DOC UNIT: CRITICAL REFLECTION

So down goes another unit and I have to be bluntly honest I really did not enjoy this anywhere near as much as I did the previous 2 Storytelling and Directions. I have to say this is just because of what I like and where I feel my career is shaping up to go and I don't think it is this kind of thing. For me I just found the whole process a bit too restrictive as for me I like to let my creative mind free to roam with out any restraints. I am not saying there is anything wrong with how anything was taught I just think there are too many restrictions to this kind of documentary filmmaking that I experienced over this unit. Anyway although not my favourite it was still very much a learning process that benefits me in the long run.


I think this youtube video from my favourite 'YouTuber' Tony Zhou perfectly sums up the way I feel about films at the moment. Which may be why I am just not that interested in certain areas at the moment.

There were certain things about our final doc that were lacking and I would like to point those out and say what I learned and what could have been done differently:

1. First and foremost we did not get to grips with a real organised proper narrative story that can be understood by an audience. I think to have done this better it would have been beneficial to sit down and chat more about what we wanted to express and tell people in our doc. Essentially the idea was that we would talk about concussion and how especially it is dangerous for young kinds, but apart from this I feel we lost our way a bit along the way.
2. As well as this we lacked in actuality footage. Without this some of our film is too interview heavy. Although we did manage to get a lot of rugby footage as well as some actuality for some people, we were significantly lacking when it came to our main character Sam. So I think this was a weakness.
3. Also looking back I was thinking as we were coming to the end that we only have the one guy under the age of 25 and considering the theme is teen spirit it would have benefited us to have at least one other teenager in there. 
4. On the technical side also our sound and footage quality could have been improved all across the board, the only interview that was well framed and shot was Dr. Harris and so obviously I will use this as a template in my memory for any future work of this kind.

So yes it has been an education the whole process and I cannot say it was a waste of my time, but something that will off course be important knowledge in the long run. I look forward to the next challenge in September.  

Thats the century up!! 100 Blog posts!!

DOC UNIT: TRANSCRIPTS

One thing we both forgot to get onto our blogs early on was the transcripts, but I suppose its better late than never.

This shows that we used the transcripts, but I have to admit at some point I did not always go exactly to what the transcripts had highlighted, but essentially it was very similar to the original highlights.

I'm not sure I like the transcripts as a way to edit as I am a very visual person and so I like to look at footage and listen to see what to put in. This may just be because I haven't become used to it yet.

Dr. Harris 

 Roger Mckerlie

Sam Noss

Kim Parker

Royce Parker

DOC UNIT: ROUGH CUT TUTORIAL

There are a few certain things that were brought up in our tutorial on our current rough cut progress.

There are some big points that myself and Jordan can learn from this process of making a documentary:

1. We need to get the correct framing of the interviewees, the correct sot for this type of film is a Medium Close Up (MCU). Strayed away from this too much apart from on the Dr interview. Also with Sam Noss our main subject he was filmed too wide with too much in the background. 
2. In general we need more actuality especially for our main subject Sam Noss. We will be aiming to get some of those shots done tomorrow evening. 
3. We need commentary to introduce interviewees as well as to explain and set up things for viewers who may not know that much about rugby. 
4. Too much going back and forth in the film, should just stick with going back to Sam whilst seeing interviews with each individual interview. 

Some of this has already been taken care of, but it will still need to be put into the current edit.

New sound clips from commentary recorded this afternoon, I had to do some work to make sure the sound was in mono form so as it could be heard out of each ear:

Sound clips

DOC UNIT: CREATING A ROUGH CUT

Working on the edit for the documentary unit has a certain type of process beginning with sound which is what I have done first taking each clip into Adobe Audition and making sure to try and get rid of any excess background noise.

Adobe Audition eliminating background

Into the real edit on Premiere and I have made quite a bit of progress putting things in an order with Sam Noss as the main focus, however I am looking forward to getting some more clips to break up the sit down interviews.

In the edit suite