Production Diary

PREPERATION

My idea was to create a powerful and awe-inspiring short documentary which discussed the issue of make up and body image in our society. My initial take on producing this was to have several different people of different shapes and sizes, who wear and don't wear makeup to share their views and beliefs on the topic. In order to do so I had to develop some interview questions:

What words come to mind when you think of makeup?
Why do you wear makeup?
How does it make you feel?
Name some makeup brands. – FAVOURITE VS MOST HATED & why?
Have you heard anything in the news lately regarding makeup that has interested or shocked you?
How does social media influence your makeup consumption?
At what age did you start wearing it?
What do you think is a suitable age to start wearing makeup?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of wearing makeup?
What do you hope for in the future of the makeup industry?

These questions had to be fair and open; giving everyone room to vary their response. Once I had developed the questions I moved on to the script and started to think about potential cast to be feature in the film. Originally I was going to try and contact YouTubers and ask if i could use their videos at the start of the film but since I'd have to rely on people and risk them opting out after or during production I decide to use my own YouTube videos in the start.

SHOOT DAY 1

Shoot day 1 was an extremely productive shoot, I was able to capture several high quality shots and angles of Megan using my iPhone, iPad and the VG30. Although this isn't the most professional form of shooting, I was able to get a form of 3 point shooting for the documentary which adds a sense of depth and intrigued when edited. Timing, also went to plan which is an improvement from previous group projects.

For a second opinion and assistance, I called on T'Rae to help me set up the VG30 for the production. Together we were successful in following my production plans and visuals.

SHOOT DAY 2

Shoot day 2 included the interview segment with Aisha & Elliott. Since we were short on time as a result of exams and lesson timetables I had to compromise and film Aisha and Elliot together. The only downside of this was that: they talk over each other at times and fuel each others opinions causing the interviews to become extensive. However, in regard to sound and audio quality it sounds and looks fine, I just would have preferred to film it separately. I was able to get a few shots of Aisha during her makeup session although, not as many as shoot 1.

Furthermore, I will proceed to to edit the footage of the makeup sessions and prepare for shoot day 3.

SHOOT DAY 3

I filmed in room 102, this shoot was okay. Unfortunately the footage wasn't 100% focused although applying a slight sharpen in premier pro may fix this. In regard to the context of the shoot, Tyreke provided very unique and powerful answers to the questions I asked him which will be sure to add some depth to film. I've edited his interview to see if it would need to be re-filmed (19/05/2018). To be honest, the focus isn't a big issue, as long as the audience are captivated by his speech they probably won't notice. On the other hand the downsides of this shoot were that he spoke "too slow" which lengthen the dialogue a bit too much so I had to cut some parts out. Also towards then end he began to talk about some of his insecurities so I zoomed in to further engage the audience. I went from a mid shot - close up - ext close up. The extra zoom between close up and ext close up wasn't 100% necessary. To combat this, I designed some motion graphics and quoted Tyreke, I also added a gaussian blur so the added zoom isn't noticeable. To conclude, the use of multiple shots, motion graphics and good dialogue sustain an effective edit.

SHOOT DAY 4

I filmed Alexandra in a similar setting to Tyreke's interview. Alex gave quite simple but effective answers to each question, what was interesting was her similarity to Megan - in regard to attitude towards makeup. It gave an insight on the perspectives of young woman in regards to makeup. I have also started to edit Alex, so far so good (28/05/2018).

EDITING PROCESS

As briefly discussed above, I edited the documentary as I filmed so that I would have time in the future to re-film some scenes if need be. Luckily, any errors were able to be fixed during post-production so a re-film wasn't entirely necessary. During the editing process, the main adjustments I made to the film were adjusting sound levels, removing distracting background sound, adjusting shot types and colour grading. In doing so the quality of the documentary improved.

WWW

Each of the shoot days were effective in capturing in the shots and general coverage for the documentary, the editing process went quite smoothly although when trying to do the credits the project crashed several times but that is inevitable when working with technology and was easy to overcome with a little patience.

ebi

I would re-film Aisha and Elliott's interview in a location with better lighting so that it would need less heavy colour grade and editing and I would ask Alex to speak in more detail whilstTyreke speaks with less.

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