Documentary Day 1

Today we began the filming our first interviews for our 'See Green' Documentary. We began early to make sure equipment was working and charged, checking SD cards and cables. We did have to visit the shop for batteries for the Marantz but had given ourselves plenty of time to do so. Then we sorted through the necessary paperwork such as actor release forms, interview questions and production schedule. We wanted to be as organised as possible. 

Megan re listening to recorded interview

Our first interviewee lived close by so we walked to her house. Unfortunately she had recently had a knee operation and was unable to move around much, however she was still enthusiastic about making our film, supplying useful information and allowing us time to set up and move things in her house for a better composition and frame. Fortunately for use she was very accommodating and willing. 

We set up the equipment quickly and efficiently, though had some trouble with calibrating the Marantz as we are still getting used to the equipment while our actress remained patient and was briefed on what we wanted of her. Once we felt we had clear sound and a good composition and image we began our filming. Taking care to incorporate lighting changes and room space. We did unfortunately have to remove her clock from the room due to the ticking sound, but the sound remained clear after that. Megan was in charge of our sound for the day. While Hazel and Rob focused on the camera and I directed the shots and interviews. This worked well because I was team leader and had made contact with our interviewees, therefore they felt I was the one who knew what should be happening. Being careful of her knee op, we arranged a few simple motion shots to incorporate as cut away's for our film. Once finished we thanked our interviewee and returned home to back up our files on to a hard drive and laptop, ready for editing late.

Once we had backed up our material we still had enough time to look through it and check the quality of both the image and the sound. Allowing us to see what other shots we would need from interviewees. This was beneficial because any shots we felt we needed to do again, we could replace with new shots from a separate interview.

Our next interview was located further away and needed the use of a car. The lady was a lot older than our previous interviewee and didn't quite understand what we wanted from her. After discussing with her more closely, she would allow us to film her but not post the images on the internet. This however would make her interview void. Therefore we managed to negotiate that we could record a voice recording of her interview and create a voice script that we could perhaps recreate later using and actor, or as facts using animation in our finished film. She agreed to this and the interview continued.  This was a slight set back for our filming process as we will now have less clips and footage time than previously expected. We hope to find another person to interview but we are short on time. We have also found, when we were originally trying to contact people, that the age group 65+ do not like being posted on the internet and many rejected our request to film them for this reason. This has made it incredibly difficult to find people to interview. We felt somewhat disappointed at this particular interview, mainly due to the way I should have perhaps communicated better instead of assuming that they would assume the material was going to be posted online. We are however glad we remembered the actor release forms and asked them to sign them before beginning filming. The interview wasn't a total loss as we were provided with very interesting answers, allowing us to have new and interesting questions to ask at our next interview. 

I learnt that communicating clearly is essential when filming and to detail exactly what we want from our actors. We returned home and again backed up our material and looked though, slowly beginning a voice script of the interview, that we hope to incorporate into our final film.

We later received bad news again, that an interviewee had to cancel on us due to poor health and could no longer allow us into there home to film. This has again shortened our footage time. Fortunately I have a few contacts in the area that we are phoning to see if they would be willing to be in our documentary. We are hopeful someone will volunteer and allow us to continue filming.

As far as first days of filming go, we've had mixed up and down results. We do have some good footage which is the main thing but are disappointed with the amount. However tomorrow we will be continuing with another interview and hopefully an extra volunteer. If not we will have to make a second trip and return to finish filming. This is not ideal but must be done for the quality of our film. Overall an interesting day in which we learnt a lot and worked well as a team. I am proud of the team for adapting so well with the situation and remaining positive throughout the day.