Production - Questions For Interviews

Before the interviews commence in the coming weeks, it was important for me to educate myself on the interviewees and ask questions relevant to them and their story. This led me to research, in-depth, all of our contributors and find out the best way to ask them questions. As our interviews will mostly play out like actuality sequences rather than interviews, I am making sure that these questions are natural and don't seem forced. When being the contributor myself, I need to make these scenes feel like a conversation, therefore knowing about my interviewees in depth before speaking to them was vital.

We had a few major topics that would be covered in these interviews. Advice for preparing to race, the cost of motorsport (finding sponsors), overcoming adversity and not letting anything get in the way of following a dream, fitness and mental strength and finally, the equipment I will need. Most of these interviews will be condensed down to 60-90 seconds meaning that I need to ensure I ask the right questions. Making sure the answers are also short means these sequences will not take up too much of this documentary.

I am aware that I need to relax going into these interviews, as previous interviews I have done could be seen as somewhat forced. Whether this is because there was a language barrier or that I had not done enough preparation, I am unsure. But I know that this time I am a lot more prepared than the interviews I did over the summer. Wrapping my head around the fact that these sequences are supposed to come off like a conversation also allows me to relax, as there is not so much pressure to get a "professional" style. The interviews for this documentary are supposed to aid my journey and not feel like a structured sit-down interview that I have done in the past.

We have arranged a test shoot before our interviews so we can understand the creative vision as a group. As we have multiple interviews I want to ensure that they do not all look exactly the same. Therefore, I have planned a slightly different camera set up for each interview. They will still follow similar guidelines, but I want to enable the camera crew to film a variety of scenes, rather than the same one six times. This test beforehand will enable us to understand the best way to approach this.

As the interviewer, in a sense, I am somewhat worried about these interviews. I am still a shy person by nature, so getting the best out of me in these scenes will be down to the rest of the group re-assuring me in what I am doing. We have purposely also picked contributors who will enable me to relax into my role and allow these interviews to be special and also natural. Below is our current interview schedule after an unfortunate issue which meant Katie had to pull out of the original shoot date. George is in contact to arrange a new day that works for us both! The questions below, are a rough guideline of what I am going to ask. I have also adapted the script to show the key answers I want from these interviews, to allow the documentary to have a clear journey and the correct narrative structure.

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE:
● 12th February: Daniel Rowbottom speaking about the basics of motorsport (How to prepare, Testing, what to do on track etc)
● 14th February: Jamie Caroline speaking about the costs of motorsport
● 21st February: Team BRIT (Disabled Motor Racing Team) speaking about overcoming adversity and struggles to fulfil a dream and be a racing driver
● TBC: Katie Milner speaking about why strength and fitness is important in motorsport
● 6th/7th April: Michael Crees speaking about the equipment needed to go racing

Daniel Rowbottom:
1. So I’m going into my first ever race weekend soon, I just need a bit of advice about how I should approach it!
2. As you go into a race weekend on a track you have not raced at before, how do you normally prepare for it?
3. Do you find simulator testing or gaming helpful when learning the track?
4. How important is doing some testing before the race?
5. When testing, what should I be looking out for?
6. How much time do you spend on setup work in your test sessions?
7. So When you’re in the car before the race, how do you make sure you are in the right mindset?
8. Great Thank you, Dan, best of luck for the year ahead!

Jamie Caroline:
1. So Jamie, how did you first get into motorsport?
2. Did you find the financial aspect of motorsport was actually harder than the driving?
3. Even when racing karts, how did you and your family manage budgets?
4. As you get further up the motorsport ladder and into cars, it starts to get really
expensive, how did you approach finding sponsors to keep you racing?
5. Do you have any advice for me when trying to secure sponsors?
6. Is it hard to constantly deal with the financial side of motorsport, while trying to focus on winning races and going for championships?
7. In 2019, do you think it’s still possible for a driver with a lot of talent to make it to the top or do you always need significant financial backing?
8. Awesome Jamie, well good luck for 2019, I'm sure you’ll win whatever you end up racing!

Bobby Trundley (Team BRIT):
1. So Bobby, growing up, how did you first find your love for motorsport?
2. As a child, did you think that autism might affect you achieving your dreams of being a racing driver?
3. How hard was it to overcome the issues you faced to actually race a kart?
4. How much of a role have your parents had in getting you racing?
 5. When getting in a kart for the first time, did it affect you, or did racing come quite naturally?
6. You’ve gone on to win some large UK kart championships, do you think this proves to anyone that you should never give up on your dreams?
7. What advice would you have for any other children growing up with autism, who want to be racing drivers?
8. Does the emergence of teams like Team Brit mean motorsport is now much more accessible to people with disabilities?
9. What is the ultimate dream going forward?
10. Thanks, Bobby, good luck in 2019!

Jon-Allan Butterworth (Team BRIT):
1. Jon, where does your love of motorsport begin?
2. So instead of taking up a motorsport career, you joined the RAF, was it hard not being able to follow this dream initially?
3. So In 2007, while in Afghanistan, you were involved in a rocket attack, what were your thoughts as it was happening?
4. So How and when did you realise you had severe injuries?
5. What was your first reaction when you realised the decision was made to amputate your left arm?
6. Something that astonishes me is that pretty quickly you adapted and joined the
Para-cycling programme in 2009, is it in your nature to push yourself and make the best out of any situation?
7. You went on to win a number of medals in Para-Cycling, how did you motivate yourself and go about finding new challenges?
8. So Recently you have turned your attention to motorsport, when did you realise this could be a possibility?
9. So When getting behind the wheel for the first time, what were the biggest
challenges?
10. Do you feel you’re at any disadvantage now when racing?
11. Bringing this back to where this all started. When you first realised you had your left arm amputated, did you think you could go on and achieve the amazing things you have?
12. Do you have any advice for anyone with a disability who wants to get involved in motorsport?
13. Well great, thank you Jon. Good luck in 2019!

Katie Milner:
1. So Katie, before I race a car for the first time, how much should I be focusing on fitness?
2. Do you have a regime you follow weekly to ensure you’re in the right condition for each race?
3. What do you find the biggest challenge is when training and trying to staying in shape?
4. In motorsport, what do you find are the areas which need the most work for a rookie driver such as myself?
5. In a similar way, mental strength seems to be really important in motorsport, can you train for that?
6. When you’re in a wheel to wheel battle, how do you stay calm, making sure to do the right thing?
7. Before I race, do you suggest I find a personal trainer and find a routine that works for me?
8. I better get to work then!

Michael Crees:
1. So Michael, how would you advise people to take their first step into motorsport, should they take a track experience, like the ones you offer here at Team Hard?
2. Before I go into my first motor race, what sort of equipment am I going to need?
3. Are there different regulations I should look out for?
4. How important is trying items on before you buy?
5. So Before I race, I’m going to need to do a racing license test, what should I expect from that?
6. Do you have any tips to stay cool when in a pressured environment like that?
7. When I hopefully pass that test, should I get as much practice in as possible before my first race?
8. What is your one bit of advise before I take part in my first motor race?
9. Great Thanks Michael, best of luck in 2019!

Production - Creating an Interesting Interview [RESEARCH]

Our project is about my journey into achieving a life's dream of becoming a race car driver. The majority of the journey will be following me as I go about the various challenges needed to be a racing driver. However, to ground this documentary and introduce a factual element, there will be a number of interviews with professional racing drivers.

The problem with having a number of interviews is that we do not want to build up pace and tension towards the race and then be back, sitting down doing another interview. I wanted to ensure that this documentary had a very similar tone throughout, and while part of that comes from me as a contributor, some of it is also from the planning of scenes like this interview.

Therefore this blog post will be dedicated to looking into how I can make interviews in our documentary interesting as we need to find the balance between factual storytelling and showing my story and what I have learned. This blog will look at the various ways in which we could film our interviews so that they fit the style shown throughout the documentary.

While doing my research, it was apparent that the best interviews, both in terms of visuals and story, are those that take place as a natural conversation. Heavily staged, sit down interviews don't typically work in the style of documentary that we are making. A reference I have from pre-production is the documentary Icarus. This documentary has a lot of interviews with fellow contributors, but they are filmed in a way which makes them feel a part of the story rather than segments within the documentary exploring facts and information.

It was my goal to ensure the interviews in our documentary felt like the rest of the documentary. I did not want to jump back and forth with the tone as I feel that would damage the documentary as a whole. I started my research by looking at documentaries similar to the one I am creating, to see how they visually film their interviews, as well as how they appear in the overall picture. I looked at a few notable sports documentaries to understand how they conducted interviews to help me decide what approaches I wanted to take.

Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story

One of the most powerful sports documentaries of the past 10 years was Alex Holme's "Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story".
The use of interviews in this documentary is one to show perspective on the story. The whole documentary is basically told through these interviews and their framing and shot choice is interesting.

While this documentary is different altogether to ours, the style of this interview can be taken inspiration from. Both the top and middle interviews are conducted in a very controlled environment and we do not see the interviewer. This style seems to work for more serious topics as it allows us to focus on the person being interviewed, rather than the interviewee or the background. While our documentary is about my story, there could be an option to use an interview like this as it would allow the viewer to take in some of the hard truths about motorsport without exterior interference.

I understand that for "Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story" they needed these hard-hitting interviews throughout the documentary to ensure the message had maximum impact on the viewer. But I am not sure that in "Dream Chaser" we could do this because these interviews would be a very strange cut from the actuality that will be placed either side of it. I think that there is a possibility for an interview like this to be included, but we need to transition to it in a way that is not jarring. Saying this, I think we should avoid interviews like these as our story is about my journey into motorsport, and conducting an interview like this would take the emphasis off me while also bringing a different tone to the project altogether. We are not trying to expose anything in motorsport, therefore an interview style like this would probably look very different to the rest of our documentary.

I am certainly not ruling out that we conduct an interview in this style, but I would struggle to visualise how it fits in with the rest of our documentary as we would take the emphasis off my story and focus on someone else. I will share this feedback with the group and value their perspective. We expect to have three or four interviews in the documentary and it would be good to mix up the styles to ensure that they are not all the same.

However, an excerpt from a TV interview later on in the documentary highlights a style that we could use in our documentary. A sit down interview in which both the person with knowledge (in our case a professional race driver) and myself could have a conversation about one of the key subjects that I have highlighted in the script. I like this style as it will allow a camera to be close up on the person of interest as well as allowing a wide shot of the two of us together. 

I don't see us using this style in such a controlled environment as it detracts from our surroundings, so I expect to use this on location in an area that seems suitable. For example; if we are at a race track we could film at the back of the pitlane with the cars in the shot or at a bench or seating arrangement at a venue with obvious iconography in the back of the shot. As long as we set the scene beforehand with GV's of the track and possibly some shots of the person we are interviewing out on the track, then I think this would be a powerful interview style.  

This style allows me to still be on the screen and with the planned multiple camera setups, we will also have a medium close up on myself to show the reactions to what is being spoken about. Three cameras here would allow a close up on both myself and the other contributor as well as a wide shot which would allow for seamless changes between the two close-ups as well as a nice establishing angle. This is certainly a style I want going forward as it uses some of the powerful features of the first controlled style (above) as well as allowing myself to still be on the screen which helps show I am directly learning from the advice that I am being given. This style also lends itself to be more visually interesting as we can find suitable areas to have a relevant backdrop. 

Long Shot

The 2017 documentary by Jacob LaMendola is a brutal mix of how sports saved a man from being wrongly accused of murder. This documentary is shorter than most and my thinking is that they may focus on smaller interviews because of this. I wanted to understand how you get information out of people in a short time, as this is going to be one of our biggest hurdles in the production of "Dream Chaser".

 The problem is that in this documentary they focus on extreme close-ups in a controlled environment which is not the style I was thinking of when planning my interviews. This material is a good reference for our "Diary Room" sequence however, as it shows us the importance of lighting, even if the backdrop could be more visually interesting. I expect they made the backdrop this way because they want us to focus on the main character and his story and it certainly works as these "interviews" give a powerful first-hand view of the events in the documentary.

While these scenes are powerful they are definitely not the style of interview that I think will work in our documentary. It is important to understand this as sometimes it is hard to visualise how you want something to work until you see it first hand. It is not an interview style that we will pursue, but what interests me is the various shot sizes used, some of which we could use for the Diary Room. I thought we could possibly just use one camera for those sequences, but after seeing this, the power of a close-up and extreme close up is undeniable. Therefore, when planning and testing the Diary Room I am going to experiment with shot sizes and see how powerful an extreme close up could be for us. This is certainly something I had not considered, but I am sure we will now have multiple cameras for these scenes.

This research has certainly shown me an interview style that I do not want to use and that is as important as finding one I do like. I know that this style could be used in some ways for our Diary Room sequences which means this research is certainly not lost. I feel that if we interviewed an external contributor in this way, it would be in contrast with the rest of the documentary and jarring cutting in an out of it. This research has certainly shown me that less formal interviews are the style that I am after for this documentary, otherwise, the style and tone will be all over the place, which would certainly damage its credibility.

Free Solo

Undoubtedly one of the most powerful documentaries of recent years, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's FREE SOLO highlights one of the most extraordinary feats known to man. Their use of "interviews" where they quiz the people of importance throughout are very powerful and I have taken inspiration from these in my plans. I doubt we will be able to create such a level of authenticity when getting answers from contributors, but it allows me to understand that there are different ways we can get the answers we want, other than the typical sit-down interview in a dark room.

Throughout the documentary, we are introduced to characters, including the main one, Alex, who speaks about this experience in a very honest and reflective way. These are powerful because they are not meticulously planned in a sit-down environment, rather on the move as the event is happening. While it will be impossible to interview drivers and fellow contributors in this way, we can take inspiration from the fact that these scenes are powerful because of the people in them rather than the setting.

Therefore, an idea which has sparked from this documentary is doing a "walk and talk" with a driver, possibly around a workshop or car holding facility which will allow us to capture answers in a scene which looks like we are simply having a discussion as we go through this area. This would take away some of the sense that this interview has been planned and set up because of the movement of the camera as well as us as contributors.

There seems to be so much power in having a discussion in an area which is natural, rather than one which is forced upon the contributors in this form interview. We get to see them in their habitat and because of that, they are allowed to open up and explain their honest thoughts. The problem with interviews which are staged to the nth degree is that the contributor may feel the need to rehearse answers and be perfect. I would much rather have a documentary with honest and rambly answers, rather than a PR interview with the exact answer we wanted. The sense of actuality allows the answers to have more weight as we get the sense that these answers are coming from the heart rather than a script.

I want to take this on going forward and ensure that we complete at least two of our interviews in this style as I see it as very powerful in a documentary which has such a personal story like ours. I also don't want all of our documentary interviews to look the same, so in a future blog post, I will be discussing the importance of our interviews looking unique as well as what answers we will be capturing from each one.

Overview

It is clear to me that to make a documentary like ours work, the interviews need to be seamless and feel a part of the story. As was seen in the first couple of reference examples, highly staged interviews take away some of the personality of the contributor and we don't get a broader perspective. They worked for the documentary they were in, but trying to visualise these in our documentary is nearly impossible.

The walk and talk is a style that I will definitely be using at some point in our documentary, but I want to ensure each interview is unique in its filming style. This may lead us to have more formal interviews to ensure they all look different, but it is imperative that we transition those particular scenes in and out in the correct manner. If we don't, then it will be jarring for the viewer and take away from the tone and style we have placed throughout. I am not a fan of the sit down formal style so I will adapt it in a way that means it feels more like the rest of the journey. This could be done through the use of cutaways and different shot sizes. The background for a sit-down interview would also be important, to ensure it gives the correct tone and is consistent throughout our documentary.

Overall, to make an interesting interview it's clear to me that actuality chats are a better way to get across the message in a documentary of our style. These will allow the documentary to feel the same all the way through and doing so will allow the story to be clear and honest throughout. There are different styles of interviews that I want to conduct in this documentary and ensuring they are all subtly different is also key for me as a director. Giving everyone a unique style will ensure the viewer knows these interviews are all different. 

I am excited to get to work on the interviews and we have a number of fantastic contributors planned for this documentary. They will allow me to learn a lot before my first motor race and including such professionals in our documentary will allow viewers to understand the lengths we have gone to in creating this piece. Including professional drivers also grounds the documentary with key information only people with real-world experience can speak about. These thoughts would mean a lot less if I were to read them online or speak to a new driver like myself, as the full perspective is not shown. I am very confident in creating three or four very visually pleasing interviews which highlight key areas of motorsport that the general public may know little about. 

Production - Diary Room Test Shoot

Due to the issues faced in our previous shoot's, we decided from this point onward, we would do a test shoot for every scene, if possible. Some sequences such as actuality interviews would be hard to test, but we had realised that you can mock up something similar which will highlight what we want to achieve from the shoot. Today's test shoot is for one of our most important sequences. The diary room is a sequence that will appear multiple times throughout our documentary. These will delve into my past and highlight why I am a motorsport fan, understanding why this is a passion that I still have to this day. Initially, we had thought about doing this sequence in a plain room, but as we wanted every sequence to be visually interesting, I thought we should look elsewhere. I had recently visited an old friend and he happened to have a large car workshop with 4-5 race cars. When I saw it, I thought it could work really well for our documentary. I took some pictures and showed the team and we agreed that this location would be much better than a plain room. George got in contact with Steven who owns the garage, and we arranged to do this test shoot. As shown on the map below, it is relatively close to the Studios. The crew today was, myself, George, Cailan and Connor Winfield who was on another camera. A camera plan and all the details I had noted can be seen in my previous post, as well as my intended shot list. The idea of a test shoot is to understand if my plans work, so I am looking forward to learning an understanding of what could be improved. 

The first part of our day was the interview test itself. We all arrived on time and proceeded to understand the best place to film this sequence. We thought the lower floor, in the top left corner, was ideal as it would give us space for the track and dolly. At first, we did not use a light, but George did bring a small LED which we ended up using. For the actual shoot, we will have the universities large LED's.


Cailan was on the Uni Panasonic, Connor was on my Panasonic while the Sony was on a tripod. Full details can be seen in a previous blog post. These three cameras captured close-ups and medium shots. The Uni Panasonic was on the dolly wheels which meant Cailan had a steep learning curve, as he had never used it before. George was able to fully concentrate on his role as producer and asked me the various questions we had planned. It was important to note that we realised that these questions should be slightly adapted, as they were not giving me the opportunity to give good answers. This was noted so it can be changed before we shoot this sequence for real in March.

The shoot itself went well, I was able to immerse myself within my role as a contributor and answer George's questions. The white balance looked good on all of the cameras, but it is clear that Connor's camera (large "close up" above) should be placed on the other side to ensure I am not looking in a different direction to the rest. The Sony (right) is out of focus which I am surprised about it as the crew all know how to focus the camera. When this issue is resolved our three shot types will all be unique and be great to cut around in the edit.

My main issue with this test shoot was an oversight from the whole team. In my notes and reference material, the main lights were turned off to create a more cinematic scene, in which key lights would focus on the subject matter (me). We were running behind schedule due to the camera crew taking much more time to set up, which meant we had less time on these "PTC" sequences than I would have liked. This lack of time also meant we caused this issue with the lighting as we were focused on getting the camera tests done. This mistake means that we will have to adapt quickly when shooting this sequence for real. Ideally we would have tested these scenes in the conditions we would actually be filming the scene in, but an oversight from all of us is something we have learnt from, meaning George needs to follow my shotlist and reference material and it is his job to ensure things like this lighting issue are not something I should be thinking about. I need to be focused on being a contributor, not worrying about lighting, cameras in focus etc.

While we did make a mistake with the main lights, George did a good job to test lighting on my face, seeing if it looked better with/without a key light on it. The key light on my face made a dramatic improvement, meaning that there was a lot less grain in the shot along with my face being more distinct from the cars in the background. My idea to resolve the lighting issue is to get to the venue 1 hour before we had intended and test the lighting for this shoot. This way we can ensure the lighting (with the main lights off) is what I expect as a director before I get in front of the camera myself and record my chat with George. It was a slight oversight, but we realised our mistake and have changed our future plan for the actual shoot day. We are coming up against a lot of new challenges in this project, meaning we are learning a lot. As long as we are picking up on the issues and improving our documentary because of it, that is what is most important. It is a continual learning process.

When reviewing the footage it was apparent that one camera was out of focus which can be easily fixed. The other issue was that the track and dolly operated by Cailan could have been smoother. It was his first time using it so improvements will be made with further experience, but this issue prompted George to suggest to Cailan that he come into University to practice the track and dolly. This will be done before we shoot the Diary Room for real and will enable us all to be confident that we know our roles going into the actual shoot date.

When answering the questions, I felt like George could ask the questions in a more natural way. He typically asked them in a very professional way. This did mean that they were easy to understand, but it didn't give the tone needed for this sequence. The point of the Diary Room is for it to come across like a conversation. This led to me feeling awkward when answering the questions and not giving natural answers. Knowing this, I am working with George to slightly adapt the questions so that they are more natural for George to ask and for me to answer. This was a great bit of information we learnt from the test shoot as, without one, we would have struggled with our current questions. Typically, this test shoot has allowed us to learn so much about how we will face this scene. Going forward, with a few small changes, we will be making a stylistically pleasing scene with meaningful commentary from myself. I am really looking forward to this scene, I think this is where the power of our story will be shown.

While at the workshop I got a seat fitting for a race car that I have been given the opportunity to test for a few laps towards the end of February. This was not planned to be in our documentary, but this opportunity is too good to miss. As we have a lot of footage to include in our documentary already, the test in this race car (A Formula Ford) will be included in a montage style sequence in the build-up to the race/test sequence. We are still slightly undecided as to where this scene will be in the arc of our documentary, but this montage will help show the training and experiences I went through, without dedicating a long sequence to all of them. I am very excited to drive the car and we have been given some great access, meaning we will be able to shoot some very visually pleasing moments of me driving the car. We also got footage of my seat fit so that if needed, we can use that in our documentary. After learning that a lot of other projects had issues in the edit because of coverage, we are determined to get as much as possible. This has already proved important in the sequences filmed so far, so we are going to keep up our productivity going forward. It was a very productive day and we have learned a lot about how we film our Diary Room sequence, as well as a good experience for me personally because I got to prepare for my test in the Formula Ford!

Production - Shotlists and Questions for Contributor Interviews/Sequences

INTERVIEW SHOTLISTS


Dan Rowbottom - The Basics of Motorsport - Location: Cicely Motorsport 
MAIN CAMERA - SONY AX53
SECONDARY CAMERA - PANASONIC G7
BOTH USING CLIP MIC

Alex and Dan start by greeting each other then, after a few sentences, proceed to walk through the garage towards Dan’s race car. When at the race car, the two are stationary once again. Alex/ Dan may get into the car to create a more cinematic scene. General Rule: Main Camera captures a TWO shot, Secondary camera captures a C/U of whoever is speaking. “WALK 'N TALK*”

• Various driving shots on the journey M/S,C/U of Alex, road signs etc
• W/S establishing shot of the team building
• M/S Alex walking into team building (punched in version of W/S) (Voiceover until this point)
• M/S MAIN Camera follows Alex through to meet Dan (Speaking, Not voiceover)
• The MAIN camera holds a M/S as two speak.
• The SECONDARY Camera gets a C/U on whoever is speaking (pan between the 2)
• The MAIN camera follows in a M/S as Alex & Dan walk around the factory
• The SECONDARY Camera focuses on getting a C/U of whoever is speaking (If possible when moving)
• When the two stop at the race car, MAIN Camera captures a M/S of Alex and Dan.
• When the two stop at the race car, SECONDARY Camera captures a C/U of Alex OR Dan.
• After the conversation ends, Main Camera focuses on getting C/U “Beauty” shots of the car. All around the car, ensuring to get some of the “CATACLEAN logos”
• While the Main camera does this, the SECONDARY camera gets various W/S from around the factory. People working, other cars etc.
• W/S from up high (Conference room?) Showing the whole site.

Jamie Caroline - The Cost of Motorsport - Location: Jamie’s house

MAIN CAMERA - SONY AX53
SECONDARY CAMERA - PANASONIC G7/UNI
BOTH USING CLIP MIC

• Drone shot of town (EST Shot)
• M/S Alex meeting Jamie at door entrance W/S (Covered by voiceover)
• Multiple Static W/S walking to Jamie’s room (Covered by voiceover) 
• MAIN Camera Two shot of Alex and Jamie in his room sitting down
• Secondary Camera focusing on Jamie ONLY
• MAIN Camera (After interview) To capture B-Roll from around room (C/U of trophies, awards, helmets, suits etc)

Bobby Trundley + Jon Allen (Team Brit) - Overcoming Adversity - Location: Silverstone 

MAIN CAMERA - SONY AX53
SECONDARY CAMERA - PANASONIC UNI
THIRD CAMERA - PANASONIC G7
BOTH USING CLIP MIC

• Drone shot of circuit (If possible)
• MAIN CAMERA Various C/U coming into Silverstone (Iconography)
• MAIN CAMERA C/U Alex in car
• MAIN CAMERA From in front: M/S Alex walking to “Sign in”
• SECONDARY CAMERA C/U, M/S Iconography of Silverstone (ON TRIPOD)
• MAIN CAMERA M/S Alex greeting Bobby & Two speaking (Covered by voiceover)
• SECONDARY CAMERA (on tripod)  ULTRA W/S Two sitting down on chairs (in pitlane / near garages?)
• SECONDARY CAMERA (on tripod)  (punch in from UW/S) W/S of Interview
• MAIN CAMERA (Handheld) C/U of Bobby in interview
• THIRD CAMERA (Handheld) C/U of Alex in interview AND C/U of items being shown (ie. Helmet, special controls etc)
• After Interview MAIN CAMERA to capture M/S of cars on the track, down the pitlane
• SECONDARY CAMERA to capture C/U various people speaking/laughing etc
• MAIN CAMERA to capture GV’s Drivers getting in the car, firing up etc. 
• MICROPHONE to capture RAW Audio of cars going around the track (ATMOS)
• MAIN CAMERA or DRONE capture sunset
• MAIN CAMERA Alex in the car after the interview, reflecting on what he was told (Hold for the contemplation)

Katie Milner - The Importance of Fitness / Mental strength - Location: Donington Park Circuit

MAIN CAMERA - SONY AX53
SECONDARY CAMERA - PANASONIC UNI
THIRD CAMERA - PANASONIC G7
BOTH USING CLIP MIC

• Drone shot of circuit (If possible)
• MAIN CAMERA Various C/U coming into Donington PK (Iconography)
• MAIN CAMERA C/U Alex in car
• MAIN CAMERA M/S (from behind) Alex walking
• SECONDARY CAMERA (on tripod) UW/S Alex greeting Katie 
• MAIN CAMERA M/S Alex & Katie speaking as they walk to the bench (near track)
• SECONDARY CAMERA (on tripod)  ULTRA W/S Two sitting down on the bench
• SECONDARY CAMERA (on tripod)  (punch in from UW/S) W/S of Interview
• MAIN CAMERA (Handheld) C/U of Katie in interview
• THIRD CAMERA (Handheld) C/U on hand movements when Katie speaking, C/U of Alex when he is speaking
• MICROPHONE to capture RAW Audio of cars going around the track (ATMOS)
• MAIN CAMERA C/U Cars on track/ in a garage if applicable
• SECONDARY CAMERA (on the tripod) UW/S Alex saying goodbye & leaving

*Walk and Talk: "Interviewing a subject while they are doing something can be engaging for the audience and more relaxing for some interviewees than a formal sit-down. For example, in a factual interview, consider filming an athlete talking about the importance of pre-game warm-ups while she's doing her stretches, or, in a personal interview, have a single dad talk about his domestic challenges while he's preparing a meal for his kids. Then there's the literal walk-and-talk of a handheld interview where the cameraperson moves backwards trying to keep a uniform distance from the forward-moving subject." (Videomaker, 2009)

References
Videomaker, 2009 https://www.videomaker.com/article/c18/14239-documentary-interview-tips


QUESTIONS

Daniel Rowbottom:

1. So I’m going into my first ever race weekend soon, I just need a bit of advice about how I should approach it!
2. So as you go into a race weekend on a track you have not raced at before, how do you normally prepare for it? 
3. Do you find simulator testing or gaming helpful when learning the track?
4. How important is doing some testing before the race?
5. When testing, what should I be looking out for?
6. How much time do you spend on setup work in your test sessions?
7. So when you’re in the car before the race, how do you make sure you are in the right mindset?
8. Great thank you, Dan, best of luck for the year ahead!

Jamie Caroline:

1. So Jamie, how did you first get into motorsport?
2. Did you find the financial aspect of motorsport was actually harder than the driving?
3. Even when racing karts, how did you and your family manage budgets?
4. As you get further up the motorsport ladder and into cars, it starts to get really expensive, how did you approach finding sponsors to keep you racing?
5. Do you have any advice for me when trying to secure sponsors?
6. Is it hard to constantly deal with the financial side of motorsport, while trying to focus on winning races and going for championships?
7. In 2019, do you think it’s still possible for a driver with a lot of talent to make it to the top or do you always significant financial backing? 
8. Awesome Jamie, well good luck for 2019, sure you’ll win whatever you end up racing!

Bobby Trundley (Team BRIT):

1. So Bobby, growing up, how did you first find your love for motorsport?
2. As a child, did you think that autism might affect you achieving your dreams of being a racing driver? 
3. How hard was it to overcome the issues you faced to actually race a kart?
4. How much of a role have your parents had in getting you racing?
5. When getting in a kart for the first time, did it affect you, or did racing come quite naturally?
6. You’ve gone on to win some large UK kart championships, do you think this proves to anyone that you should never give up on your dreams?
7. What advice would you have for any other children growing up with autism, who want to be racing drivers?
8. Does the emergence of teams like Team Brit mean motorsport is now much more accessible to people with disabilities? 
9. What is the ultimate dream going forward?
10. Thanks, Bobby, good luck in 2019! 

Jon-Allan Butterworth (Team BRIT):

1. Jon, where does your love of motorsport begin?
2. So instead of taking up a motorsport career, you joined the RAF, was it hard not being able to follow this dream initially?
3. So in 2007, while in Afghanistan, you were involved in a rocket attack, what were your thoughts as it was happening? 
4. So how and when did you realise you had severe injuries? 
5. What was your first reaction when you realised the decision was made to amputate your left arm?
6. Something that astonishes me is that pretty quickly you adapted and joined the Para-cycling programme in 2009, is it in your nature to push yourself and make the best out of any situation? 
7. You went on to win a number of medals in Para-Cycling, how did you motivate yourself and go about finding new challenges?
8. So recently you have turned your attention to motorsport, when did you realise this could be a possibility?
9. So when getting behind the wheel for the first time, what were the biggest challenges?
10. Do you feel you’re at any disadvantage now when racing?
11. Bringing this back to where this all started. When you first realised you had your left arm amputated, did you think you could go on and achieve the amazing things you have?
12. Do you have any advice for anyone with a disability who wants to get involved in motorsport?
13. Well great, thank you Jon. Good luck in 2019!

Katie Milner:

1. So Katie, before I race a car for the first time, how much should I be focusing on fitness?
2. Do you have a regime you follow weekly to ensure you’re in the right condition for each race?
3. What do you find the biggest challenge is when training and trying to staying in shape?
4. In motorsport, what do you find are the areas which need the most work for a rookie driver such as myself?
5. In a similar way, mental strength seems to be really important in motorsport, can you train for that?
6. So when you’re in a wheel to wheel battle, how do you stay calm, making sure to do the right thing?
7. Before I race, do you suggest I find a personal trainer and a routine that works for me?
8. I better get to work then!

Production - Shotlist & Camera Cards: Fitness Test Sequence

Before our test shoot on the 14th of April, I constructed all of the information needed to film a test sequence of our fitness day. This comprised of a shotlist, the questions I would be asking the personal trainer as well as camera plans for the key sections.

As this has been a quick turnaround, we have been unable to recce the location, therefore our test shoot will start by understanding the location and our restrictions. This test shoot will also enable me to create camera cards in higher detail, with an exact idea of what the shots will look like.

Doing a test before the real sequence will be very important for this scene in particular, as creating powerful shots which show the contributor (myself) in a struggle/pain will create an intriguing scene. The test shoot may also allow someone to take over from me as the contributor and direct the scene as I visualise it. As this will not be a possibility on the shoot date, getting Cailan to direct will allow us all to be on the same wavelength when we film the actual scene in March.

After completing this test, I will be able to adapt the information I have produced below, creating a confirmed shot list and proper camera cards. The questions should not change too much, as they are the ones needed to get the correct answers for our project. George has arranged help in the form of Connor for this shoot date, meaning we will be operating through a two camera set up to get as much coverage as possible.

Our past tests have enabled scenes to go to plan when we actually film. I am happy we have learned from the mistakes made in the licensing scene, meaning for all future scenes we will have an idea of what the outcome should be. This means there will be no issues in communication within the crew, as we should all be visualising each scene the same.

Fitness Test Shotlist:

Camera 1: Sony AX53 on the shoulder rig
Camera 2: Panasonic G7 on shoulder rig [Focusing on close ups]

1. FITNESS SEQUENCE
2. M/S Alex driving to Gym
3. W/S Alex parking up [Static on Tripod]
4. Establishing shot of Gym [Static on Tripod]
5. W/S Alex walking into the Gym [Static on tripod]
6. M/S Following Alex into the gym
7. W/S Alex speaking to instructor [While Voiceover is going]
8. M/S Alex speaking to instructor “So I’m going to take part in my first ever motor race”
9. C/U Alex speaking to the instructor 
10. C/U of gym instructor speaking
11. C/U Running, feet on the machine, sweat dripping [Gym Montage]
12. C/U Cycle machine, legs spinning [Gym Montage]
13. M/S Getting out of the saddle and pushing harder [Gym Montage]
14. C/U Slamming weights down [Gym Montage]
15. W/S Empty Gym for a quick pause in intensity [Gym Montage]
16. C/U Face while on the rowing machine [Gym Montage]
17. M/S Pulling weights down [Gym Montage]
18. Other C/U of the workout  [Gym Montage]
19. C/U Collapsing on the floor from exhaustion [Gym Montage]
20. M/S Alex reflecting on a session with instructor
21. C/U Alex reflecting on a session with instructor
22. C/U Instructor reflecting on a session with instructor
23. M/S Alex shaking hand of the instructor
24. M/S Alex walking out of venue [Static on tripod]
25. C/U Alex getting into car 50/50 screen [From behind car]. 50% car LOF, 50% Alex getting in car ROF [Static on tripod] 
26. M/S Alex driving and speaking [Airing thoughts]

Fitness Questions:

• (As two are standing still near the entrance) So I am going to be racing in my first ever motor race soon, are you able to assess my fitness level and see what I can improve on?
• (As two are walking) So I’m a keen cyclist, but I could definitely put on a bit of upper body muscle, how important is that in motorsport? 
• (Continued…) What do you typically find is the area most drivers need to work on?
• (Continued…) Well, I better see for myself then!
• GYM INSTRUCTOR TO RUN THROUGH MULTIPLE DIFFERENT “TESTS” TO ASSESS ALEX. ACTUALITY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AS THEY GO THROUGH THE TESTS. ALEX TO MENTION SOMETHING ABOUT DIET/ EATING THE RIGHT FOOD!
• (After tests…) That was pretty intense, how do you think I did?
• If you were to give me a few goals to reach, what would they be?
• So if I complete those do you think I’ll be ready? - Answer “ Yes, but if you don’t get to that level, we would be worried about your fitness behind the wheel”
• Well, that gives me a lot to work on! Guess I better get cracking! See you soon!
• George to ask Alex in Car - “Are you worried about your fitness, as you have a lot to do in just a few months!”

Camera Plans for KEY scenes

Production - Shotlist & Camera Cards: Diary Room (Test Shoot)

As per any shoot day, I am creating a dedicated shotlist and camera plan for the day. The diary room test is going to be one of the most important parts of this evolution, as they are the scenes that capture the meaning of this story. Therefore, understanding the right camera positions was going to be vital in order for this message to be conveyed correctly. I had come up a plan for the test which follows a similar pattern to the one used in my reference material "The Red Bull Racing Story: 2005-2012".


This reference material has been instrumental in how I planned these scenes as I feel they give a tone very similar to the one I am trying to create. The camera positions along with the lighting mean this scene is both visually pleasing and powerful to the viewer. Therefore, my plans follow a similar one to that of this video, but after our test this week, we may somewhat adapt these plans if we find issues on our recce/ test shoot.

I can see one of our biggest challenges being the space available to use. The workshop we are filming at is a lot smaller than the room used in the Red Bull video. This means that in our test shoot we will need to adapt plans around this. The lighting could also be a potential issue as we do not have much prior experience with the lights we plan to use. This could mean we spend more time setting up the lights than needed, but this is the point of a test shoot.

This test shoot will also allow me to relax into the role of the contributor and the footage will enable me to understand if I need to change anything going forward. We had already experienced issues in our past shoot dates, but typically the actuality sequences were natural and felt as they should. George will also be tested as a producer as he now fully understands what he needs to be doing on shoot dates. In essence, he takes over my role and assists the camera team. He will also be an active voice in the documentary in this scene, so his tone when speaking needs to be correct.

We are thankful to have the help of Connor for this test shoot, meaning we are not stretched for camera operators and George can properly focus on his job. That is an error both George and I realised after the license shoot date, he cannot be on a camera in any circumstances. This realisation has led George to contact a number of first years and we have 8-9 people who are interested in helping on occasions. This will not be needed for the majority of shoots, but in situations when I am driving on the track, we will need a number of cameras trackside to get all of the correct angles. We appreciate the offer of first-year students help as this will allow us all to focus on our main roles.

Overall, this test shoot is going to allow us to learn about how we conduct ourselves in these vitally important diary room sequences. I am very aware that changes will most likely need to be made to my original plans, but this is why we are doing a test shoot, as it allows any problems to be highlighted now. Below is the plan for this test shoot as well as the equipment I intend to use. As this is a test, I am interested in experimenting with new ideas, if suggested by the crew. This will allow this shoot to be a real team effort and create the best scene possible. We are happy to have planned so many locations and camera tests along with test shoots before our actual scenes. Not having one for our license day scene meant we ran into issues we could have resolved by doing a test. Going forward we have learnt from those mistakes and this test is one thing we have added because of our previous mistakes. It shows we are learning quickly from our mistakes to ensure our final project is exactly how I envision it.

Diary Room Shotlist:
Camera 1: Panasonic DVX 200 on Tripod - Main shot M/S
Camera 2: Sony AX53 on Track & Dolly
Camera 3: Panasonic G7 capturing close ups

REMEMBER TO TAKE PHOTOS FOR BLOG & CREW STILLS

DIARY ROOM

1. EST Shot of the garage (For BTS/Extended cut)
2. Car parking up M/S (For BTS/Extended cut)
3. Alex walking through garage door W/S
4. Alex looking around the cars M/S (For BTS/Extended cut)
5. Alex sitting down on seat M/S
6. Main Camera M/S [Alex LOF]
7. Dolly Camera MW/S [Alex LOF]
8. C/U of hands 
9. UC/U of eyes
10. C/U of face
11. C/U Alex looking through photos
12. C/U of items that Alex holds

Production - Working Around A Limited Filming Schedule [RESEARCH]

With us still in the early phases of the project, and struggling to work around a limited schedule due to Cailan's availability, I wanted to research how we best maximise our time and create our project within the time we have. This blog will look at the important things we should be focusing on when planning for shoot dates as well as thinking about what issues may present themselves when we are on a film shoot.

The main thing that I had spent little time thinking about in pre-production is the need for test shoots and at the early stage of production, I wanted to think about what scenes we would need to spend some time test shooting, as well as thinking about what we should be looking out for when completing these tests. I started off by looking through the planned sequences and realised that there were not as many scenes we could test as I originally thought. As a lot of the documentary is actuality sequences, it would be hard to test this, other than filming a typical day, testing angles and shot sizes. An online video creator called Anne Murphey wrote: "Do a few test shots to make sure the video angles are where you want them to be, the audio is coming through loud and clear, there isn’t any distracting eye-tracking, the makeup looks good, and that there aren’t any awkward or distracting shadows in the background. Get these things taken care of up front, otherwise, you might be stuck with a whole bunch of unusable footage after a long day’s work." (marketeer.kapost.com, 2013) 

While not all points are relevant to our shoots, we can take onboard this advice for some of our scenes, especially the ones where we have a lot of controlled variables. Examples of this are the "Diary Room" where I recall my past with motorsport and what has led to me becoming a fan. This scene will be set in a dark room or garage so we will be able to control much more than in the actuality sequences that will make up much of our documentary. Therefore, I have decided to schedule a number of test shoots and location recces for the next couple of weeks to ensure we know exactly what we're getting ourselves into in these scenes. Other examples of controlled shoots are the South Downs sequence which will reflect on my thoughts just before the race. The fitness sequence will also give room for creativity so we will be doing a test shoot for this to decide the best way for it to be filmed. A sequence like this needs to be intense, so we need to ensure the shots from it capture the mood I have planned for. I also thought it was best to do a location recce of every new location that we have not visited as even if we are filming actuality, it will allow us to know exactly where we will be filming allow me to direct the scene through plans even when I am in front of the camera. This advice came from a photographer, Karthika Gupta, who said that "Before getting to any photo shoot, I highly recommend scouting the location ahead of time. I have been in situations where I have gone to a location only to find out it was closed to the public or under renovation." (digital-photography-school.com, 2019) We need to ensure that the locations are exactly how we expect as it will allow my camera plans to be relevant to the shoot day and as a contributor and director it will allow me to relax into my role as I know the camera operators will be doing a great job.

Doing so many pre-shoots does mean we have fewer options when getting to film the actual sequences, but we generally don't have a choice when we film actuality as the event date is not chosen by us. We have planned our tests around the shoots that we have planned and a lot of these are on days when Cailan is working, so we are hoping that he will be able to get these days off. If not, we are in trouble missing our D.O.P. for these tests. I am going to be completing a shot list for each sequence with what I think will be the best, but thanks to doing the tests we will be able to change these if they do not work. "It’s much easier to determine which shots you’ll need for your finished piece when you’re not trying to manage the myriad of tasks on the day of filming, so write down each shot you want to get ahead of time to make sure you capture it on the day." (trint, 2019). A problem that I have had on my projects in the past is that I did not plan enough before the shoot, but in a documentary which has much more variables than a drama, I have been planning much more than I ever. I feel that this really worked in the two shoot dates so far and I am sure that this will continue for the rest of the project. It is certainly time-consuming to do this much planning but it actually saves a lot of time when on a shoot. So with our limited schedule, this pre-planning is going to allow us to maximise each day and possibly double up on some occasions and film two sequences in one day. This is where time planning with George, crafting schedules and call sheets which ensure that we are productive each shoot day means that we can capture all the content we need to.

I understand what I should be doing before I actually get to the shoot but it is also important to understand how we maximise our time on a shoot day together. "Investing thought ahead of time will save time in the long run. Have a solid idea of what is needed before ever stepping foot on set. When that day comes, make sure to keep the crew updated so that all hands are on the same page. Things like walkthroughs with the crew... a simple team gathering for a schedule summary are all crucial to the flow. If everyone is on the same page, then the entire team can move towards the same goal." (PremiumBeat, 2016) As shown, it is clear that we need to start each film day with a group meeting to allow us all to understand the objectives for the day ahead. This will be something conducted by George at the start of each day going forward, as it will be a good way to confirm how we approach the day. I have been working with George to ensure that we have these chats as I think it will enable the documentary to be the most productive with the time available to us on the day ahead. Doing this along with our other decisions will now mean all of our shoots make the most of our abilities and leave us satisfied at the end of each day. Saying this, we have allocated a pick-up day in our schedule to get any shots that we may have missed due to our hectic schedule. It is inevitable that something will be missed by accident so it is good we have already had the forethought to plan a day for these shots. This will ensure that we will have every single shot we want when we come to the edit!

Something that we need to be conscious of is capturing a vast amount of relevant footage on each shoot day that we attended. This will ensure that we do not have to re-film a lot of B-roll throughout the editing phase of our project, this is something that is very important as we already have a very busy production schedule. "you’ll need plenty of b-roll when you begin editing your video. From wide shots and establishing shots to close-ups, the more b-roll you have the better. While it’s definitely best to capture your b-roll shots on the same day as the rest of your filming, you can sometimes get away with returning to the filming location later to shoot additional b-roll" (trint, 2019) Knowing this, I have been making sure this is included in the shot lists and plans that I am creating before each filming day. Doing so will enable us to not have to spend a lot of time later on filming cutaways we should have recorded sooner. This will allow us to fit all of our filming into the days we have left over, which will help keep harmony within the team as we work around Cailan's working commitments as best as possible.

So, looking at the amount of filming we actually have ahead of us, I have worked with the team to ensure that, as far as possible, we will film on either a Tuesday or Thursday as they are Cailan's two free days from work. It is not ideal but I have been able to fit the sequences into these spaces, barring the test days and some interviews which cannot be changed and Cailan has said he will get these off work. From the research above, I am able to understand what work I can be doing before each shoot to ensure we maximise our time on the day and capture all of the content possible and do our best to avoid any re-shooting of B-roll over the next few months. However, even though the research has been done, it is clear that we still all need to play our part on the day and ensure we are productive and complete all of the necessary work. It is evident that the productiveness of a shoot day is mostly decided weeks before it happens, thanks to lots of planning and spending time thinking about what will work. I thought I did a good job to complete the plans for the first two shoots, but they both highlighted that we could be doing more by scouting locations and doing test shoots. I am already working on the plans for the next shoots, going into even finer detail about what I want from the shoot as well as a shot list of everything we will definitely need. The camera crew are free to test themselves and try extra shots as long as the planned shots are taken. This way I know I will be getting what I have in my vision, but the camera crew will be able to complete shots they may find and think will work. I am very excited to put this research into use and seeing if our next shoots go better thanks to this planning.

References: 

marketeer.kapost.com, 2013 https://marketeer.kapost.com/how-to-prepare-an-awesome-video-shoot/
trint, 2019 https://blog.trint.com/production-tips-for-amateur-videographers
digital-photography-school.com, 2019 https://digital-photography-school.com/6-tips-more-productive-photo-shoot/
premiumbeat, 2016 https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/filmmaking-tips-how-to-stop-wasting-time-on-set/

Production - Project Evolution JANUARY 2019

January has been a tough opening month for this project and I am very honest with that assessment. As we had the dissertation to contend with for this month, along with planning some of our biggest shoot days,  it was always going to be tough on us as a team. I know we could have all done better as a team in preparation for these shoot dates, but I am thankful this happened in the early stages, rather than constantly happening throughout the rest of the shoot days. The issues faced have allowed us to improve as a team and understand our shortfalls and how we will overcome them.

Understanding and Adapting My Ideas
Going into this month as a Director/ writer made me feel a little lost at first. I was worried as I felt like I should be doing something more. The reason for this was because instead of doing the work of a team, I now had two teammates to help me with the project tasks. Initially, a lot of the opening work was done by George as the producer. Cailan was also adapting my pre-production work into storyboards. It took me a while to fully understand how I slotted into this opening phase, but I did eventually understand thanks to help from Simon and through various group meetings.

My job was to keep the team together and constantly provide information to whoever needed it. This meant I was speaking to George about contributors for example, and with Cailan I was talking over each scene and how I saw it being filmed. I ended up reviewing more reference material to allow Cailan to craft the best storyboards possible, I think this extra research that I did really helped ensure Cailan and myself were on the same wavelength.

George and I were having daily conversations about contributors, locations and other miscellaneous scenes that we needed for our project. I really liked this part as it was great to help out each other in determining how we can get the best contributors possible. This leads on to adapting my ideas, as we had a few of our big contributors who we had planned to involve, decline the opportunity to be in our film. This meant that I started to learn about other peoples' stories and how they could possibly fit into our story. This mostly is the case for the motor racing driver who overcame adversity. We had really wanted Billy Monger to be involved, but due to him working on his race schedule in 2019 along with a constant flow of interview opportunities, I can understand why it was not possible.

I was proactive after this disappointment and went about finding new people. I found a lot of inspirational stories that would work for our documentary and passed the information over to George. We even had a disabled motor racing athlete get in contact with us, which we are pursuing as his story is once again incredible.

The opening weeks of this project also allowed me to understand my own ideas and adapt them. Having the time to go back through the script and re-read it has meant I have changed it a little since I submitted it for pre-production. Changes such as including prompts for George, highlighting the golden moments and adaptions to wording. I also emphasised certain details when re-reading the script as this will allow Cailan to understand my creative vision, ensuring that it captured how I see it on the day. All these tweaks and changes allow for a more polished script and one that is constantly evolving as we confirm contributors and locations. Overall I think we made strong progress in terms of future scenes in January.

How shoot days went and why & how we went about our resolving issues
For me, shoot days were where the lack of time to prepare really hurt us. On all three shoot days, I had gone to the effort to produce detailed shot lists of every single angle that I wanted. However, these were not referred to when filming, meaning the film crew missed some of the most important shots that I had asked for. I thought I had made this clear in the material I had sent to the team, but they all acknowledged that they did not look at these on the shoot days. This was a disappointing moment for me because, as a contributor, it went really well. I passed my racing license and the karting sequence gave us a lot of coverage. But looking back on the footage from the license especially, we are going to really struggle in the edit.

George had apologised on multiple occasions for his mistakes on the race license day, which was the day that disappointed me the most. I planned for trackside filming, which George said he had obtained. But I was only told on the day that this was not the case, meaning a lot of my planning was worthless. If I had known we did not have this access that would have been fine as I would have been able to plan accordingly. But the fact I planned for something that we did not actually have access for really disappointed me. Communication during this weekend, especially Saturday, was our biggest failing as it meant we did not have the required coverage for the sequence I had planned for.

George has admitted his faults for this weekend, which I understand as part of the learning experience. Going forward we also know that George should not be on the camera and it was his job to acquire someone to film in his place. The coverage from his camera and another camera during the race license acquired no useable footage which was a disappointment. Along with this issue, the main camera in the car and filming me driving only captured 90 seconds of useable footage. This is because the camera was not set up properly. George had obtained this camera and said he had tested it. Meaning when I saw the footage I was really frustrated to only have 90 seconds instead of a possible 20 minutes. George understood all of the issues this weekend and admitted that he really struggled. I know going forward to work more closely with George to ensure he does not feel overwhelmed and I encourage him to speak to me when something happens, however small.

As a team, we are happy with the footage acquired from the medical (Even if a proper test shoot for this and the licensing scene would have massively helped) and the go-kart test shoot. Going forward I have spoken to George to ensure the number of test shoots in our schedule is increased vastly. We went from 1-2 test shoots to at least 6. This means any future issues will hopefully be sorted before we film the actual sequence. I admire George for taking responsibility for the failings of this weekend. While we did get some fantastic footage, it undoubtedly could have been more. Better communication on shoot days as well as thorough and frequent test shoots have been scheduled due to the issues we experienced this weekend. While it did not go perfectly, we did learn a lot and this experience means that going forward we will be in a better place. Any issue that becomes apparent can now be solved before we shoot for real. These issues have actually benefitted our project, as, without this experience, we may have gone into future scenes with a lack of preparation.

Research to complete

This month has allowed me to learn a lot about how we work as a team. It also allows me to understand what I need to be doing better as a writer/director. Communication is undoubtedly something that has improved over the past months, but something that could still improve further. My blogs will now show how I learned from the issues we encountered on our shoot days and how other crews have overcome something similar.

Research going forward will enable me to understand why being clear about what you want to get from each shoot is vitally important. I also need to better understand how best to communicate this to my crew. I am very aware that it would be easy as writer/director to not listen to the ideas of my crew, but I know from past experience that does not work. Therefore, I want to research further why and how I listen to the ideas from my group and how I go about introducing them into the project. I know that my crew is very talented, so listening to them will be very important in securing the best grade for this project.

I also need to learn to properly break down every sequence and establish what the key aspects are to ensure the sequence works as planned. Key shots and answers will be important in allowing the story to have a similar flow to the one I originally planned, without making it staged and dishonest. A big area that I want to research is how to communicate these ideas effectively to the team because as has been seen, some of my work so far has been ignored. With all of these, along with any other issues that become apparent, I will be looking at how industry professionals went about tackling these issues and why they did what they did in filming. 

Overall, I can learn a lot over the coming months and I will need to, to allow this project to flourish in the way I know it can. One of my biggest issues at first was allowing people into a project that I conceptualised months ago. It was hard to take the criticism and ideas at first, but I started to understand that it was to the benefit of this project. I feel I have improved as the month has gone on, but a lot more can be done to ensure we don't run into similar issues in the future. 

Conclusion 

While I was very disappointed with the footage obtained by track cameras on Saturday, I was happy with the majority of the rest of the footage captured over the three first shoot dates. We now know as a team that we need to spend a lot more time doing tests and working out the fine details. It has been hard for me as a director/writer to be open to change but I am improving which is allowing the story to be more honest and personal. We have all learnt from the issues during the opening month of this project, which actually puts us in a much better position going forward. These issues have allowed us to realise what we need to improve on, which will hopefully be a blessing in disguise. I am very excited to now spend more time planning each scene, enabling it to work smoothly and capture exactly what I want. We all now know what we need to do to make this project as thought-provoking as possible and I am ready for the challenge that lays ahead. 

Production - Why Communication Is So Important [RESEARCH]

After recent shoot dates have highlighted that communication could be better within our team, I wanted to do some further research as to why it is so important when working in a professional environment. It was hard to find the information directly relating to media and the television industry, but I can take a lot of knowledge from information learned in the workplace. We are trying our best to conduct this project in the most professional way possible, so learning from the workplace is ideal and will allow me to understand how we can all improve as a team.

A few of the issues we have experienced during this project so far are due to miscommunications through texts, where a lot of the context can be lost. "Because text messaging cannot accurately convey tone, emotion, facial expressions, gestures, body language, eye contact, oral speech, or face-to-face conversation, it is likely messages will be misinterpreted or misunderstood. The real meaning of your message gets lost through the medium." (SCRIBENDI, 2019) This issue has led to us having disagreements due to the simple fact we did not understand the tone in which a message was being sent. This has wasted time in the early phase of this project and has created unnecessary tension between us. In understanding that text messages were causing issues in creating a dynamic and legitimate discussion, we decided that we would start a regular chat session via Skype which would allow for discussion back and forth on important decisions that need to be made for this project. These will happen at least once per week, but probably more to allow us to go through all of the points that will need to be spoken about in a project of this magnitude. As it is obvious that discussion will still have to happen via text, we have since spoken in person and made sure that when communicating via text, we will now be clearer about the point we are trying to make. We have also agreed not to take issues personally and work in a professional manner to overcome each issue as it presents itself. "By outlining exactly what you need your employees to do and ensuring that everyone is aware of their objectives, the department, project and company will run more smoothly." (Time-recruitment.com, 2019)

Along with these chats via Skype and Text, we have agreed upon the need for real-life weekly meetings so that we can have honest discussions and develop the project at a faster rate. "Experts have been able to prove that some people understand better when you take them aside and talk to them on a one-on-one basis. Ensure that you maintain eye contact with them to enable the message to sink in" (smallbiztrends.com, 2013). This quote definitely highlights an issue I have with online chats, as it is very hard to read someone's emotions and honest thoughts, even through Skype. Therefore we have already started to have these meetings, mostly at university when we are in for other meetings with lecturers. These have already been productive and we have worked on schedules to work around Cailan as well as further developing an understanding about our job roles, there has been an overlap in areas over the first few shoots and these real-life discussions have definitely been more productive so I would like to hold more in the future. The problem we have is that Cailan only had two free days in the week and we will be filming on these most of the time. Therefore Cailan needs to stop working three weekdays each week to ensure that this does not become a further issue. This is my main worry going forward as I can see this becoming an issue on multiple occasions, as things such as test sessions and availability of locations cannot be suited around Cailan's work schedule. George and I have expressed our opinion on this, but nothing has changed at the time of writing this blog.

As mentioned, the communication issues so far have hurt our productivity, which we cannot allow to be the case because of the importance of this project for our futures "Good communication is an essential tool in achieving productivity and maintaining strong working relationships at all levels of an organisation... poor communication in the workplace will inevitably lead to unmotivated staff that may begin to question their own confidence in their abilities and inevitably in the organisation." (michaelpage.co.uk , 2019). Although the quote relates to a conventional workplace, we can take a lot of the same values into this project. As I was the "creator" of this idea and the project, I want to ensure I motivate Cailan and George as their passion for this project will probably never be on the same level as mine. It will be hard for them to engage with it in a way that I have for nearly a year now. Therefore, as stated above, good communication will only benefit the project as a whole as it will allow the team to flourish and do their role in the best way possible. Communication about racing technical terms and ideas will also allow the crew to understand what is happening so that they can engage with the idea even further. "Communicating is more than just talking. It’s about connecting with people. One of the most powerful benefits of better communication in the workplace is more engaged employees. Employees are more engaged in their work and can better align with company objectives and goals when a culture of good communication is established in a team or workplace." (leadershipchoice.com, 2019). I am really happy to see that both George and Cailan are willing to learn about the sport and their engagement so far has been fantastic. This has allowed me to relax into my role as a contributor when in front of the camera, as I know the team are learning a lot about the sport and what they should be filming. The issue with motorsport is that there are a lot of small technical details that need to be captured to ensure the story is complete. It is clear that from the first shoots that the team are starting to understand these details which shows when looking back at the footage. As a fan of the sport for my whole life, I am passing on as much advice as possible to enable everyone to learn quicker. This will allow us to have a documentary with more detail and depth which will mean that it is the best documentary it can possibly be.

As mentioned above, we have found that text chats don't make it easy to resolve issues. We have had disagreements on minor issues that have been blown out of proportion because of miscommunication. "Good communication in the workplace isn’t about being right all the time or trying to overpower people. The key is to talk openly, honestly and professionally to one another so that everyone’s needs are met. Finding a resolution that everyone is happy with will result in a much healthier environment than one person getting their own way at another person’s expense. This kind of atmosphere could be very uncomfortable for colleagues and might result in a lack of enthusiasm and motivation." (Time-recruitment.com, 2019). Something I know I struggle with is admitting when I am wrong. I have made every decision in the project for the benefit of the team, but it is sometimes hard to accept when someone else is right, because I grew this project from nothing. Allowing myself to accept other opinions is vital for the success of the project and, in some scenarios, I need to change my attitude to not take another suggestion personally. We have all been guilty of taking opinions about the project personally in this project, which has not only wasted time but caused unnecessary friction within the group.

I am really happy to have conducted this research so early on as it is clear that good communication is so important in creating a powerful team dynamic. Going forward we have revolutionised how we are going to communicate during this project and in my opinion, it will be very beneficial to both the project and its quality, as well as maintaining a friendship! Understanding how people create a successful working relationship in the professional workplace has been very beneficial in allowing me to understand how I should change my approach going forward. It has been hard for me to split myself up between so many roles so far, but I understand that it will make the project better as a whole if I take the time to explain things to the crew. I am certainly feeling the pressure from the team to provide all of the details, but I am hoping to thrive under this pressure, now that the dissertation has been submitted. Overall, I am looking forward to going forward with this project and I am sure that our new communication methods through regular Skype meetings and real-life meetings will allow this documentary to flourish and fulfil its full potential. Exciting times are ahead for this project, we just need to ensure that we maximise our time together and communicate effectively when doing so.

References:
SCRIBENDI, 2019: https://www.scribendi.com/advice/miscommunication_and_texting.en.html
smallbiztrends.com, 2013 https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/11/20-ways-to-communicate-effectively-in-the-workplace.html
michaelpage.co.uk , 2019 https://www.michaelpage.co.uk/advice/management-advice/development-and-retention/importance-good-communication-workplace
leadershipchoice.com, 2019 https://leadershipchoice.com/power-good-communication-workplace/
Time-recruitment.com, 2019 http://time-recruitment.com/importance-good-communication-workplace/