Evaluation of Production Practice and Management Reflection

Through this section of my evaluation, I will look at the production practice as well as

my management skills throughout the project. I will do this by looking through 5

aspects of the project:

Most Successful Aspect

Time Management

Actors and Crew

Equipment and Booking

Budget

Least Successful Aspect

Most Successful Aspect

Pre-Production

I feel the most successful aspect in terms of my documentary was its relevance shown

by the content research. 2012 is the first year where students will have to pay up to

£9,000 tuition fees, therefore the alternative options were definitely a topic that a lot of

people would be interested in now more than ever. I know from being a student, I

already had a lot of knowledge in the matter. Through the research I learnt a lot more

about the topic such as about the organisation 15 Billion who provide apprenticeship

programmes that I eventually mention in my final documentary, as well as A-level

schemes that I knew nothing about. I tried to include as much of this knowledge in my

final piece, but it was difficult taking into account the broadness of the topic therefore I

only briefly looked through each option.

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/unit-4-content-research-what-to-do.html

http://www.15billion.org/youngpeople/

https://www.greatcareers.co.uk/jobs_hrg/financegrad/your-start-a-level-entry-

scheme.aspx

Another good aspect I feel was at the start of this project, when I was asked to develop

three proposals for potential documentary ideas. I had three solid ideas which I felt

were all relevant and appealing to the target audience if 16-25 year olds. Lack of Asian

involvement in football would have been effective having me as a presenter looking at

the problem though my eyes being a young Asian footballer. The Stratford idea could

have been filled with abstract shots of the Olympic stadium as well as the new Westfield

which would have been equally effective. I felt my idea was relevant and easily

accessible to film that’s why I chose to follow this proposal. Here’s my rationale

explaining exactly why I chose my idea of options after school.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/media_rationale/1

Another successful aspect that my documentary reflected was its range of contacts. I

found one for every option. Philip Mathew represented the organisation 15 Billion,

which I found during my content research. He eventually leaded the information in

regards to apprenticeships. Sam Smith was talking on behalf of Adecco who I found last

minute due to the delay by Aspers Casino and Workplace. She successfully gave us an

experts opinion on young people within the world of work. Finally I found Elizabeth

Johnson personally as I had previously done some fundraising for the charity she was

representing. She gave a great insight into her charity and how young people can get

involved presenting the option of volunteer work. All contacts combined gave us a lot of

relevant information.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/contact_list_final/1

Production

The most successful aspect in terms of the production stage was my interviews. I have

talked about the range of different people that I included, but in terms of the filming

element, I only had to record each interview once in which I obtained a range of

different angles and answers. I did these within the first month of production as shown

by my production schedule.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/feb_prod_sched/1

Another aspect that I felt was well thought out was my range of different camera shots. I

felt if I used a mixture of different angles and shots, it would help emphasise the

entertaining focus of my documentary. Here are some examples of the different angles

and shots I used.

High Angle Side Angle Over the Shoulder

Post Production

I feel the most successful aspect of the post production stage was the editing. During the

first few weeks of the second month of production, I did start panicking as some

interviews were done late due to the snow delay. Therefore I had to spend a lot of time

outside of lessons editing to get back on track with the schedule which I did

successfully. Below is a link of the week it snowed which really affected the schedule of

my filming.

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-2.html

Another thing was more specifically the

editing of the interviews. I added a lot of

cutaways to make the interviews more

engaging and relevant. Here is a screenshots

of a cutaway. I have also linked the final

documentary to show the range of cutaways

that I used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVVfYBqyir8

Time Management

Pre-Production

I think my time management could have been better at the start of the project.

Obviously as I previously mentioned there was time delays due to the snow but also

external factors outside of the subject media, such as my psychology exam in the final

week of January which compromised my pre-production work in terms of progress, as

well as my English coursework which had various deadlines throughout the production

schedule. I feel however, I did bring the priority back to this project and whilst giving a

lot of my own time I managed to get back on track therefore it was all fine in the end.

Here are two production logs in which I mention some external factors which had

affected my progress.

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-2_22.html

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/unit-4-production-log-week-1.html

Also I feel a lot of my time was wasted trying to interview someone from Aspers Casino

in Stratford. The reason I chose them was because they were part of the new Westfield,

therefore I could get relevant feedback on employment as they have just recently

employed hundreds of people. I did not want a retail shop as a casino seemed a lot more

exciting. I sent numerous messages to various people and they kept referring me to

other links. After some advice from people, it seemed talking to a casino about

employment for young people was pointless anyways. Therefore I looked at Workplace

who were also based in Stratford. I found I was intent on having a location in Stratford

which I felt could lead me to include some abstracts shots of the new Westfield as well

as the Olympic site. After delays from them also I decided to look closer to home with

Adecco, who were an employment agency. It took one phone call to arrange a next day

interview which was very convenient considering the previous time constraints. I have

linked below a unanswered email that I sent to Aspers Casino as well as the production

log of the week I changed my mind and contacted Adecco.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/aspers_casino/1

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-6.html

Production

During production, I felt I could have managed my

time better as I left everything a little late shown by

my filming schedule in which most events are during

the end of the month. However I managed to do it all

in time, even filming some additional shots to connect

the segments which I did in an empty classroom. I did

find during my interview with Elizabeth Johnson who

was a charity worker, that the focus of her answers

were relating back to her charity and less on young people and volunteer work. If I had more

time I could have booked another interview with her and got some richer feedback from her

which would relate to my topic. However I just edited the relevant parts of her interview

which did relate back to the main topic which ended up linking in smoothly.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/feb_prod_sched/1

Post Production

I feel I managed my time well in the post production stage. I used a lot of my free time such

as after school and free periods to really try and finish it to the best of my ability. I felt my

graphics were rushed and not to the full potential that they could be. Maybe if I was using

Final Cut, it would have been a lot easier to experiment with different graphics. However I

was using iMovie which had limited graphics and to transfer LiveType graphics took very

long. If I had more time, this is definitely one of the things that I

would improve. I was happy with the voiceovers and all the archive

footage. The only thing I would say is that I should have had a

proper look through once just to make sure all sound was in the

right place as previously it has jumbled up. I only did this roughly

which has led the beginning of the documentary without any

background music which gradually comes on as the clip goes on. All in all, my time

management here could have been better which would have led me to make further

improvements.

Actors and Crew

Pre-Production

I felt I had a good selection of contributors which were all relevant to my documentary. I

found two of my final four interviews were not with who I initially imagined. Obviously Jay

Barn was a friend so he was fairly easy to contact. Also Philip Mathew, I found from content

research therefore it only took a phone call to arrange something with him. However

Elizabeth from Medicinema was not in the original plan. I tried phoning BHF charity shop to

interview someone from there but they said they would rather not be on camera, therefore

I contacted Elizabeth. I have previously done some bucket fundraising for Medicinema

therefore I knew Elizabeth beforehand. I also thought Medicinema was different from other

charities as it offered a unique service, therefore I felt it would go in well making the

documentary more exciting. As I have previously mentioned Adecco was a last minute

arrangement which paid of massively as I got valuable information which tied together my

documentary.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/contact_list_final/1

I found that my film crew was not as planned. I thought I would have Gurpreet Sheri as the

cameraman and Jay Barn as the sound operator. However due to the lack of availability

from both of them, I could only take Jay Barn to the Medicinema interview for filming

support and the only time I had both my crew was when I interviewed Jay Barn for a young

jobseeker perspective. For the other two interviews I had to take people who were available

such as Amneet Dhillon and Mohsin Ahmed. I have linked call sheets for all three external

interviews to show who came with me as my filming crew.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/call_sheet_-_apprenticeships_2/1

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/call_sheet_-_medicinema/1

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/call_sheet_-_adecco/1

Production

For my production I used voxpops that were all students which I feel is very relevant to this

documentary. I singled out some people and got their views. I do feel however I should have

had one more male voxpop to even out the gender bias. I only noticed this after production

but feel it could have enhanced the documentary to appeal to the audience more

successfully. I have linked the questions I used to gain feedback from all my contributors.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/interview_questions/1

I found that all my contacts were reliable and on time for the interview times. There was

also a range, representing each option after school, as well as a young person’s

perspective on jobs. I had consistent voxpops showing how young people feel in relation

to each segment. I found at the start of the project I was slightly hesitant to contact all

the contributors, as I felt I had loads of time. I then remember only managing to get a

single interview done in the half term where other people had maybe completed all

their ones. This is when I started to hurry and gather confidence to try and contact all

contributors as soon as possible. Here are the production logs where I only manage to

do one interview during the week leaving me to hurry.

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-4.html

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-3.html

Post Production

I did have to cut every interview down massively. My interview with Philip Mathew was

13 minutes long. My interview with Elizabeth Johnson was 8 minutes long and the final

interview with Sam Smith was over 15 minutes long. Each was cut down to a maximum

of 45 seconds for each. I was the presenter leaving all the voiceovers to be done by me. I

found it was easier to leave the voiceovers till the end as I knew exactly how much time

I had to say the information in which varied in different parts from 8 seconds to around

36 seconds. I also found it was easier to plan what I was going to say as I could clearly

see what would follow after my voiceover. Here I have linked my final voiceover clip

which I produced after the documentary which I found was a lot easier for me.

Equipment and Booking

Pre-Production

During the Pre-production stage, I did not really require any equipment but a computer

with access to the internet. I found from this I found all the relevant information I

required for this stage of production. During the treatment however, I found that I had

to state the equipment I needed which I did briefly. I found during the actual production

stage, I realised properly all the relevant equipment that I needed. Here is my treatment

which looks at the technical viability of this documentary.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/treatment/16

Production

I simply used a camera and a tripod for this project. All the footage was recorded on a

DV tape which was then imported onto a MacBook. I found in terms of booking the

equipment that I booked equipment out all the times I had an interview booked. On

other occasions when filming things like voxpops and other segments, I had to ask

whether the equipment was free at the time as I only wished to use the camera for a few

periods and not overnight. I took two batteries every time I went out to film just for

safety but this was not a problem. I was happy with the quality of the camera and

always played back the film clip at the time of recording to make sure to eliminate any

potential mistakes.

Post Production

Uploading my footage took a long time with me filling two tapes worth of footage. I also

had some problems with uploading to my MacBook where it was not recognising the

camera. I overcame this by simply using another camera. Also when I uploaded some

footage the volume levels where extremely low. I overcame this by once again

uploading the footage. I found the laptop was not assigned to anyone else therefore all

the times I needed it, it was free which was very convenient. I also used LiveType to

make some graphics which I inserted into my movie. As LiveType was not on my

MacBook, I had to use a Mac which was being used by someone else but we arranged a

suitable time which suited both of us. During the end of my production, I moved the

whole project onto a spare Mac as I wished to put some titles in which for some reason

were not compatible with iMovie. I therefore transferred my project and then added the

graphics which was time consuming but I felt it would impact my grade therefore I did

it. Here are the example of the graphics I made in LiveType and iMovie.

Budget

Pre-Production

During my treatment, I made a plan of a potential professional budget that would be

required for this documentary. I found using my budget it would take £5565 to produce

this video taking into account the money required for stages of pre-production,

production and post-production. This including hiring a camera crew, buying iMacs and

editing software. The budget was a new experience for me but gave me a great insight

into how a production comes together financially and how much money you need to

take on a project like this. Here is a link of my treatment which includes my budget.

http://issuu.com/gsheri05/docs/treatment/16

Production

I feel that I stayed within the realistic budget that I mentioned. Only travel costs were

expected to arise which were as expected. Hypothetically, I think even with a

professional budget, that I would have achieved the production in the budget that I

suggested. I included a 10% contingency fee in the £5565 I suggested, which would help

out any hidden costs as well as the money left over from my initial budget of £7500. All

this spare money is the reason I feel I could comfortably complete this production.

Post Production

During the post-production stage, I feel there was no interference with the budget as I

have paid for the iMac as well as the editing software which I would have used.

Therefore I can take as long as I want to complete the work and still not affect the

budget therefore in this aspect of production, I think I did well.

Least Successful Aspect

Pre-Production

I think the least successful aspect of my work in this stage of production was my lack of

urgency to contact my interviewees. It was a relaxed approach which did not benefit me

as when the unfortunate delay of the snow came, I was left in limbo and had to

reschedule two interviews a lot later than expected. If I had did these earlier, I could

have been easily editing. Also when contacting Aspers Casino and Workplace, I was very

patient as I thought I would get the interview eventually. I should have realised to keep

a second option clear in mind rather than rushing in the last couple of days to the

filming deadline to contact someone else which I did eventually with Adecco.

Production

The least successful aspect here I thought was my organisation. I should have made sure

my preferred crew were available all the days that I planned to go filming rather than

just taking friends. Also I should have had set dates in mind on when to do voxpops and

other segments. I did them as I went along which I found was not a good approach as I

found myself closing in to the filming deadline with much filming still left. Here is my

production log showing my panic with the amount of filming still left.

http://gsheri.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/production-log-week-6.html

I also felt that I could have included a lot more shots from different angles in some of the

interviews. They all seem to only be once camera shot which seemed monotonous which I

have tried to cover up by using cutaways but still I feel I should have experimented with

asking different questions from different angles.

Post Production

I think the least successful aspect here was the consistency of the editing. With iMovie,

every time I would import something all the sound would get displaced. At the end I

rushed a quick look through and then uploaded the video. I found the music at the start

of the video on top of the archive footage is too quiet as well as sound levels being

uneven in certain places. If I could have had maybe half an hour more, I would have

made sure that these were all synchronised correctly. Also the end of my documentary

shows all interviewees in black and white reflecting a flashback of the documentary. I

feel I really should have used a transition here between all the clips rather than just

cuts. I feel this was another weak aspect of my video which could have so easily been

changed. All in all, I am happy with the documentary and would improve some things,

here is my final piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVVfYBqyir8