Documentary Rough Cut

Documentary: Rough Cut

 Above is a rough cut version of our documentary "Big Fat Lies" That my team and I edited together to see how it was looking and what we could improve upon. (Disclaimer- video is not full quality).

Filming Journal: Day 7

Filming Journal: Day 7

This day wasn't originally planned to be a shoot day; however after receiving feedback from zoe about our rough cut we decided it best to act early and polish our documentary as much as possible.

We ensured we all had a camera to use and jointly schedualed the day in a maticulouse fassion. We headed back to John Lewis, once again checking in with reception to make sure we had the go ahead. Although all our interveiws for this section were fine, we needed more cut aways of our presenter demonstating the advice we received and trying on the various different outfits. 

We also made sure to get more cut away shots that were as steady and proffecional as possibel, matching up with the dialouge and avoiding hand held shots.

After this we headed straight to strood to gain more establishing shots outside Pole Fitness, as well as recording a more fitting and profecional intro that detailed the aims of this section, and gave context with the rest of the documentary. 

Finally we headed back to my house where we recorded the last bits of comentary that we were missing and reveiwed our test edits and new footage to make sure everything was as effective as possible. 

We atempted to shoot some of the things zoe suggested e.g. fake tan and the actor looking in the mirror. 

However this was dificult since our actor was allergic to some of the ingredients in the fake tan, so we decided to cut that section. 

However we did act on Zoe's advice by recording a more effective outro for our ocumentary. 

Documentary Transcript

Documentary Transcript

Here is the transcript for our shoot which shows what audio from the interviews were gonna use.

Filming Journal: Day 6

Filming Journal: Day 6

This day was the final day of shooting and was jointly organised between myself and Alex. We each emailed dozens and dozens of nutritional therapists to hopefully find one who would be in our documentary. After a lot of "No's" and several "wild goose chaces" Alex eventually found a nutritionist in Saltdean who was willing to take part in our documentary. 

In advance we prepared a series of questions to ask her, however this was made dificult since our presenter could not be here i=on that day. However we planned for this and had him record all the questions as part of the commentary. 

We met with the nutritionist at her home and re established exaclty what it was we were doing and explained the purpose of our documentary (as I mentioned earlier communication is very important). We then had a brief look at the rooms in her house to find which was best for filming in. We soon settled on a lounge area just overlooking the conservatory/patio, since it provided a wide space with plenty of lighting options (it was right by a window and aslo had a dimmer controlled light). 

We really had to fall back on what we had learned from our workshops and what I had picked up durign my research. Using a two camera set up but making sure that the subject was framed off centre and well lit. Making sure that the background wasn't too much of a distraction and ensuring we changed the angle from time to time to maintain audiences attention.

Overall this went very well and we got some great, genuin advice from a real expert that we can use to contrast with some of the more light hearted parts of our documentary. The only down side really is that the interview was very lenghty and our interveiwee often stumbled or messed up, meaning it could be dificult to transcribe/edit.

We used the afternoon to film some establishing scenic shots that could be used as cut aways. 

Filming Journal: Day 5

Filming Journal: Day 5

The 5th day of shooting was primarilly organised by Cailan. We all met at his house and sat with our presenter. Going over all of the footage we had acheived so far then planning out/recording as much commentary as we thought we might possibly need. 

To avoid issues we recorded multiple takes of each comment and all worked on the same google document to make any changes necessary. We also recorded more than we thought we needed in case there were any gaps in our documentary. 

Meanwhile i researched facts, statistics and graphics that we could use in our documentary or my graphics. 

After that we then headed out to a local recration ground to re shoot some of the workout scene that we recorded on the first day. Since after looking at the footage and test edits we decided certai bits could be done more effectively and this time we ensured everyone had theor own camera to use. We also took the time to record several cut aways that could be applied to anything just to be safe. 

Filming Journal: Day 4

Filming Journal: Day 4

Today Alex suggested we dedicate this day to shooting "B-Roll" so he and I headed to maidstone studios (I picked up some "Red Top" tabloids on the way), and put togethera small montage that cpoudl be used for cut aways. 

We then sat down to reveiw our footage from the past few days, making notes on what we needed.

I also put together a few test edits of some of the footage that we had gained to see how it looked. I thought it best to start early so I could identify potential issues early. I also planned out a few graphics we could use.

Filming Journal: Day 3

Filming Journal: Day 3

Day 3 was another day I organised, it was dedicated to a photoshoot with a photographer, who would hopefully give us some tips on how you can trick your way in to looking thinner on camera. One dificulty with this part was that we enitially planned to film with a photography student from UCA. However since no one replied to my emails that plan went away. Fortunatly I had a backup plan and had connections with some photography students at MidKent Collage. They happilly agreed to be part of our documentary. 

We stuck with the same location outside the UCA campus since it was a great place to film with good structures for an interesting backdrop and provided both shaded and well lit areas. 

This section all went acording to plan we filmed the entire photoshoot but due to its length we realised that it may end up being more effdective as a montage than a full piece. Our photographer gave great tips and tricks when it came to looking slimmer in photos and we had sufficient cut aways to provide examples. We also ensured to film a short intro and outro allowing our presenter to express their thoughts and address the audience. 

Later that day we headed down to Chatham high street to get some "Vox-Pops" of the public who could hopefully give us some opinions and stories about ther experiences with fad weight loss diets and techniques. We asked them about the craziest weight loss hacks they've tried. However this section was dificult as not many people would concent to be on camera and when we did acheive some interveiws it began raining. Overall this section wasn't very effective and we may end up cutting this and the slimming vest section to save time and keep our documentary as effective as possible.