Week 12 | Jwhiteual132024

Week 12: 22nd-26th April

Tuesday

On Tuesday we had out weekly meeting catch up to further prepare our end of year show. This meeting revealed a lot about those in our team, and perhaps some of the commitments that they said they would stick to. What I mean by this is that as Aimie, one of two leaders, discussed the plans that were made last week, and asked people if those plans had been executed, practically nothing was done. This isn’t just this week either, for the past several weeks, we have had the same problem where those with jobs just simply aren’t doing them – nothing is being set in stone; over the past few weeks, accumulative ‘jobs that need to be done’ are being set and more and more is piling up.

The largest issue we had here was to do with the technical side of the show – video and audio. To begin, audio:

Audio levels need to be at a set volume throughout all of the productions as they are going to be on one video file, meaning volume cannot, and should not be changed between productions.
Speakers in the venue must be tested to see if they are clear and if you can hear from all seating positions.

Video:

The screen needs to be checked to see if it is clear enough to see out productions on. We had tested previously with a YouTube video playing, but it’s important to check that, now some of us have some cuts, to check if we can actually see our productions.
How is this video going to be shown on the tv? Thoughts regarding the laptop/vision mixer being used to display the video on screen is important as what if something becomes faulty and we don’t have anything to show.
The videos need to be compiled into one video with appropriate interval timings for the person managing the video to be able to pause in time.

What we took away from this meeting is that we all need go to the venue and check it off now. If we keep waiting around, nothing is going to happen – so that’s exactly what we did. I suggested the idea of using Harry’s video as I was aware he was creating a film noir, meaning he is using very dark tones and also someone else’s which is much brighter, such as Flossy’s documentary which is light and airy. This was took well, and using Harry’s powerful laptop, before leaving, me, harry and flossy made sure that we had videos to put on the screen when we went to go down and test it.

To add to this, the photos below show me checking on with Stan and Gus (who are controlling the video playback) to see where they will be situated on the night and how everything is going to work. This was very good to know and be aware of, as because me and a few others double checked what they had planned, we can ensure that it’s the right thing to do.

Specifically, in the photo below, Ash the technician was showing us how the HDMI cable would reach down to where the input is for the screen.

In the image here you can see how I was sitting at the back of the venue to see if the screen was visible or not. As you can, it actually looked really good… up until you sat down at the front and because of the angle you were at, is looked really dark. This is something we will be discussing in the next meeting as it could become very problematic. Speaking on this further, after playing the video (as seen in the image) we played Harry’s film noir – due to the dark tones, this was even harder to see and was very dark.

Discussing what I talked about before with the audio and video problems we have, I have taken upon the responsibility of some of these myself as quite honestly, I just wanted to get the job done. I wil be compiling all of the projects in the class into one long video with 5 second screen with the title and producer’s name. With this, I will also adjust the audio levels for every single project so that they all meet the correct audio level requirements. This audio level will be between -6 and -12 dB.

To add to this, I also asked if there were any additional creations that needed to be made regarding graphics, and idea that was suggested was a poster with the logo on for the main door of the venue. This poster should say, ‘This way!’ or something similar to indicate to those coming where they need to go.

Throughout these meetings I ensure to stay professional and never speak over anyone else. We discussed the principles of being respectful within our group, and this is something I think very strongly of. I find that at some points in the meetings it can get a bit ‘antsy’ so ensuring that I am not a part of that and causing less troubles for the leaders to deal with is important to me.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, for the entire day I continued to cut my documentary. Specifically, I set myself the aim to cut a decent amount, if not all of section 5, as this would leave me in a great position with only having to shorten the length of section 4 and cut the final section. I’m actually really happy with the work I was able to complete, and I’m proud of the effort and commitment I had to achieving my goal. I find it really hard to work some days, but when I have a simple, achievable goal like I had, it helps a lot to keep me motivated – this is particularly true due to how long this production has been to any other I have had before.

Near to the end of the day, after producing my 1st cut of section 5, I showed this cut to a colleague. I asked for their honest thoughts and opinions on it so I had some feedback to help move me in the right direction. One of the points that they suggested was that it’d be good to have some b-roll over Erin’s response as everybody else has something. Therefore, I sent Erin a message to ask permission to use any of her graphics work as b-roll for the documentary. This message can be seen to the right.

Luckily, she responded positively, and I had permission to use any of her work on her Instagram page. This was really good news as this gave me creative freedom to choose what I wanted to include, and ultimately, gives me the opportunity to solve the issue of not having any b-roll over Erin in this section.

To download the photos/videos from her Instagram, I used a website toolzu.com. Using a website tool like this ensures that the quality is the highest possible – which is very important when producing a the best work I have ever made so far in my career.

A post of hers that I was specifically drawn to when searching for some potential b-roll was the one you can see below. I like this one because it discusses the topic of neurodivergent people in the creative industry, which is what she discusses in her speech too. Along with this, I also genuinely like the message being said as I states that you are not alone – this is a key message I want to make clear in my documentary too. I then also downloaded a video where she showcases the branding for her business – which shows off the sort of work she does for others too. I decided to use the video where she shows off what she does for her own company, rather than someone else’s, as I don’t want any issues to arise if that company were to see their branding used in the documentary without their permission.

On Thursday morning, I set out a to-do list for the day in order for me to understand what I need to do. Breaking down the tasks in to a to-do list also helps me to understand timescales and whether I am going to be able to achieve everything I would like to in the next week or so. I tend to think about things in week blocks as it’s a large enough time to complete a great deal of work, but also not too large where it can hard to make correct assumptions for how long tasks may take.

The first task on my list was to create a welcome poster for the end of year show. I had this tasked to me on Tuesday morning, and as we had a meeting tomorrow afternoon, it was vital that I got this completed. Not only was the deadline set out for tomorrow, which is the main reason for getting it completed, but also, by getting it done for the meeting I then have time to gain feedback and make amendments to it. Feedback is the most important thing when producing something creative like this, as creativity is interpretable and can be perceived in many ways by different people, so getting an understanding for others thoughts on it is vital.

The creation of this poster can be seen in the video below:

Once this was completed, I had already been able to tick off one of my objectives for the day. I had managed to get this done very quickly and it got me motivated for the next task. My next objective was more of an admin task – I needed to sort out my problem-solving pages and add relevant problem-solving too them which I have made notes for throughout the last few weeks. Most importantly, I needed to create 2 separate pages for the practical and theoretical problems.

This was a fairly easy task and actually allowed me to tick off two objectives from my to-do list – organising the pages and adding relevant problem-solving evidence.

Using my communication and interpersonal skills, I worked with set department and Aimie, one of the group leaders, to produce posters for the seat rows. This was important to produce as without this, audience members would not know which row they need to sit on according to their seat number on the ticket. It was a fairly simple task, but by getting voices from 3 different departments in the team, we were able to create something that looked appealing but also practical. We decided to use the same font throughout to keep the branding of our show. I then also made a different version of the mascot where it’s hands are pointing upwards. I did this because I wanted to draw the viewer's attention to the heading of the page, as this is the most important aspect. Thinking about psychological factors like this are very important, as if the hands were pointing downwards, the poster would not be as effective as it otherwise could have been. The posters can be seen below.

The image below shows my checklist for the day, and I can quite honestly say that I’m extremely happy with the work I was able to achieve, particularly as I was only half way through the day! For the rest of the day, I continued to finish the checklist by catching up on journals for week 10 and 11, then got back to the editing process.

Friday

I’m writing this on the morning of Friday – my aim for today is to spend all of my time on the edit. I am proud of the ‘admin’ work I was able to complete yesterday, meaning I can now confidently spend my time today working on the edit. The current situation is that I have completed the cuts of scene 1, 2, 3 and 5. Scene 4 has the clips selected in the sequence, but not cut down, and the final scene, scene 6, needs to be cut entirely. I am going to dedicate the morning to bringing in all clips for scene 6, and begin to cut it down.

To view more on this editing process, click here.

Whilst editing scene 6, I wanted to include a short video b-roll of scrolling down a misophonia charities (soQuiet) website as Tom mentions it in his response. However, to overcome any legal problems that may occur without having permission to use it, I sent them an email asking for exactly that – permission. The email I constructed can be seen below.

Hello,

I am writing to you to ask permission for using a screen recording of your website in my documentary.

I am Jon, a college student producing a documentary about misophonia and would love to show your website as a way to guide those watching to somewhere where they can learn more about it.

The video would be ~5 seconds long, slowly scrolling down the home screen of your website.

Looking forward to hearing back from you,

Jon

When writing this email I made sure to keep my wording and overall message precise, whilst also seeming respectful too. I decided to start of with what I want out of this email, then gave a short summary of who I am and the context it would be used in. I thought that it would be important to add this summary because it makes me seem a lot more trustworthy and therefore more likely to gain a positive response.

As our group leaders scheduled an extra meeting in, there was a meeting we had today too. This meeting overall went okay as we were able to discuss more technical sides of the show, which was vitally important. It was definitely worth having this meeting just for this purpose.

However, looking at what I was able to get out of it regarding my job role, the images below show what I bought forward to the meeting.

As you can see, besides the seating posters in the background, there are 2 new additions that I have not yet discussed. The image on the left shows the programme for the show, and the image on the right shows a directions poster. Both of these were produced this morning. I worked directly with set department in the making of the programme, as it was vital that we kept the branding coherent throughout all creations. It is currently only in black and white as this was a prototype, but the colour are all kept the same from the main logo, along with the font and mascot also being included too. The font for the names of the films are in a more easy-to-read font as we have decided that the branded font should only be used for titles.

When looking at the image on the right, you can see a poster which will be used to direct audience members from the car park to the building where the show is being held. I created this because I was talking with one of our group leaders, and logistically, it seemed like a good idea. The creation of this poster can be seen below...

Later that day, I spoke with another lecturer about my edit to get another set of eyes on it. The first main point we discussed was the reasoning as to why Eddie was not on screen, and whether there should be some sort of explanation for the audience as to why this is the case, but the end consensus is that it wasn’t needed, particularly with how he is introduced as a character into the documentary. Though nothing was changed, discussions like this are beneficial because they allow me to take a step back and question what I have produced, understanding whether I have made the right decisions or if some sort of alterations need to be changed.

The next thing he brought up, and we went on to discuss, was the idea of adding a graphic to Erin and Tom’s interview that makes it clear to the audience that this is a video call. The reason why this may be something to think about it because Erin and Tom are looking directly at the audience, whereas Jolene and Judith are looking to the side, like a conventional documentary interview. This steps into the realm of thinking about a voyeuristic viewing experience rather than a straight-on. Usually, a documentary is either one or the other, but in my case, it is both. I will try out this graphic next week to see whether it is needed at all. It’s important to note that these are only concepts, and this idea is not set in stone – it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.

Besides these points, it was all very positive and he liked it a lot. A particular point he made was that he liked the interconnecting edits and pacing – this is great to hear as it’s something I put a lot of effort into trying to get right. The reason it’s so important as instead of hearing one person’s story at a time, each person the audience meets backs up what others are also saying, making a much more interesting and engaging piece.