Week 4 | Jwhiteual132024

Week 4: 26th Feb-1st March

Monday

I decided today that I should send out a general survey to understand more about my potential audience – who they are and what they like. This survey would be shared across social media, with both friends and family to gain a varied response. The description included a brief section into understanding why I was creating this documentary (my brother). Therefore, because I was referencing my brother and talking about a sensitive, private topic, I had to ensure that he was okay with the description being included. As he is 18, I also checked with our mother on how it was worded too. Gladly, he was absolutely fine with it, likewise was our mother, so I was able to send it out.

Its important that when I reference personal topics I check that it is okay to be sent out to the world via the internet – after all, anything that goes out on the internet is on there forever. The survey and description can be found through this link - https://forms.gle/Nf5d8VSNTGozxjaQ8

This evening, I had a little look through the google form survey results from sharing it on Facebook and Reddit, and I was glad to see there were plenty of informed responses. Particularly what caught my attention was two responses, both with Instagram account names included. These responses can be seen below.

This was exciting but also slightly frustrating. Exciting in the sense that there were people who were willing help me as support my journey in producing this documentary, but also frustrating in the fact that I feel like I have missed out on an opportunity to add the simple question ‘Would you want to be a part of the documentary’ or ‘If you would like to contact me further please email ….’. It is annoying to think about the people I could have missed, but I have to move on and use what I have available to me. I decided to message both of these people to learn more about what they had to say.

Luckily that night, @_.jol3n3._ responded to my message. I was able to ask lots of questions regarding who she is and how she deals with misophonia on a day-to-day basis. She’s in the same situation as me in the fact she is also in the second year of college. I thought to myself that she would be perfect to have in the documentary, similar to Erin that I was able to get on board with the doc last week. Luckily, she was very happy to be a part of the production and help all she could to spread awareness. I then shared the details of the production and let her know that I would keep her updated on what’s happening. What I was able to learn from this situation is that it is always worth asking – you never know if they might just say yes. Additionally, there is nothing to be afraid of if they say no, they were still happy to help and answer any questions I had.

Tuesday

The group meeting about the final year show was once again quite unorganised to start with. When everyone is sat in a circle, it’s common that the leaders can find it hard to control the group of people speaking. Furthermore, it doesn’t help with the fact that some people aren’t even speaking about the topic of final year show at all. Once the leaders were able to get their word in and stop people from talking, we discussed a few different areas.

My understanding from last weeks meeting was that the writers of the show were going to come upo with a name for the show as a whole so that the graphics department, me included, can begin producing concept art for the logo. However, there had been no communication between the writers, meaning there were was no title. The leaders instructed the writers that they must complete this, and have evidence of the discussion taking place by Friday. This is good because it allows me to create or at least start thinking about the style of the logo before the next meeting.

On the bright side, the set design department did come up with a style sheet. This style sheet can be seen below

It consists of a very cozy vibe, with the use of warm lighting, natural green foliage, and clean white surfaces. It feels very aesthetic and pleasing to the eye. This was interesting to see, as it would make sense to relate the graphic work towards the style of the show. I did try to do some concept drawings for the logo after this meeting using this mood board, but without a name, I found it very hard to create anything. It’s a shame I struggled with this as it would have been nice to be able to create something to show the leaders quickly before the class ended, but I will instead just have to wait until a title comes my way.

The other discussion related to me and my role was the logistics of how the video would be played on the big screen. Considering we have a tight schedule, and the audience are only there for a set amount of time, there can’t be any time wasted; it needs to go smoothly. There were several ideas on how we could play the videos, but the two most promising options were:

Using powerpoint, with the first slide being the logo/name of the production and the second slide being an embedded video of the production itself. The first slide will be up behind the student as they speak about their production. This idea does include someone having to be in control of clicking across slides.
Using one long video that doesn’t stop playing. The splash screens will pop up after each production is played, and will stay like that for a set amount of time before the production plays automatically. This doesn’t require anyone clicking the slides, meaning there is less opportunity for technological and human error, but it does require everyone to fill their gap of time perfectly (could run over or could be left with silence until the production starts).

This evening I then went onto powerpoint and checked the file size capacity for video on powerpoint – it was 50mb. This is a problem because I don’t want people to have to worry about their file sizes. Furthermore, I wouldn’t want them to have to compress the video to reduce the file size as this would reduce the over quality of the image. For a show where we are showcasing our work, we don’t want it to look worse than it actually is. This will be something to bring up in the next meeting.

Wednesday

On Wednesday morning I began with organising all of the tasks I needed to get done for the research stage. I was half way through the second week of research and had realised how, despite working hard, I still had a lot of work to do. The logistical decisions I made on this morning to do a bit of admin work and tidy everything was vital in ensuring I could get as much research done as possible by the deadline date of March 3rd, this Saturday. I had realised how much I was neglecting my Trello board, and I hadn’t really been using it, instead I have been using a traditional notepad and pen. Though this is okay, and each day so far I have been keeping fairly on top with the work I needed to get done, it was clear to me that sometimes I would forget about things because they were a few pages back. I spent a good 20 minutes this morning just sorting all of the jobs I need to do on Trello so that I once again have an organised place to go where I can find out what I need to do. The Trello board can be seen below…

After seeing what I had left to do, I felt a little overwhelmed. I realised that in my original action plan I had not accounted for any additional time to complete tasks that may be added after the original list. I decided it would be best to organise these jobs into separate dates, so that each day, including today, I knew what to do, because with that many tasks, it can be hard to decide what to do and when. The image below shows my plan for the rest of the week; it can be seen that I do need to do a lot each day, so I will most likely need to work extra hours in the evenings to get it done. This is particularly true with the fact I recognise I am quite slow at working. Recognition of weaknesses is vital, as now that I have recognised this, I am able to overcome them.

Thursday/Friday/Sunday

I spent a lot of time throughout these 3 days understanding the production process techniques further. A particularly interesting scenario of research was on Sunday...

On Sunday I was at Lara’s, one of my peers’, house and decided to do some further primary research into interview techniques. This was really important because in the studio, all light was controlled, but when going to someone’s house to film, there is natural light from windows.

Though I was there to help with her own production technique research, I was able to take a lot from this myself and learn a lot I can take forward into my own.

They key things I learnt are:

Working with natural light meant that my key light was designated for me. Due to how the light bounced on the surface off the room’s walls, it also added light to the background and acted as a fill light too. Furthermore, as we filmed, the sun kept on changing. It was very strange to film in this uncontrollable lit room compared to in the studio, but it was great experience as this is something I will have to cope with in my own project too. I was able to use the blocking technique I learnt about in my secondary research too. I did this by using the curtains to block the levels and intensity of light coming into the room. To add to this, I was also able to use the diffusion method I had researched, using a pillow case over the top of my fill light. This fill light helped to reduce the intensity of the light, giving a softer shadow

Working in a small environment, where there isn’t a lot of room for equipment can be very hard to get the shot you want. This means you have to be both understanding and realistic for the capabilities of the shots you get, but also creative to try and overcome the problems that are preventing you from getting what you want. Additionally to this, because we hadn’t planned the exact shots we wanted to get, and there wasn’t a lot of room to carry a tripod around until you get a nice frame, I decided to take the camera off of the tripod and hold it handheld. I then walked around the subject, Lara, in a pivoting motion, so that I was always facing her. I kept my eye on the screen at all times as I moved around. This allowed me to find the shot I liked and then move the tripod to the location of the camera, rather than the other way around.