The pre-production process wasn't too bad once we had the idea sorted, the worst part was trying to get hold of a representative to interview as we were starting to panic that we weren't going to have anyone. The script was also difficult and annoyingly a big part - which we know now makes the editing process easier if you get the script and structure correct. It's easier having the correct structure planned out from the start instead of changing it about.
Despite the editing side being quite stressful with trying to plan the structure of the documentary, I have enjoyed this unit. I feel like we had a really good idea from the start and this unit has also taught us how to work in groups as the Storytelling and Directions unit were individual. I did enjoy working in a group because it was good to have Jack and Callum to discuss my ideas with and to hear their ideas as well. It was helpful to have a second opinion because in the editing process, Jack came up with ideas which I had never thought of before.
What worked?
- The idea worked well from the start. It was a great story to begin with and all the way through the production stages we have tweaked and improved on it to make the story even better.
- Our interviewees were really good. They were all great characters and had so much of the right things to say for us. They all answered the questions and went beyond some questions and told us more which we are grateful for.
- Having such a close contact with the East End Phoenix through Callum was helpful as we were able to film them at two training sessions and a Sunday League match, whereas, if we didn't know any members of the team personally then we might not have been able to re-visit so many times or not have access to film at all.
- Luckily, I think we got all the shots we needed (didn't need to re-shoot), all apart from Ed's cutaways but we were able to work around them.
- Working in a team was really helpful after completing two units individually, it was nice to have people to ask opinions of and for them to help with some editing bits and ideas.
- Having so many opportunities to meet up with Helen, Zoe and Sam helped a lot. Getting Zoe's feedback allowed us to see what she wants to see in a documentary about gay footballers and homophobia in football. We have hopefully produced something she wants to see and enjoys. We literally used every single bit of Zoe's feedback in the fine cut viewing to improve our documentary for the final edit.
- Working in a team was really helpful after completing two units individually, it was nice to have people to ask opinions of and for them to help with some editing bits and ideas.
- Having so many opportunities to meet up with Helen, Zoe and Sam helped a lot. Getting Zoe's feedback allowed us to see what she wants to see in a documentary about gay footballers and homophobia in football. We have hopefully produced something she wants to see and enjoys. We literally used every single bit of Zoe's feedback in the fine cut viewing to improve our documentary for the final edit.
What didn't work?
- I would say the interview with Ed didn't work as well as it could because of the lack of cutaways, unfortunately we couldn't use more than a couple of shots of Ed's because we had nothing to cut away to - however, this is a learning curve and we know for the future to always make sure we get cutaways, so it wasn't a waste because we've learnt from the mistake.
- We struggled making 10 minutes, we managed to get about 8 minutes in the end. We were debating whether to put more shots and interview shots in to make the time up but we thought that would be too much and just putting shots in for the sake of it isn't a good idea. We were happy with the structure and the interviews that we included in the end. It was just frustrating how it didn't make the 10 minute mark.
- I would say we weren't very organised in getting a representative from either a higher-leagued football team or campaign as we left it quite late. We did have a few we had spoken to but waiting for them to get back to us just prolonged the pre-production time. We were lucky to get through to Ed as I think he is a big part of our documentary, being a professional and all.
What did I learn?
- I learnt about always, always, always getting cutaways - more shots the better.
- We learnt to really plan and research our questions for the interviews. This is because, I think this is the reason we didn't make the 10 minute mark, some questions and answers weren't quite relevant in the end meaning we couldn't use some of the interviews. This is difficult though because we changed the focus of the documentary a couple of times. It started to be just about the team, then we wanted more information about Carl and now I think we're mainly about showing how bad the actual homophobic abuse can be. If we had thought about it and planned the doc just around how bad homophobia is then we could have found a interviewee who had a really bad experience to do with being gay and had the whole doc around that experience. It is a learning curve which we will always remember now for the future.
- I also learnt to try and plan out the structure before editing as this makes the editing process a lot easier.
- Having the structure sorted also allows the correct questions to be asked and therefore, allows time requirements to be met.
- We learnt to really plan and research our questions for the interviews. This is because, I think this is the reason we didn't make the 10 minute mark, some questions and answers weren't quite relevant in the end meaning we couldn't use some of the interviews. This is difficult though because we changed the focus of the documentary a couple of times. It started to be just about the team, then we wanted more information about Carl and now I think we're mainly about showing how bad the actual homophobic abuse can be. If we had thought about it and planned the doc just around how bad homophobia is then we could have found a interviewee who had a really bad experience to do with being gay and had the whole doc around that experience. It is a learning curve which we will always remember now for the future.
- I also learnt to try and plan out the structure before editing as this makes the editing process a lot easier.
- Having the structure sorted also allows the correct questions to be asked and therefore, allows time requirements to be met.
What could I develop?
- I think I could develop my story-telling skills, our story wasn't great until the last minute until we structured it properly.
- I think next time I will research more into how to create a documentary script as our first draft wasn't very good, I was really unsure on what part of the script went under what heading and what exactly had to be in the script.
- It was also really difficult to plan out the documentary before we even filmed it as usually I would order it in Premiere after filming, in the future I will work on planning it through in my head before filming if I ever work on another documentary.
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| Updated shooting script - typed |
- I think next time I will research more into how to create a documentary script as our first draft wasn't very good, I was really unsure on what part of the script went under what heading and what exactly had to be in the script.
- It was also really difficult to plan out the documentary before we even filmed it as usually I would order it in Premiere after filming, in the future I will work on planning it through in my head before filming if I ever work on another documentary.
Solutions to problems we came across
- We weren't convinced with the script for a while after we made it but to solve this we kept changing it around and asked Helen each time, and she guided us with some of her ideas also.
- We also kept getting let down by the campaigns, Jack had two different ones saying they were happy to help at one point and then he phoned back and they didn't pick up and he phoned again and again and never got through again. Even after one of the campaigns telling us they had someone we could talk to.
- Throughout the editing process our structure wasn't quite right until the last chat with Zoe, to solve this problem we wrote down what should come next and then chopped up the footage and interviews on a new edit. We changed our shooting script and sync assembly accordingly.
Final Cut
Below is our final documentary:
- We weren't convinced with the script for a while after we made it but to solve this we kept changing it around and asked Helen each time, and she guided us with some of her ideas also.
- We also kept getting let down by the campaigns, Jack had two different ones saying they were happy to help at one point and then he phoned back and they didn't pick up and he phoned again and again and never got through again. Even after one of the campaigns telling us they had someone we could talk to.
- Throughout the editing process our structure wasn't quite right until the last chat with Zoe, to solve this problem we wrote down what should come next and then chopped up the footage and interviews on a new edit. We changed our shooting script and sync assembly accordingly.
Final Cut
Below is our final documentary:
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