Production - Major Project Evaluation

Overall Process

The creation of "Dream Chaser" has certainly been the hardest challenge of my life. I took on board the responsibilities of scriptwriter and director, as well as doing a lot of the producing work in the early stages of the project and, of course, being in the film my self.  This project was one that was very personal for me and being heavily involved in all stages of the process was a challenge in itself. I started conceptualising this idea in 2017 as I knew what I wanted to do for this project, but at that time I did not have a clue how to make it happen, or if it was even possible.

The process began in early 2018 as I started to think about how I could make this project a reality. I approached the 750 Motor Club to see if they had any contacts within the drivers who raced with them and who may be interested in working with me on this project. This early work led me to Sam McKee and we met up in April 2018 at Brands Hatch to speak about my plans. We came to an agreement that we could race together as long as I put together the finances and proved I was good enough to race with him.

I kept these plans going throughout the summer, meeting up with Sam a few more times to ensure that he appreciated my commitment to the idea. I watched on as Sam and his teammate did a great job which led me to believe that I had a great opportunity to race this car and be alongside an excellent contributor. The reason why I did not follow up any more opportunities was mainly the cost. Sam had put together a very competitive price for what he was offering. But, more importantly, Sam was a great person to be around and I knew it would be a massive positive for the documentary to have him as a character in it.

In the pre-production unit for this project, I progressed my talks with Sam and we knew this would definitely be happening within this unit. There were false promises offered to me elsewhere, but I ultimately always knew that Sam and his team would be the best people to work with thanks to the way they presented themselves. More importantly, it felt natural to be around Sam and I think that hugely benefited the documentary.

In pre-production, my thoughts were mostly about the script and piecing together a cohesive story, one that allows the viewer to get to know me as a contributor and connect to my story and why I am trying to complete this challenge. My research in pre-production allowed me to grasp how important challenge and danger was in a documentary like mine. I made sure to include a number of challenges along the way in my script and I ended up being very happy with it. I am particularly proud because I have found script writing to be the toughest part of this course.

I also managed to arrange a number of fantastic interviews in pre-production as, at this stage, I was not sure who was going to be working with me. I felt it was important to start up a line of communication with the people I wanted to include in my project. A number of these played out and I am very happy to have put the effort in at the pre-production stage. I personally feel we had some fantastic contributors.

Overall, I was very happy with what I managed to complete in pre-production, which put me in a good position when I was joined by George Nicholls and Cailan Cook in January. The initial roles were me as writer/director/contributor, George as the producer and editor and Cailan as director of photography. However, this changed in March with Cailan and George splitting the editing due to George not being able to manage the workload alongside his role as a producer.

In pre-production, we had completed a number of test shoots which allowed us to be in a good position when we started filming in January. Our filming process was initially from the end of January to the middle of April, but after the issues in the first race, it ended being a shoot schedule of over 90 days, until the end of April.

The early stages in January let us all get used to our roles, but there was still a sense of overlapping which did cause a few issues with miscommunication within the team. Due to the scale of the project, we did have a few more of these issues throughout, but it definitely did not affect our end product, just wasted some of our time. In January we looked through my script and thought about how we would film it.

As I was an active contributor, it led to us all having to understand what was needed from me as a director before we went into a shoot date. The team decided that they wanted a shot list as well as a camera plan. This would allow Cailan to create storyboards and George could create items such as a call sheet for his role as a producer.  I also made sure to send the team reference material when possible to reflect the style I wanted each segment to look like. I think this was a very helpful process as it allowed the crew to have a lot of information about what I thought we needed, allowing me to be in front of the camera and focus on being the contributor.

During our first shoot dates, the racing medical, racing license as well as go-karting, I thought the team did well to adapt to the scenarios that presented themselves. The medical was routine and nothing untoward happened but in the license shoot we had a number of issues which meant the footage was not as good as initially planned. Firstly it rained, which did not help the camera lens on a few cameras, especially Cailans' who was constantly moving and did not always remember to wipe the water off. This along with being called for my license much earlier than expected meant that the camera crew were not all in position in time and we did not quite manage to get everything that was planned on my pre-shoot plans.

These issues allowed me to rethink what more I could be doing as a director, although I know that what happened was out of my control. My research into "adapting to the unknown" showed me that more communication between myself and the producer would make issues such as this less likely in the future. George could also have created a more in-depth plan from his side which could have potentially allowed us to have fewer issues.

However, I also look back on this shoot and realise that the crew did the best job in the circumstances. This was our first proper shoot date and, in reality, they captured all the actuality that they needed for this sequence. My research told me "Take real inventory of your surroundings and your resources. Still try to creatively adapt, but make sure your documentary film is practical.... Documentaries are much more than just interviews. The real meat of many documentary films is found in the coverage and B-roll which merely uses the interviews as narration. Your subject will dictate what types of coverage are most important" (PremiumBeat, 2016). I understand that due to our inexperience we could all have done better, but I do not think we could have asked for much more considering how quickly things changed.

After this shoot I started to create more detailed plans and also thought it would be good to speak to the team about some of the technicalities of motorsport, as the more information they have, the easier it would be for them to adapt to changing circumstances. Both Cailan and George have done a fantastic job of involving themselves in the sport and, throughout this unit, they improved their  knowledge which resulted in much better cinematography. I am glad we spoke about this as it allowed the creative decision making of the crew to be vastly improved.

The directors statement that I created in pre-production allowed the crew to understand my creative vision, but my reference material such as "Icarus" allowed the team to really see how I wanted this to be filmed. Icarus was a massive inspiration and I feel a lot of the filming styles adopted by the D.O.P as well as myself in my directors shot list and camera card were thanks to this film. The importance of extreme close-ups and powerful actuality were the big areas that I wanted to replicate in our film.

My research into documentaries such as "Danny Macaskill - Riding The Edge" and "Free Solo" allowed me to grasp how we can make actuality interesting. Clear audio was very important but not as important as a natural conversation, so common sense at the time would decide whether using a clip mic would ruin the moment. Other things such as the importance of B-roll came from this research. We had already planned to capture a lot of GV shots in this documentary, but this research pushed me to ensure that, for particular shots, it was included on my shot list.  The production process was made easier thanks to the amount of B-roll captured which gave us an abundance of shot choices in the edit.

I also spent a lot of time doing production work at times as I got in contact with a number of our contributors and set up all of these interviews. I also set up a Kickstarter fundraiser which allowed us to raise nearly £900. I also feel I did a fantastic job obtaining sponsors for this project, spending a lot of time making contact with people, eventually obtaining over £2000 worth of sponsorsship. This, alongside our personal contributions, made sure this project could happen. It was a lot of effort but it made sure that Cailan and George were not worrying about the financial side and I am proud of how I conducted myself in this process.

I was happy with the variety in our interviews with Jamie, Dan and Abbi as they all had a unique style to them. My research into making interviews unique and interesting allowed me to make the creative decision to split them all up, as a repeated interview would show a lack of creative ingenuity. "The same interview with a hedge-fund manager communicates different information if it’s in his marble and polished wood office vs. the floor of a working factory. An interview against the wrong background is an accidental miscommunication." (tubularinsights.com, 2011). I knew I could not change the style and backdrop too much as it would confuse the viewer, as per the above quote, but I wanted to allow myself the opportunity to mix up the styles used. I was very happy with my work on these interviews and the walk and walk with Dan is certainly one of my favourite sequences because of its professionalism. If we had had good lighting for this scene then I would have said it definitely was my favourite. Thankfully we got both cinematically pleasing shots as well as very interesting interviews, I certainly felt I did a good job as a director in planning these sequences.

Due to working around Cailan's working schedule we were limited in what we could do in the early months, which led us to film on pretty much every day he was not working. It was a challenge to work around his schedule, but I think George and I did a great job in creating a process which ensured we managed to get all of the content needed. Without this restriction, I feel like there would have been less pressure throughout these opening three months, but we worked around it to good effect and managed to film the essential parts of this journey.

February and March were essential shoot months for this project as I went through a number of the key challenges to make this dream a reality. I took part in a number of track days which was really exciting and due to the team's knowledge of the style and tone I wanted, we managed to come out of these days with fantastic material. We also had help from friends within the university as well as a few talented videographers from outside. Due to the scale of these shoots we needed as many hands as possible and I think we managed to get the most out of these days because of the dedication from our film crew.

These months also allowed me to get better as a director and I feel that I was able to distance myself when I was a contributor which allowed for better material as I was not worrying about what the crew was doing. This was thanks to my research which showed me what skills I could improve on as a director, which ended up helping me as a contributor. "A good director must possess strong communication skills. If the director cannot be understood, the production team will not be able to fulfill the production design. The director may have a brilliant idea in mind but if they cannot communicate clearly it is all for naught." (ossiemills, 2011). Improving as a director was always a personal aim in this process, but thanks to working in the moment together with my research, I certainly feel I did improve substantially. Being cool under pressure and having clear communication skills allowed me to evolve as a contributor and a director. I was very happy with my progress.

Our numerous scouts and test shoots in this project allowed us to capture a number of emotive sequences. The Diary Room and the South Downs sequences were certainly helped by comprehensive planning and scouts. They allowed us to have a few thoughtful scenes in our documentary and both of these sequences are my favourite as a director because I was able to set out a clear creative vision. This vision came to life and because of the research and planning, I feel these sequences add a powerful style to this documentary, as it is sometimes hard to make actuality speaking visually interesting.

The sequence with my Dad was one that took some planning to ensure that my Dad was comfortable, but it is powerful to ground the documentary and ensure the viewer knows how much my family were a part of this journey. Even though my Dad was sceptical at first, he did a great job on camera and the sequence was one that many people see as a powerful one within our project. I am happy I took Simon's feedback and ensured this happened as it added a personal touch to the story which ensured the viewer was further connected to the story.

After a long process and a number of great experiences, we got to the final stages of our project with a couple of test days before the final race with Sam. These test days went well and allowed us to introduce another location (Donington Park) into our documentary. This opportunity to show a further location made sure not every event we did took place at Brands Hatch. Both of these days we had trackside access thanks to George which ensured we got some fantastic shots and I am proud of the team for using my reference material and shot lists and camera cards to good effect which meant we had a lot of great footage.

We finally got to race day after over 30 test and shoot dates which was a big moment for us all as a team. We did not have trackside but I used my knowledge of the circuit to ensure we had a number of unique angles from around the track. Looking back at the footage, the crew did a great job to ensure we used angles which were a little different to the ones in other sequences. The pit lane crew kept up their fantastic work in capturing the actuality needed for an overall sequence. Of course, the race did not go to plan but we managed to capture enough footage to put together a sequence.

I had planned to have the second race that we completed be the finale of the documentary but, after some thought and discussion with the team and Simon, we agreed that the PTC recorded at the end of the race day was so powerful, we had to end on that. Even though we had limited footage due to the pit lane camera not being switched on in the key moments after the race, we struggled to make the sequence as emotional as it could have been. Nonetheless, the ending sequence is powerful and I am happy that we made this our closing thoughts.

The editing stages of this project allowed Cailan and George a lot of time to ensure the creative vision was met. Even though we did not always agree on what we should use, we managed to get all of the sequences together before realising how long the documentary was. We were looking at  a 30+ minute documentary even after cutting a number of sequences. However, we proceeded to cut each sequence down and keep the story intact which left us with a 25-minute documentary [Excluding credits]. I feel we were tough on ourselves and managed to cut a lot of the nuances within sequences which allowed us to make each scene a lot tighter. I feel we could have been even harder on ourselves and possibly cut another minute, but any more would have left us missing key information within the journey. I think if we had a little more time we could have made the documentary a tiny bit tighter, but due to the fact we had a large number of shoot dates and started editing late, I feel we did a fantastic job and I am very pleased with the final documentary.

Positives

Dream Chaser has always had a great story and I think we all did a great job in ensuring that the story was broadcast in a powerful way. On the majority of shoot dates the team was very productive and we managed to get a wide range of shots alongside the ones noted on my shot lists and camera plans. This dedication to capturing content allowed us to have a lot of choices in the edit on the majority of sequences. I think this meant the documentary was especially interesting visually as we did not have to repeat the same shot a number of times and the knowledge I passed on to the crew about motorsport allowed them to focus to a greater degree on what could be important within the sport.

Our scouting of the majority of locations allowed me as a director to expand my creative vision and let my plans for the actual shoot dates be even better. I was very happy with my work as a director as I feel this allowed the crew to capture my vision as well as allowing them to adapt when something presented itself. I did struggle at times to disconnect myself as a director on some shoots, but by the end of the process I was able to switch off and allow the crew to do their work which ensured I gave a powerful and natural "performance" in front of the camera. This also allowed me to focus on being a contributor and actually enjoy this process instead of constantly worrying about being a director when I could not do anything in the moment.

I think the visual style is very consistent throughout our documentary and I see the scenes such as the Diary Room and South Downs as being very powerful because they are somewhat different from the rest of the documentary. Saying this, I do not think they stand out in the wrong way because the documentary ended up being able to flow throughout. We took great care in the edit to ensure sequences worked together and connected well. The tone was also very consistent, even though we did need to focus in the edit on this as a lot of the tone is shown through the way scenes are edited. I honestly feel the documentary is very natural and I think the viewer can easily connect to me as a contributor and understand my story and come on a journey with me.

I was happy with my job as a contributor. I certainly was not flawless, especially as I was so involved as a director within this documentary. However, many people have said that I am very good on camera and I will accept this, even though I always see flaws and strive to improve these. "A good presenter therefore understands the process of television production. They should be interested and involved in the subject they are presenting and they should have a good understanding of the audience – who is watching and why – because a good presenter is able to engage with the viewers." (http://wanttoworkintelevision.com, 2011). Therefore, thanks to the feedback I have had, I would say I have done a good job considering I do not really have any experience within this role. I would say a lot of this is thanks to my research which showed me the importance of the presenter engaging the viewer. The feedback has told me this is the case which makes me happy.

The scale of this project was massive considering our resources and I feel we can all be proud of how we dedicated ourselves to it and adapted and overcame any issues that stood in our way. It was not a simple process but because we worked very well as a team, we managed to get the most out of a majority of the shoot dates. That ensured we ended up with a lot of material, actually making it hard to make this documentary one of around 20 minutes in length. Thanks to the honest feedback from Simon we continued to work well in the edit and condense down our film to one of 25 minutes and I think this is once again thanks to us working well as a team, even though we did, of course, have differences along this creative journey.

I was very proud of the fact that I managed to attract a number of sponsors who made a large financial contribution towards our project. I used my YouTube channel and social media to good effect as this income made sure the project was possible. Alongside the creation of the fundraiser which helped us with £900 (mostly from my YouTube subscribers), I was pleased to ensure that money was not an issue because, without it this project would not have happened. I dedicated myself to getting these funds together and, in doing so, it allowed me to learn a lot about the way filmmakers need outside financial sources to make challenging creative visions a possibility.

Overall the coverage captured on the majority of shoot dates was fantastic and I am proud of the team for getting this as it allowed us to have many choices in the edit. Without this, we probably would not have had a consistent tone throughout and the documentary would have been of a lesser quality.

I made sure to conduct a lot of research before taking upon new challenges which really helped me ease myself into each process and I feel this research was a big positive in my work. This research was key in my main creative decisions and, without it, I feel the documentary as a whole would not have the same feel to it. This research ensured our documentary had a consistent and interesting tone throughout. It allowed me to see how I could be improving myself which ultimately led to very productive shoot dates and work I am very proud of.

Negatives

In the early stages of the creative process, there were a few communication issues which led to us all wasting time. These issues surrounded creative decisions and most of the time after speaking in person or on Skype they were resolved. We did struggle in the first weeks to ensure we all knew exactly what we were doing due to the nature of this project and the number of shoot dates we had. Creative differences did not often happen on shoots but, as I was the contributor in the majority of these, I did not offer my input at the time to ensure I remained as natural as possible.

On a few of the shoot dates, we did not get quite the footage we were expecting. On the license day, we had rain on a number of the shots from Cailan's camera which did limit their usability. On the Dan shoot, the team did not have any lights which meant we did have grain on this scene, which was a shame as it was a fantastic sequence. George got into the shot on a few occasions throughout this process, but that was probably inevitable as Cailan was due to follow me and sometimes George would be nearby.

In the early stages, we were limited by Cailan's availability which was a shame as it meant some shoot dates were possibly more rushed than they needed to be. The overall quality was fantastic, but I feel with fewer restrictions on shooting dates we would have been able to ensure we had every single shot possible as, on a few occasions, we had to re-shoot due to not getting it how we wanted the first time.

A lot of the shoot dates actuality was fine and exactly what I would have expected. However, I was disappointed that on the main race day, Cailan stopped filming me after the car issue as there was a lot of important actuality that was missed. I honestly feel that this would have made the ending scene of our documentary even more powerful. It was disappointing as it was on my shot list to capture key actuality, but thankfully we saved it in the edit.

Speaking of the edit, we possibly put pressure on ourselves by starting the edit late. George was always insistent in the early stages on doing everything his way which did end up leaving us behind schedule as we did not start editing until the end of February, even though our first shoots were over a month before that. This left us behind for around a month as George ended up giving half the edit responsibility to Cailan, which ended up working well. Cailan did a fantastic job in adapting to this new role, but I do wish George had allowed this at the start as it would have ensured we did not have to rush the edit after getting behind.

We did have audio issues on a few occasions at the start of the unit, which we quickly learnt from, and proceeded to use a clip mic on all occasions where we thought it would be needed. I do wish we had thought of this right from the start, but I suppose I am happy we learnt quickly allowing the majority of the film to have fantastic audio. We used a clip mic that attached to our phones which was made by RODE and gave us a similar quality to that of the university clip mic. This addition allowed us more creative freedom, ensuring these sequences were true actuality.

Finally, the last negative I see from our production is the colour grade. I had done a lot of research into colour grading and I feel this was left too late to make a visual difference to our documentary. I wanted to colour grade a few weeks beforehand but George was insistent on waiting until we had finished the project before colour grading it. This meant that he did the colour grade in a few days, just before hand-in. I personally feel it was rushed and does not quite give the tone I wanted from this project. However, I did not want to cause an argument with him just before hand-in so I went along with his grade and did my best to adapt it to what I had researched. In the future, I would like to spend more time on this.

Learning Outcomes

The biggest thing that I learned in this project is how to manage a team and ensure everyone does the best job possible. I have understood the importance of communication in allowing this to happen because the moments in this project where we have had poor communication, have clearly been our worst days.

Understanding how we work together and collaborate on issues has allowed me to become a better director and I really enjoyed how we came together to overcome every issue we had along this journey. It was sometimes hard for me to take feedback but becoming more open and accepting this feedback has allowed this documentary to be better because of it.

The creative vision of George and Cailan allowed me to open my mind and think about other ways the project could be improved. I think, because of open discussion within our group, we made sure that each sequence was what we wanted. Without these discussions, we may have struggled to ensure each scene was going to work within the scope of the overall documentary.

Time management has been a key part of making this documentary work. We had so many shoot dates and a condensed edit period, and I feel we have done a fantastic job in allowing the whole documentary to be filmed in a natural way and one which truly shows the scale of achieving your dreams. I think I did a great job with my time management as every shoot date was planned well and we always got the content we needed for our documentary. We left time for pick up days and used those to good effect to ensure everything we needed was present for the edit.

I learned to be hard on myself and ensure that the documentary was as tight as it could possibly be. This allowed the documentary to have a professional style and ensured that it did not drag on. We had to cut a large number of sequences and, working as a team, we made sure we only cut those that had the least impact on the documentary. It was a real challenge to get this down to 20 minutes but we did it and I think that is thanks to being brutally honest about what moves the story along.

What I could Develop

Even though I am very happy with the final outcome of the project there are a few things that I would like to improve upon if I had the time.

The colour grade deserved more time and ideally, we would have tightened the whole documentary and possibly cut another minute to ensure all sequences were as tight as possible. Saying this, due to the restrictions we imposed upon ourselves, I think we did a fantastic job to get this documentary to 25 minutes.

Communication could always be better and everyone could always be more productive but I think, taking into consideration the scale of this project, we did a fantastic job. I do wish that we were able to work on the transitions between some of the scenes, as a few of them could have been improved and a little more natural.

We worked well as a team but ideally we would have ensured that we had enough camera operators and crew on certain days. It was not good to have our producer, George as a camera operator and we could have ensured that this didn't happen. These are things we look back on in hindsight, but typically we managed to get everything we wanted and I do not feel the documentary was hugely affected by not having these extra crew members.

Closing Thoughts

I am really happy with the outcome of this project. It took a long time to get it all together and ensure the film actually happened, but we managed to do it. It has certainly been the biggest challenge I have ever had and I feel like I have adapted well to everything that has been put in front of us.

My work before all of the shoot dates allowed the majority of days to go smoothly and I am very happy with what I created before each of these days. I think it aided the progress of this project and, because we worked well as a team, we typically filmed more footage than needed, giving us choices in the edit which was really important.

I don’t think I could have done much more as a director before each shoot as the crew continually praised the work I had been creating. I had been given some suggestions about what the crew needed and I feel like I always did what was needed of me. My role as director in the edit allowed me to give my opinion on how I envisioned each sequence would work, but I always wanted to allow the editors to show their creativity. I feel we worked around our creative differences and ended up with a project that, we all agree, is what we set out to create.

I wanted to create a documentary for a BBC3 audience, one showing what it is like to dedicate yourself to achieving your dream. As a director I believe we managed to do this as the documentary certainly takes the viewer on a personal journey, while including some interesting interviews and contributors.

As the main contributor I am happy to have challenged myself and have been told that I do well in front of the camera, although I expect we could have had a better documentary if I was not included. Maybe this is me being hard on myself, but I like to be honest in this regard. I think being in the documentary myself did cause problems in terms of being connected to certain scenes and specific moments but, as a team, we managed to talk about these moments and always found a solution which worked for all.

I am happy with my work as a script writer, even though I know in myself it is not my best role. I tried really hard and worked with Simon and the team to make a story which is interesting and has depth, and feel that I managed to achieve this. But, looking back, I would make some small changes to the script and give myself a few more opportunities for powerful moments within the documentary. I like the Diary Room and the South Downs as well as the sequence with my Dad, but I think there was a chance for more. Maybe I am being unrealistic, but I don’t feel like I did a bad job in this role.

The feedback from my peers and tutors allowed me to develop the project and ensure that this documentary was one which had a powerful story. I appreciate the feedback given by all my tutors and industry professionals such as Nathan Caws. It has allowed me to see how we can continue to improve, even when we thought we had got everything right. We all strived for a great project in this unit and thanks to my research we got closer than I expected when I had my initial thoughts nearly two years ago.

By the end of the unit we managed to communicate very well within the team and thanks to that the edit was a great process. Our creative differences did not get in the way of making the documentary even though, at the time, some disagreements did take time to resolve. Typically, I believe we acted as professionals throughout this unit and managed to work as a cohesive unit even when these creative decisions divided us for a while. We adapted well and improved consistently throughout the unit to ensure these decisions did not take up much time.

This documentary was a special one for me as I was so involved, but I think it was ultimately a success thanks to the work of Cailan and George. They allowed themselves to be immersed within this idea and because of that they managed to connect to the sport and the story on a deeper level. Through doing this, I believe that we finish this project as one we can all be proud of. We achieved the goal that we set out many months ago. I do feel that I am hard on myself because I always want to improve, but the team always did a good job of lifting my spirits which ensured that we were always productive.

I got a chance to live out a dream as well as work on an amazing project for my final year of university. I am very proud of the work I have completed and happy to have done so with a great team alongside me. I will never forget this journey and will cherish it for the rest of my life.

References 

PremiumBeat, 2016: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/a-complete-guide-to-documentary-filmmaking/

tubularinsights.com, 2011https://tubularinsights.com/shoot-video-interview-doesnt-suck-10-tips-ignore/

ossiemills, 2011 http://ossiemills.org/2011/01/social-media-outlets-for-non-profits/

http://wanttoworkintelevision.com, 2011 http://wanttoworkintelevision.com/what-makes-a-good-television-presenter/

Production - Edit Week Review 6th May - 12th May

This was our final week editing "Dream Chaser" and thanks to the slightly extended deadline we were able to add some extra finishing touches to ensure it is a project we are all incredibly proud of. The final week was about completing these last touches as well as taking onboard final pieces of advice from our lecturers and peers. One of the key changes that needed to be made was the voiceover at points in our documentary. On the 7th May, Cailan transcribed my previous V/O and we adapted it to suit what we needed. The new V/O is what is shown below. The recording sessions went well and we obtained all of the material needed.

Alex Final V/O Clear-up | May 7th 2019

Introduction V/O

“I’m Alex Baldwin, and I want to know how hard it is to follow your dreams. Since I was young, motorsport has been a huge part of my life. I have immersed myself in the sport… but I’ve never had the chance to race competitively.”

“In 3 months time I’m hoping to race in an endurance club event, in a BMW 3 series.”

“But before I race, there are many things I need to overcome.”

“These challenges will test me to my limit… and question whether the effort, will be worth achieving a life’s ambition.”

Fitness Sequence V/O

“After hearing what Abbi had to say about fitness in motorsport… I decided to go to my local gym and speak to a personal trainer, in order to find out what I need to be focusing on.”

“I spoke to Craig who took me through a number of unique tests which allowed me to understand what areas of the body needed to be trained for my first motor race.”

“He set me a number of aims before this race, firstly to lose 2kg and then to train my upper body strength, focusing on my neck and arms.”

Donington Sequence V/O

“As race day approaches, I’m heading to Donington Park so I can drive the BMW race car for the first time.”

“I’ll also meet up with my teammate Sam, who’ll give me a few pointers and help me settle into the car.”

“Sam’s story is really interesting, he converted his road car into a race car, and still drives it to every event. he started racing 3 years ago and has never missed a race”

“It’s a great way to show everyone that there’s a way into motorsport on a smaller budget.”

Racing License Starting V/O

(15 seconds max)

“My racing license is split into a written test and a practical test in a car, during which an instructor will guide and assess my ability to safely and consistently drive the circuit.”

OR

“Before I step into a race car, I need to obtain a National Racing License. You are required to complete a written test along with a driving examination. If you pass both, you get your National B Racing License”

Kickstarter V/O

(11 seconds max)

OLD:

“I’ve taken on board Jamie’s advice and worked out how much this is actually going to cost. This project is going to cost £4000. That’s including all of the racing, testing, equipment and travel costs.”

NEW:

“I’ve taken on board Jamie’s advice and worked out how much this is actually going to cost. Factoring in our sponsorships and personal contributions, we’re looking at a total budget of £4000.”


EDITING TO BE COMPLETED

After a fantastic feedback session from Simon, we came away with a list of minor changes that we need to complete before we hand in on Monday. As the director, I looked at the list of changes and separated them out into who I thought would be responsible for making these changes. My aim throughout the edit has been to give opinions on improvements while trying my best to allow both George and Cailan space to have their own creative freedom. It has been a hard task to do this as George and I especially don't always have the same perspective on the edit. However, through the challenges, I always feel we have come to a solution which has been a happy medium. As director, I have been trying to make the hard decisions and while that has been tough, I feel like I have done a good job in enabling our mammoth documentary to be condensed to nearly 20 minutes. Simon is happy with the length as it does not seem longer than it needs to at this point, which was the aim once we knew it would negatively affect the story if it were any shorter.

Cailan:

• Music too loud in dad sequence
• Take out or cut gap to “hanging off the harness” test day w/ sam
• Remove goodbye wave in Sams test day
• Revving at the end of Sam test day could be louder?
• Race day car shot lasts 10 seconds! Add another shot either before or after
• “so-so” audio glitch in PTC before race (approach race question)
• 17:12 car as it exits pits, laugh or something?
• Side of garage shot jolts at the end in race sequence - slow down and extend?
• More shots of Alex on track in PTC after qualifying
• Don’t go to black. Go from V/O straight to title sequence
• Alex’s Dad out of sync? just the W/S straight on?
• Graphics need to be easier to read
• Record YouTube cutaways in JC
• Clock between WEID and Sam trackday

George:

• WTC Audio Levels
• Music bed under WTC Stops early?
• Change Abbi off track clip to quick pan shot
• Audio echo?
• Change fitness music
• Remove the V/O from fitness “going to revisit”
• End on drinks bottle being drunk from
• Either cut away or not in Diary Room
• 2nd cutaway in Jamie too quick - extend or remove
• Backing track to Kickstarter ?
• Kickstarter $$ to be lower and text smaller
• jdxj0162 -> replace with a part of the lap that seems faster?
• Sharpen shot that says “I passed” as looks a bit off
• Equipment drone shot is too long
• Sharpening and colour correction in Dan interview is KEY!!!!
• Cut between Q2 and Q3 drags on, less setup for Alex getting in the car? We cutaway from the answer too soon!
• Use a better shot from Rene interview
• DR1 - F1 on tv? Old footage of Alex at Brands “alexzafro2” channel
• ABBI needs to lose 15-20 seconds
• Sound in cutaways in diary room
• JC intro needs at least 2 seconds off drone shot
• YouTube cutaways in JC
• Cut end of Jamie interview
• Kickstarter graphic starting at £0
• Tighten race license intro / drone shot
• List what I've done B4 Dan - License etc (com?)
• Bring out music in Dan slower
• Music that goes through SD, looking back and race day? Could be one track?
• Recap picture before credits?

Thoughts on the final edit weeks:

Along with this feedback, we took onboard final pieces of feedback from Simon on 10th May which allowed us to edit the final parts in the best way possible. These final words of wisdom allowed us to be very happy with the final project, more of which I reflect on in my evaluation. I am immensely proud of myself and my team for completing this project, we had so many filming days and had less time than was ideal to edit this documentary together. But, because of the dedication of us all as a team, we managed to end up with a documentary we are very proud of. 

The key improvements over the past 2 weeks have been ensuring all of the scenes merge together as one. Before this, the scenes all felt distinctly different and did not feel connected. The changes in terms of shot choice, as well as work on audio transitions, has allowed the documentary to feel more fluid. This has allowed the documentary to be a much easier watch as we actually feel like we are going on a journey rather than constantly stopping and starting. 

We have spent a lot of time on audio levels throughout these last few days as that was an issue we have known about for a while, but it was George's decision to leave it late as we did not know what scenes were going to stay until late on. I disagree with leaving this part of the edit so long as it has affected viewing for a while, but I trusted George and we completed this in the end which is what really matters. 

My recent work on colour grading allowed us to have an idea about what we should be doing in the edit in terms of colour. Nathan had shown us some tricks to enable us to have a good looking film, but my research along with his advice ensured our documentary is consistent throughout. This, like the audio levels and transitions, ensured that the documentary feels like a cohesive project with many different segments fitting together.

I am very proud of our final project and more thoughts will be seen in my project evaluation. However, I would like to mention how much fun it has been to take on a new challenge and take myself away from having direct control over the edit. In past projects, I have been able to edit it in a way I think is best. However, on "Dream Chaser" I have taken more of a project leader role in the edit, ensuring everyone is doing their work. The work from both George and Cailan is on a level which I have not reached as an editor. Accepting this fact has allowed the documentary to be better than if I were editing. It took time for me to adjust to this role and trust the decisions of the editors, and while we have disagreed at times, we have finished with a project we are all very proud of. We all pulled our weight at all stages of this project and I am proud of what we have created as a team. 

Production - Production Stills, BTS & Poster

Production Stills

Behind The Scenes

Poster

Production - Final Script of Dream Chaser

Dream Chaser has had a number of late changes to the project and this is the final stage of the script. It has been changed almost weekly to ensure we get the project to a stage where we are all happy with it. The script is primarily the same as when I submitted it in pre-production, but the running order and times have changed to reflect the actuality of our documentary. Being a scriptwriter was typically mostly complete in pre-production, but I have made these changes to ensure the script resembles how the documentary looks at its final cut. Being a scriptwriter was never initially my plan, but after discussions with Simon I am happy to have challenged myself and I am really proud of the grade Simon gave me in pre-production. I hope my work has gone beyond that in the production phase as I have made this documentary a reality. I am proud of the outcome and very thankful for the University for believing in me to make it happen.

Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cf7E27InLPKvbc0EuaFAwzbx7KvnB0hdnbRMo87hvxE

Production - Edit Week Review 29th April - 5th May

This week we had a feedback session with Simon and the rest of the group, in which, we were given some valuable advice. The document at the bottom of this page was a list of the areas we will all target to ensure this documentary is in a good place for next Tuesday so we can have more important feedback from Simon.

FEEDBACK

Introduction:

Include a shot of you doing some training, disappointment at the end of the introduction sequence.

Diary Room 1: 

Archival footage cutaways, photos etc could be really useful to give some context to what Alex is saying.

What’s To Come: 

Audio out of sync?

Abbi Pulling/Fitness Sequence Transition: 

Cut the netball related stuff. Really wanna focus on the stamina related question more so than her own story.

Bring in the bed of music before the cut to the following gym sequence, and change the music!

Fitness Sequence: 

So much better now without the whole actuality piece within the gym itself.

That’s kinda got two endings, putting the weights down feels like an ending and then he’s back on the leg extension machine.

Diary Room 2: 

We really wanna see pictures of Alex and his Dad, old pictures scanned in and ken burns ‘effected’.

Slowly break the end of this sequence into the sequence Alex’s Dad sequence.

Alex’s Dad Sequence: 

Music needs to change.

“Should be good fun, looking forward to it” can be cut.

Stings: 

Vignette added(?), strengthened etc. We NEED to differentiate it from the background shot.

Introduction to Jamie Interview: 

“I’ve been put in contact with a racing driver, etc.” can be cut, all we wanna know is motorsport is expensive and we’re going to talk to someone about it.

Jamie Interview: 

Cutaways during Jamie interview could use the audio from the racing clips, much lower volume but noticeable.

“It’s all about money now” can be cut entirely.

“For your situation…” starts to answer the question again, worth cutting - says the same thing twice.

Kickstarter Explanation: 

VFX potential for describing what the challenges are.

The white text after the close up of Alex at the desk is a bit boring, got a more interesting shot?

Racing License Sequence: 

V/O during silence about license - might be good to explain exactly what it is that you’re doing here. Don’t be too wordy.

A really great example of what it is to make a film, considering how long it was initially, it’s looking really tight now.

Bruno Introduction (assuming it doesn’t get cut completely):

Music obviously needs to change, make sure it ends appropriately rather than just fading out abruptly.

Boring, drags on far too long.

RL sequence is interesting and exciting, then the Bruno sequence is just “boring” I don’t think anyone is going to ask why you’ve got a helmet/suit etc.

Diary Room 3: 

Ideally, we wanna see cutaways here to Bruno and other material “Going around the world” etc.

Equipment In Post:

Looks good, no reason for the lower third at the bottom at the beginning again after previously showing it during RL sequence.

Kickstarter progress bar could go in during the Kickstarter reveal moment.

Dan Robottom Interview: 

Need some music during the V/O introduction.

The earlier sting can be moved up to before the V/O introduction to this interview.

“This sequence could be put into any kinda top gear style magazine etc, works really well.”

Cross dissolve transition doesn’t work to What I’ve Done sequence.

What I’ve Done Montage: 

Simon is not sure about the music.

Donington Track Day:

“So today’s the day” needs to change as this isn’t the race day - set up Sam in this re-recording as well but don’t repeat yourself.

The second part of PTC with Sam about brakes isn’t needed though it is nice context, though this will limit the trackside footage in the sequence of course.

“See you soon” etc can be cut, between the last driving shot and the waving shot.

South Downs Sequence/Race Day Transition: 

There should be something to bleed these sequences together.

Race Day Sequence: 

Could cut flashbacks to previous moments of the doc to the beats of the heart in the car.

Change the second caption to be slightly more accurate.

“Looking forward to it.” can be cut.

“Sorry Alex, we can’t race.” should be just after the end, before the diary room sequence/ending sequence.”

Give us a bit of a breather before we hear Alex talk during the end PTC, so start with footage from previous parts in the doc and then bring it into the interview afterwards.

The chase continues

Really unique piece of work and it's got so much potential.

How we are tackling this advice and what was edited this week:

Production - Project Evolution APRIL 2019

April was mainly an editing month for this project and as we had basically caught up on the editing in March, we were able to focus on every last shoot as it happened. In April we had the fitness shoot along with an interview with Abbi and the final test day and race day with Sam. Of course, the latter did not go as expected and we did not obtain as much footage as I would have liked due to the circumstances. However, after discussing a few possible endings, we decided it would be good to have the option of entering a second race and show me achieving my dream. Either this or a closing Diary Room sequence is how we now expect to end this documentary, with the main focus still being on the race with Sam. I personally think this was the right decision as it allowed us to show both versions to Simon and get feedback on both. They are both the same ending but one gives the context of continuing to chase the dream as our normal ending gives us a slight anti-climax which I think would disappoint the viewer.

Shoot Dates

Barring the obvious disappointment that we did not get the story and footage we had planned at Brands Hatch during the race day, we were all very happy with the shoots that we completed in April. Firstly, all of the day in which we filmed various cutaways, b-roll and the footage for the fitness sequence allowed us to cover a few gaps that we had realised when in the edit. The fitness footage looked particularly good and this was thanks to our test shoot which allowed us to understand what shots were going to be effective in this scene.

The interview with Abbi went as expected and I was happy that my walk and talk mixed with a sit-down interview looked natural. The questions were good but Abbi's answers were a bit less concise than we originally thought. This only meant that we needed to spend some more time editing her sequence to ensure that the answers were coherent and to the point. After editing this sequence and putting it together it flows well and I enjoy that it is now very to the point. This sequence is now as tight as it can be without losing its context.

As for the pre-race test session at Brands Hatch. We won't be able to show any of this due to the project being a 20 minute piece. We obtained a great number of unique shots thanks to the trackside access, but we will not be able to use these in the university cut of the film. Sadly we were not given trackside access for the race so we had to work from spectator areas which limited our creativity on the day.

I spent a lot of time preparing for the race which meant I got together a lot of plans which allowed the crew to work around the restricted access issue. I was not worried about what the crew would do due to these limitations as they have always used my plans to good effect and the footage we have got has been what I would expect. However, due to the circumstances and me not getting into the car, we did not get all of the footage needed from the main camera. While this is a disappointment we have been able to work around the shots we do have to make a coherent sequence. The shoot itself could have gone better in a couple of ways, but the crew remained professional at all times and I appreciate them helping me throughout this journey, as without them, this documentary would not exist.

Typically all of the sequences filmed in April were of high quality and I was impressed with the variety and dynamism of shots that the crew got on these days. It has made sure that the sequences have a lot of options in the edit and this is allowing each sequence to be of high quality. The attention to detail from my plans all the way to the camera operations on the day has ensured that every single scene in our documentary has a mass of great b-roll, this is one of the things that has pleased me the most throughout this unit.

Editing & Trimming Sequences

Our biggest task throughout the month was getting the edit to a stage where it was ready for the race day so we could focus on that once it had happened. The early part of the month was very productive and we got the edit on target and to a place where we could start cutting it down and get towards our target time limit.

We started the month with a 28-minute documentary and that did not include the race day as well as anything that happened after it. This was, of course, a huge problem as we had a maximum time limit of 22 minutes so we had to spend some time as a group getting down towards this. At Cailan's we went through the timeline sequence by sequence and started to remove small moments as well as trimming others, which left us with a documentary of 22 minutes with just the race day to be included.

I was really happy to see that we could trim this much as when I realised how long the documentary was, I thought we would have to cut some main sequences to ensure we hit the time limit. However, working together we managed to make all of the current sequences as tight as we think they can currently be. Saying this, we look forward to speaking to Simon and understanding what he thinks can be removed to ensure we keep our story while probably removing a sequence.

As a team, we are working really well in the edit. Cailan and George are managing to work through the pre-decided sequences and I feel I am able to give input without them thinking I'm criticising the work. This was a problem early on and we now realise that each other's opinions allow these sequences to be the best versions, rather than what an individual thinks. The dynamic we have had through this month has allowed the edit to be the most productive yet and I see us in a good position going into the final few weeks where we will be focusing on the final details as well as working on the colour grade, as that will be what helps us set out the tone.

It has been hard to cut a lot of sequences that I would love to include in this documentary, but that is part of the challenge of this unit. I think we have taken on a complex task with this project, especially since there have been so many variables throughout. The fact that we have managed to keep up to date with the edit and create an intriguing story and then ensure we have multiple choices in the ending. I see this as a massive credit to how much we all want this project to be a success and the lengths we have gone to throughout to show the full picture of achieving a dream.

Overview Of April

I have been very stressed throughout this whole month with understanding what is required of me as a contributor as well as what the crew needs from me as a director as well as how I best conduct myself in the edit. This along with the pressure of possibly letting myself down in the race played on my mind throughout this month and I struggled mentally to be in the right place come race day. The team allowed me to relax as much as possible by the time we got to the race day which is something I really appreciated.

It's great to see the evolution that we have all gone through in this process as we are now at a stage where we are getting pretty much exactly what we want the first time, meaning we get the great actuality and I can be at my best as a contributor. As the unit has progressed I have become ever more confident in the abilities of George and Cailan in roles they did not expect to be in at the start of the unit [Producer and D.O.P respectively]. This means that, as we go into the final stages of this unit, I see us extracting the most from this documentary in our restricted time limit.

April has been the toughest month for me but because of the teamwork we have had, it has enabled it to be the best in terms of video content quality as well as productivity in the edit. The fact we have trimmed down the documentary to be just outside the time limit considering where we were at the start of the month fills me with confidence that we will be sorted by the time we hand it in. This was probably my biggest worry at the start of the month so I am excited to see this project finally coming together.

May's Mission

We only have a little under two weeks in May to put the final touches to our project. The aims for the last few days are clear. We need to get the sequences completed and then work on the grading. We have certainly challenged ourselves with the amount of filming we have had, along with how late our final shoot dates have been. While it has been a challenge, I have enjoyed it and I feel that with the pressure on, we will be able to complete this documentary and certainly make it one we are all proud of.

There will definitely be no filming in May, and with only a few days left we would not allow that to be the case. We have only needed to record a few pick-up shots anyway as we have been so good in capturing b-roll, we know, going into these last few days, that we have all the footage needed to allow for a fantastic and emotional final sequence.

Overall, the final days of this project will be completely focused on the edit. We have a lot to do to ensure that we get to the time limit and keep the story we have wanted to show throughout. I am so proud to see the idea I started conceptualising over a year and a half ago come to fruition. I spent so much time in pre-production ensuring that this documentary was going to be good. We have certainly had challenges, especially ones in the last few weeks. But we have been able to overcome these and bring together a truly emotional journey and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's reaction to it.

I have been able to chase my dream in my final year of university and I could not be more thankful for that opportunity. The planning throughout has ensured this documentary hits all the key areas and the crew have consistently performed throughout. I could not have had a better last years project to work on and I am really proud of what we have created. We now have less than two weeks to finish the job and ensure our message is clear.