Sunday, 28 October 2007
Sunday, 17 June 2007
'Park Life' Review
Director: Chintan Barot
Starring: European Robin, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, European Magpie, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Feral Pigeon, Woodland Pigeon, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Starlings, Green Woodpecker, Grey Squirrel, Red Fox
Documentary 2007, 10m 1 s
www.parklife-chintan.blogspot.com
Review
Parks are one of the last places we would think of when it comes to spectacular wildlife. Stereotypically when we think of wildlife we usually think of exotic palaces and wild animals such as the African Savannah with its Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs, but what about the animals in our very own parks?
‘Park Life’ is a brand new wildlife documentary which illustrates to the audience that you do not have to go to the ends of the Earth just to see some spectacular wildlife, as it can be right at your backdoor. The programme ventures through Rectory Park and watches how the wildlife and its environment adapt to the seasonal changes throughout a year. In this episode, you will see how the animals and the park adapt to the change from the ‘cold, harsh frozen season of winter’ to ‘the life giving season of spring’. With its catchy title sequence and stunning close up shots of the animals including the Robins and Grey Squirrels, Park Life will engage from the very beginning. See Squirrel acrobatics, meet the very unique Green Woodpecker, listen to the adorable Robins singing their little hearts out and watch out for the sly sneaky Red Fox tip toeing around our streets. This documentary gives a real insight into life in a park as the animals really immerse us into their world. Witness natures beauties unravel from the gloomy winter to the bright colourful spring. Park Life will allow you to see a side of wildlife you have never seen before.
Starring: European Robin, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, European Magpie, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Feral Pigeon, Woodland Pigeon, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Starlings, Green Woodpecker, Grey Squirrel, Red Fox
Documentary 2007, 10m 1 s
www.parklife-chintan.blogspot.com
Review
Parks are one of the last places we would think of when it comes to spectacular wildlife. Stereotypically when we think of wildlife we usually think of exotic palaces and wild animals such as the African Savannah with its Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs, but what about the animals in our very own parks?
‘Park Life’ is a brand new wildlife documentary which illustrates to the audience that you do not have to go to the ends of the Earth just to see some spectacular wildlife, as it can be right at your backdoor. The programme ventures through Rectory Park and watches how the wildlife and its environment adapt to the seasonal changes throughout a year. In this episode, you will see how the animals and the park adapt to the change from the ‘cold, harsh frozen season of winter’ to ‘the life giving season of spring’. With its catchy title sequence and stunning close up shots of the animals including the Robins and Grey Squirrels, Park Life will engage from the very beginning. See Squirrel acrobatics, meet the very unique Green Woodpecker, listen to the adorable Robins singing their little hearts out and watch out for the sly sneaky Red Fox tip toeing around our streets. This documentary gives a real insight into life in a park as the animals really immerse us into their world. Witness natures beauties unravel from the gloomy winter to the bright colourful spring. Park Life will allow you to see a side of wildlife you have never seen before.
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Final Message
Overall I have enjoyed making this production. I felt that from the beginning it was always a risky project to do. Things such as not getting enough footage of a bird/mammal or poor footage etc. however I had confidence that I could pull it off. Three things that I believe was the reason that my production was a success at all was:
The whole project has been fun for me. From the filming to the editing. Only when waiting for the Foxes was my patience being stretched, otherwise I was lucky.
To conclude, in terms of the Media Studies Award Evening next year, I just want to wish EVERYONE GOOD LUCK! and may the best production win.
- As I am interested in animals, I had a wide knowledge of the animal kingdom and I felt that it has played into my advantage.
- Watching wildlife documentaries. Even before I carried this project out, I have been watching wildlife documentaries for many many years. For as long as I can remember. Once I learnt about the film language and documentary conventions, it was really easy to understand when I was watching them. Also when it came to editing, I had a clear idea/vision, of how to construct it and the script writing. But I was struggling at the beginning, however it was only once I made a link between things such as animals that I finally had a foundation to work from.
- I felt over the whole time it was probably my decision making that was the main reason. Every decision that I made, especially the BIG decision was spot on. Even from the beginning I had to make a choice of whether to do an animation or a wildlife documentary and their I have chosen the right one. Also my decision on whether to present my documentary or not, choosing soundtracks and many others.
The whole project has been fun for me. From the filming to the editing. Only when waiting for the Foxes was my patience being stretched, otherwise I was lucky.
To conclude, in terms of the Media Studies Award Evening next year, I just want to wish EVERYONE GOOD LUCK! and may the best production win.
Evaluation
For my practical production, I worked on my own and produced a wildlife documentary called ‘Park Life’. The documentary aims to educate and inform the audience about what animals inhabit our parks, at the same time showing that you do not have to go to the ends of the Earth just to see some spectacular wildlife, as it can be right at your backdoors. The words ‘Park’ and ‘Life’ demonstrate to my target audience, who are people that are generally interested in wildlife, that the documentary is exploring ‘life’, which represents the plants and animals, in ‘parks’.
To succeed in producing a professional wildlife documentary I carried out research into wildlife documentaries such as ‘Autumnwatch’, ‘The Blue Planet’, ‘Wild Events’ and picked up techniques such as voiceover, facts and figures, parallel sound, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, split screen, freeze frame. Also I learnt about the camerawork, such as long shots, medium shots, low angle shots, tracking shots, pans, tilts, zoom etc. and how different angles and shots can give different representations to the audience. After learning theses techniques I went on and applied theses to my own documentary.
I had great enthusiasm when we finally got the chance to start filming, as I personally am interested in nature and animals and could not wait to see what kind of footage I could gain. My big disadvantage, compared to professional documentary makers, was that I was on my own; therefore I could not gain a variety of different angled shots, whereas professionals have more than one cameraman working at the same time. One cinematography technique that I used was zoom in, which is often used by wildlife documentaries in order to make the audience feel as though they are right next to the animal themselves.
When it came to editing my documentary, I used ‘Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0’. Personally I found this time the hardest as I did not have the variety in angles and so I found it hard to construct my documentary, however I did have a large amount of footage meaning that I at least had a wide choice to choose from. After studying “Man with a Movie Camera” (1929), I learnt of soviet montage sequence and decided to apply this technique to the title sequence of my documentary. Also by using mise-en-scene, I put together some of the best shots in the documentary to engage the audience early on. Also the use of having a cross dissolve effect in between each shot allows the sequence to flow. In addition, I applied parallel music and used Terry Devine King’s ‘Nature Trail 3’ as the theme tune for my documentary.
Throughout my documentary, I used a mix of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The diegetic sound that I used included things such as Mr.Monro’s voiceover, to anchor meaning to the mise-en-scene. Music soundtracks, such as ‘Sly Spy’ by Igor Dvorkin/Duncan Pittoch and Paul Mottram’s ‘Drifting’ to make the documentary more engaging towards the audience. I also used sound dubs on bird songs such as the European Robin and the Green Woodpecker to emphasize their calls and demonstrate to the audience how beautiful bird calls can be. I combined this with non-diegetic sound such as the ‘natural sounds of the park’ to make the audience feel as though they are in the park themselves and to make the documentary more professional and authentic.
From the wildlife documentaries that I studied, I picked up on the fact that they have different styles of presenting a wildlife documentary. ‘The Blue Planet’ just shows animals and have Sir David Attenborough doing a voiceover, whereas ‘Wild Events’, the presenter Jake Willers is presenting the documentary with the camera interchanging between him and the animals.
I chose to do a David Attenborough style documentary. From ‘The Blue Planet’, I learnt that when watching an animal the narration provided by the voiceover explains the animal’s behaviour. This is something which I applied to my documentary. For example, when we see a noisy flock of Starling’s feeding from the bin bags, the narrator says ‘Here is a flock of noisy Starlings squabbling with each other over the best spots to feed as they pick away this bin bag’. Here I am explaining that the Starlings behaviour whilst the audience can see this visually. The voiceover is anchoring the meaning of the mise-en-scene. This is effective as it engages the audience and educates them about the animals and their behaviour whilst being entertained, whereas if it were to be just facts and figures, it would be too formal and uninteresting. This conforms to Michael Rabbiger’s idea that documentaries should include contextual information, but not too much or too little.
From my Module 2 studies of documentaries, I learnt about how a low angle shot, such as the one used in “Bowling For Columbine” (2002), where we see a ‘low angle shot of Michael Moore triumphant over the villain Charlton Heston’ in his view towards gun control, can portray heroism, power or superiority to the audience. From this, I applied it to my own documentary but with a different purpose in mind. Because a low angle shot can be used to show superiority and power, I used this as a way of glorifying the park and make it look more than just a place with trees and bushes. I also combined it with pans and ‘went across a tree with the sun’s ray’s shining through’. Although parks are set aside for our recreational and ornamental purposes, this shows the audience how beautiful the park can really be.
My documentary will be broadcasted at 6.30pm on BBC2, a public service broadcaster. I chose the BBC as it is a terrestrial channel and therefore I can reach a larger audience, furthermore, because the BBC is very successful when it comes to making documentaries such as ‘Autumnwatch’ and ‘Nature Calendar’. I chose the time slot for the programme to be at 6.30pm as this is when documentaries such as ‘Nature Calendar’ are shown. At the same time I am avoiding a clash with the BBC six o’clock news.
To conclude, ‘Park Life’ does educate and inform people about Parks and by using techniques such as low angle shots to glorify the park. Also I have gone through all the animals in the park, showing what wildlife inhabits the park, whilst using a linear narrative, starting from the morning to night in winter time and then waking up to the ‘life giving season of Spring’.
Word Count: 1,081
To succeed in producing a professional wildlife documentary I carried out research into wildlife documentaries such as ‘Autumnwatch’, ‘The Blue Planet’, ‘Wild Events’ and picked up techniques such as voiceover, facts and figures, parallel sound, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, split screen, freeze frame. Also I learnt about the camerawork, such as long shots, medium shots, low angle shots, tracking shots, pans, tilts, zoom etc. and how different angles and shots can give different representations to the audience. After learning theses techniques I went on and applied theses to my own documentary.
I had great enthusiasm when we finally got the chance to start filming, as I personally am interested in nature and animals and could not wait to see what kind of footage I could gain. My big disadvantage, compared to professional documentary makers, was that I was on my own; therefore I could not gain a variety of different angled shots, whereas professionals have more than one cameraman working at the same time. One cinematography technique that I used was zoom in, which is often used by wildlife documentaries in order to make the audience feel as though they are right next to the animal themselves.
When it came to editing my documentary, I used ‘Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0’. Personally I found this time the hardest as I did not have the variety in angles and so I found it hard to construct my documentary, however I did have a large amount of footage meaning that I at least had a wide choice to choose from. After studying “Man with a Movie Camera” (1929), I learnt of soviet montage sequence and decided to apply this technique to the title sequence of my documentary. Also by using mise-en-scene, I put together some of the best shots in the documentary to engage the audience early on. Also the use of having a cross dissolve effect in between each shot allows the sequence to flow. In addition, I applied parallel music and used Terry Devine King’s ‘Nature Trail 3’ as the theme tune for my documentary.
Throughout my documentary, I used a mix of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The diegetic sound that I used included things such as Mr.Monro’s voiceover, to anchor meaning to the mise-en-scene. Music soundtracks, such as ‘Sly Spy’ by Igor Dvorkin/Duncan Pittoch and Paul Mottram’s ‘Drifting’ to make the documentary more engaging towards the audience. I also used sound dubs on bird songs such as the European Robin and the Green Woodpecker to emphasize their calls and demonstrate to the audience how beautiful bird calls can be. I combined this with non-diegetic sound such as the ‘natural sounds of the park’ to make the audience feel as though they are in the park themselves and to make the documentary more professional and authentic.
From the wildlife documentaries that I studied, I picked up on the fact that they have different styles of presenting a wildlife documentary. ‘The Blue Planet’ just shows animals and have Sir David Attenborough doing a voiceover, whereas ‘Wild Events’, the presenter Jake Willers is presenting the documentary with the camera interchanging between him and the animals.
I chose to do a David Attenborough style documentary. From ‘The Blue Planet’, I learnt that when watching an animal the narration provided by the voiceover explains the animal’s behaviour. This is something which I applied to my documentary. For example, when we see a noisy flock of Starling’s feeding from the bin bags, the narrator says ‘Here is a flock of noisy Starlings squabbling with each other over the best spots to feed as they pick away this bin bag’. Here I am explaining that the Starlings behaviour whilst the audience can see this visually. The voiceover is anchoring the meaning of the mise-en-scene. This is effective as it engages the audience and educates them about the animals and their behaviour whilst being entertained, whereas if it were to be just facts and figures, it would be too formal and uninteresting. This conforms to Michael Rabbiger’s idea that documentaries should include contextual information, but not too much or too little.
From my Module 2 studies of documentaries, I learnt about how a low angle shot, such as the one used in “Bowling For Columbine” (2002), where we see a ‘low angle shot of Michael Moore triumphant over the villain Charlton Heston’ in his view towards gun control, can portray heroism, power or superiority to the audience. From this, I applied it to my own documentary but with a different purpose in mind. Because a low angle shot can be used to show superiority and power, I used this as a way of glorifying the park and make it look more than just a place with trees and bushes. I also combined it with pans and ‘went across a tree with the sun’s ray’s shining through’. Although parks are set aside for our recreational and ornamental purposes, this shows the audience how beautiful the park can really be.
My documentary will be broadcasted at 6.30pm on BBC2, a public service broadcaster. I chose the BBC as it is a terrestrial channel and therefore I can reach a larger audience, furthermore, because the BBC is very successful when it comes to making documentaries such as ‘Autumnwatch’ and ‘Nature Calendar’. I chose the time slot for the programme to be at 6.30pm as this is when documentaries such as ‘Nature Calendar’ are shown. At the same time I am avoiding a clash with the BBC six o’clock news.
To conclude, ‘Park Life’ does educate and inform people about Parks and by using techniques such as low angle shots to glorify the park. Also I have gone through all the animals in the park, showing what wildlife inhabits the park, whilst using a linear narrative, starting from the morning to night in winter time and then waking up to the ‘life giving season of Spring’.
Word Count: 1,081
Sunday, 29 April 2007
FINISHED (week beginning 23rd April 07)
- This week I have completed my practical production, handing in my brief, production and evaluation.
- This week Mr.Bush looked at my edited production for the first time and fortunately he was very impressed, even I was shocked by his reaction. After we meet up on Thurs, Period 5 to tell me where to 'polish up' and tidied it up for the last time on Friday.
- Nothing is planned for next week as i have finished.
Tuesday, 24 April 2007
Weekly Progess (Week Beginning April 16th 07)
- This weekend I aimed to finish my production and finish off my evaluation.
- Throughout this week, I have stayed after school with Mr.Monro, and he helped me edit the script and carry out the voiceover. It was on Wednesday, that the voiceover was done. However when I put it in my documentary, some bits that were said were not said confidently as Mr.Monro did seem a little nervous at the beginning, however when he got into the flow, he was excellent. Also by me giving him signals (thumps up to start, and flat hand when I wanted him to stop) and from theses signals, I felt that it worked better. So, on Friday, Mr.Monro re-did the parts of the voiceover that I did not like and put it together. Whilst on Sunday, I editied my Brief and did my evaluation. Also, at the beginning I had a BBC Ident- Predator, however I decided I needed a female voiceover to introduce the programme and so I have chosen Ms.Spencer to perform this, with Ms.Stevens as a backup.
- By the end of this week, I aim to complete my 'Park Life' practical production
Thursday, 12 April 2007
Weekly Progress (Monday 9th April 07)
- This week I have been continue to edit and have made far more progress than I did last week. As I have other work to commit to, usless I have chosen a day to do Media, I have stayed up until 12pm-1am and done some work.
- This week I have finally found my opening tune to my doc (Nature Trail (3)- composed by Terry-Devine King), and I personally feel that I have created a introduction that even I'm astonished I could make with what I got and also how the music has fitted so perfectly with it. Also I feel its very professional as well and I proud of it. Also I have managed to fit in some of the other tracks I have and put them into the initial documentary. Also detailed touches were being made to areas. The only problem that I have found is that I actually dont have enough footage of the Blackbird. I am just about finished in making the final touches, then I think that I may need to re-create a new script for Mr.Monro to perform on the Monday we get back.
- I aim to finish my production and Evaluation by tomorrow as I have other work I must do (Friday 12th April 07). However I did say that I may create a different version of my documentary as well, a more 'Man With a Movie Camera' style. I will make ago of that however now I feel that my orginial production is working out I may not need to create the second version, however I will make a start on it.
Weekly Progress Report (Week Beginning 2nd April 07)
- This week I was continuing to edit my project
- Good Friday was REALLY a Good Friday for me! I managed to find a website which will be helping me in terms of music and sound www.audiolicense.net. The site a section just for wildlife sounds including sounds for Activity, Drama/Dramatic, Insect, Chase, Flight, Slow motion and Documentary, with a choice of 427 songs to look through of the whole genre. I managed to find at least 3 to 4 songs I could use
1. Drifting (composed by Paul Mottram)
2. Sly Spy (composed by Igor Dvorkin and Ducan Pittock)
3. Winds (composed by Chris Blackwell)
4. Enigma (Paul Mottram)
I did not have enough varitey in my shots so I spent and whole afternoon and evening in the park filming and I was extremely lucky I did as I have captured even greater footage that I before (I would put it down to the beginning of Spring though), but I have lots more footage of the Robin and more shots of the park scenery, also more Starlings and Carrion Crow's. But it was worth it and I feel that this one afternoon and evening could have just strenghthed my work as before I personally feel it was a bit weak, especially in angles and variety of scenery.
- Next week ( week 2 of the Easter Holidays), I intended to continue editing my documentary.
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Weekly Progress Report (week begining 26th March 07)
- On this week, I watched lots of documentaries and learnt and picked up even more ideas of how to make my production better.
- On Sunday, I intented to get a lot of editing done, however I feld very tired and could not concentrate, so instead I watched documentaries all day. BBC2 at 18.10, I watched the 'Natural World'- 5 Cats and one camera'. After watching it I was left inspired and also it was probably the best wildlife documentary I have ever seen. I learnt alot about how to construct a documentary. One way that the filmakers illustrated the African Big Cats was by having lots of different angles and close-ups. Also I learnt that each shot lasted no longer than 10 secs. Although the cinematography was great, I put as my favourite purely because Big Cats are my favourites and the footage that was initally captured was what was so amazing. e.g. Footage of a Caracal Cat jumping 10ft in the air and catching a Stork in flight!. But I did notice all the cameraworks and techniques they used. In the end, I did not waste time and now I know how to make my documentary stronger. Also Mr.Bush has recently met with someone who works in making wildlife documentaries for the Discovery Channel and has told me that I could maybe even break the boundaries and conventions by producing a documentary through just using visual images, just like 'Man With a Movie Camera'.
- So in the Easter holiday I will be making two drafts, One with my orginal way, facts, voiceover etc. and one in a similar stlye to that of 'Man with a Movie Camera'.
Sunday, 25 March 2007
Weekly Progress (Week begining 19th March 07)
- This week I have stayed up every night working from 10pm till 12-1am doing the production.
- I feel that I have made progress as I made progress but not as much as I would have liked as I was editing at nightime, I understandably felt tired at times, however today (Snuday),I am going to work all day (starting from when I finish this progress report)editing and in between I am going to have to take some time off to revise for the Media Module 1 Mock exam which cuts some of the time off.
- Today I am going to continue editing my production, as I am to have blocked everything in and start looking closer and deeper into things and where am I going to put this shot, effect on audience. Also I am going to gain some help in making my introduction as this is the only area I am struggling with.
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
Self Evaluation
- Attainment- -A
I feel that I have maintained my standards, although I also feel that I have had a little bad patch.
- Effort- 1
I personally always give 100% in my work in all my work.
- Punctuality - 1
I only came in late once, and that was coming from the park whenI was filming, otherwise, I am always on time for my lessons.
- Submission and Quality of homework- 2
I feel that for the first time I have slipped at this section and I am extremely disappointed as this is one of my main strenghts in media
- Ablilty to work independantly- 1
I am currently working on my own in my practical production hence this is one way of showing my ability to work independantly. But also I work well on my own because I can focus and get progress done with my work.
- Quality of writing-1
I feel that as time has gone on I have improved in the quality of my writing in terms of using key concepts and analysing, however one thing I need to practice on and have lacked in most of my essays is concept flow.
- Organisation of media folder-1
Currently I have organised 3 folders, one for Mrs.Stevens, one for Mr.Bush and the third solely for my Practical Production. Organisation is one of my main strenghts and I feel that I have always been able to find what I am looking for when I am going through my folder
- Oral Contribution in the class-2
I feel that I do make a contribution, but not enough
- Quality of Coursework-2
Currently I am at the editing stage and can't say much about the quality. In terms of cinematography, I feel that some areas I of high quality e.g. A close up shot of a Grey Squirrel, while areas of poor quality such as the shot involving Starlings on a rooftop (which I have taken out). Overall I feel I am progressing and I feel that I can still turn this into a great production from what I have managed to capture.
- Standard of my Module 3 Blog-1
My view is that my blog is always up-to-date and very detailed in what I have done or achieved. Also I like many others like the colours that I have used as it really gives it a natural, park greenery look
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Weekly Progress
- Over the weekend, I have finally made a start on my editing.
- While I have been editing, I have found it very hard in that how I could make something out of all my footage, I knew I could, but how was the question. At the sametime I also realised that I still needed even more footage e.g. The Robin, I needed more. However I have managed to find a solution just by planning and organising the structure of my documentary. All I did is think of all the links that I could make and I came up with this:
1. Theme tune- 'Park Life, Wildlife at your backdoors'
2. Introduction to parks (using footage of the scenery)
- what is a park?
- what are parks made up of?
- About the programme series
3. Dawn time (begining of day- Dawn Chorus- Dawn footage)
4. Robins (because they are ususally the first birds to start the dawn chorus)
5. Blackbird (because I have good footage of blackbirds at dawn)
6. Carrion Crow -(link: because both have black plumage)
7. Magpie- (because it is a member of the Crow family)
8. The Tit family, Great and Blue- (because they link with the families idea, e.g. from Crow family to Tit family -link= family), then a shot quick shot of scenery to introduce next mini theme
9. Small flocks of Pigeons- (because to start the mini-theme of flocks, small flock)
10. Common Gulls- (because they are in large flocks)
11. Starlings- (largest flocks, specatacle in numbers, most abundant in whole of park)
12. Green Woodpecker- (because I am lucky to see a Green Woodpecker, good end to the birds section)
13. Grey Squirrel- (because its time to show that the park does not just play host to birds., mammals are their too)
14. Red Fox- (because its the other mammal, nighttime (began at dawn))
15. Summary of Rectory Park - (montage of birds/animals in the show+ shots of flowers, insects and sparkling water to demonstrate the idea that Winter is ending and Spring is coming)
- After create a strong plan, I have found it much easier to create my doc and I now have a strong idea of how to go around editing my documentary
- This coming week I intend to continue editing and also I MUST develop a script as one thing I have found hard to judge how long a scene is against a script. (So far, as I play my footage, I just minic what i may say to see if it may fit in). But by having a script ready, it will make like even easier.
Friday, 16 March 2007
Weekly Progress
- This week I completed my capturing.
- This week I started and finished capturing 2hours and a half worth of footage which in the end took up a whopping 21GB! From Monday to Thursday, I stayed after school until -5.30pm capturing the footage and now I have taken it home to start my editing. In other news this week, I opened up a mini audition for a male teacher to do my voiceover. I auditioned Mr.Bush, who I immediately ruled out, and then I did Mr.Monro, (who before i even started it was my favourite choice), and I ave chosen him purely because he has the best voice. I was intending to do other teachers such as Mr.Jones, however I felt that it was pointless after hearing Mr.Monro. I have chosen him mainly because he has the voice that I am looking for within the school. I feel that he will have to develop the way he says things and this is somehting that I will guide him as the voiceover is being done.
- Over the next week I intend to get a large proportion of my editing done. Also I need to develop my script, early enough so Mr.Monro has time to practice.
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Weekly Progress (week beginning 5th Feb 07)
- This week I have made a start with the editing process.
- On Friday, I stayed after school until 5.30pm, capturing my footage in school as I do not have a firewire port at home.
- This coming week I intended to finish capturing all 2 1/2 tapes by Wednesday/Thursday, so I can start editing at home.
Sunday, 4 March 2007
Weekly Progress (week beginning 26th Feb 07)
- The work planned this week was to go out and capture the sound of the dawn chorus. I took the digital video camera and tripod as always, however this time I also took the external microphone as sound would be the main feature of this expidition.
- Friday 2nd March 07- On this day I went out in miday and just captured more footage of any wildlife I could get. Also I climbed up two small tree's and got a shoot from a tree. I also tried to climb up a tree to get a look at inside a birds nest, however it was impossible for me as for one, it was way to high, two, the branches are to thin and weak to hold me and three, I would be having to carrying a camera and tripod, meaning I would only be ble to use one hand to move around with, which is an impossible situation Sunday 4th March 07- This morning I woke up at 5.45pm and left and 6.15pm and stayed until 7pm. Apart from being freezing cold, it was a wonderful atmosphere to capture. Also a pair of Geese were flying around and adding to the dawn chorus mix. I also took the chance to re-shoot the 360 degrees shot, low angle shot of the trees and sky.
- Next week I intend to start my editing and first off all, as I do not have firewire port, I will have to capture all my footage, meaning that I will have to go through two full tapes and 20 mins of a third tape. After that I can take it home and start to construct it, develop a script and choose to do my voicover etc.
Monday, 26 February 2007
Weekly Progress (week beginning 19th Feb 07)
- The work planned this week was to go out and do some filming and hope to be really lucky in capturing something spectacular. As always i took the digital video camera and the tripod.
- This was quite a bad luck for me as most of the times that i had planned to go out it was raining. Also what disappointed me about this week was that on Sunday, I intended to wake up at 5.30pm and film the dawn chorus. I woke up at 5.30pm so i could go film the dawn chorus, (which is a wildlife spectacle, but involving sound), however it was rainning. I did eventually manage to get out of the house, later that day, but again due to some drizzle and rain, I had to forfit the trek through the extremely wet and muddy park. In the time i managed to stay out for 30 mins and managed to capture the European Magpie feeding, Common Gulls flyings, and Pigeons feeding.
- My plan (this week) is to extend my filming time to just this week in a last ditch attempt to capture some amazing wildlife, but most importantly the dawn chorus.
Sunday, 25 February 2007
Test Screening Feedback
1. MCCAT (Grade A-E)
Media Language- C
Conventions- B
Creativity- B
Attention to Detail- B
Technical Proficiency- B
2. Positive comments:
cinematography?- Good Variety and angles of shots
mise en scene?- Good setting, natural
lighting?- Good use of natural lighting
sound?- Good, clear sounds of birds
conventions? matching audience?- Animals for an animal documentary
3. Constructive Criticism:
cinematography?- Sometimes woobly, shaking, more angles
mise en scene?- Show the environment/setting more
lighting?- Need bettering lighting at night
sound?- Disruption in sound, dont just use internal mic, use external as well
conventions? matching audience?- Don't shoot in urban environment
4. Suggestions and Ideas:
What else would you (or the target audience) like to see in this production? (scenes? sequences?)- More varitety of animals
Media Language- C
Conventions- B
Creativity- B
Attention to Detail- B
Technical Proficiency- B
2. Positive comments:
cinematography?- Good Variety and angles of shots
mise en scene?- Good setting, natural
lighting?- Good use of natural lighting
sound?- Good, clear sounds of birds
conventions? matching audience?- Animals for an animal documentary
3. Constructive Criticism:
cinematography?- Sometimes woobly, shaking, more angles
mise en scene?- Show the environment/setting more
lighting?- Need bettering lighting at night
sound?- Disruption in sound, dont just use internal mic, use external as well
conventions? matching audience?- Don't shoot in urban environment
4. Suggestions and Ideas:
What else would you (or the target audience) like to see in this production? (scenes? sequences?)- More varitety of animals
Suggestions for post-production/editing (music? voiceover? cutaways? montage? cross cutting? titles? slo-mo?)- Use voiceover, maybe follow a particular animal, construct a narrative, sequence
To Present or NOT to present? That is the question
Its' decision time and I have made my choice on whether to present my documentary (or have someone present it) or not. I have seen that the majority of people who have posted up a comment on my blog about presenting or not have suggested that I should present my wildlife documentary as it will make it more personal, fun, interesting and exciting. Also I personally want to present my documentary HOWEVER, my final decision is that I will NOT present my wildlife documentary 'Park Life'. So why have I chose this decision you may ask?
First of all, the main convention of a wildlife documentary is the voiceover. The voiceover is performed by an male adult and as a narrator, telling the audience the the name of the animal, facts about the animal and the behaviour of the animal. As I do not have a voice of a adult male, yet, If I were to present the show (which I want to do), I would have to do the voiceover as well as only one person ever does a voiceover for a documentary. Also It would not sound professional and one of my objectives is to have a professional documentary. In addition, this means I will have to start to open a search for someone who I believe has the voice I am looking for, to do the voiceover for my documentary.
Having someone else presenting my documentary would not be a bad option, however they would have to give up a lot of time! and commintment. Also the person who would present my documentary would also have to get a muddy, and wet as they will have to perform in the park. Its a good option, but a bit complicated and also considering time I dont not have time on my side in order to search for someone that I would find suitable for my documentary.
Earlier in my 'Research' section (Blue Planet, Autumnwatch, Wild Events), I explained about their being two different styles of doucmentaries. As I will not be presenting my documentary, the style of my documentary will follow that of the David Attenborough documentaries e.g Blue Planet, in which their is just the animals and the narrator.
To conclude in terms of my narrative, It will have to follow the aim of the documentary. Now this aim is flexiable and may change to something else due to the footage I have. Currently the aim is 'To show that you don't have to go to the ends of the Earth, just to see some SPECTACULAR wildlife'. This means that I will need some amazing footage of wildlife spectales on my footage. However that can only be decided on luck for me. Time is also not an advantage as professionals have months and years to collect all their footage, whereas I have nowhere near the sametime as a professional would have. So in the case that I do not have any/enough spectacular wildife to show , the aim of my documentary will change to 'To show WHAT wildlife inhabits the parks'. So far, I can say from my footage that I may have not captured enough sepcatular wildlife, therefore, due to the topic I am doing, I have been granted extra time for my filming and I will extend it to one week only, in a last ditch attempt to capture something spectacular.
First of all, the main convention of a wildlife documentary is the voiceover. The voiceover is performed by an male adult and as a narrator, telling the audience the the name of the animal, facts about the animal and the behaviour of the animal. As I do not have a voice of a adult male, yet, If I were to present the show (which I want to do), I would have to do the voiceover as well as only one person ever does a voiceover for a documentary. Also It would not sound professional and one of my objectives is to have a professional documentary. In addition, this means I will have to start to open a search for someone who I believe has the voice I am looking for, to do the voiceover for my documentary.
Having someone else presenting my documentary would not be a bad option, however they would have to give up a lot of time! and commintment. Also the person who would present my documentary would also have to get a muddy, and wet as they will have to perform in the park. Its a good option, but a bit complicated and also considering time I dont not have time on my side in order to search for someone that I would find suitable for my documentary.
Earlier in my 'Research' section (Blue Planet, Autumnwatch, Wild Events), I explained about their being two different styles of doucmentaries. As I will not be presenting my documentary, the style of my documentary will follow that of the David Attenborough documentaries e.g Blue Planet, in which their is just the animals and the narrator.
To conclude in terms of my narrative, It will have to follow the aim of the documentary. Now this aim is flexiable and may change to something else due to the footage I have. Currently the aim is 'To show that you don't have to go to the ends of the Earth, just to see some SPECTACULAR wildlife'. This means that I will need some amazing footage of wildlife spectales on my footage. However that can only be decided on luck for me. Time is also not an advantage as professionals have months and years to collect all their footage, whereas I have nowhere near the sametime as a professional would have. So in the case that I do not have any/enough spectacular wildife to show , the aim of my documentary will change to 'To show WHAT wildlife inhabits the parks'. So far, I can say from my footage that I may have not captured enough sepcatular wildlife, therefore, due to the topic I am doing, I have been granted extra time for my filming and I will extend it to one week only, in a last ditch attempt to capture something spectacular.
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Notice
(People who have seen testscreens of my work) It has come to my attention that some people have commented that I need to use the tripod. Just to make it clear, every single shot that I used (apart from the night-time footage) I have used the tripod. The reason it may be unsteady at times is because some times I am having to place the tripod on an uneven surface and because when I am filming the animals, I have to capture them quickly as I dont have all the time in the world to set up. I have to be quick enough to capture the animal/bird in the first place, so that is the reason why some of the shots maybe unsteady.
Thank You
Thank You
Monday, 19 February 2007
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
I have two major decisions I must make:
1. Whether I should actually present the documentary mtself/ or get someone else to do it or To NOT present my wildlife documentary
The advantage of presenting my documentary will be that I can make the project more personal. However If i was to present the documentary, when it comes to the voiceover (which will be used in certain areas), I will have to perform the voiceover. The problem with this is that wildlife documentary usually have a male adult narrating, so if I was to do the voiceover, it would not sound as professional. However ever if i was to get someone else to present it and do the voiceover, then thats a solution. The drawbacks of that is it won't make it personal as if i were to do it. Also to actually find someone, and for them to give up their time just to do it, will be hard as well. (In addition this is something alot of people have talked about when analysising my work).
2. Narrative? Day to night? or even follow a particular animal e.g. Grey Squirrel, give it a name and use the Squirrel as the backbone of my documentary.
The advantage of the day/night storyline is that I can go around the park and randomly find the animals I want and then create a script from it once ALL the footage is collected. The disadvantage will be if the narrative is strong or not. On the other hand, by basising it on a particular animal, it provides a strong narrative backbone. However the disadvantages are that to have a show based on an animal e.g. Grey Squirrel, it would mean that I have to find alot of Squirrels and that most of my footage has to be a Squirrel in order to make it a character. Also I cannot track one Squirrel usless it is tagged like the professionals do, however it has been suggested to me to just find any Squirrel and pretend it is the same one, as most people would not recognise that it is different.
So what to do?? As I have a half-term holiday to do my filming (although I have actually been given an extension for my filming), I must make my decisions as soon as possible. So THIS SUNDAY ( 25th Feb 07), which will be the next day I will go out filming, I will announce my FINAL choice to theses MAJOR decisions.
1. Whether I should actually present the documentary mtself/ or get someone else to do it or To NOT present my wildlife documentary
The advantage of presenting my documentary will be that I can make the project more personal. However If i was to present the documentary, when it comes to the voiceover (which will be used in certain areas), I will have to perform the voiceover. The problem with this is that wildlife documentary usually have a male adult narrating, so if I was to do the voiceover, it would not sound as professional. However ever if i was to get someone else to present it and do the voiceover, then thats a solution. The drawbacks of that is it won't make it personal as if i were to do it. Also to actually find someone, and for them to give up their time just to do it, will be hard as well. (In addition this is something alot of people have talked about when analysising my work).
2. Narrative? Day to night? or even follow a particular animal e.g. Grey Squirrel, give it a name and use the Squirrel as the backbone of my documentary.
The advantage of the day/night storyline is that I can go around the park and randomly find the animals I want and then create a script from it once ALL the footage is collected. The disadvantage will be if the narrative is strong or not. On the other hand, by basising it on a particular animal, it provides a strong narrative backbone. However the disadvantages are that to have a show based on an animal e.g. Grey Squirrel, it would mean that I have to find alot of Squirrels and that most of my footage has to be a Squirrel in order to make it a character. Also I cannot track one Squirrel usless it is tagged like the professionals do, however it has been suggested to me to just find any Squirrel and pretend it is the same one, as most people would not recognise that it is different.
So what to do?? As I have a half-term holiday to do my filming (although I have actually been given an extension for my filming), I must make my decisions as soon as possible. So THIS SUNDAY ( 25th Feb 07), which will be the next day I will go out filming, I will announce my FINAL choice to theses MAJOR decisions.
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