Production Diary

Elisabeth Banks
Week 1
This week I started off my FMP with a contextual document. The first thing I did was look at
two relevant practitioners and their work, briefly analysing them and linking them to my project
idea. I then looked at the Hypodermic needle theory as I felt it was relevant to my style of
project. I created an introducing project slide to explain what I will be making, who it will be
aimed at, how I will do this etc. I then went on to say why I am making this project and made
sure to emphasis that it is personal to me and how my experience has led me to make this.
Next, I decided to lay out some research goals, so I have a strong starting point to my
research document when it comes round. I then went on to discuss my past experiences both
in and out of college and say how they have influenced me to be doing this project to help
give the project even more meaning. I also wanted to look at my strengths and limitations, so I
have clear indication of what may be difficult to do that I could work on during the project, and
what I know I definitely can do that I don't need to worry about. Finally, I discussed what I
wanted to achieve by making this project to clearly set out and identify my goals. 

Next week I plan to improve my contextual document and start my proposal.

Week 2
This week I started by working with the feedback I received from my tutor to
improve my contextual document. I noted down a few more strengths and
limitations as well as adding to my goals for the project to just push the
document a bit further. I then moved onto producing my proposal document
where I talked about my project idea in detail as well as skills I have gained from
past experiences and how I can apply them to this project. I also made a
bibliography for possible research points for future reference and a detailed
production schedule saying what I will be doing each week such as research and
production, and what exact parts of those I will be complete at that time. This is
to help keep myself on track for the duration of the project. 

Next week I plan on starting my research document focusing on my subject and

making improvements to my proposal document. 
Week 3
This week I started by improving my proposal document based on the feedback
received from my tutor. I added another possible research item, noted the tone of
my video, and how it would fit to the target audience and updated my production
schedule as some of the timings had changed. I then started on my research
document focusing first on my main subject of Type 1 Diabetes. I covered the
symptoms, seriousness, hypos and hypers, how it is managed and treated, the
difference between type 1 and type 2, facts and figures, and a key point summery. I
went into a lot of detail on each section to ensure I covered everything I possibly
could about the illness. I used trusted UK websites to conduct this research, so I
know the information is correct. This research will allow me to make sure the
information put out in my video is correct 

Next week I plan on continuing with my research looking at techniques, audience

and existing products. 
Week 4
This week I continued with my research document. I started by creating a short
audience research survey to send out to the public and then I completed a section
about myself and my experience with T1 as I plan on including it in my video. I then
went and focused my research on what I documentary is, analysing existing products
and summarising what I gained from that. I wanted to look into graphic pieces as I plan
on creating my own to have as pop ups in my video. I analysed 4 of them and made a
summary on each page of what I may take from my findings. I then looked at filming
techniques based on what I found in my existing product research that I plan on using
myself and then did the same with editing techniques for both video and graphics. 

Next week I plan on conducting experiments to do with my techniques and problem

solving to ensure I am prepared for anything to happen. I may also write up the results
from my audience research survey if I have enough feedback.
Week 5
This week I started on my problem-solving document focusing first on my experiments. I planned out 3
experiments based on my research findings that would benefit my production. They were all based
around interviews as I haven't filmed one before, so I wanted to quickly test out filming and editing
techniques. I wrote what each experiment was for, then filmed and edited the footage, and wrote what
I had gained from the experiment. Each one of these experiments has helped me learn a new skill,
practice existing skills, and work out what does and doesn't work in preparation for my final piece.

Next week I am going to be continuing with my problem-solving document looking into all of my
potential issues in detail. 
Week 6
This week I continued with my problem-solving document. I started off with a contingency plan where I
listed every possibly problem that could occur during my project that I could think of, the effect it would
have on my production, a solution to the problem, and the person responsible for ensuring this doesn’t
happen. This contingency plan allows me to assess issues and be fully prepared for them so if they do
happen, I have a solution I can go to straight away. I then looked at previous problems that I have had
during projects. I listed what the problems were, what effect they had, and what I can do in this current
project to prevent them from happening again. 

Next week I plan on starting my planning document and working with any feedback from this problem-
solving document I receive from my tutor to improve this section of work. 
Week 7
This week I started working on my planning document. The first thing I did was a quick reflection of
my project saying what I am making, why, who it is for, and where it will be available to view upon
completion. I then went on to list all the equipment I will need to use so I can make sure I have everything
available to me in advance of production. Next, I looked at all production resources where I noted down the
equipment again, but this time stated why I would be using certain pieces like a tripod. I also say what
software I will be using, what I will be using it for, and why I have chosen that software. After this I decided to
make some plans for my graphic pieces, I plan on creating. I drew them out on paper and added colour so I
could visualise what I was going for in each one better. I then added labels stating what each part is, the
colour used for it, why that colour, and if it will do anything like pop up at a certain point. 

Next week I will be continuing my planning document and making any improvements on past documents
that still need to be done. 
 Week 8
This week I continued with my planning document. The first thing I did was write down the personnel I will
have so I can easily access their names and contact details. I then thought of and listed my interview
questions for each interviewee individually so I can easily send them across to each of them. I moved on to
create a timeline for my video where I list what is happening at the start, first half, second half, and the end.
After this I made a shot list of every single shot I needed to film. For this I stated the location, shot, shot
type, and which part of the video I will be using it for, this will help me to work out what I am exactly filming
on each shoot day. I created a detailed production schedule including dates and times of shoots and editing,
along with the names of those involved in each day. It will ensure I stay on track when production starts. I
took screenshots of all the email communications I have had with the hospital to organise interviews and a
shoot day. I filled out a call sheet for each of my shoot days, these included location, time, personal, and
schedule of the date to help keep the plan for each day clear. The last part I did this week was write a risk
assessment which allows me to assess the risks at each location beforehand. 

Next week I will start my production and improve anything in my planning document. 
Week 9
During the half term break I started my production by filming 3 of the interviews along with some of
the cutaways I need. To prepare for this (and the rest of the filming days) I printed out my shot list and the
questions for each interview along with release forms for each interviewee to sign. After half term I went into
the hospital to film inside and outside of the buildings. My shot list really came in handing this day as I was
able to easily pinpoint what I needed to film and mark off what I had done. I also conducted my last filming
day where I interviewed two diabetes specialists at the hospital. The printed-out questions allowed the
interviewees to run through it again before filming started. 

This week I also started to edit my video. I focused on editing the interviews by blurring the background
using the "gaussian blur" effect in adobe premiere pro and cutting out the parts I didn't need or want. This will
make the main editing part easier as I will have less footage to go through. Next week I will continue with
editing and make any improvements where necessary.
Week 10
This week I continued production with my editing. I started by creating the
introduction to my video that I had decided on using in my planning and then
worked out how to transition between the intro and the first half. I decided to
use a "J Cut" as I felt this created a smooth transition between the two sections.
I then moved onto putting together the first half of the video. I wanted to get the
main body of footage in first so I could then go back and add in photos etc. I
started with my first interviewee "Tara", walking into the shot and getting ready
before cutting to her introducing herself as I have noticed this happening in
shows and documentaries I have seen. I added text that fades in and out that
states who Tara is as this is what I found to be a common documentary feature
in my research and wanted to implement this into my own work. I decided to
use white for her name is this seems to be the classic colour for this however I
chose to use a blue colour for her job title as I wanted to link back to the
diabetes colours somewhere in the production. I chose a basic and simple font
called "Sitka" as these labels are usually basic and I thought this was a nice
simple serif font however I may change this in the future. I then did the same
with my second interviewee "Jagannath" to keep the design consistent
throughout. I decided to colour code my clips so I could easily tell what is what
and who needs to go next as I alternated between each interviewee. 
Next week I plan on putting together the second half of the video in the same
way as I have done the first half. 
 Week 11
This week I continued my editing with putting together the second half of my video. I used
the same method as the first half with colour coding each clip, introducing them with the
walk on shot and the fade in/out text. I also alternated between each interviewee for this
section too. I decided to change the colours I used for the text to a dark blue and a lighter
blue (darker than the original light blue) as I wanted to include these colours more as they
are significant to T1D. When I got to the end of the video, I looked at my planning and
used that to work out exactly how I want it to end. I used the last answer that I gave in my
interview like stated in my planning as I want it to end on a strong note. I added the "dip to
black" effect so the video fades to black ready for the credits. 

I played through the video to check it and decided that I didn't like the intro that much, so I created a new save of
the production to try out another version I had previously planned. I placed text on a plane black background with
a fact I learned in my research about T1D and made it slightly and slowly increase in size. I then cut to the
footage I took at the hospital before cutting back to another black screen and repeated this multiple times. I put
the question "what is type 1 diabetes?" on the screen before using the J Cut from my previous intro to transition
into the interviewee introduction. I then watched both of these ideas and decided I prefer this second one as I
think the first idea looked messy and quite random while this one runs smoothly and seems more professional to
me. To match this style I made the transition between the first half and second half another question which is
"what is it like to live with type 1 diabetes?" And used another J Cut to transition between the question and the
next interviewee introduction.
 Week 12
Before                                After
This week I continued with my editing by focusing on
colour correcting and re-scaling my clips, so they all
look the same or close to the same. I started with
colour correcting my interviews and to make this easier
for myself I used the lumetri scopes parade (RGB) and
waveform (Luma). These two charts make it easier to
see the colour differences between clips which allows
for easy adjustment. I conducted this all on an
adjustment layer, so I wasn't working on the actually
clips themselves encase anything went wrong. Once I
had gotten the interviews as similar in colour as
possible, I moved onto the clips in my introduction
Before                                sequence and used the same lumetri scopes to adjust
the colours in each clip until they looked a lot nicer and
were similar to the rest. Next, I decided to adjust the
scale of the interview clips as I wanted all the
interviewees to be more at eye level and have less
space around them as this is what I saw when watching
existing products in my research. I chose the first clip of
After Tara's interview and adjusted the scale and position. To
save myself time I selected all of the clips from Tara
and jag's interviews and used the "paste attributes"
option to copy across the edits I had made to all the
selected clips. I then repeated this process for the
family interviews. 
Week 13
This week I started off by making my graphic pieces. I used adobe illustrator and
a graphics tablet to create these. I looked back at the planning I did for the
Text properties graphics to see how I would need to do this. I started by drawing out the icons in
black as this is the colour that is commonly used for icons. I also used the
universal drawing for a person as this is what is commonly used, and I wanted to
keep the designs simple. I decided to colour the symbols in a light grey as I
thought the white wouldn't work as well against the light-coloured background. I
made the background and text both a shade of blue as blue is the colour for T1D
and I wanted to incorporated this as much as possible. I also added a drop
shadow to the text as I found this made the text stand out more against the
background. I used the font Sitka as this is this is the font I have been using
throughout my video. Once I had made all the graphics, I placed them into the
timeline in line with the interviewee saying each one. I decided to have them fade
onto the screen slightly when it was said instead of just appearing instantly as I
felt this was too sudden. After adding the graphics, I added in the archival footage
and cut-away footage I had. I placed the cut away footage in the places that fit
with when the interviewee was mentioning the corresponding parts. For the
photos I placed them on a black background, had them slowly scaling up, and
had the audio from the corresponding interviewee footage playing in the
background. These were the final pieces to my video for it to be complete!

After receiving feedback from my tutor I had to make a few minor changes to
include myself more at the start, cut down the medical section, add relating links
at the end, and change some of the fonts as I hadn't changed them to Sitka.
Once this version was done, I then sent it off to all those involved with the
production and received some feedback as well as plans for it to reach a wider
audience via a staff website within the NHS. I was then asked by them to make a
few small changes to the credits and blur out faces at the start which I had
forgotten to do. Once this was all finished, I sent it back and now wait for it to be
presented on the website.