Coming up with the idea at the start was difficult - I remember sitting in the base room with Alex and Katie just staring into space trying to think of an idea. It was Alex who mentioned about Stoptober which initially got us onto the alcohol topic and after gaining and dropping ideas we came up with the myth and misconception theme for our channel. Once we had our story, trying to find the volunteers seemed quite difficult but now I look back on it, once we had contacted Broadditch we had a willing interviewee after just a couple of emails and Aidan was up for helping us from the start. We just had to look at the rejected phone calls and getting passed onto other people as an experience with trying to deal with real people about a real topic.
The workshop with the green screen where we created the #StopTheTrucks report was very helpful. It showed us what it was like to work with time restraints which was applied in our live piece at Broadditch, as it had to be bang on 2 minutes. We could also work on presenting skills and getting into the frame of mind as a presenter.
Overall, our filming days went to plan. I helped out on the camera, the timings and set design. Our contributors were easy to work with and we had no problems at the locations. We got all the shots we needed until the last minute when Katie had to go out to get an establishing shot of a pub near her house. The bar we used was in a house and we wanted it to feel like it was in an actual pub so we were going to get a shot of a real pub to lead up to the M&M scene.
What worked?
- Our shoot went really well, we got the majority of the shots we needed in the two days that we scheduled.
- We did all of our stages at the right times and stayed within the schedule which was impressive.
- We did not need to re-shoot after feedback with Helen and Sam which means we definitely got all the correct shots for our story. There were bits we could have done at the time to make our video that much better but we have learnt these things for future shoots.
- I think all the graphics, titles and sound effects that we were able to put in gave the film a bit more life. These worked really well in our programme because we created a quirky channel and the weirder/quirkier/brighter, the better.
- Our shoot went really well, we got the majority of the shots we needed in the two days that we scheduled.
- We did all of our stages at the right times and stayed within the schedule which was impressive.
- We did not need to re-shoot after feedback with Helen and Sam which means we definitely got all the correct shots for our story. There were bits we could have done at the time to make our video that much better but we have learnt these things for future shoots.
- I think all the graphics, titles and sound effects that we were able to put in gave the film a bit more life. These worked really well in our programme because we created a quirky channel and the weirder/quirkier/brighter, the better.
What didn't work?
- We came across some struggles throughout all the production stages (pre, production and post). In the pre-production stage, we struggled with contacts for a while. None of us really wanted to go on the phone with anyone and then when we did, some of the contacts we wanted we couldn't see e.g. when the people from the public health kept telling us to contact people below them, when we really wanted the best/highest person we could get. Another problem I found in the pre-production stage, was that the research we did about rubbing the lemon on the armpit isn't quite correct. The people of Puerto Rico believe that the lemon should be rubbed before drinking alcohol and we tested it out after Aidan had been drinking. I'm still not convinced it would work but we should have looked this up and maybe changed it in the script. However, this is not a big issue.
- In the production stage, there were a couple of bits that were said on camera that we didn't realise until we were editing. One thing Jason mentioned was that he says "back to you guys at the studio" when it's only Alex he was throwing the programme back to. We said that "you guys" could mean Alex and the audience or crew and now we see it has a positive thing. In the shots of Jason and Aidan sat on the sofa talking about Aidan's results for the hangover cures, one of them is really dark and the other is near-perfect lighting. This is when the others twigged that they only used one soft box light for half of the filming and then realised two looked better without changing the shots with just the one light. They didn't realise this at the time but it does show in the edit, which means the continuity isn't there. Jason lightened it and it looks a lot better, also the shots aren't next to each other in the video so it's not obvious. We could have had better time management also as we had to get the ingredients when we were meant to be filming, this lead to us filming later than what we thought we would and losing the light.
- In the post-production stage, we realised our whole video was way too long - about 30 seconds over, which was mainly in the package. I think this is because Alex said he may have read the script too fast when he did the timings, and not factored in that the presenters wouldn't always have the words in front of them and therefore will speak slower. This wasn't too much of a problem because we were able to cut out some bits quite easily and in the end we were roughly about 6 seconds over, which was a big improvement. There were some bits which seemed quite long and dragged so luckily we were able to cut these. We also peaked a few times in the edit, but this was a simple fix by lowering the volume of the dialogue in Adobe Audition. When we thought we were finished and had exported the video, we realised we forgot a shot and spelt something wrong. We managed to correct this but it was very frustrating thinking that we were finished and then realising we weren't.
- In the production stage, there were a couple of bits that were said on camera that we didn't realise until we were editing. One thing Jason mentioned was that he says "back to you guys at the studio" when it's only Alex he was throwing the programme back to. We said that "you guys" could mean Alex and the audience or crew and now we see it has a positive thing. In the shots of Jason and Aidan sat on the sofa talking about Aidan's results for the hangover cures, one of them is really dark and the other is near-perfect lighting. This is when the others twigged that they only used one soft box light for half of the filming and then realised two looked better without changing the shots with just the one light. They didn't realise this at the time but it does show in the edit, which means the continuity isn't there. Jason lightened it and it looks a lot better, also the shots aren't next to each other in the video so it's not obvious. We could have had better time management also as we had to get the ingredients when we were meant to be filming, this lead to us filming later than what we thought we would and losing the light.
- In the post-production stage, we realised our whole video was way too long - about 30 seconds over, which was mainly in the package. I think this is because Alex said he may have read the script too fast when he did the timings, and not factored in that the presenters wouldn't always have the words in front of them and therefore will speak slower. This wasn't too much of a problem because we were able to cut out some bits quite easily and in the end we were roughly about 6 seconds over, which was a big improvement. There were some bits which seemed quite long and dragged so luckily we were able to cut these. We also peaked a few times in the edit, but this was a simple fix by lowering the volume of the dialogue in Adobe Audition. When we thought we were finished and had exported the video, we realised we forgot a shot and spelt something wrong. We managed to correct this but it was very frustrating thinking that we were finished and then realising we weren't.
What did I learn?
- During this unit, I learnt to not be put off by talking to someone on the phone. This will only prolong the work and I now know that if I don't go on the phone I will never be able to contact anyone for my films.
- I have learnt to make sure all the research is complete and correct before writing the script and filming.
- I have learnt to factor in 'real-life' talking when doing timings and to not speak too fast as this isn't something I thought would be a problem up until now.
- Make sure every point is down on a to-do list so I don't forget to add in shots/other things to-do. I created a to-do list for us towards the end so we would forget something but unfortunately forgot to add that shot that we missed.
- Have better time management - get props and bits for shoot before shoot and not on the day.
- I have learnt to make sure all the research is complete and correct before writing the script and filming.
- I have learnt to factor in 'real-life' talking when doing timings and to not speak too fast as this isn't something I thought would be a problem up until now.
- Make sure every point is down on a to-do list so I don't forget to add in shots/other things to-do. I created a to-do list for us towards the end so we would forget something but unfortunately forgot to add that shot that we missed.
- Have better time management - get props and bits for shoot before shoot and not on the day.
What could be improved next time?
- Continuity is something I know to think about all the time in the future. If I change equipment or a piece of set then I know I always have to go back and re-shoot the previous videos to match with the new layout. We learnt this the hard way with the lights, causing the shots to have different looks.
- Continuity is something I know to think about all the time in the future. If I change equipment or a piece of set then I know I always have to go back and re-shoot the previous videos to match with the new layout. We learnt this the hard way with the lights, causing the shots to have different looks.
- Double, triple check everything. Spelling and any forgotten shots because it will save time later.
- Contact people earlier, we were contacting people and asking to film with them the following week. We should have had our contacts sorted and dates planned by then.
- Contact people earlier, we were contacting people and asking to film with them the following week. We should have had our contacts sorted and dates planned by then.
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