PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: Fine Cut Feedback & Response & Final Cut

Today Rachel and Steve watched the fine cut of my Fly Tool video. I was happy with what I was showing them but I was unsure about the digging in the sand shots because I am using sand and sand doesn't come into the story of the Fly Tool. However, having someone do the action that the ‘muddies’ did looked very effective and brought the film alive a bit more. Today was my opportunity to show them this part along with the rest of the film and to get their response on it, whether it looked ok or needed to be scraped completely as it could mislead children. 

Fine cut notes:

- Voice over is a lot better and flows well since I made it more child-friendly.

- They liked the measurements on the tool - made it look very visual for the children.

- Like me, they weren't sure on the digging shots because of the fact I was using sand. I explained that it was very difficult to find royalty-free stock footage of Victorian workers or anyone digging in mud in general. However, they gave me a book on the ‘muddies’, called Cement, Mud and Muddies, which had a few photos in it which I could input into the film as stills - I just need to find out how to credit the book/photographs for the film.

- Ideally, I would have got someone down to the mud at the Medway River to use a spade but this wasn't possible.

- Beginning and ending credits were good - make sure to credit UCA.

In response to their feedback, I will see how the film looks with the photographs put it and will scrap the digging shots completely. It was helpful to get their feedback on the digging shots so now I know that they will not aid the education part in any way, I can get rid of them. 

Therefore, the final shot list and script looks like this:

Shot list

Shot number	Shot type	Description of shot
1	WS/MS	Whole tool in shot
2	MS	Mud at the Medway river
3	WS	Medway river
4	Royalty-free stock video	Cement being smoothed out
5	Focus pull	Spade of tool
6	Zoom	Photograph of Victorian workers from Medway Archive Team
7	MS/CU	Natural lump of chalk along a beach
8	CU	Clay in someone’s hands
9	CU	Ignition of the flame
10	MS	Crushing powder with a pestle
11	CU	Powder going through the sieve
12	MS	The length of the wooden shaft
13	CU	The top grip
14	CU	Iron spade, focus on the detail in the iron and wood
15	WS	Whole spade with graphic showing measurements
16	Pan	Pan of the length of the tool, titles ‘The Fly Tool’ come in

Script

Visuals/sound	Audio
Fade in Shot of the spade, slowly turning	V.O – “The Fly Tool is a spade-like cutting object…”
Close up of the mud at the Medway river	V.O – “…used for digging and loading mud…”
Wide shot of the Medway river	V.O – “…from the Medway River onto barges…”
Stock footage of cement being smoothed out	V.O – “…for the cement industry.”
Focus pull of spade	V.O – “The spade was mainly used by Victorian workers…”
Photograph from the Medway Archives Team Fade to black	V.O – “…who were also known as muddies. The need for a strong reliable cement increased due to the growing engineering works from the late 18th Century onwards.”
Fade in Natural lumps of chalk from beach	V.O – “In the right proportions, chalk…”
Someone playing with clay	V.O – “…and clay were used to make the strong cement.”
Someone lighting a match, showing ignition of flame Sound of ignition of flame	V.O. – “The materials were broken down and fired in a kiln at a very high temperature.”
Crushing powder with a pestle	V.O – “…they were then ground to a powder…”
Shot of powder going through a sieve Fade to black	V.O – “…and finally sieved.”
Fade in The shaft of the tool	V.O. – “The Fly Tool has a wooden shaft…”
The grip at the end of the tool	V.O. – “…with a small handle.”
The spade shaped end	V.O. – “The end of the spade is covered in iron, which creates the sharp cutting edge.”
The whole tool in shot Graphics come up showing the measurements of the tool	V.O. – “Apart from the iron feature, the rest of the tool is made from wood and it is just over a metre in length and about 12cm wide.”
Pan of the whole tool Title fades in ‘The Fly Tool’ Fade out	V.O – “The Fly Tool is one of the objects which helped make Kent what it is today.”

Photographs of 'muddies'

I borrowed a book from Steve called Cement, Mud and Muddies by F. G. Willmott which had the photographs of the 'muddies' I have been trying to find online since I chose the story for the Fly Tool. They were standing with their fly tools on the mud and clay. These photos are perfect in describing who the 'muddies' were so I am grateful that they have let me use the photographs in this book.

Photos from Cement, Mud and Muddies by F. G. Willmott

I tried a couple of zooms into the photo and a couple of focus pulls, and the focus pulls looked like a good way to introduce the photo, starting with it blurred and then putting it into focus, then cutting to the second photo of the 'muddies' and then putting it out of focus to come out of the photographs and back into the rest of the video. I was happy with these and relieved I have finally got evidence of the real Victorian workers from the late 18th Century.

Copyright issue
While I was editing in the photographs of the muddies, I thought I should ask Helen about the copyright issues and how to credit the person who owns the photographs. She told me that I needed to get in contact with Rachel at the museum again to find out if the Guildhall has the rights to the book. I did this and Rachel said that the museum doesn't have the rights to the photographs in the book, they just brought it for the museum for research purposes. Although, she put me in contact with someone from the local history and archives enquiry and research service who deal with questions about the history of the Medway towns. I didn't even know there was a group who provided this service so I was very eager to get in touch with them and ask if they had any photographs free of copyright. They were very helpful and said they will have a look into the photographs for me and the day after I had a reply. 

They weren't able to find any photographs of the cement workers  using the Fly Tool but they sent me a scan (below) of cement workers from the same time period, they also said they have some more if I wanted to see them - which I sent back saying I did want to see the other photos. 

Scan of cement workers from the 18th Century

I was very happy with the first photo they sent me, and in their replying email they said the copyright had now expired and I just needed to acknowledge the photo in the credits.

Email about copyright - edited with Paint

I think I will zoom in slightly to get rid of the border and possibly change the colour slightly to fit in with the colouring of my video better.


Final video - The Fly Tool



Self evaluation
I was really happy with my final video for the Fly Tool. I think I have followed the requirements well from Rachel and Steve - a short video aimed at school children. The duration of the video is 1:26 and includes simple words and sentences and a few graphics for the children, to help their understanding of the tool. 

I have had a few problems along the way, mainly with the stock footage but I've managed to get a good photo in the end showing the real 'muddies'. I have enjoyed the Professional Practice unit and have learnt how to communicate with people from outside the university and have produced a usable video for their business website, if they choose to use it.