Documentary

 Here is the evaluation section for my short documentary, "30 DAY FITNESS" . The task was to create a 5 minute long documentary, focusing on a topic of our choice. I chose fitness at home. This was because we were filming the documentary in full lockdown rules, and so had to be filmed at home. Creating a documentary at home was the biggest challenge I have ever undertaken. Of course filming on location is always a challenge in itself, at least you have a crew to rely on. Filming a solo project was tough for me. It meant that I did not have a camera man, no location manager, no supervision. Because of this, many issues were often overlooked, and many ideas did not come to me until after production. All filming equipment needed to be set up by myself, and all the imagery had to be handheld.  This was not ideal if I am honest. I wish to shoot my doc with a shot order of - handheld, steady, handheld, steady -  and so on. This is a very conventional trait in documentary filmma...

Camera My camera of choice was a Canon 700D. This is a 1080p 25fps camera body with the ability for interchangeable lenses.  This was important to me because I needed multiple different FOV for different shots. A high quality DSLR camera allows for professional grade, fully customisable settings. This means that I could adjust every shot to have the exact aesthetic that I was after. It also has a tripod mount for stable images - for this I used 2 different types. The gorilla stand:  Small, bendy tripod for stability is areas where a conventional set of legs could not fit.  Conventional Legs; 6ft tall sturdy set of metal legs to stabilize the camera. This particular set came with a ball head for quick and easy shot adjustment. Lenses Canon 18-55mm Kit Lens: I used this lens for its wide angle capabilities. Although not the crispest image, it allows the shot I set to open very wide. This means that I can get more of the subject in place without having to move the camera; Th...

Documentary Narrative -  Personal Introduction  "day 1" title card Fitness intro montage Interview Introduction backstory meal plan 'the problem' - braces 'the resolution' - Whey Protein "day 15" title card contrast from backstory to now brief overview of workouts progress review "day 30" title card Final progress review and overall thoughts Budget - The weekly shopping for the project will come to £90. As I am only earning £30 a week from furlough, I will need to search for a second job to support the projects budget. £90 per week for a month is £360 total.  Equipment :  weight bench - £100 barbell - £30 pull-up bar - £20 yoga mat - £5 dumbbell set - £35 punching bag -  £30 Overall Equipment cost is £220 Excess expenses - £14.50 Total Budget - £594.50 Filming equipment I want to make sure that the entire lighting/camera setup could be setup to roll at any moment. To achieve this, I will charge 2 of the 4 camera batteries every night and wi...

The Six Principles Of Documentary filmmaking   Expository Mode Observational Mode Participatory Mode Poetic Mode Reflex Mode Performance Mode Expository - First appeared in the 1920's, the expository documentary presents a very specific point of view for an audience. The narrative is usually easy to follow and the subject is one of an agreeable nature. Voiceover is an important element of expository filmmaking, and makes use of the narrator to help the audience piece together what they are seeing on screen.  Directly addresses issues Aims to inform or persuade Creates a specific augment Emphasises rhetoric using imagery Observational - Beginning in the 1960's, both 'Direct Cinema' and 'Cinema Verite' (more on that later) began to release with the observational documentary style. Observational documentary is where the camera captures its subject uncut and uninterrupted. This is used to present a narrative in its most truest form, leaving the audience to see first...

What’s My Idea For My Documentary? I am aiming to produce a 5 minute short doc detailing a months fitness  journey. It will follow my backstory and muscle gaining processes  with lots of b-roll and heavily edited montages . The narrative will stay positive as I  am trying to inspire other people  to get active during lockdown. The doc will also document the struggle of the process - I want the audience to feel satisfied of the outcome of my fitness journey and take a message back from this. Cinema style will be a cut of handheld mobile footage and high quality DSLR footage. I will use 2 different  lenses and film both a 'Narrating' and 'Montage' section, carefully cutting them together to create a narrative.