Risk Assessments/Consent Forms

Before an shoot, a risk assessment must be carried out to ensure the safety of those involved. It is a good way of identifying the hazards with the most potential and the most effective ways to deal with them. We printed out the templates for the risk assessment from MyUCA which listed all of the potential risks. You then have to tick the ones that are most likely and rate them based on how likely and threatening they would be. The most prominent ones we highlighted were tripping, falling equipment that could land on people, illness/reactions from working with the birds and stress for the birds. These were all manageable as we will be a crew of four and can therefore ensure that there will be a few people to carry heavy equipment and watch whoever is on camera to ensure they are not about to walk into something or trip up. In terms of hygiene and bird safety, we will make sure to wash our hands after interacting with them as well as listening to Jo and the falconers for instructions when being around them.
After completing the risk assessment forms, I would say that we felt prepared to deal with any issues. We also printed off some consent forms which will hopefully be filled in on shoot day by Jo, Julie, Darren and Kayleigh who are all involved in the project. Consent forms are very important as they ensure that those involved are aware of the events taking place on the day and how they will be affected so they can make an informed decision on whether it is suitable for them.

Shotlist

It is very important to write a shotlist before any filming. Planning what you are going to shoot allows you to be organised and work efficiently on the day. This way, you don't have to think too much on the day what you're looking for as you have already decided. Alterations and extra shots can be considered on the shoot days which could give you more options during the editing process. We have written a shot list of the main shots we want to include and the key areas of the documentary that we plan to focus on to give us more structure on the day. 

 We have also labelled the archive footage that we plan to obtain from Jo from previous trips to Africa as well as photos of the books she has written. Other archive footage that we plan to use in our introduction include the vulture scene from Disney's The Jungle Book and some footage of vultures in Africa in their natural habitat.

Call Sheet and Schedule

Here we have written a call sheet to give us an idea for the shooting schedule. We will be filming on the Wednesday from 2pm as we cannot film whilst the public are taking part in the falconry experiences that go on during the morning. Our crew includes all three of us and Josh who will be an assistant camera operator and will be operating the drone. We have included all of our details and the details of the other people involved including the presenter and interviewees. Our schedule will range from 2pm until 6pm with descriptions of what we aim to achieve by each hour. Darren will be arriving at 2:30pm to give us time to set up the camera equipment beforehand. We will have the call sheet with us on the day to refer to and keep us on track.

The Presenter

After a discussion with Helen, we decided that we wanted to incorporate a presenter for the piece. To give the documentary a more realistic feel, we felt like a presenter would help to really engage the audience and give the narrative a bit of guidance, allowing the presenter to tell the story throughout. Helen gave us a few suggestions. We decided on a presenter and contacted him but he couldn't reschedule a former commitment and so we advertised on Casting Call Pro with a list of our specifications for the role. One of our specifications was that they must be keen to interact with and possibly hold some of the birds so we could involve them as much as possible. We had a few applicants for the role, some of which we looked at their show reels and decided to contact Darren Hammock. He has done mainly acting work but was keen to try more presenting. In terms of the documentary itself, he was incredibly keen to work with the birds and be as involved as possible which made us think about what we wanted the personality of our presenter to be like. We wanted someone who would be enthusiastic and interested in the birds so that it felt very genuine. This was particularly important as we want the presenter to be able to connect with the audience and persuade them to be involved and help the cause. Darren seemed very friendly and enthusiastic which was ideal and met the criteria for the role. We intend on featuring Darren in the piece as the interviewer as well as the commentator which will carry the narrative and inform the audience.

Interviews/Sequencing Workshop

Interviews are a huge feature in any type of documentary. They provide a sense of reality as we can hear some information from someone with knowledge about what they are talking about. Seeing real people on the screen allows us to engage more in a piece and feel connected to it, especially if the participants are trying to promote something. As a group of four we then had to film an interview that could be based on anything and construct an edit with cutaways and sequences. We decided to keep the theme of the interview very simple with just a casual conversation between Becca and Ellen. The topic was how they first met and their impressions of each other. We came up with some very simple questions such as 'What was your first impression of Ellen?' and allowed them to talk as much and as openly as they liked to give it a really easy going feel. As they know each other well this came across and provided the interview with some really funny moments and great reaction shots. When it came to filming, it was incredibly difficult only using one camera and trying to achieve a variety of shots. We started off with a two shot which was simple enough but as there became emphasis on one of them, we tried to do a few close ups to make it feel more personal and give the edit more variety. However, when you change the shot and it comes down to the edit, you must find cutaways to fill the space so that you cannot see the change in framing. We worked on these in our groups and listened back to what they were saying so we could choose what to film. We decided on some simple cutaways such as Becca working on one of the macs in the studio or her spending time with Nisserin to illustrate her as a person whilst Ellen is describing it. Overall I think the final edit was relatively successful and I learnt more about how to cover an edit and create a sequence which will be very useful when editing our documentary. 

Brian Cox - Documentary Filmmaker

Brian Cox is an English physicist and Advanced fellow of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. I have decided to look at him as a documentary film maker as he is well known for his science documentaries, particularly the 'Wonders of the Universe' series. He has even been described as a worthy successor to David Attenborough and Patrick Moore for his documentary work. He has featured in other science programmes of a factual base including 'Horizon' and 'Do you know what time it is?'

I have watched some of the 'Wonders of the Universe' series and find his approach and enthusiasm to be very encouraging and appealing. As he is a physicist and University professor himself, he has plenty of general knowledge in this field and expresses it in a very passionate way.
A particular episode 'Destiny' focusses on the idea of where we come from and why we are here on Earth. He explains that people have often turned to religious and spiritual reasons to explain but he delves into answers provided by Science. To conclude the episode he discovers that time is not characterised by repetition but by irreversible change. The vast universe is subject to laws of change. I think that Brian Cox is quite successful as a documentary filmmaker because he takes ideas and theories that are so complex and unbelievable and makes them not only very exciting to watch but also makes the audience feel like they can understand and learn about something that is complicated and far fetched. I think that that is the key to his success as people warm to him and embrace his friendly approach. When he is talking on screen, it feels as if you are having a conversation with a friend allowing you to feel comfortable and at ease.

Script Layout

Here I have attached some screenshots of our working script. Scripts for documentaries are set out differently to a typical script that you would write on final draft. We set out a table with the images on the left and the commentary/sync that would accompany it. For example, we would shoot some actuality of the gardens itself and the sync over it would be the presenter explaining some background information about the location. Setting out the script like this means that we can visualise what we want to appear on screen and put it together with want will be said. We had a discussion about what the storyline would include and in what order to we could structure      the script. When it came to writing it, we sat down together and decided what we were going to say. I have attached some progress screenshots of what we have written so far. We labelled the audio as either commentary or sync to make it easier for us to visualise and piece together. I would say that this is the most effective way to write a script like this for a documentary as it looks more structured and is easier to interpret. We wanted to sync and commentary to sound professional but casual and friendly at the same time so that audiences would take it seriously but feel comfortable and at ease when watching it.