CDM 301
Documentary
Producing
An introduction to this product
Previously to this topic I had a pitching production which had my pitching ideas that were generated CDM 304 . With this Topic I had to produce and shoot my Documentary about my Grandfather who had once lived in Jamaica and then moved to Bristol to start his life and look for work, with these mind maps and pitch slides learn and watch how I produced my documentary below.
Mindmap of ideas
here's a link to my kit list:
Elevator Pitch
production
I started by planning questions that I was going to ask for my interview with my dad. My dad told me to ask questions about his upbringing and my grandads way of sort of teaching my dad to be independent, I wanted to get the audience to sort of feel what it was like for grandad moving to Bristol and struggles he would face, these questions could trigger emotions, which could be quite sensitive which is what this interview was. A sensitive but happy documentary. I began setting up the lights and started the interview, I made my dad introduce himself and what he would be talking about then jumping straight into the questioning. With each question I answered I waited until he finished his sentence, creating a pause for a few seconds then Continuing on with the next question, this didn't mean it was question after question sort of rushing, doing it with a pause made the pace of the production, a lot calmer and a controlled pace. Getting my B-roll from my family photos albums was hard, not having very many photos off my Granddad, so I asked my aunt if she had any photos which she did and allowed me to use for shooting my footage. before I started filming I decided to change where it would be filmed, the idea I had originally turned out to be a little cramped, so I decided to film on my kitchen counter where it had good lighting and a better space to put the equipment.
post production
After I filmed my interview I had to edit my footage on Premiere to put all archive footage together. I had organised my best shots together and placed them in a folder. when editing the footage I had to cut shots down so that It fit the time boundary and some of them were longer than necessary. I noticed that the audio was quite echoey so I decreased the volume of it to a reasonable level so it was loud or cracky. I had chose the music from YouTube studios, it was a upbeat Reggae tune, I thought this song was best for my interview because of my grandfather's culture, and coming from Jamaica I think it would work quite Well. The lighting had a high exposure which made the video really over exposed, but I changed that with a little bit of flour grading and bringing down the exposure, this made my dad in frame look a lot more sharp and clearer to see.
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My Ideas Two Ideas
Idea 1
Idea 2
. The first idea I had was to document my dad and his background of his life in Bedminster in the late 70s early and in adult youth becoming a head chef and working in one the best restaurants in Bristol at one point.
. My second idea I had was the one I end up sticking with to document my granddad but from my dad's Narration talking about the struggles my grandma faced moving Bristol
Evaluation
Overall in this production, I think it has gone really well up to production and in post production, I think this documentary I've learnt more about my Grandfather's history from my dad and he's taught me a lot about stories he hasn't told but but now I'm older he allowed me to share them in my interview. I really liked the scenes where I shot my archive footage because it gave me some sort of reflection for my future. Im proud of how everything went like the length of the Interview and the music fitting in and transitioning to the next clip. This production is my favourite because it's one that means most writing about my family's upbringing, and talking about my Grandfather in my home town. I Chose this topic because I already knew my dad and his dad had quite interesting stories and thought it was an interesting story to share with the world, there is a quote I'll say, that my dad said in the documentary that I think sends a really good message to the people, "anything can be achieved" messaged like this make the interview more passionate, My grandad would be proud that I'm continuing his story to people they can know what discrimination is like and how it feels.