Commission Unit: Keeping in touch with the NoToMob

Recently myself and Andy have really begun pushing our NoToMob members to organize a large meeting with the NoToMob members so that we can meet with them and gauge whether or not we can get some decent interview contributions from them.
Our main point of contact has been through email, and I have made sure to email the contact at least once a week to ensure that they still remember us, and so that they understand that we are serious about our work and are very keen to have their contribution to our documentary film piece.

My most recent email reads:
"Hi Steve,

It's Mark here, I'm just wondering how things are going with the organization of the meeting with the NoTo members? I'm not sure if you got our last email or not, but myself and Andy are free to meet up at any point. If you could reply to this email with any ideas of what kind of dates we could work with, that would be great.

Thanks,

Mark Cooper"

I made sure to be very open with the dates we could meet with the NoToMob on so that they would be more comfortable and feel like they are under less pressure. Obviously I am still keen to push them though so that they organize the meeting faster though. it will be up to me and Andy to find work to do in the meantime while we wait for an email reply. our next step will be to develop the questions we want to ask the NoToMob further, as well as finalize our shot list and documentary layout.

Commission Unit: Interviews Workshop

Today Andy and I attended an interviews workshop at the Maidstone studios.
I was particularly interested in attending this workshop because I will be the one interviewing contributors for our documentary film piece on the NoToMob. Although I have created documentary film pieces in the past, and I have experience appearing in front of the camera in an acting capacity, I do not have much experience at all when it comes to setting up an interview segment, or actually interviewing the contributor.
I learnt a lot from today, including such things as how to cut the scene up in certain ways so that it can be easily edited together and still work, and I also learnt how to keep the flow of an interview going so that I can avoid the interviewee going off on a tangent and talking about an irrelevant subject.

Todays workshop has given myself and Andy a lot to think about in terms of how we will approach our contributors, namely the NoToMob, which may or may not feature an interview which takes place outside on the streets of Medway. Since their will be a lot happening in the background if we choose to film outdoors, it will be important that we shoot a lot of material we can cut to in the meantime, and be sure to shoot lots of "noddies" shots to avoid inconsistencies.

Commission Unit- A Day in the Life Project and updated Documentary script.

This is our video that we made for 'day in the life' brief given on Wednesday, the outline was simply get a shot list, script, film and edit of a short 'day in the life' of a student. For this, we used Mark playing a game, with all different shots making sure we have a lot of coverage. The sound isn't the greatest and the cuts aren't silky smooth, but I really enjoyed the small project and the cameras were nicely exposed.


 

Here is the script:

Commission Unit- Documentary Script Feedback

Andy and I have recently received some feedback for our basic documentary film piece script, which we submitted to our course mentor Helen earlier this week. The feedback can be seen here: A lot of the feedback we received mostly highlighted our lack of details when it comes to scripting exactly what the narrator and presenter will say during transitional segments. We also made a few amateur mistakes such as referring to the interviewees as "Interviewee A", "Interviewee B" etc, rather than actually highlighted what the interviewee will be. For example, are they part of the NoToMob that will be backing up their work, or will they be a council member talking about why the NoToMob aren't approaching the situation in the correct way? We will make proper changes to our script and make it easier to understand before our filming date.

Commission Unit- Keeping in touch with the No2Mob and Scripting.

Recently Andy and I have realized the importance of keeping in constant contact with whoever we will be working with on our documentary film pieces. We have both been discussing contingency plans in case one of our interviewees decides to cancel their interview due to nerves or due to the fact that something has occurred which means they cannot take part in the interview. We keep in touch with our NoToMob contact Steve through the use of email. He also has a contact number for my own personal mobile which means he can contact me at any point, and I can contact him if there are any last minute problems. Andy and I have also begun the process of scripting our documentary film piece. Although we obviously cannot script how long each interview segment will be, or how the interviewees will respond to the questions we ask them, we can script such things as camera angles, music and transitional scenes where the presenter will be speaking. We have made sure to try and make the script as detailed as possible so that when we are reading it on location we can quickly and easily film what we intended to film. This should save us looking like amateurs in front of our interviewees, and will hopefully make them more likely to want to meet with us again if we should need to capture more material.

Commission Unit- Location Workshop in Canterbury

Recently myself and Andy took part in a university field trip to Canterbury, where the aim was for us to learn how to effectively shoot beautiful scenes using the Sony cameras we will be using for our documentary film piece.

A photograph of the location taken from my camera phone.

I learnt a lot about what it takes to achieve fantastic abstract and interesting shots from this field trip, and as such I feel that I have gained a much better insight into what helps make a great looking piece of film. I am very confident that the experiences I have had from this field trip will allow me and Andy to produce a piece of film that is not only entertaining and informative, but also interesting to look at visually.

Commission Unit- The Pitch and Feedback

Today myself and Andy pitched our idea for our documentary film piece to our course leader Helen, Fergus and an outside visitor that has previously worked with the BBC on several programs.
Before we entered for the pitch we decided it would be a good idea to finalise our idea as well as make sure that the treatment document that we wanted to submit was up to date and contained all the information that we wanted to bring up in the pitch.

When we entered the board-room to present our pitch, the first thing we did was make sure each member of the commissioning body had a copy of our treatment document and that we introduced ourselves in an appropriate, business-like manor.
We began our pitch by simply explaining what our documentary was going to be about and what our intentions were while we are making it (AKA: What we want to learn, who we want to speak to and what kind of impression we want our documentary film piece to leave on the viewer when they have finished watching.)
Once we had established what our documentary was to be about,we began to explain more technical aspects of the project, such as what channel and time-slot our documentary would be shown in and appeal to. We explained that our documentary would be shown on BBC3, and we also explained that we would want our documentary to be shown in a time-slot where it would not have to compete with soap operas, which often monopolise the viewing habits of people. We also explained what our target audience would be and why we believed that appealing to this target audience would be the most appropriate thing to do.
We explained that our documentary would cater to many different age-groups and social statuses, but also that the main kind of audience we would be going for would be drivers and people who like the subject of organisations and individuals standing up against large corporate entities such as the government and other people in authority positions.
One thing that was noted from our treatment document that we handed in was that the suggested TV Listing description I created was very suggestive and biased in the way it was presented. Whilst I didn't think this when I first created the piece of writing, I began to understand as the commissioners explained to me that using the word "corrupt" in such a way pretty much makes it seem as though our documentary film piece has already decided to side with the NoToMob, instead of giving fair, impartial information.
Therefore, the newly updated TV listing description will read:
“An investigative look into the world of "corrupt" parking-law enforcement, and the vigilante group that battle against them on the streets of urban Medway.”
Quotation marks have been added around the word corrupt.
Throughout the pitch, many comments were made from the commissioning members, and a lot of them were helpful when it comes to making adjustments to our overall story development and how we plan to approach the creation of our documentary.

Commission Unit- Contacting the Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham

Today myself and my project partner Andy contacted the Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham via email. The idea behind this move was for us to enquire about whether or not the people working at the Pentagon Shopping Centre had any idea about the kind of effect the recent parking regulations have had on the profits at the shopping centre (if any at all.)
I found two email addresses on the Pentagon website and sent the following email:

Hello,

I am a student at the University for the Creative Arts in Rochester, and I am currently undertaking a broadcast media course. I have been given the task of creating a documentary film piece, and I have chosen to create my documentary about the recent changes to parking regulations in the Chatham and Medway area and I was just wondering if I would be able to get some information from someone at the Pentagon Shopping Centre about whether or not these changes have had much of an effect on the amount of visitors to the Shopping Centre, and whether or not profits have been negatively affected in part by these changes.

If you could please reply to my email address at: Cooper.elmarco@hotmail.co.uk 

I would be able to write more in-depth about what kind of information we actually require. Thank you.

Regards,

Mark Cooper

It is out hope that the Pentagon will reply soon and supply us with the information we want.

Commission Unit- Treatment Document

Today myself and Andy are preparing for our pitch for our documentary film piece called "Community Heroes- NoToMob." In preparation we created a piece of writing called a treatment document which we have uploaded to a document sharing site called ISSUU which presents the document in a much more appropriate manor to the site we previously used to upload scripts to which was called "Scribd."
Our treatment document is located below:

In our pitch we made sure to highlight some of the more important information about our documentary, such as the style in which we hope to film, the editing techniques we want to use, as well as what kind of reporting style we want to use and where we want to film.

Commission Unit- Pitch Discussion

Today Andy and I took part in a video-call to discuss the preparations for our pitch presentation on Monday. During the call, we discussed and finalized some of our ideas such as what channel our documentary would be most likely to appear on, as well as discussing what time of the day it would be shown at.

We eventually decided that our program would be shown on BBC 3 at 7pm, as this is a time of the day that everyone is sat down after dinner, and the age group that would be most interested and opinionated towards our documentary would be watching.

Commission Unit- Potential Filming Locations

This project will be the first project where I have had people from the outside of the project working with me to create a piece of film. As such, it is important that I am organized and have a professional approach towards my work and one of the things I have to consider for myself and Andy is locations where we can film for our project.

It is important that I research the laws on photography and videography carefully and take care in abiding by said laws, otherwise there is a possibility our documentary may be removed from YouTube, or potentially even a chance we may be sued for capturing the image of someone or somewhere we are not allowed to. It is also paramount that we provide our cast and crew to our documentary film pieces safe, un-hazardous environments to work in, so it is very important that I research these film spots and perhaps even visit them ahead of time so that I can be sure there are no potential dangers and health and safety risks.

When it comes to actually thinking up ideas of where to film, it can be quite difficult, especially when a restricted to filming in and around Medway. A lot of our transitional shots (such as shots of the presenter talking alone or providing a commentary on what is coming up) will probably take place outdoors in areas such as a street or park. I did a quick Google search for places in Medway that specifically allow film crews to work there, and one place I found was Medway Port.
Medway Port allows filming as long as it does not interfere with the everyday running of the port, but unfortunately charges a service fee for filming there. The fee is dependent on the type of filming, the size of the crew and the duration of the shoot, and so unfortunately it might not be feasible for us to film there.

If it comes to it, we can possibly seek permission from Maidstone Studios for us to film some interview scenes inside one of their studios, but this will require any interviewees to travel from outside of Medway to
Maidstone (around an hour by bus), which may be a deal-breaker for some interviewees.

Filming locations is something we will seriously have to consider and confirm before we plan to begin shooting, otherwise our film will look rushed and unplanned, which is never a good thing. We also have to make sure our entire shoot is thoroughly planned so that we can appear to be professional to our interviewees, in case we need to return to them at some point for more material or to work with them again in the future.

Chatham High Street. Potential Film Location?

Commission Unit- Preparing a TV Listing description.

Today I have spent my time awaiting a response to my email to Medway Council and a response from the member of the NoTo Mob calling himself "Bald Eagle."
I have also spent some time creating a short TV Listing description, similar to that which would be seen in a television guide, or description on such services as Sky and Virgin Media. It is basically a brief run-down of what happens in the program, and I believe I have created one that not only clearly states what our documentary film piece will be about, but also uses key "buzz-words" to get the readers attention and perk their interest when it comes to them choosing whether or not to watch our program.
The statement is:

“An investigative look into the world of corrupt parking-law enforcement, and the vigilante group that battle against them on the streets of urban Medway.”

I chose to use words such as "Corrupt", "Vigilante" and "Battle", as these are words and subjects that seem to interest viewers such as myself quite a bit. At the moment, there is a massive uproar about the possibility of our government being corrupt, and movements such as "Anonymous" (mentioned in a previous blog) are a popular subject when it comes to the discussions of fighting back against said government.

I think if this were inserted into a TV listing to represent our documentary film-piece, it would do very well and attract moderate attention due to the popular key-words I used.

Commission Unit- Contacting Medway Council

Today, as well as doing a lot of blog work and emailing the NoTo Mob with information about our shooting schedule and the time-frame we have to create our documentary film piece, I have also spent time using the contact details I previously found for Medway Council and have emailed them requesting their viewpoint on the NoTo Mob.
Below is a screenshot of the email I sent.

Obviously the council offices are very busy with operations across the whole of Medway, and so I may have to try contacting them through other means as well as email. I may potentially write a letter using pen and paper or even see about calling the council offices or visiting them in person so that I can really get their attention.

Commission Unit- Creating a schedule for the Project.

I feel it would be very important for myself and Andy to know exactly what kind of work we should do an any particular day. That was we know whether or not we are on track with our work, or whether or not we need to pick up the pace. This should allow us to stay on track and avoid missing any deadlines.
I have begun the process of creating some calendar schedules for us, which I found online after running a simple google search.
One I found the calendars I wanted to use, I simply screenshotted them and opened them up in Adobe Photoshop. Once there, I went through the Production Timetable we had previously been given by our unit leader Helen, and inputted the tasks into the calendar.

We will be working on this project over March, April and May, and here are the schedules I have created for myself and Andy so that we stay on track over that period of time:

I have told our contact from the NoTo Mob that we are free to film anytime between the 7th of April and the 28th of April.
The next step in my project will be to make more potential contacts (people that may have been negatively affected by recent parking laws) and also to begin the scripting process.

Commission Unit- Research into the NoTo Mob and their work.

As I previously mentioned in one of my blogs, a member of the NoTo Mob actually replied to our request for an interview, and even provided us with a couple of links to youtube videos that the NoTo Mob have appeared in for the BBC.
I wasn't previously aware of these videos, and so the email in which we received that contained links to these videos will come in very useful. The videos in question tackle some of the issues the NoTo Mob face, and as a result, we gained a better understanding of exactly what they do.
The videos in question are:
)and

) These videos are quite large in their duration, and contain a wealth of information that we didn't previously know about. Our next step in this project will be to develop some questions of our own to ask whichever members of the NoToMob we speak to, and also to arrange a production time-frame so that we can email the NoToMob back and let them know exactly what kind of time we are dealing with.

Commission Unit- Sound Workshop

Yesterday I attended a sound workshop at the Maidstone Studios with my project partner Andy. I thought this would be a very good idea, and an excellent addition to my skills-set, as one thing I learnt from my previous project "Directions" was that a lot of the time, the sounds that were used in my videos was often poor quality or lacking in some way.
The workshop was taught by our tech-guy Fergus, who has an excellent understanding of the equipment we are provided with. I felt that I learnt a lot about where to position certain kinds of microphone, such as clip and boom mics, and also how to alter the sound settings on the larger Sony Cameras so that the sound I recorded was the best quality it could possibly be.
Some of the equipment we were shown how to use is shown here in this photograph:

We tested the new skills we learnt from this workshop the same day, by creating a basic one minute piece in which two "characters", Andy and Chris were talking about what they enjoyed and disliked about our course.
My job during this small filming phase was to wear a pair of headphones that were attached to the recording camera, and I would alter the sound levels on the camera so that the voices of both Chris and Andy both sounded as though they were the same quality and volume.
The test we wanted to do was to find out how we would set up the clip and Boom Mics appropriately so that the sound we recorded was of a great quality. I am very excited to take the skills I have learnt from this workshop and put them to use in our documentary film piece.

Commission Unit- Response to Interview Request.

This morning myself and Andy received a response to the email we sent to the NoTo Mob yesterday requesting an interview with them for our documentary film piece. The email we received is as follows:

Obviously myself and Andy are very happy about Steve accepting our invitation for an interview, and the fact that he has expressed further interest in our project by asking us more questions about the time-frame we want to film our documentary film piece in and even sent us some youtube videos of some of the previous documentaries that the NoTo Mob has appeared in says to me that he is interested in the documentary we are making, which is of course always a desirable trait when choosing an interviewee.

Our next step in this project will be for us to finalise our shooting schedule, editing schedule and make sure that we reply to Steve quickly so that they do not begin to feel like we are messing them around and such.
It will also be important for us to prepare some questions to ask the NoTo Mob.

Commission Unit- Preparing to pitch our documentary idea

Today I have been made aware it will soon be time for myself and Andy to pitch the premise of our documentary film piece. Therefore we feel it would be important for us to make sure we finalize our research into what the no-to movement is, as well as finalize how we want to portray the no-to movement.

Obviously since we are using the no-to movement in our documentary about "my hero", it will be very important for us to make sure we give a good impression about the group, even though their tactics about fighting against a corrupt government and police force are "very unorthodox and somewhat disruptive."

It is also going to be important for us to make sure we present our idea in a way which makes it seems entertaining as well as informative. some ways in which we could achieve this is by finding out interesting things the no-to group a has been involved with, as well as what we hope to make apparent and learn about the group in the documentary.

Commission Unit- Contacting the NoTo Mob

Today i have spent a lot of my time working on contacting the group we found, The NoTo Mob. An email i have sent reads:

"Hello,

We are writing as students from the University for the Creative Arts in Rochester. We have been given the task of creating a documentary film piece as part of our commission unit, and we are writing today to ask if you would allow us to make our documentary film piece on the work of the NoToMob and their activities in Medway. Off the record the work of the NoToMob is something that we find very interesting and we think it sends a positive message to correctly deal with corrupt money-driven system.

The brief for our unit is called My Hero, where we have to produce a documentary relating to a person or group of people that inspire others. After seeing your work online and word of mouth, what you do for the community is something that we think would be suitable for this brief. If you could provide us with more information about your group and its philosophy, we could potentially arrange interviews with a member or members of your movement and give you the opportunity to spread the message of your movement in front of a camera. If you do not feel comfortable appearing in front of a camera, we would be more than happy to accept a written statement, providing that you give permission for us to broadcast it as part of our documentary.

If you are not willing to appear on our documentary or provide a written statement, could you please give us some further information on what kind of direction we could take in finding out more on your movement.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you, we have a contact number if you would rather a verbal chat instead of e-mail, 07787697290

Mark Cooper and Andrew Cox"

In the email, we made sure to provide as much information about ourselves as possible, our intention with the creation of the documentary film piece, as well as what we wanted from them exactly. We also made sure to provide them with suitable contact details so that a member of the NoTo Mob would be able to contact us easily.

I am hoping that we receive a response from the NoTo Mob as soon as possible, so that we can begin preparing the questions we want to ask them.

Commission Unit- Exploring potential filming styles.

Recently we have been exploring the various different potential styles that we could film our documentary film piece in, and also what kind of tone our film piece could have. 

Something we have discovered from watching such documentary film pieces as "the boy whose skin fell off" and the "educating Yorkshire" and "7up" series is that the sudden change from guerrilla film-making to film that has been recorded using a tripod and steady cam can be quite off putting for the viewer.

Guerrilla film making has a very rugged, almost shaky look to it and so it can sometimes seem like a lot of action is happening on the screen even when it isn't due to the erratic camera movements. This of course would make no sense in slow paced scenes and sit-down interview segments, but would be perfect for scenes where there is a lot going on, such as action scenes (like if we were to attend a no-to movement rally where there would be a lot going on).

Guerrilla film making would also be very convenient for us in terms of having to carry equipment as we would not have to worry about carrying a tripod around with us when we are out and about filming. This means we could potentially take other pieces of equipment instead, such as light reflectors or sound equipment.

Commission Unit- Collecting Contact Details for Medway Council

I have spent today briefly collecting some much needed contact details in preparation for our documentary film piece about the No-To Movement. An important entity we wish to get some information and opinions about the movement from is the Medway council. As the organization that runs Medway and ultimately established the very thing the No-To Movement is against, it would be a very interesting part of our documentary if we could get an interview with one of their council members.

If an interview is not possible, we could also read out a written statement, which should suffice as long as it was written by and comes directly from somebody from the Medway Council.

It was actually quite easy to find contact details for the Medway Council online, and after a quick Google search, I found this site.

The site features many different ways in which we can contact the Medway Council. including email addresses, telephone numbers and the site also has a rather convenient map which shows where the council offices are located if we should want to visit them in person at some point in order to either receive a statement or film an interview sequence.

The next step in this project will be for me to come up with a list of questions we want to ask Medway Council about the No-To Movement and then use all the given methods of contact to try and get as much information from the council as possible. If we can get an interview, that would be perfect, but if we only manage to get a written statement, that will also do just fine.

Commission Unit- Where is it legal to Photograph/Video?

Today I have spent the majority of my time researching the rules and regulations in the UK about what and where is legal to film in the city where we plan to film our documentary film piece. This is an important part of the entire film making process, as it will allow me to know my rights when the day of filming comes. It will also allow me to avoid having my documentary taken to court or being reported to the police for infringing somebodies right to have their property or identity kept private.
The rules on filming in public areas are pretty straight-forward, but filming on private land and capturing people in the background of shots is where the situation becomes more complicated. When it comes to filming our documentary film piece, we can easily avoid this problem by simply making sure not to capture the image of anything that we are not allowed to.
When it becomes important for us to interview people, or show a specific place or person in the film however, I could create permission slips which detail the name and purpose of our documentary. The person appearing in the documentary could then sign the slip, or a person who owns an area or building could sign the slip giving us permission to have them in our film.
In these forms it will be important to make sure that the people appearing in the film, or the people giving us permission to have their building shown in our documentary know that our documentary will be broadcast using social media, namely Youtube, Blogger and potentially facebook and twitter.

Today I researched using the internet and various websites came in useful. However, it may be worth me finding some kind of books about photography and videography law.

Commission Unit- Development of Ideas and Research

After discussing the documentaries we watched on Monday and generating some potential ideas we could create a documentary film piece about, myself and my class-mate Andy Cox eventually decided to settle with the theme of "My Hero", and we decided we would like to create our documentary about the "No To Mob", a group of individuals that have banded together to fight against unfair parking fines and massive CCTV invasions of privacy across the UK.
We decided to create our documentary about this subject, mostly due to the fact that there is a massive amount of information for us to work with on the subject, and the "No To Mob" is quite an accessible group of people, meaning that they should be quite easy to contact in order to request a statement and more information about their group directly from them, meaning their would be no bias about their work, or crossed wires, as information about them would be received directly from the horses mouth so to speak.

A couple of ideas Andy and I originally had to make out documentary film piece about included:

Julian Assange

Julian Assange
Julian Assange is famous for being the founder of the website Wikileaks, where secret and leaked government agreements and documents are regularly published and made easilly accessible to the public.
Julian is evidently a firm believer that information shouldn't be with-held from the public, and also seems to be a believer that the government should be a transparent entity that shouldn't keep secrets from the public. He is often seen as a hero due to the fact that he actually risked his life (potential assassination) and freedom in order to set up the wikileaks website, and a lot of people look up to the work he does and generally look up to him as a person.
The main reason Andy and myself decided not to go ahead with making our documentary about Julian Assange was mostly due to accessibility issues. It would not be an easy task to get a hold of Julian or any of the wikileaks team in order to get a statement about themselves and their work, and so the majority of the information we would be collecting about them and their organization would be second hand and relayed information, which could potentially be biased, or even falsified, which when creating a factual piece of film like a documentary is never a good thing.

The Anonymous Logo

 Anonymous (Group)
Creating a documentary about Anonymous would actually be quite unusual in the way that it would not be specifically about one particular individual, and would instead be about an entire organization based in multiple areas around the world.
Much like Julian Assange, Anonymous is a group of people that believe in a transparent government. They wish to bring about peace and prosperity, and believe that the world's government's are somehow controlling our every moves and basically keeping us as slaves in order to fulfill some kind of massive agenda.
The benefits of creating a documentary about Anonymous would be that rallys by the organization occur quite frequently throughout the country, and when and where they will happen are easily accessible through online media such as Facebook and Twitter and such.
A problem with Anonymous however, is that they can sometimes be quite unrelenting with their techniques to  bring about peace, and have been known to "hack" online websites and media that they oppose. Although this would allow for an interesting twist in our documentary, and allow us to ask if Anonymous truly are the "Good guys" they seem to be at first glance, it would also be going against our project brief, which is to create a documentary film piece about "My Hero."
Below is a video from my home-town in Nottingham of the group "Anonymous" helping a homeless man:

I think me and Andy have made the right decision in creating a documentary film piece about the No-To mob, as they are accessible, meaning we will have no problem contacting them for statements and quotes and such, their ways of working are very interesting, and I believe their is a lot of relevant information we can talk about in the documentary.

My next step will be to continue researching into exactly what the No-To Movement does, and how they can be contacted. It may also be an idea for me to begin gathering contacts and preparing questions. Some contacts I may wish to make are:

• Medway Council (to get their view-point on the group.)
• A member of leader within the No-To Movement group. (To get a better idea of what they do.)
• A person who has been affected in some way by the group. (Either in a positive way, or maybe even a negative way to add an interesting slant on the subject.)

I may also begin to create some kind of permission forms which everybody that appears in the film-piece will have to sign to give us consent to broadcast their image on the internet. This will ensure that the identity of those that don't want their image to be publicized, and also to ensure that at no point will me and Andy end up in court having to defend our documentary.

Commission Unit- Documentary Film Making Prep.

I have recently begun my new unit on my TV Production Course. For this unit, I have been given the task of creating a 10 minute documentary film piece, either about the Canterbury Cathedral, or "My Hero." For the task, I have teamed up with my classmate Andy, and we have decided to go with the theme of "My Hero."
The reason we chose this subject was because it gives us a much bigger range of subjects to create the documentary about, and it also allows us to choose a specific subject that interests us.

I preparation for this unit, we watched and were made aware of several documentary film pieces, most specifically a documentary series about  school in Yorkshire called "Educating Yorkshire" and a documentary that chronicled the final month of the life of a man with a terrible skin condition which was called "The Boy whose Skin Fell Off."
These two documentaries, whilst being very different both upheld exactly what a documentary film piece is originally created to do; educate, entertain and inform. This is something I need to consider when creating my own documentary film piece. I don't believe it would matter how my piece looks or if it upholds the typical style of a documentary- as long as it manages to be all three of these things, it will still be classed as a documentary film piece.

Something I made sure to make careful notes on while watching these documentaries was how the camera movements worked, and how and when non-diegetic music and sounds were used, as well as voice-overs. Educating Yorkshire taught me to be extremely careful when considering the rule of the 180 degree line, in order to make it obvious which person on screen is talking to who, and The Boy whose Skin Fell Off showed me that a documentary that is more story-based and somewhat cinematic in it's presentation can be just as informative as one that is purely facts and statements one after the other.

The next step in my documentary film making process will be for me to have a discussion with my team-mate Andy about what subject we want our documentary film piece to be about, as well as discussing what kind of tone and style we want our film to have.