Morgan Steeley CPDR

The main feedback for our first edit was that our documentary is trying to focus on a story of the Chinese immigration, but we didn't have enough footage or B-roll for us to be able to tell that story. So from this we decided to cut the Chinese immigration story and focused more on the tea, and how there is lots of different types of tea, asking people how they like their tea, seemed to fit this more.  Another thing is that our sound wasn't optimised, but with time to edit the sound we will lower the levels and make things sound a little bit better. Our interviews were a little bit to quiet so we will increase the levels to make it easier to hear. 

For our idea we have gone with the Chinese immigration, but focusing more on the tea that they had brought with them. However, if we can't get that message across we will focus more on the different types of tea leaves and where they are from. This way we can include everyone in our documentary, making it very accessible.  We have chosen to film on Monday and Tuesday mainly. This is because we want to try and get all the filming done before the final day, which leaves time for us on the Wednesday to capture any possible footage that we have maybe forgotten or not had time for on the previous days.  We have numerous release forms for our vox pops and main focus interviews. This is so we can do it legally, and it gives us a professional feeling. 

From the sync sound lesson, I learnt that the boom pole should not be fully extended, this is because it can become harder to hold in place because of how long it is. I learnt that you should always try to keep it to the edge of the shot, which I found was quite difficult to do sometimes when there wasn’t a specific reference point that I could use for when I was using the boom. One of the easiest ways to sync sound together is with the use of a clapper board. I learnt that it creates a spike in the sound, which in post-production, can be used as a reference point for the sound to be synced together. This will be ideal to take with us for our documentary because we plan to have quite a few vox pop interviews as well as 2 focus interviews. Having this will help us to sync our sound in post-production for the best possible outcome. I also learnt that an easier way for sync sound is to use the camera line ins for recording with an external mic. However, the issue with doing this

Chinese Immigration Idea: The Chinatown in Liverpool is one of the oldest in Europe dating back to the 1800s. Its a port town with a history of migration. The workers use to bring things like silk and tea. It is a large concentrated community of international ethnic groups. We would roughly have around 2 or 3 days of shooting, using all of our time effectively to film it all. However, we will need to source our interviewees, It won't necessarily be professionally sourced, but it's ideal to ensure that we have definite interviews. Could also possibly get some vox pops of people in the street. Might not be ideal because some of the people within the community might have personal connections to the topic, so the interviews may not be that relevant and would be chalenging to deal with. We need to have it in the POV of a part of that community/history which could also be challenging too. Red Squirrel Sanctuary topic: It is a concise and specific story which would easily fit

The short documentary I will discuss is Pockets  The main theme of the documentary is 'What is in your pockets?' People empty their pockets for the film and give a little story about these items if they held any significance to the person. I enjoyed this short film. It was successful in touching it's subject matter because it was a simple subject. There wasn't much research needed because everyone is different, everyone will have different items in their pockets. One main technique is the use of close ups, It draws the focus onto the hands of the people within the film. Rather than focusing on the background we are focusing on what they pulled out of their pockets. I believe that the director chose to build the documentary around vox pops because the people being asked wont have much time to think, it puts them on the spot but in a good way, unlike a planned interview, the people don't have long to think of an answer.