Evaluation

 Most successful aspect

Pre- Production

The most successful aspects in pre-production that I thought went well were treatment,
focus groups and picking the topic.
I think that the treatment went well because I told my class mates what I wanted to focus
on about the topic. It also gave me an idea of what the people thought about the topic, so
they could give me their opinion on the topic. This had also helped me think about what I
needed to focus on; this then changed from youth subcultures to stereotyping.
Here is a link below to my treatment which is on my blog.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/treatment-for-pitch.html

The focus group that is shown in the link below is about youth subcultures. This had also
helped me because I was then able to find out what the audience wanted to hear. I did this
to draw people in who were within the age range of the targeted audience that I was mainly
focusing on. The focus group helped me to create ideas from the group discussion. I used
some of their feedback to put into the documentary which would improve it.
The link below is to my focus group.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2010/10/focus-group-youth-subclutures.html

The last successful aspect in pre production was that I had to decide on what the topic was
going to be. This was the most important thing that I had to decide on, it then set me on my
way and allowed me to find out who I would have needed to put in my documentary.
To help me decide on this topic I got feedback from class mates and teachers using the
feedback that I got from my pitch. This enabled me to come up with ideas so that I could
reach out to the targeted audience so it would keep them entertained and interested in the
documentary. The topic that I had started off with was youth subcultures but to the end of
pre-production I had decided to change my topic to stereotyping. I thought that this was a
good change because it gave the audience something to think about, it is also a very current
topical issue affecting youths and peoples lives today which made the documentary quite
unique. The main reason I chose this was that I was interested in it which was a big
advantage because it had motivated me to find out information about stereotyping.
Here is a link to my pitch below.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-pitch.html

Production

My most successful part that I thought went well in production was filming lots of footage
which I thought was useful e.g. the interviews that I had lined up with the expert
contributions of information. I also think that the types of camera shots that I had used
went very well. This is because I had a variation of shots e.g. mid-shots, long shots and even
establishing shots. I think that I used my filming skills very wisely because I wanted to keep
the audience fixed on to my documentary. I found using different types of shots enabled me
to do this well.
Post production

The most successful stage of my post production was editing the clips that I had captured so
I could slowly put my documentary together. This was so that it was near to my final piece. I
also think that the most successful part that worked best was the use of archive footage,
this helped me choose music that reached my targeted audience. My target audience were
within the age range of 16 - 24 years old. This was so it met the BBC’s remit. I found I had to
use quite current music which would keep the target audience interested, whilst they were
watching the documentary. Last but not least I feel that I had edited the interview with the
sociology teacher well because some pieces were not relevant, therefore I took out the
pieces which were of least relevance and used the pieces which had the most detailed
information.
Here is a link to my final piece
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/04/final-documentary.html

 Time management

Pre Production

I felt that my time management was not very good; I realized this because I gradually fell
behind during the pre-production stage. This meant that I was behind on my work such as
scripts being unfinished and not getting facts and figures about stereotyping. This then
meant I didn't get all the information that I needed to including finding much out about the
topic. This had a negative impact because I didn’t have enough information to keep the
audience interested in and therefore not informing them much. I quickly understood that I
needed to complete unfinished scripts and sheets to keep on task.
I think that I showed this best in week three.
Here is the link below which shows this.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/production-log-week-3.html

Production

During production I think that I did keep to my deadlines well because I set times and dates
for myself. These were the interviews with the experts that I had found to put in to my
documentary. Although I had to keep emailing the contributors who would be in my
documentary, this was so I could get a reply from them and that I did not waste the time
that I was given to film the interviews. I feel like I used must of my time well during
production because I got most of the shots that I wanted to film because I had planned
them beforehand.
Here is a link to the emails that were to and from my contributors and I.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/emails-from-contributors.html

Post production

In post production stage I think I could have managed my time better. I think this could have
been improved by meeting the deadlines that had been set for me e.g. my rough edit. This
was not met because I was absent from school due to illness. I therefore missed out on a
weeks work of editing my documentary. I think if I had been in for that full week I would
have been more ahead of my work. During that week I misplaced a tape which contained
the interviews with the police officer and the security guard. This consequently meant I had
to try and film the interviews again. This meant that I had lost more time editing my work
from spending lessons re-filming the interviews. By editing my work it would have allowed
me to gain more valuable feedback to my final rough edit.
Here is a link to my rough edit showing it not being near completion.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/04/rough-edit.html

 Actors and crew

Pre Production

In pre production I felt that finding contributors was an easy task to do. This is because I had
a solid idea of the people I was going to use in my documentary. I also knew people who
would be able to be a part of and get involved in my documentary. For example the camera
man, presenter and an editor. I had decided to contact the people who would be
contributing to my documentary by text and email. I found that by doing this it was quickest
route to contact the various contributors.
The link below contains my contact list and the different contributors I had found.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/final-contact-list.html

Production

I feel that the interviews went well because it was confirmed that I was able to film the
interview with the expert. This meant that I was able to give the audience lots of
information. I did this so that the targeted audience was interested in the documentary, so
it met the BBCS remit.
I think that the experts that I had contacted were good e.g. Colin (owner of Mr big) and Mel
(sociology teacher) because they gave me information that was needed, unlike the interview
with the police officer and the security guard which were not put into the documentary
because I had lost the tape. This put me behind, so I decided to look for some other
interviews e.g. a community police officer who would replace the police officer that had
been lost from the tape. This attempt failed because I had to get permission for the police
officer to be on camera again. Instead I decided to get an interview with Colin who’s the
owner of Mr big recovery. I felt like this would be a good interview because stereotyping
had affected his business in the past. Police had stopped him a number of times so it
showed that it had affected his business and life aswell.
During production filming vox pops was difficult. I found it hard to pluck up the courage to
go up to random people and ask them to answer a few questions. I then came up with an
idea to go to a small youth club where I knew people and found it less hard to ask them. I
found this also very useful because there were all different types of ethnicity’s and ages
there. This helped get my point across to the targeted audience that stereo typing affects
certain people in particular.
The links below are the questions that I would be asking all of my contributors.
Contributor’s questions:
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/questions.html
Vox pop questions:
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/vox-pops-questions.html

Post production

During this stage in post production I decided to edit the documentary because I thought it
was best to use the skills that I had learnt from the Redbridge drama Centre and to use the
skills that I’d learnt from the past four years of media. I needed to put in some voice overs
to explain what I was doing in the documentary. I came up with the idea to use the voice
recorder to record myself asking the questions. I chose to use myself because I have a clear
voice.
This is shown in the last week in my production log below.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/04/production-log-week-11.html

 Equipment and booking

Pre Production

In pre production I did not plan to use equipment as I planned most of my work on the
computer e.g. making scripts and finding out some facts about the topic. I also made a list of
what equipment would be needed. I thought this was a good idea because I needed to make
sure that I had the correct equipment, and also my peers would be using the same
equipment and I needed to make sure I had a chance to use it.

Production

During production i had to pre book the equipment that I was going to be using. I booked
them on the dates that I would be able to film. I also used equipment nearly every weekend
this was so I could film all of my vox pops. I did this by making a call sheet so I knew when I
was filming, who I needed to help me film and what equipment I would need to use to film.
The camera that I used mainly for the whole production was the Cannon. This was because I
knew how to use it well from past experience. I also booked out the rode mic when I was
filming because it picked up the sound clearly. Although I had no problems with the sound
side to my filming, I faced a small problem with the camera. The problem was that the
camera was on fade in and fade out whilst I was filming my vox pops. The solution to this
problem was that I waited a while for the camera to fade in so it did not cut out any speech
from the vox pop.
Below is the link to my call sheets.
http://davidyear13coms.blogspot.com/2011/02/call-sheets.html

Post production

At this stage I was given a IMac to edit my work on. Fortunately I did not have to share it
with anybody so I had more time to edit my documentary. The software that I used was
 iMovie, this was because I had past experience on how to use it. I had also learnt new skills
when I went to the Redbridge Drama Centre, so I thought I would use the skills I learnt to
improve my documentary. I used the software Garage so I could edit some of the audio that
I used for my archive footage.

Here is a picture of the IMac thatHere is a picture of the iMovie

 Budget

Pre Production

In pre-production I think that my budgeting was good because I planned what equipment I
needed for the production and post production. I found this useful because I could find out
how much it would really cost. I had a limit that I had to keep within (five thousand pounds.)
I also had to have money spare afterwards to show I’d kept within the original limit and in
case I had to buy any other necessities. limit that I had to stick by.

Below is a spread sheet showing the things that I needed to get and their prices etc.
Production

During production I had spent more days filming which would have cost more money for
renting the camera out. I had first planned to film for only a few days. I also had to pay for
the printing which would have cost more money because it was in colour rather than in
black and white. But I was able to save some money by using my own phone and by walking
to places. I also used my oyster card which allows me to travel on Public Transport for free.

Post production

In post production I did not spend extra time editing my work; therefore I kept within the
budget that I had planned to stick by. I did though spend extra money on the voice recorder
so I could record my voice overs because I felt this would improve my work.

 Least successful aspect

Pre-production

In pre-production I think that I could have planned everything more properly, e.g. the script,
facts and figures and to find more information about the topic. I also think that I should
have emailed more people so I had back ups if anything went wrong e.g. losing the tape
which had other interviews on. I think that the main least successful aspect in pre-
production was that I did not have a clear idea on what I was going to do. This then made
me go a bit off task so at the end of the pre-production I had to change my idea from youth
subcultures to stereotyping.

Production

In production I think my least successful aspect was that I did not take care of the tape
which was the reason why I lost it. I also think that I could have added more shot types so
there was variation to the documentary. I think that I could have got more vox pops by
being more confident to go up to people. If I went up to more people I could have got more
people to answer the questions which was what I needed. I also think that I could have got
some more information form the interviews that I had arranged with the contributors. This
was so the audience who would be watching the documentary would have a more clear idea
of what the documentary is about and learn more from it.

Post production

I think that I did not use the editing time well because the sound levels were not very clear
and were not very smooth all the way though the documentary. I also think that I could
have looked for some more archive footage and music to put into my documentary. This
would have entertained the targeted audience more.