot the real sequences. This will allow me to become the director and understand what shots work and which ones we should avoid. While this was a slight oversight, thankfully we are still very early on into the project and we have been able to learn from our mistakes.

• We noted that we had missed a couple of miscellaneous sequences over the weekend, that did not need to be filmed on that day, but would have been useful to prevent another shoot day. This goes back to being rushed while planning, as I had my mind focussed on the dissertation and creating camera lists. To help ensure we filmed every shot we needed, I should have made it clear that the shot list below was not a guide, but was all the VITAL shots needed to be captured. As we did a good job at allowing me to focus on the examinations rather than be a director, I honestly don't know what I could have done to ensure all shots where completed. Maybe some communication with George ensuring the shot list was being used, should have happened at some point during the day. I admit I was very much "In the moment" which meant I was not really thinking about creating a documentary, rather focusing on the test. It worked as we captured some very natural shots and I passed! 

• Furthering a point from earlier, we should have not allowed ourselves to get into the situations that we found ourselves in over the weekend. George should have read his emails, ensuring we had trackside access. Cailan should have followed the shotlist and spoken to George. I should have also spoken to the team before the shoot day about the importance of coverage, as we left Brands Hatch with much less than we wanted. This has made us realise that we need to push harder and understand the possible issues sooner. Further knowledge would have allowed us to not run into these problems, which would have left us with more opportunities in the edit. 

• A little side note was mentioned: We need to film the behind the scenes videos for our Kickstarter backers. This is a reward we gave for people that donated £10 or more towards our project. These will be weekly or bi-weekly videos published exclusively for these donors. We need to stay on top of this to allow our supporters to have the content we promised in the fundraiser. This is something that will not be pushed to the side and will become a weekly task as a group to produce these videos. It is an exciting outlet for our documentary that will allow us to share scenes and sequences that may not be included in the final cut. 

• We spoke about the diary room sequences which allowed me to think of some key items that we want to include in these sequences. Stylistically I know exactly what I want from the diary room, along with the message I want to put across. My biggest hurdle was knowing what items would hold the most significant meaning. Old pictures where always the plan, but I think we can involve some other props that could help create a stronger meaning. My ideas currently are: My first karting helmet, First race suit and possibly my first kart trophy. These would be further visual clues to how much I love motorsport and why this dream is so important to me. We will test out how best to involve these props in our test shoot for the diary room on the 7th February. For this test shoot, I will also be producing detailed camera plans and shot lists to allow the team to understand my vision. Any issues can then be sent to me which will allow me to change things before our actual diary room sequence on 7th March! 

• It was also mentioned that we need to incorporate an establishing shot for the majority of sequences throughout our documentary. These quick shots will allow the viewer to establish where I am and what is happening. This was an initial oversight in my original script and I agree with the team that these need to be accounted for. I have now written down ideas for scenes that need an establishing shot into our script. I will also be testing out with my own drone, how best to create an effective establishing shot. Not all establishing shots will be using a drone so I want to practice how else we can craft an establishing shot. This has been added to my plans for our upcoming test shoots and I can reveal the findings in a later blog post.

• Lastly, I raised the point of contributors, as currently, we do not have many. Only myself, my Dad and Sam. We have plans for 5 interviews in total, none of which have currently been confirmed. I have a strong lead with a touring car company who is also sponsored by one of the companies we have partnered with. This tie-up is not confirmed but I am liaising with George about how we further this idea. Billy Monger and Natalie both declined our request for an interview, which was a big hit for our project, but one we did expect. I have spoken with George about a number of other fantastic contributors who we could include, who have not let a physical or mental barrier prevent them from racing. George is in discussion with a number of possible interviewees, but as progress is slow, I may not know who is up for an interview for a while. We also have 3 generic interviews with racing drivers that we want to conduct. As mentioned in a prior post, we have contacts at Team Hard who are willing to be involved, but no final interview has been scheduled. I also really want to include a female driver in our documentary, and one of these interviews would be a great way to go ahead with this. Over the coming weeks, a lot of these details will be sorted, and a strong communication line is present throughout the team, especially between myself and the producer. This means that issues are being sorted and we are getting all of the resources needed to complete this project. I have set a deadline of mid-February for when all contributors need to be confirmed. It will then be vital to organise shoot days as quickly as possible to ensure the drivers are actually available.