Now that we have all finished our promotional videos and the documentary, Simon has sent us feedback on what he thought of each. He has sent us a table showing each section of videos and what he thought of each and how we could improve. The first image that I have taken is focused on the feedback that he gave to our documentary and the second image of the feedback that was given to the promo videos.
I think that the feedback that he has given to us for our documentary is quite positive and all feel that we have done quite considering we had a lot of issues throughout. We will be taking the feedback that he has given and taking it with us when we complete other project, if we go to university and for future careers. This experience has really helped us to learn to work together in a small time, effectively and to good standards. It has also given us the experience of working with someone in the industry and they have opened a lot of door for us.
I have been looking through our second rough cut, looking through the shots to see what I think has worked and what we could have improved on if we were to do it again. I started by looking at the opening of our documentary and the logos that appear at the beginning. I think that this worked really well and it was a good idea to speed them up a bit. However, I don't think all of the needed logos were included and I think that some were missed out or forgotten. This is quite a serious issue, especially in the media business - as forgetting to credit someone could mean not being able to show the video.
The next shot/s that I looked at was the montage of all of the footage that we had gathered and the music that was ran over the top of it. I have taken a screen grab of one the frames within this montage and this one displays some footage of one of the bands that played at the Fiver. We decided to add in shots of the bands as well as shots of the CRaM group filming because we thought that within the montage, it would add to the feel and keep the audience more interested. I think that this montage has worked really well because it plays over the top of some music and it gets you interested from the beginning before all of the interviews start up. We have also chosen to put the montage at the end of the video as well and we have worked on cutting that a lot faster so it cuts to the best of the music. This makes for a good finish to the documentary and I think makes it quite different to the typical 'boring' documentary that you would watch on tv.
However, I do think that using a lot of the shots of the CRaM filming works to an advantage. It really shows of the message that we are trying to get out and it shows the stu
dents working professionally and well with the Junction. This really shows the opportunities that students can get out of this course and also what happens when funding is available from companies such as Skillset.
The next part of our video that I wanted to look at was the interviews, especially the Junction interviews with Simon and Gary. We decided that with the interviews that it would be too boring for them just to be on their own, one after the other so decided to over-lay some relating footage to make it more interesting to watch. The footage that we placed over the Junction interviews are either of us shooting at the junction Fiver or the bands from the Fiver and each would come in at appropriate time when the interviewee has said something relating to it.
The final part of the video that I thought I should look at is the interview with the Pete and also the footage that we have used to over-lay over the top. I think that the interview setting works very well in this case, as it give variety, instead of being in a quiet room, we have chosen to make the interview in the room that we edit in and also while the rest of the class is hard at work. This gives the viewer an insight into how we work and visual aids seem work a lot better to explain what the interviewee is saying. We also managed to do a similar thing with the footage we have put over the top.
We have chosen to make some close-up of the class editing, showing the software that we use and how we work together in paris to produce our work. I think that it may have been useful to change the scenery a bit as it was just the same room and i think that we could have also made some interviews with some of the members of the class.
Overall, I do think that our documentary has gone well, even though we have gone over deadline, the editing was enjoyable and we learnt a lot from the experience. I think there is a lot that we can take from this and we know where we have gone wrong and where we can improve if we were to make a documentary again. I think that we need to manage our time a lot better and I think it takes a lot more focus to make a successful documentary. It would have also of helped for us to have done a lot more planning on what footage we needed to get, how much, how long and make sure that we are shooting variety.
I have tried researching into other student documentaries to see how they have structured their videos and how it may compare to the one which we have produced. The first video that I found was a documentary about student life that a group of students have made to show what student life is like for them. This shows all of the basics of student life, the accommodation, the night life, social life and university.
Even though that this is a different topic to our documentary that we produced, it has some similarities. I think that it also shows how we have done well on our documentary from the feedback that we got back from the Bournemouth students. For example, they have used quite slow cuts for their video and I think even though we had a topic that needed more cuts, more cuts in their video would have made it more interesting to watch. Their video flows quite smoothly, with the slow cuts, it helps to explain what they are trying to get across and helps you to see the full picture of their student life.
The music that they have used over the top of the footage works incredibly well and is very suitable for the audience that is aimed at. As students will be watching this to get an insight, they will be more interested as their is a sound track that is too their taste. Wehave done a similar thing with our documentary, we have used a sound track that relates to the video so that the viewers do not lose interest in what they are watching.
They have also used interviews, like we have within ours, and they are cut down short to make sure the video runs smoothly. This is what we were aiming to do with ours, as we had a lot of footage on interviews and we were finding it hard to cut down but we found the parts which were most relevant and put them together.
I continued to do a little more research and I found another documentary that I could try to come compare to our own, to see the similarities, how I would do things differently and how I could improve. When searching on YouTube, it is hard to find very many documentaries that are relevant to what we made. I starting searching for student made documentaries but they were not very serious so I widened by search to educational and music related documentaries and in the end I have decided go with a video another member of my group found - to compare for my second video.
This video has more of an educational feel to it as it is explaining the Creative and Media Diploma. I thought that this documentary would be useful to compare with because it relates to what we are doing at college and that we were making a documentary that shows the Creative and Media Diploma working with an outside business.
I think that the first thing I notice about this documentary is that is focuses on one school that is using the course and how they work with Liverpool consortium to complete a project called Artefact. I think that this is too vague and they should be showing other schools that are using this course, maybe the same project and getting their opinions too.
Within our documentary we have tried to visits or aspects of the project that we are doing, all the people that we come into contact with and that may explain what we are doing with Skillset, the Junction and Bournemouth more clearly. We have tried to get as many interviews as possible and tried to get the right people who we thought would be good to example each aspect. For example, we decided to interview Simon Bates and Gary to explain how the Junction worked with us to help us complete this project, we used Bournemouth staff and students to explain how we worked with them to improve our project and we also organised to get interviews with our Long Road staff to get their explanation on the project and the course.
However, I think that as Skillset were a big part of this project as well, it would have helped us to get a better video if we had researched and got in contact with them and organised an interview. This would have explained the structure of the project more clearly, especially to someone who is looking to find out what we do but have never heard of this or knows very little about it.
Another thing which I liked about this video was the way in which they introduced someone they interviewed. A name would appear on the screen when they started to speak, to tell the viewer who they are and what they do. We used the same concept but I think that the way in which they have done it is much more visually attractive and is clearly for the audience to see and understand. We we used this method, the text was in a very simple font, small and in the bottom left and they use reasonably big text, an interesting font and they have situated it more central so it is easy to see. Below are the comparisons between the video I researched and the video that we produced.
Finally, I think that our idea of using a small sound track underneath has worked quite well. The video I have researched didn't seem to use this and in my opinion it makes the video hard to pay attention to. We have used a compilation of shots at the beginning and end of our video, with the track louder of this and this adds to feel of video, an introduction and I think it makes it more interesting. However, our first edit went a little wrong and a lot of the soundtrack went over some of audio of the interviews so this needed to be edited again and this will be a lesson we take with us when editing again.
Here are the logos that we had to use for the videos that we produced. We needed to credit each of them somewhere within each video, as each of them contributed in making this project work.
The Junction had asked us to make them some promotional videos and also a documentary about making the promos and working with the Junction, Bournemouth and Skillset. Bournemouth have worked with us to help us to get good videos out of this project and to get a new experience from getting feedback and help from the students there. Skillset have worked with the Junction to get the project up and running and they have funded the Junction with the money to make it all work. Long Road has worked with us through our teachers, helping us to get the evidence that we need for the project and to get project the done efficiently. They have also supplied the equipment, as well as Parkside have also supplied some equipment and this has all helped to make sure that the project works well.
The video below is the second rough cut of our documentary, it is rough as we still need to add an interview to the rest of the footage. We are still waiting for a meeting to be available with the Principal of Long Road so that we are able to interview her.
Today we have had a lot to get done and we haven't managed to get everything done to hit the deadline on time. We have needed to tweak a lot of the original rough cut and also to add a lot of footage that we were not able to before hand.
Dave has spent the lesson editing the original rough cut, going through all of the feedback that was given to us from Simon and the Bournemouth students. The whole documentary needs to be cut a lot quicker to add smoothness and flow to the whole video. It also need a sound track under all of footage so that it becomes more interesting to view and we are also going to be adding a montage at the beginning and end to add to the feel of the video. Dave has completed all of this on the old footage and new footage we have given him today, however, we will still need to edit it again once we attach the newer footage.
Myself and Mike has worked on the Bournemouth and Samba footage, edited it on another computer and then given it to Dave to fit in with the rest. This went quite well but I think we were cutting a bit close to the deadline, and I could have edited it bit quicker by being less detailed with what he looked like and just stuck to the basics of what we needed. This may have been why we were running over time but we knew that we need have some of footage to add at this point, so we would miss the deadline.
This has gone quite well considering the time that we had to edit in and the footage that we had to work with. The rough cut now has the basics that we think Simon wanted for the documentary and think once we have the interview that we need to add, we shall just have to give it the "wow factor" that he likes.
Today we are continuing with editing our documentary ready for the deadline tomorrow. We have gathered together the feedback that we received from Bournemouth and Simon Bates and we have written it all down. We started by having a meeting to discuss the feedback that we have and what we think we need to do first and who will be doing what and so on. We have decided to start off with Dave working on the titles and the logos within the edited footage we have already. Myself and Mike will be working on editing through the footage from Bournemouth that Mike shot on Monday. And we are hoping to have that ready to export by the end of the day to give to Dave to put together with the rest of the documentary. If we are able to get all of this done, we will be working on getting the rest of the interviews completed, the Samba footage edited and to then put it all together.
During our time at Bournemouth we were advised by post-graduate students who gave us feedback on our documentary and for the others feedback on their promo's. We were really thankful for this feedback as it has helped us make our video a lot better and to the clients needs. Below is the feedback that they gave us and which points we have completed.
- Put a sound track within the interviews - The introduction of each of the interviews should be tagged at the bottom left of each shot, to introduce the person(we have completed on the footage we have) - The introduction needs to be established - Good use of band footage and maybe use of more would be good - A montage may be good to set up the feel of the venue(we have one completed for the end but needed one at the beginning) - Simon Bates, use footage that links with what he is saying - Maybe some transition footage in between the interviews to breakup the structure - Good use of titles to break up the structure - Shots of the interview needed more to be used more to breakup the footage of editing - Shots of screen edit - too much - First five mins need to be broken up so it make it less boring - Setting up a feel of what we to get from the film, basic introduction - Faster cuts to give more structure and a smoothly flow to the documentary(we have almost completed, being re-edited while we bring in new footage)
Simon gave us the budget for working within this project, however, when it actually came to doing the work we didn't actually stick to the budget that we were given.
We decided to not stay at Bournemouth overnight so we still needed to hire the coach to get there and back - £1000, but we no longer needed to pay the £20 per head for staying overnight in a hostel. When we got to Bournemouth we had a voucher of £5 given to us to pay for lunch, as we had a free lunch, we no longer needed to pay the £20 per head for food. The university fee still applied for paying £500 for student mentors from Bournemouth. The tuition fee for the Level 2 group to do Samba was still £260.
The total now came to £1760
All of equipment was owned by Long Road Sixth Form College so it was free for us to use for the duration of the project. This came to a big advantage, as we had a lot to shoot, a lot of interviews and if we were to have paid for all of that - it would have been too expensive to complete.
Today we have been on a trip to Bournemouth university and we were there to receive some feedback from the media students there, to collect some footage for the documentary and also to edit with them and get some advice. We started off by getting some lunch with our £5 vouchers and then headed off to the media block to get directed to what we were going to be doing the rest of the day. Once we got into the media block, we all gathered in a room and they informed us about the day and welcomed us and we then were sent off into our groups, each with one media student. We went off into an editing room with our student and he played our rough cut of our documentary of Vimeo. He then gave us feedback on our video and advised us on ways in which we can make it a lot better. Once he has given us all of his feedback, he then offered to show us some tips and tricks on Final Cut and also to show us Motion software, which is similar to After Effects. This was very useful to us as we learnt a lot of things on Final Cut which are quite simple but make a bit difference and we also learnt that Motion is a similar way to get good effect without using the complex After Effects.
This was really good experience, it helped us a lot with our project and also for future projects that we may do. It has also given us a taster of university and prepared us a bit and given us a step up possibly above the others students going to university to do media.
Alie and Mike, within our group, have worked on making a risk assessment for the whole project. They have produced a sheet that shows all of the possible things that could happen while we are working on this project. Below is an image of the sheet that they managed to produce.
This is a shot list that our documentary group has put together for when we film at Bournemouth on Monday 22nd Feb.
"1)Open with the coach journey down to Bournemouth. 2)Establishing shots of the university and signs “Welcome to Bournemouth university”. 3)Shot of the university students talking to the class and shots of the students listening to them. 4)Shots of Long Road students being helped by University students. 5)Interviews with a University of students. Possibly interview 2 students. 6)Shots of all the Long Road students working. 7)Interview with some Long Road students about what they got out of going to bournemouth for the day. 8)Interview with a University teacher. (This may not be needed) 9)A shot of the Long Road students finishing for the day and heading back to the coach, the journey back to Long Road."
We have all agreed on this shot list and this in the order that we want to shoot in it and also the order that it will be editing in, which will save time for us when it comes to editing.
Below is the budget that was given to Simon, to produce this project.
Travel £ 1000 Hire coach(for Bournemouth) Accommodation £20 per head for overnight at Bournemouth, based on staying in a hostel £400 Food £20 per head £400 Uni fees £500 pay for student mentors from Bournemouth Samba tuition £260 Total £2560
After we completed the rough cut version of our documentary, we asked others to give us feedback on what we had produced. We started by getting feedback from the class and then we managed to get feedback from Simon who has commissioned us. Below is the feedback that he gave us based on the rough cut that he saw.
"Visuals looks clear and mature. Audio sounds good. Interviews with the students, Junction staff, lecturers interviews. More, e.g Nick would be great, Sandra at Long Road, Jonathan at Bournemouth for interviews. Demonstrations of students working alongside Junction and Bournemouth staff, Some good footage but more of the Samba and CRaM conference would be great. Interviews with students who are going to Bournemouth and how Long Road has developed the link. Needs more of this Information for other consortia on how to schools and FE colleges should engage with employers. More on: students saying how important this is to the success of diplomas, at the end of the day this is why students do diplomas!
I have decided to play around with other ways of displaying my work so I have looked into working with a site called Prezi.com. This website allows you to make one big presentation on one big poster. You can zoom in and out to all areas, different angles and shapes. It was hard to start off with but once you get the hang of it, it can be quite rewarding.
Here is the link to the blogger page that we are all using for documentary, within the interaction project. We will be posting everything that we do throughout the project on this page so that we have all of the evidence. http://junctionproject.blogspot.com/
Today we continued to work on our documentary and today was our deadline for getting a rough cut exported and uploaded. We spent all of today's lesson editing our rough cut and we worked on getting the basics together. We needed to get all of the interviews together and we had the idea of putting the audio of these interviews over relevant footage to what each person is talking about in the interview.
This worked really well but there is still a lot to be done. As this is a rough cut, we of course think that would could do a lot more and we know of somethings that need to be tweaked. We need to tidy up the editing a bit and I feel that the interviews are a bit too long and boring so they may need to be cut down or made more interesting in some way.
After completing our rough cut, I have decided to go through our rough version and analyse it and see what we could have done better and what was good.
I have started at the beginning of the video and I have decided to go through it and pick out the parts which I think we need to improve on and how.
This first image shows you the opening credits which are basically the logos that were needed for the video and also a text introduction to the documentary and who is speaking. I think that the logos and effects with them work really well, however, I think that it is a long gap of silence and that it would benefit from some sound to make it more interesting.
I then went on to look at the introducing of the interviews. These done using simple text and fonts and just in black and white. I think that these were also a bit too quiet and that we could have used the audio from the footage that is going to played after, to play over the intro. The image below then goes into another frame which introduces Simon Bates.
I have also found that some of the shots that we have chosen for the live footage, are very dark and hard to tell what is going on. I think that we either need to find some other shots or if they are none of the same footage we will have to fill it in with something else. The images below show a bit of what the certain parts of footage are like.
I think that overall it was a good first attempt but it still really needs some work. To make it more interesting it needs to have some of the audio in the background still playing under the voiceover of the interviews. Some of the footage needs replacing or getting rid of and it also needs to be shortened a bit and cut a bit quicker to make it more viewable.
