Television Production

Critical Reflection Now the project is completed, I'm going to reflect on the project to understand what went well, and what went wrong, and why. The Process Preparation We began with brainstorming ideas that we thought would be appropriate for the audience. We had some very controversial ideas that would have been very interesting, but hard to justify only addressing for 10 minutes and also would be near impossible for us to get people on board. Some of our ideas included eating disorders, celebrities, body image, and selective breeding in pets. As we thought the selective breeding would be the easiest to find people and get them involved we decided to research down that route. Our idea developed onto dogs that are bred for dog shows as they are bred to have very particular traits, and we wanted to address if it was really ethical. We began to approach contributors who were all very helpful in passing us on to more appropriate people, however no one really wanted to ...

Sync Workshop. In this lesson we had a workshop on how to begin editing our documentary using transcripts and editing together an interview using a transcript and script. I found this lesson harder than usual as it isn't how I usually edit and because I didn't know the footage it made it harder, but I feel the short interview I edited together was okay considering. Working with a transcript did seem to make it simpler as it meant I could quickly get rid of anything that wasn't needed and being able to go through a transcript before editing the video meant that it was more simple to see what was said and narrow down what was needed and what wasn't. It really helps to organise files into narrowed down subjects to make the shots easier to find. So far this has made editing so much easier and I'm able to find the appropriate shot almost immediately. I have edited using our transcripts and it definitely makes it easier as you're able to quickly remove any f...

Editing. Documentaries are edited in a fairly uniform way, and as I will be editor for the project I want to put some research into how documentaries are edited first so that I know how to properly display our story for the screen. As examples, I used Reggie Yates' Extreme- Life and Death in Chicago and Louis Theroux: LA Stories- City of Dogs . I ensured to use BBC documentaries so that I was taking examples of something that is shown on BBC where our documentaries are aimed towards. Style The editing was styled to fit the topic of the documentary. In Extreme , it's a controversial topic that includes a lot of emotional stories. This is shown in the editing with slow-motion GVs while sad topics are discussed. Reggie gives his thoughts before going to an event and after going to an event. This helps the viewer to empathise with him and understand the reasons behind meeting the people. GVs are used to bring in any moments of speech so that the editing is smoother an...

BBC Three. Our documentary is going to be made with BBC Three as the target platform for screening. BBC Three is a popular channel which has moved from broadcast television to being online. This makes our audience more specific and I want to address our platform before making the documentary so that we are able to ensure that it fits into the usual content of BBC Three.  BBC Three moved to being an online channel in 2015, but is still full of content directed towards 16-34 year olds.  Audience BBC Three has a younger target audience at around 16-34. This makes their content quite specific as the channel has a lot of online competition in YouTube and Netflix. They make themselves unique with content that involves the audience; the documentaries are about young adults, the comedy revolves around young adult characters, and the other tabs involve challenges that young adults are facing head on at that age, such as sexuality, health and wellbeing, and drugs. In the ...

Presenters. Presenter-led documentaries create a certain style that is easily engaging for the viewer. They have a sort of 'reference point' to focus on and that feeds them the information they need, while asking the questions they're wondering. As presenter of our group documentary, I want to know what's involved in being a presenter and why a presenter is used for some documentaries, but not others. The Role As a presenter, it's your job to, as you would expect, present the show. Using research that has been done in the pre-production the presenter is able to inform the viewer. They also interact with contributors asking questions, and essentially tell the story of the documentary. It's useful to have a presenter as it means we are likely to get more information from actuality if the presenter asks questions as it's happening. It also adds to the story as the presenter is usually on a journey to learn about the topic of the documentary- this is s...

Documentary Content Research. Kennel Club The Kennel Club is an organisation that dedicates themselves to maintaining the welfare of dogs and educating dog handlers and owners about dog care. Breeders can be Kennel Club registered, which maintains that they are a reliable breeder with healthy and well-looked-after dogs and puppies. They are also one of the main event organisers for the biggest dog show in the world, Crufts, with many other Kennel Club registered dog shows across the country. We have gone through their website to find events that we can include in our documentary or even just people we can contact for information on who we can talk to. They have a very comprehensive list of dog shows in the UK   with the contact details of the organisers of the events so we will be able to use this in order to find people we can talk to and possible events we can contact to film at. Other than actual events, there is a list of dog clubs in South East England that we can cont...

The Historic Dockyard. As a class, we took a visit to Chatham's Historic Dockyard to practice shooting actuality and to get a better idea of how to present information in an interesting way. In our group, we shot a short documentary about the Dockyard using the information that we saw on the boards around the museum. We each took the role that we will be representing in the actual production, and it was good to get a feel for the role we are representing and get used to the pace at which we'll need to film. We focused on 3 areas of the dockyard- the lifeboats, HMS Gannet, and the ropery demonstration. We started off in the lifeboat exhibition, and this is where we spent the most of our time, as I was presenting and needed to come up with something to say. It was difficult as there was people still walking around the exhibit which was distracting and I lacked the confidence to continue with my presenting as people watched. We did have some strange encounters, however, su...

Interviews. Vinters Park, Maidstone (30th April) and Jeskyns Country Park (T.B.C) We are currently in the process of getting in touch with the groundskeepers of Vinters Park, where we may be able to get vox pops from dog owners. This may not necessarily mean we will be talking to pug dog owners but we may still be able to ask people some questions. It will be good to keep these questions short and sweet so that we don't inconvenience the people we're filming too much. Are they rescue or breeder, why did you choose this route to get a dog? Why did you choose this breed of dog? What do you think about fashionable breeds such as it used to be Chihuahuas but it seems that now it's Pugs or Shiba Inus. The Pug Hotel, Rochester (1st May) We have arranged to visit a pug hotel in Rochester, which is run by a lady called Tasha who also owns her own pugs. We will be attending to film on Tuesday 1st, and will be aiming to get a lot of GVs of the dogs, as well as an in...

Fishpeople. Fishpeople is an example of a formal documentary that tells the story of people who have a deeper relationship with the ocean. This documentary is a light-hearted and easy-to-watch as it follows a relaxing subject with no particular sense of challenge. I chose to research this documentary as it follows a group of people who are particularly interested in a subject, which is what we are trying to achieve with Purebred, however it's carried out in a different format to how we plan to shoot. Fishpeople uses formal interviews cut with GVs to tell the story of each person involved in the film. They're represented in blocks, and not cut together like a lot of documentary formats that are telling the viewer about multiple people. Usually this would seem a slow and dragging way to edit a documentary but I think because this is an easy watch, it fits, as you're not having to remember the story from the person that they're changing onto. Not using a presente...

Ugly Delicious. Ugly Delicious is a docu-series following David Chang as he tries different staple foods from around the US and the world whilst learning the history behind it and trying different versions. I have seen almost all of the episodes, but I will be talking about the episode "Fried Chicken". Ugly Delicious has 1 season and is exclusive to Netflix. David Chang is a restaurateur, and goes on the journey to discover the best versions of food and most traditional restaurants in the US. In "Fried Chicken", you may have already guessed that Chang is learning about fried chicken, and while trying to get an idea of how fried chicken should traditionally be served, he taste-tests chicken and discussed the history behind it. I found the show very interesting, as often you don't consider where food has originated from. It's informing the viewer about the food that they regularly eat and don't really think about eating. Other episodes focused on...

Actuality. Today we learned about how actuality can be portrayed and how much, as a crew, we can script.  Chasing Dad: A Lifelong Addiction Chasing Dad is a documentary that a son makes about his father, who's been addicted to heroin and alcohol since before the son was born. It's shot entirely by the son and no other crew, which makes the documentary very unique and far more personal. Their relationship has existed but has been strained because of the father's addiction, which means the pair have fairly distanced relationship. This relationship level means that they have enough emotional separation that the son is able to get balanced answers from his dad and feel comfortable interviewing him, but also the son knows he can ask more pressing questions, and really get to know his dad's situation, because it's his dad and he's able to be much more personal with his situation, and even challenge him more. This also benefits his dad as he's able ...

The Pitch. Purebred Effie: -During Crufts 2018, PETA protesters stormed the stage, holding a sign reading “canine eugenics”.-Dog breeds have changed so dramatically that it is taking a negative affect on dogs’ health.-But what are the passions behind dog breeding and show dogs? Why are breed standards so important, and are the dogs really suffering? -To take part in a dog show (in particular a ‘best of breed’ show) a dog must conform to a set of appearance and temperament regulations. This is called a Breed Standard and every breed has one. -Purebred dogs are dogs bred for their appearance and temperament to be most desirable in their breed. This leads to certain traits being bred out of a dog, and this has led to massive changes in the appearance of dogs in the past 100 years. -The documentary is going to be presenter-led. -This ensures that we can shoot actuality scenes with the characters and a presenter asking them questions as they carry out their routine, whi...

Girls Incarcerated. Girls Incarcerated is a documentary on Netflix that is based in a juvenile correctional facility, following the lives of girls in the facility involving the drama, people arriving and people leaving, and also the staff who are there to keep the girls in check, but also be their support. It is shot handheld of what the girls do throughout the day, including regular interviews with them and using the interviews as voice over at times. There is no presenter of the show or anyone voicing the questions. Occasionally you'll hear the questions being asked for context, but it's never done regularly. I found it interesting how it was shot as this meant that the action could play out in front of the crew without anyone interfering with the action, and it also felt as though the characters could act more normally in front of the camera without having someone follow around always asking questions. They were able to get information about the incidents after they...

Interview Workshop. Today we shot a short interview in the studio to practice how to record an interview for our documentary. In a group of 3, myself, Ebony and Esme each interviewed each other to practice how we were going to use the microphones effectively, in order to get appropriate sound for either a formal interview or vox pops in louder settings. For our interview, we used a shotgun mic attached to the top of the camera and a clip mic on the subject of the interview. This worked well as it meant that in post, I was able to link the sound from the Tascam that was attached to the clip mic with the sound recorded onto the camera through the shotgun. This meant that we had the option of atmospheric sound, but I decided just to use the clip mic, and then shoot the questions with a reverse shot separately. It did work well but was a little time-consuming, so I'm considering that a two shot may be best for our style of documentary, with a shotgun mic being held by the present...

Surveillance Oz. Surveillance Oz is an Australian docu-series reviewing footage from CCTV cameras around Australia, and the crazy things that happen on them. It involves recreations of what happens in the CCTV offices and footage from the original CCTV camera when the incident occurred. There are also interviews with the people watching the CCTV cameras to get their opinions on what had happened. The interviews in Surveillance Oz are quite formal, but the editing of the show is quite informal and makes it easy to watch. The interviews are in the office itself or on a set, with professional lighting, and it's likely that there is a degree of scripting to the interviews. They also recreate the interactions between the controllers so that the viewer can get an understanding of their reaction, and it's likely quite close to what they were actually saying during the incidents, but there is also a sense of some scripting and direction added to the scenes. Along with this th...

Louis Theroux. Louis Theroux is a very well known British documentary film maker, who's work has inspired me for a very long time. His unique style of documentary-making has made him so popular, as he is able to provide a seemingly non-biased view on aspects of the world that the majority of the population don't know much about (i.e. gambling). I have seen all of his documentaries except for the Law and Disorder series which I will be watching for the purpose of this research. Theroux started when he graduated from Oxford in 1991, and started out as a print journalist the year after. He got his TV break from Michael Moore who hired him as a writer and correspondent for his satirical show TV Nation. [1] I found it interesting to know he originated from the same city as me and started out as a print journalist, as this shows how far he has come, which is inspiring. Louis' style of documentary is quite unique, in that he can almost effortlessly get the subject...