- The worked planned for this week is to go out on Sunday morning at around 8am and to capture the wildlife around. For this I will need to use the digital video camera and the tripod.
- I went out on Sunday morning and left the house at 8.30am. I feel that today was the first day that I have got some strong and solid footage to use. During my trek in the park, I filmed things such as a tree, scenery of the park, birds nest's, water, Starling, Blue Tit's, Common Gull. However the main highlight of this attempt of filming was my footage of Grey Squirrels, which was one of the animals i intended to capture. Also i was using a variety of shots from long to close-up's to tracking. I only stayed at the park for an hour, because unfortunately the battery ran out.
- From my footage which i gained, I feel that after all my efforts, I've finally got some strong footage to show and feels like a great achievement because my efforts are starting to pay off, however theirs still a long way to! One thing I found very hard was to follow and track the animals and birds, as they move so fast and swiftly. At times when i was filming the Squirrel, when i had lost them in the trees, I had to constantly look around to see where in the tree they were. This will be something i will have to have more practice with. My view is that it has gone just as I planned, in that I go to the right places I know where the animals inhabit and hopefully the animals and birds I intended to shoot will be there at the time. Also I planned that on this occasion that I would definetely get some good, solid footage, which I have.
Sunday, 28 January 2007
Weekly Progress
Monday, 22 January 2007
Research (2)
Wild Events
Wild Events is the third documentary that I had researched. The other two wildlife documentaries that I studied were both broadcasted on the BBC, however 'Wild Events' is boradcasted on Channel five. The presenter, Jake Willers, goes around the world and gives an insight into some of the most amazing wildlife spectacals in the world e.g. The Wildebeest migration, Bat cave, the Flamingo feast etc. The conventions that Wild Event uses combine both 'The Blue Planet' in the sense that it uses voiceover and explains the animals current behaviours, and from 'Autumnwatch' it uses a presenter, in this case Jake Willers. Example, during the Wildebeest Migration the camera interchanged between both the wild event and Jake explaining what is happening . As with all wildlife documentaries facts and statistics are given.
Wild Events is the third documentary that I had researched. The other two wildlife documentaries that I studied were both broadcasted on the BBC, however 'Wild Events' is boradcasted on Channel five. The presenter, Jake Willers, goes around the world and gives an insight into some of the most amazing wildlife spectacals in the world e.g. The Wildebeest migration, Bat cave, the Flamingo feast etc. The conventions that Wild Event uses combine both 'The Blue Planet' in the sense that it uses voiceover and explains the animals current behaviours, and from 'Autumnwatch' it uses a presenter, in this case Jake Willers. Example, during the Wildebeest Migration the camera interchanged between both the wild event and Jake explaining what is happening . As with all wildlife documentaries facts and statistics are given.
The use of constructing and editing the Wildebeest crossing makes more dramatic and was key in making this documentary successful. Also the use of sound adds to the suspense and tension as the Wildebeest cross the crocodile infested waters. Combination of close ups to see in detail what is going on e.g. Crocodile grabbing a Wildebeest and violentely hauling it down underwater to drown and long shots to show the size of the event e.g shows, as does the picture above, the number of panicking Wildebeest desperately trying to croos the Mara River. Again, the camera shots really make the event more spectacular.
Saturday, 13 January 2007
Plan for the Week
Depending on the weather, i am hopeful that this Sunday morning, I can go out at roughly 7am and spend approximately two and a half to 3 hours wandering around the park looking around and hoping to capture some footage.
Research
Natural History Documentary programmes
The Blue Planet
One natural history documentary that I studied was 'The Blue Planet'. The Blue Planet explored the worlds oceans, rivers and lake, looking at marine life all over the planet. From this documentary I saw the typical documentary conventions which i had learnt from class. This includes voiceover by Sir David Attenborough, facts and statistics, cinemtography (long shots, low angle shots, close up), edits (pan, tracking, tilt, cut)etc. But I also picked up on a technique that is more noticably used in wildlife documentaries. I learnt from my research that whenever they show an animal e.g. A Polar Bear, they will give an introduction to the animal and a small fact about them (this could include their size weight and height, population, features etc.). But what i really learnt that i feel will help me take my documentary up a level, is that as the the narration follows the animals behaviour. For example (from the Blue Planet), a Walrus goes to swim into the ocean, so Attenborough says 'Walrus tend to make daily journeys out into the sea in search of clams'. This shows that he is explaining why the Walrus has gone swimming. Its not gone into the water just to have a swim, but to search for clams to feed on.
Autumnwatch
Another Documentary which i anaylsed for my research was another BBC documentary 'Autumnwatch'. This documentary is presented by Bill Oddie (left), Simon King and Kate Humble. Once again i was looking for documentary conventions. Both 'The Blue Planet' and 'Autumnwatch' maybe wildlife documentaries, however the presentation and the way both documentaries were constructed were the opposite. The Blue Planet just showed the marine animal with David Attenborough narratoring on the animal and it's behaviour. On the other hand Autumnwatch has a combination of a voiceover and the presenter themselves actually presenting the programme. Example, when Simon King was talking about the Red Deer in the Island of Rum, the camera was interchanging between Simon King (the presenter) and the animals. Another technique used that was not in the Blue Planet was replay action used by Simon King when he was explaining an incident of a fight between two Red Deer. Another difference was that in Autumnwatch they gave the animals names, just like people e.g. Caesar, Maximus, Percy etc. Similarily they both introduce the animal and explain the animals behaviour, however in Autumnwatch the presenter sometimes tries to interpret and then tell the audience what the animal is thinking or saying if they was a human e.g. When one male Deer comes to challenge another Red Deer for the right to own the best patch, Simon King says what the current owner of the patch says "How dare this fellow try to take over my patch". This demonstrates that he is talking on behalf of the Deer and basically translating, from his interpretation of its behaviour, what the animal is saying, thinking, so we as the audience can understand what is going on. Once again the use of facts and statistics, cinemtography and editing etc.
From My Research
From my research, which i believe has helped me have a better insight into how to construct my documentary and also what kind of footage i actually want. I have learnt that there are two ways of presenting a wildlife documentary, so i've decided that i would like to combine both styles into one. Using the main voiceover idea in some areas and presenting some parts of the show as well.
Animals that I intend to capture
This is a small list of animals that i intend and hopeful of capturing for my documentary:
The Blue PlanetOne natural history documentary that I studied was 'The Blue Planet'. The Blue Planet explored the worlds oceans, rivers and lake, looking at marine life all over the planet. From this documentary I saw the typical documentary conventions which i had learnt from class. This includes voiceover by Sir David Attenborough, facts and statistics, cinemtography (long shots, low angle shots, close up), edits (pan, tracking, tilt, cut)etc. But I also picked up on a technique that is more noticably used in wildlife documentaries. I learnt from my research that whenever they show an animal e.g. A Polar Bear, they will give an introduction to the animal and a small fact about them (this could include their size weight and height, population, features etc.). But what i really learnt that i feel will help me take my documentary up a level, is that as the the narration follows the animals behaviour. For example (from the Blue Planet), a Walrus goes to swim into the ocean, so Attenborough says 'Walrus tend to make daily journeys out into the sea in search of clams'. This shows that he is explaining why the Walrus has gone swimming. Its not gone into the water just to have a swim, but to search for clams to feed on.
Autumnwatch
Another Documentary which i anaylsed for my research was another BBC documentary 'Autumnwatch'. This documentary is presented by Bill Oddie (left), Simon King and Kate Humble. Once again i was looking for documentary conventions. Both 'The Blue Planet' and 'Autumnwatch' maybe wildlife documentaries, however the presentation and the way both documentaries were constructed were the opposite. The Blue Planet just showed the marine animal with David Attenborough narratoring on the animal and it's behaviour. On the other hand Autumnwatch has a combination of a voiceover and the presenter themselves actually presenting the programme. Example, when Simon King was talking about the Red Deer in the Island of Rum, the camera was interchanging between Simon King (the presenter) and the animals. Another technique used that was not in the Blue Planet was replay action used by Simon King when he was explaining an incident of a fight between two Red Deer. Another difference was that in Autumnwatch they gave the animals names, just like people e.g. Caesar, Maximus, Percy etc. Similarily they both introduce the animal and explain the animals behaviour, however in Autumnwatch the presenter sometimes tries to interpret and then tell the audience what the animal is thinking or saying if they was a human e.g. When one male Deer comes to challenge another Red Deer for the right to own the best patch, Simon King says what the current owner of the patch says "How dare this fellow try to take over my patch". This demonstrates that he is talking on behalf of the Deer and basically translating, from his interpretation of its behaviour, what the animal is saying, thinking, so we as the audience can understand what is going on. Once again the use of facts and statistics, cinemtography and editing etc.From My Research
From my research, which i believe has helped me have a better insight into how to construct my documentary and also what kind of footage i actually want. I have learnt that there are two ways of presenting a wildlife documentary, so i've decided that i would like to combine both styles into one. Using the main voiceover idea in some areas and presenting some parts of the show as well.
Animals that I intend to capture
This is a small list of animals that i intend and hopeful of capturing for my documentary:
- Blackbird (bird)
- Red Fox (mammal)
- House Sparrow (bird)
- European Magpie (bird)
- Ferel Pigeon (bird)
- Woodland Pigeon (bird)
- Rats (mammal) - Maybe, but very unlikely
- Robin (bird)- maybe
- Black-Headed Gull (bird)
- Common Gull (bird)
- Grey Squirrel (mammal)
- Blue Tit (bird)
- Carrion Crow (bird)
- Common Gull (bird)
- Great Tit (bird)
- Starlings (bird)
In addition i have researched all about these animals and for each one i have made a animal profile (Name, Scientific name, habitat, description/Info, Behaviour, Diet, Conservation status and reproductive biology). The majority of this information that I have gathered will be in my documentary.
work so far
- Note: I am working on my own for this project
As i am doing a wildlife documentary, i required the camera's early as i thought that maybe I could be lucky and catch some footage during the Christmas holidays. Also i used it as a chance to catch some nightime footage, unfortunately i was unlucky for all my attempts of staying up till 4-5am. But i did not do much day footage as i was using this time to practice computer animation (during the holidays). Before i chose to do this project i was deciding on whether doing an animation of 'Trublez the Dog', a comic i produced in Year 11 or an animal documentary. I have chosen to do this project as i feel it is more achievable and realistic, also considering the deadline for the project. But now i am clear about which project to go through with, i am now going to start putting 100% time and effort into the project. Apart from that i have also done my research and have learnt some techniques that could be vital in making this project a success.
Park Life, wildlife at your backdoors
Director: Chintan Barot
'Park Life' is a wildlife documentary series which aims to show our audiences that you don't have to go the ends of the Earth just to see some spectacular wildlife, as its right near by your local park. In this ten part series, each episode will explore a park and show what wildlife inhabits the park, both during the day and the night. At the same time, the series will return in each season, the first being in Winter (then to Spring, Summer and Autumn), to see if the wildlife has changed and why. The first episode will be based in Rectory Park.
'Park Life' is a wildlife documentary series which aims to show our audiences that you don't have to go the ends of the Earth just to see some spectacular wildlife, as its right near by your local park. In this ten part series, each episode will explore a park and show what wildlife inhabits the park, both during the day and the night. At the same time, the series will return in each season, the first being in Winter (then to Spring, Summer and Autumn), to see if the wildlife has changed and why. The first episode will be based in Rectory Park.
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