The Main Shoot Dates
February and March are two months with a lot of shooting, which is very tough on us all, but is needed to ensure we cover all areas when making this documentary. As we were shooting every few days it was hard trying to balance university life with personal life along with doing all the work and blog posts which are essential for all shoot dates. It is certainly the hardest project I have ever been a part of and a lot of the work is self-imposed as I am very passionate about this topic and documentary and want to get myself the best grade possible.
Our big shoots this month were; Dan interview in Accrington, Jamie interview in South London, two track days as well as an interview with disabled racing driver Bobby Trundley. All of these shoots had their own issues of sorts but I can see that as a team we are starting to understand how to work with each other [more in next segment] which is allowing the shoot days to become a lot less stressful.
As will be the case throughout the documentary, it is sometimes hard to distance myself from the creation and camera decisions on the day. For example, when interviewing Dan I probably should have been waiting to be given instructions by George or Cailan as I am a contributor in this scene. However, because we are still learning together, the team were still asking me my opinion on how it should be filmed. This is because we are still at the start of this process and I don't see this being an issue going forward.
Looking back at the shoot dates I am personally proud of a few of them. Dan's interview is really unique and the answers we got certainly helped us decide what else we needed to show in the documentary. We had not planned to introduce things such as my racing simulator, but as it was mentioned and is a very good point we are now considering it in some form. The Jamie interview was good but it felt a little generic and the answers could have been better on reflection. I allowed Cailan to take creative control for that interview so my opinions on how it was shot are more for Cailan to take note of. I personally really enjoyed the track days as a contributor. I got some very valuable track time before my big race and that will help me so much. The fact that the whole crew were there to film it was great as well and the footage from onboard and outside cameras will allow for a great montage. We all loved being around Bobby and the interview was shot well, but unfortunately, the answers probably didn't hold enough weight on reflection to be included in this 20-minute version of the film. It has not been cut from the timeline yet, but after comments from peers and lecturers, we expect it will have to make way, if anything, because of its sheer length.
I think this month was a great step into the unknown in terms of our ability to cope with the amount of work involved. I personally am really happy with the majority of the content we have filmed and I can see most of it being included in our documentary. I certainly felt the pressure to get everything ready before a shoot more than actually being in it, but all of the feedback about myself being on camera has been positive and I am very pleased to hear this. We head into March with the majority of filming to be completed and I am very excited to continue this run of slick and professional shoot dates.
Working as A Team
One of the biggest challenges so far on this unit has been working together. This is mostly because the boundaries between our roles are blurred and it has often been the case that we start working on something which one of the others should have been doing. This is leading to confusion and general miscommunications between us which is certainly something we wanted to limit on this project.
Throughout these opening weeks, there has been scepticism about how we deal with our limited filming schedule due to Cailan working three of the five weekdays we could do. This has really limited our opportunities to film and the restriction has left us further behind than we really needed to be. This frustration came from both myself and George who looked to create a plan for filming days but were left with no option but to film on one of his working days, which caused tension as Cailan was having to take time off work.
Through the month this was talked about many times and we had a few disagreements on how we go about this, but after some great discussions, Cailan agreed that we needed more options, especially by the time we got to the edit. He dropped his hours for the end of March which was a start in allowing us a bit more flexibility.
Apart from this scheduling issue, I don't recall many issues over working with one another. We are starting to learn about how we approach shoot dates and how I must be when a contributor on screen. I am starting to allow myself distance between the camera decisions and my role as a contributor. This trust is allowing the crew to capture better shots every time we get to a new shoot day and the progress is very clear.
It was also clear that we had not scheduled enough time for camera tests in our original plans, so we got to work on doing a test shoot for each segment style. These tests have been vital in showing us possible issues as well as how we can improve each scene. I think, without these, we may be in a much worse place in terms of the visuals in our project. I think we are definitely getting there as a team, but we still need to be able to fully trust each other in our roles for this documentary to fully flourish.
Not Enough Time on The Edit
One of the hardest things we have found so far is the editing, and the lack of time to complete it. I had agreed with George that I would not interfere with his editing as he does not like having people around him when he edits. But this, along with the fact that George was being overloaded with producer role jobs, meant that he had very little time to edit the footage we had captured so far.
It was clear at the start of this unit that we would be spending a lot of time editing, but it was only apparent towards the end of February how soon we should start with the editing. George had expected to start editing towards the start of March, but after some feedback from Simon he started right away otherwise we were likely to get very far behind with this project.
As I had been asked to take a step back from the edit to let George concentrate I wanted to respect that. But this did leave me a little disappointed when I realised how far behind we were by the end of the month. After speaking with Simon, it was clear that I needed a more proactive role within the edit and towards the end of the month, I started spending a lot more time with George, a lot of which was dedicated to the edit. From this moment on we started catching up as decisions were being made on the sport, rather than through hours of messages or voice chat.
I regret not starting the edit sooner as, by the end of February we are very far behind on the edit. Cailan has mentioned that we should be positive as we have already filmed things whereas other groups may not have even started. In my opinion, we should focus on ourselves and realise the magnitude of our project and realise the need to start editing as soon as possible.
It was clear by the end of the month what we can do when we work as a team on the edit, but this needs to be the norm going forward. I would also like to involve Cailan more in the edit as he has had little time with us outside shoot dates which is affecting his role within the edit. As he shot the majority of the footage he knows what worked and what did not, as well as being a great editor himself who could help George in this process.
I started the month worried at how far behind we were and to an extent, I am still a little worried. Saying this, we have started to catch up and I can see us working through this edit methodically over the next few weeks and getting back on track. It is essential we do so as we have the biggest part of our documentary coming towards the end of our shooting schedule, so being ready to dedicate time to those will be a priority towards the end of March.
Improving After Research
This month I spent a lot of time doing research which has allowed me to evolve as a person and hopefully a better contributor on screen. I researched how I better myself and my communication within this project which allowed me to understand the issues we were having in our group dynamic and how I could try and address them. I don't think we are quite there as a group yet, but we are improving and this research helped me think of new and different ways of solving our issues. This research has also allowed our group to have far fewer fallings-out, which could have been expected considering the pressure we are under to complete this project.
Research into filming in a very limited schedule allowed me to work closely with George in understanding the importance of filming when the availability is there. George and I both personally moved our lives around to ensure we could film on the two days that Cailan was not working. This ensured we would have fewer issues in preparation for shoots as well as far fewer issues within the group about how we film on just 2 days per week. This realisation allowed Cailan to understand the issue and fix it as soon as possible.
Research into interviews allowed me to think of unique ways we could film ours. I am personally very happy with how Dan's interview came out, both in terms of the visuals and the answers. Less so in both cases with Jamie, but we attempted a style that Cailan liked and it didn't quite work for our documentary. This is no issue but does mean we will have to edit around the flaws. Thankfully I planned for us to use multiple cameras which will make life a little easier, but I am a little disappointed with how the Jamie interview looked. I do think we could have done better with this one on reflection. Nonetheless, the research allowed me to be very creative with Dan's and I personally think the decision to do a walk and talk allowed this scene to be much more dynamic and I certainly think people will be impressed when they see it. I do wish I had paid a little more attention to light for this scene in hindsight as it was a bit grainy in areas, but it is certainly a great scene overall.
The Dan interview gave me a reason to look into lighting and how we use it in actuality scenarios going forward. I still do not want these scenes to look so artificial that it seems staged. Dan's interview would have less grain with the addition of a small light so that was one of the big learning moments through this research. I have spoken with George and we know this will not be an issue going forward as we will be spending more time on the lighting in all of our scenes and always be carrying two small LED's in an emergency.
As we still have a few interviews to go, I think spending time looking at how I can make my interviews unique will be a massive blessing for this documentary. I am sure that going forward any new interview we conduct will be helped by this research and I have a few plans to ensure that our new ones will be unique. This combined with knowledge on how to adapt when we have crew issues on one of the track days will ensure we are always prepared for any possibility.
Research into being a better contributor and director has allowed me to understand where I need to interact more with the crew as well as areas in which I should step back. The knowledge of how I should approach different shoot dates means I go into new shoots with a completely different mindset and I am really excited to put this research to the test. Spending time looking at how I will be the best director in the edit has given me a list of things to do every time I sit down with George and go through a scene. I now know how I approach this as it was one of the areas where I was a little lost because I did not want to interfere with George and take over his role in any way.
We are in a very good position going forward and my research has been essential in allowing this to be the case.
February Conclusion
I went into this month probably under-estimating how much we would be shooting as well as how long we should have been spending on the edit. I personally feel I have been doing a good job in providing content in good time for the production team to carry out my goals and ideas through the shoot dates. While all shoot dates have gone to plan, some have been better than others. However, we have adapted very well under the circumstances and I am very proud of what we have achieved from these shoot dates.
I know we really need to knuckle down on the edit in March as we cannot let this get any further behind. I know we have it in us to do this and with March being another busy shoot month we need to spend our time wisely. Cailan being more proactive in the edit will also be something that needs to be addressed in March otherwise we have a possible scenario in which George and I are making the key decisions when in reality it should be a group project.
I am very proud of the work done behind the scenes to sort out all of the shoot dates and get access to so many amazing contributors. I am really looking forward to seeing how these now look in a timeline as we should start to be able to craft a story from the material we have. The main aims for March are to get back on track with the edit while keeping up the great work before and during shoot dates. I am very excited to see this project come together in March, as I know we will be a much better position by the end of it.
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