Audience Research: Questionnaire

Now I am coming to the end of the production of my documentary, I thought this would be a good time to create another questionnaire to get the opinions of a wider audience. I have created this on Office 365, in an application named 'Microsoft Forms.'

I carried out this same process towards the beginning of my production process, and I found it really helpful in respect to making sure my idea was good enough to put forward and begin editing. 

Here is a screenshot of some of the questions I have begun placing together.

I have sent it to a number of my peers, and am now waiting on responses to come through. I can then actively act on the feedback that I receive. 

Production: Today's lesson

After receiving feedback from a member within my focus group, I decided to carry out the changes that he suggested. This involved changing the font at the end, to being the same as the masthead at the beginning. 

I think this makes the overall look of the documentary more professional and have more of a branded image to it.
I have also included a screenshot of the text type I have used for this. It is a text that comes as part of the application iMovie. I really liked how the text is broken up with a solid white line, this makes it easier to read whilst also looking good against my footage. It appears in capital letters, which makes it even easier to read.

Audience Research: Gaining opinions

I decided to use Quicktime Player to present some of the feedback that I received from a member of my focus group. I showed them the draft I had put together of my documentary earlier on that day, and then decided to get their feedback over iMessage. 

This is a good way to do it, as I will then be able to refer back to this opinion in the near future when I come to adapting my footage. 

Production: Second draft

This is my second draft of my documentary. I plan to ask my focus group for improvements to make it the best it possibly can. At the moment, my draft is above the 5 minute requirement. Therefore, I may have to think about cutting some of the footage down slightly.

Production: Changing the boxes

I asked Olivia what she thought of the boxes that  I have appearing on my iMovie as part of my emotional story. This is an aspect I am the least happiest with during my documentary and I want to change them. Olivia said that this aspect is not something that would conventionally appear on an already existing documentary on channel 4.

Therefore, I plan to experiment with this part of my iMovie, and see what else looks more conventional as well as being professional at the same time.

I have put together a comparison video of the footage I had before, to how I have now updated it. I personally really like how it has turned out. I plan to get more opinions from the people in my focus group to see what they think of it.

Generic Research: Choosing my font and my focus group

I have put together this video that I created on Keynote. I plan to show the people from my focus group this, so they can help me decide which font is going to be the best for my lifeguard documentary.

I have come up with five separate fonts, so I have many options I can decide from. Creating this short video in Keynote was very helpful, as it allows each font to be compared against each other visually.

I asked Penny what she thought  of the font types I had put together. 'I really like the  third one, it looks really elegant and pretty. However, I am not really sure it suits the purpose of what your documentary is presenting, so I would choose the second one if I want yourself. It is clear and bold, so the audience will easily be able to read what you are trying to put across. 

I asked George what he thought of the fonts I have presented above.
'I think the forth one down looks too childish and not professional enough to have at the start of your documentary. However, I really like the second one because it looks clean and sophisticated.'


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Planning: storyboard of ideas

I have created a storyboard of each individual shot I plan to include. This then allows me to inform my actors on what they need to bring to the filming set in in order for the filming to run smoothly, as well as myself being able to get more of a visual idea of what the shots will appear like and whether or not I will need to adapt anything.

Production: first draft

This is the first draft of my documentary on 'The Role of a lifeguard' I still need to make adaptations to my piece in order for it to be how I want it to. An example being, when there is a story entailing the young girl who got her hair caught in a swimming pool filter, I want to insert a sad song to go along with this. This will then change the mood of the audience, as the song goes from upbeat with a fast rhythm, to being slow and emotional.

Audience feedback: Choosing a song

As part of my on-going audience feedback, I decided to ask Charlotte which song she preferred to play over this part of my documentary. I showed her two short extracts that I put together, and I have placed these into my blog below. My aim was to have an emotional song that would create a sympathetic feeling from the audience.

Charlotte said: I think both songs from each extract create an emotional reaction from the consumer. However, if I had to choose which song is better it would be 'How to save a life.' I think the lyrics also link in well with the topic you're creating a documentary about. 
If I could give you an aspect to improve on, I would only start the song when the story is presented on the screen. This means that there will be more of a concentration on the voice-over you're planning to put in. 

Production: overlaying images

I wanted to overlay the images over my footage. Therefore, to discover how I should do this I used YouTube to find out how. I ensured that the video I wanted had the same version of iMovie that I have on my laptop, to make sure they were the correct instructions for myself.

This is a video I recorded with QuickTime Player. The tutorial on YouTube was really easy to follow, and I also think it looks really effective and a niche idea that not many other documentaries have undertaken.

Production: Colour correction

I have taken the time to make colour corrections on the footage I inserted earlier on in the process. I wanted to make the swimming pool look brighter and more impressive. This was really easy and worked really well. I have filmed the process using Quick Time Player. I used the colour palette to make the video brighter, I decided to only move this up slightly as I didn't want the colour to be too bright to the point where it looks too unrealistic.  

Generic Research: QuickTime Player

I researched into how to use 'QuickTime Player' as I wanted to film some clips on the production of my documentary. This then allows me to explain step by step how I carried out each of the changes I decide to make.

1. I searched 'QuickTime Player' in the search bar
2. I then selected the option to start up this application
3. I then selected 'file' and 'new screen recording'
4. The option to begin the screen recording comes up
5. To stop the recording I selected 'Quit QuickTime Player'

Generic Research: Chris Anderson Long Tail

Generic Research: Henry Jenkins

Henry Jenkins from ellachapman123

In class, we did some independent research into a particular theorist. I looked into Henry Jenkins and the impact the new Web 2.0 has on society today. The participatory Culture explains how people can now not only consume things on the internet, but now create content themselves. 

Generic Research: Test on 'Media and the Online Age'

In class, we completed a small exam for the Online Age. We had to explain the effects the online world has on different industries. These involve the film, music and news industry. Furthermore, we were also given names of theorists and had to recall which topic they were based in. This was a helpful exercise and has given me some new background knowledge on aspects such as Web 2.0.

Generic Research: Media in the Online Age

In the lesson today we read through a booklet called 'Media in the Online Age.' I found this very helpful in terms of understanding how the Media is put into play in the real world. It enhanced my knowledge on how much of an impact the new and updated media applications has on people today. 

An example I found particularly interesting was Youtube. This is a huge success amongst the younger generation however, it was surprising to be remained of the fact that Youtube has only been around since 2005 and since then, has made a huge impact on many people's lives.  

Generic Research: Today's lesson

In today's lesson I spent the time beginning to analyse newspaper advertisements. I have carried this out by using 'amaze' which is a creative way of creating a powerpoint.

Production: Editing update

In today's lesson I placed the soundtrack into my documentary. I wanted to choose a slow paced song that really encourages the audience to feel the emotion I am aiming to put across.

Therefore, I decided on 'How to Save a Life.' This is a song I am very familiar with myself and I find has the most impact on people when trying to create emotion. I downloaded this from YouTube, which I found as being the easiest and most convenient way to get it into iMovie.

Generic Research: Risk assessment

This is the risk assessment that I have put together before I began filming for my documentary. Clements Hall is the main place I am filming at so I focussed in on this area, and the ricks that could occur.

Working as a lifeguard, I am familiar with the manual named NOP (National pool operating procedure) which includes the risk assessment for the swimming pool. I had to learn this very well in preparation for my lifeguard exam, which therefore, helped me in regards to putting together this risk assessment.

Production: changing the captions

This is a screenshot of the caption with a background filled in with swimming pool water. I wanted to see whether or not this looked good or not in comparison to having a white background. 

I couldn't decide what looked good in regards to the colour of the box behind the text. Therefore, I asked for other opinions and here is a screenshot of one of the responses I received. 


I wanted to gain another opinion on which caption looks better on my documentary. I asked my friend Katie, who said that she prefers the white background due to it making the text easier to read. 



I then deiced to change the caption completely to simply text on the screen. 

Production: the editing process

This lesson I began editing the voice-over that I recorded directly into iMovie. I found this very easy to do, as it meant that the words matched up to what was going on in the documentary at the time. This effect looks professional and makes it a lot more enjoyable to watch for the audience.
I decided to still have a soundtrack in the background however, I just had to ensure that I turned down the volume slightly so that my voice could still be heard well enough over the top.
When I was recording the voice-over I made sure that I spoke clearly and loudly into the microphone, and re-recorded the clip if I did not think it met what I wanted. 

This is the microphone I deiced to use to  record my voice-over. I plugged it directly into my MacBook . I knew this would be suitable due to the fact that I also used this microphone to interview the lifeguards on the beach in Mallorca. It blocked out the wind in the background, and the voices of both myself and the lifeguards could clearly be heard. 

Planning: Taking cinematography shots

I have put together some mini videos in iMovie of the footage I filmed when carrying out test shots. As of yet, I haven't yet used this footage however, I found it really helpful to film test shots beforehand so that when it came to filming the shots I was going to use, the angles and resolution would be of a good standard,

I also wanted to establish which parts of Clements Hall would be suitable to film my footage in. This is due to the fact that some parts of the Leisure centre lack having good enough natural lighting. This is vital because it really improves the overall appearance of the clip.

I decided not to use certain clips such as the panning of the rota and pool test. I decided that the audience of the documentary would not be interested in this part of being a lifeguard, and the action shots of people carrying out rescues and maintaining training in the pool would be a lot more interesting.






I have carried out the same thing for the airport and beach shots that I filmed. This was very beneficial because I was only visiting Mallorca for one week, which meant it wouldn't be possible to easily go back and film more shots if I felt like I needed more. However, due to filming so many different shots, it meant that I finally knew what looked good for my documentary.

Some of the clips I filmed were slightly too shaky to include and didn't look professional enough. Furthermore, clips such as myself climbing up onto the lifeguard chair didn't really have anything to do with the narrative to my documentary, which meant that in the end I decided not to include it. Finally, a panning shot of the beach I filmed at a portrait angle, which meant that didn't insert into iMovie easily and I decided not to include it as a cutaway.

Generic Research: Dochouse

Link to the website here 

I decided to do some further research, and when doing so I found this website. This is an example of a cinema house that showcases documentaries. It is one of the only ones that is running and up in business. When I watched some specific examples, I found that the conventions were very similar to the documentaries I have already watched. 

This was helpful due to the fact that it reassured me that I have been following the codes and conventions of already existing products. 

Audience Research: focus group

I have decided to show my focus group the draft I have of my extract so far, this is so I can therefore, gain some improvements and work on them.

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Generic Research: lifeguard rescues

I wanted to create a more sad and impactful scene during my documentary extract. Therefore, I have carried out some research that I can include as part of my footage, including statistics on how many deaths occurring from drowning every year.

I then also found a story in a local newspaper about a girl who was near to drowning due to getting her hair caught in the filter. I have placed this story over the top of the footage I filmed of a swimming pool abroad.

http://www.ilsf.org/content/drowning-facts-and-figures

http://nypost.com/2016/02/19/girl-nearly-drowns-in-swimming-pool-at-queens-spa/

Production: Documentary audio

Here is a screenshot of the three songs I have decided to use in my documentary.

The first song I have inserted is 'Be Like You' which is an upbeat song and is a good way to start the footage off. The lyrics also mirror the subject of what my documentary is about, e.g. the mention of the lyric 'water.' 

The second song is 'Coldplay The Scientist' which is a more slow and negative song. The reason as to why I have included this is because it goes well with the footage I have filmed for this particular song. I have spoken about a horror story that has happened at a hotel pool abroad, and I want the audience to react shocked at the importance of the role of a lifeguard.

The final song I have included 'Cold Water' to end the documentary. It is an upbeat song and is nice and effective way to end the footage.