Preliminary Task: Critical feedback video YouTube link

This image is of my Media Studies class and teacher reviewing and criticizing each other's Preliminary tasks. The link below will take you to a YouTube video addressing my criticisms on my Preliminary task and also what I am changing and will improve or take out. I have done this because its useful to these ideas for the tas in video or written format so I can always come back to it and remind myself of what ideas I had and was recommended.

https://youtu.be/jA3e8rdVpZQ

Preliminary Task: Blog plan

I have now completed my preliminary task and posted it on YouTube. In lesson time the class and I have reviewed my presentation and criticized it, and in my next blog I will be combining all the feedback from the class and also my one-to-one reviews with my teachers into one blog of information and also how I’m going to take action to change and improve my documentary, then I will draw up a storyboard in a separate blog and see how my teachers, friends, and others I will show,  react to the storyboard and create a blog on their feedback.

Preliminary Task: YouTube link

Below is a link to YouTube, and it will show you my Preliminary task. 

https://youtu.be/AF1irzU3aPU

Preliminary Task: Editing

I am using Adobe Premiere Pro for my editing and I finalized and published it off of IMovie onto YouTube. I am editing using mainly Adobe because I used this editing software for my Film Noir last year and is a very high-quality editing software so I can trust it to produce the highest quality of editing, however, I finished the editing on iMovie due to a lack of time management when filming.

Documentary poster analysis 'ONE OF US'

I have analyzed this Documentary poster due to it having a relative topic to mine which is the topic of Religion. I have taken a few things from this cover that I could apply to my poster for my Documentary. For example, the catchy, simple title which has many meanings, the classical Hasidic Jewish clothing and styles being implicated into the central image.

Overcoming an incident with the help from my teachers

Today in Mrs. McClelland's classroom, Mr. Davies helped me with troubles with the camera that I had never experienced before. The SD card was locked, and the camera wouldn't let me film anything on it so I went and asked Mr. Davies and he stated the problem and gave me the advice to unlock the SD card. And you do that by toggling with the switch on the SD card itself to unlock it so I can now access and film with it.

Pitch: My Documentary

Introducing Ellesmere College a Christian school for British and international students. Showing the Christian aspects in an Expository mode style, with long shots that pan and close-ups that zoom with a narration speaking on the images shown like the organs, the mother chapel, the chapel, the anti chapel, the lunch hall, the main hall, the Chaplain, etc. Then I will introduce Saud, my controversial character in this documentary to juxtapose my first subject due to Saud being a Muslim and attending a Christian school and living in it for more than half the year. His full name is Mohammed Saud Israr is a Muslim teen boy Doha, Qatar and he is in year 12, his first year of A-levels, and has to attend chapel twice a week and carol services too even tho it is not his faith. this is what I will be interviewing him about, also about how he fits in his prayers into his busy school day schedule and also what it's like for his roommate Vincent to have him practice his worshiping whilst in the same room. I will take some over the shoulder shots of Saud with the football squad he plays with and also some shots of St Bedes with all the boys involved in the life of Bedes boarding house.

Locations: Footage for my documentary

Locations

Main Ellesmere Grounds

• Anti Chapel
• Mother Chapel 
• The main corridor of Ellesmere College 
• The Terraces 
• Outside and inside the reception 
• The sports fields 
• The football pitch he plays on in the evenings with the floodlights on

St Bede's

• Saud's room
• The day room
• The hallways
• Just outside the house where the plaque for the house

Equipment: For the creation of my documentary

Equipment

• Tripod (for stable shots)
• Boom microphone (for interview and voice-overs) 
• A Nikon DX camera
• Two chairs (for interview)
• Adobe Premiere Pro 
• Photoshop
• A computer (for editing, research, clips and potential music)
• An SD card 
• A lamp (for interview lighting)
• A background sheet (for the background of the interview)

Props

• Saud's clothing
• Saud's prayer mat 
• Saud's food from home

final product ideas: Main question ideas

1. How does a Christian foundation school incorporate those of other religions?

2. What is the experience of a Muslim in a Christian school?

3. Why would a Muslim family possibly send their child or children to a British Christian boarding school?

4. How does a Muslim boy adopt a Christian culture?

I found these 4 questions very good topic questions due to them allowing me to have access to a lot of things to explain, and I can also narrow that down to 5 minutes too. The work I will have to do to revolve everything in my documentary will have to be based around the question I pick. Therefore I will need to shape questions, shot types, objects I film, etc.

A Prezi on documentary broadcasters in Britain

Below is the link to a Prezi I have made on some of the British Documentary broadcasters. I have made this for research purposes to see which Broadcaster my Documentary would best fit under.

https://prezi.com/view/20VHVmce7U52one7ToeZ/

Shot types: 25 degree

This almost 25-degree angle shot is good for my documentary interviews due to it being natural for the audience and me (the interviewer) behind the camera. It’s not awkward for Saud too because he has the camera in his sight and also me as well. He will be answering to me and looking at me and the camera is picking all this genuine conversation up without being in the way or making anyone feel awkward.

Shot types: 45 degree

This 45-degree angle shot would be good for interviews. However, facial expressions are limited for viewing due to the leafy side of his face being cut off. This will limit emotions being passed from Saud to the audience and also will make communication to the audience unnatural. If I would just meet the angle I had before and this angle in the middle, that would be perfect.

Shot types: front on

Using this front on-camera eye contact type of shot for interviewing Saud for my documentary wouldn’t be natural for the vibe I am going for in my documentary, this is a much more expository mode shot, however, I am aiming for a more participations and observational mode.

Critical reflection: Expository mode practice documentary

I enjoyed the creation process again, however, I could have gathered more clips instead of using only 3 long ones. I could have used more relaxing music I think, due to the relaxing voice over and long cuts. I could have a stabler hand when filming and walking. in convolution, I thought this expository mode practice documentary to be a success and may be using it in my real documentary, maybe in the starting sequences or as shots inbetween interviewing my subject.

Expository Mode: practice Documentary

Expository mode is using cinematic photography with voice over either being bias or non bias to the topic of Documentary. This video was a practice for this mode and i hope to use it in my documentary due it being useful in many ways. there is narration over the clips, however the narration could be the interview or the narrator or just music in-between questions. This blog is for research and experience purposes and will doing better jobs on my next shots I take.

https://youtu.be/uUtwR4Z4LHs

A reflection on the two mockumentaries I have done for research of documentary

The two documentary sketches I have previously posted have been mockumentaries of a reflective  and participatory mode style of documentary. I found this mode of documentary fun and interesting to film due to the conversations you have with the subject. However for the real documentary I will need to create, I will have to find a real topic and not made up personas like these two I have done on reflexive and participatory modes.

Another fake interview for my documentary research on YouTube

https://youtu.be/z4i3bSTjOSU

The link to a practice interview for my documentary research

https://youtu.be/U8KNHz4EaXQ

Click the link below to go to my Slide Share on Bill Nichols 6 modes of documentary

https://www.slideshare.net/jakeredshaw/6-modes-of-documentries-for-slide-share

Informal YouTube video: The Documentary Night Mail

https://youtu.be/XvzBXiBgkmM

Self made Newspaper Article, Reflection and Criticism: Robert J. Flaherty’s 'Nanook of the North'

This article was made by me and was created to spread my views on the topic of Flahertys 'Nanook of the North' being genuine or staged, and it being actually classed as a documentary or not due the acting and forced scenes directed by Flaherty himself in it. 

I could have improved this blog by making the article look more realistic by creating subtitles, or using smaller font like in the newspapers. Also I could have zoomed the whole article out, so the writing on the right side of the paper wasn't so tight to the wall of the paper. Finally, I could have been more in depth and written more on how other critics had viewed this subject and incorporate some more quotes and opinions.

Doing this research allowed me to see how some documentaries are still classed as documentaries even with scripted scenes using directors and actors, and how I could incorporate this into my documentary due to liking being the director and directing scenes in film. I could use my talent for directing a little in my documentary and still have it classed as a documentary.

YouTube video: Life of the Lumiére Bro’s

https://youtu.be/pdASvbQ8Z8I

In this YouTube video about the Lumiere brothers, there were a couple of things I could have planned better to improve the standard of my blog. Firstly, the elephant in the room, which was that the camera was vertical, and not horizontal. This doesn't tie into any documentary Code or Convention due them being filmed in landscape. Another problem was I didn't say what I would or wouldn't take from the Lumiere research I did. However, I will do that now. What I would take from the Lumiere brothers is there ability to stick to one topic in there short films. What I mean by this is they would prop a camera up and film one thing and not edit the final product in there original first films like 'the factory workers', this is inspirational for me due to how I go off topic a lot because of how I am interested in everything and I always want to improve my work by adding more and more detail. What I will not take away from the Lumiere brothers research is how there films were short and also unedited, which is not expected of documentaries in this day and age.

Survey: Documentaries

This survey is part of my research for my initial documentary ideas and inspiration due to this survey combining the views of 25 students and adults combined into 7 average answers to 7 questions I asked them. I did this in the space of 3 days asking and planning the questions, then combining all the information on my own into average answeres to be placed into this survey.

Codes and Conventions: Documentaries

This spider diagram of the Codes and Conventions of the Documentary genre was created for research and inspirational purposes due to me being able to refer back to it when carrying out my documentary production and be able to correctly go forward with my creative ideas whilst the production still being in the Documentary genre due to it having the correct Codes and Conventions of a Documentary.

↑↑↑Now for my documentary↑↑↑
the advanced portfolio 

Now being in year 13, the Noir Topic is completed to my best effort, and it is time for my Documenary project for the A2 course. I aim to improve my blogs quality, and a main focus is to use a lot more editing in the Documentary, and its poster too, due to me really enjoying the editing with the Film Noir and wanting to follow this passion and improve it greatly. 

Link to The Final Product: 'Love Is A Weapon'

https://youtu.be/p-SRua88Kz8

Critical question: 4

https://youtu.be/iZNsa5a_PB8

Critical question: 3

Critical question: 2

https://prezi.com/p/p4u10orkox0p/q2-of-the-4-critical-questions/

Critical question: 1

https://youtu.be/ZkJBcTLRSnk

Opening scene: Draft

https://youtu.be/IoOr16MGbDI

Official Poster: 'Love is a Weapon'

Focus Group: Criticisms and Advice

Editing: Adding the Newly Filmed Redo of the opening scene

The group decided to reshoot the first clips for the opening scene due to the quality not being up to our standard of liking. The old first scene had a shaky camera, and although this is easily fixable with editing, especially on Adobe Premier Pro 2019, the direction of the camera was incorrect and did not capture what we wanted to capture in the scene, therefor forcing us to re-film and truly capture the correct props and emotions of the main protagonist.

YouTube Video: Reflection

In this video Georgie, Dylan and I are reflecting on our individual pasts with Media studies, the different skills we have and how we have used them in and around our media Preliminary Task.

https://youtu.be/sXz5GsJZDZI

Editing: The Protagonists Voice Over

YouTube Video: Practice script reading - By the Femme Fatale and friend criticising the script

https://youtu.be/RWJjwq1NI1A

YouTube Video: Behind the scenes shooting, planning and editing

https://youtu.be/1ibmZaoRsRA

YouTube: Opening Scene Analysis 'Ready Player One'

https://youtu.be/6vkbgAFdoXY

YouTube Video: Opening Scene Analysis 'Nightcrawler'

https://youtu.be/Tpif1bbifog

YouTube Video: Sped up Brainstorm With My Group

https://youtu.be/5A8hOccqNdc

YouTube Video: Opening Scene Analysis 'Bird Box'

https://youtu.be/q8rVNOL6_E8

YouTube Video: Opening Scene Analysis 'Blade Runner 2049'

https://youtu.be/FCXvEMNIDhQ