Comparative Research and Plan for TV Listings Magazine

I have comparatively deconstructed two more TV listings magazines to understand the genre and style of my product, determine my exhibitor, and plan my own TV listings magazine. I have presented this below using Prezi.

Interview for Audience Feedback

I recently conducted an interview with Mr Mooney to collect feedback on the rough edit of my documentary so far, and have presented and evaluated my findings below using Emaze.

First Edit of my Documentary

Below is the first edit of my documentary production. From this point, I need to add the final name of my documentary to my main title and hashtag, my non-diegetic music from this post, additional footage over the point where I've combined two takes of the definitions of misogyny and sexism to make them audibly usable, and to shorten the duration of my location shots. Overall from this stage, I am pleased with its coherent and flowing structure, and interesting, professional style through my presenter, narration, interview, cinematography and audio quality etc. I also feel that I have met the conventions of my documentary genre and expository documentary sub-genre well through these aspects as planned, and all issues have been easily resolved so far throughout my editing process.

Documentary First Draft from Courtney O'Donnell on Vimeo.

I will begin gathering target audience feedback now that my documentary is at this flowing and in its mostly final state, in order to allow time to apply any possible adjustments and improvements from this point before my final edit and deadline. As my editing has been taking longer than expected despite my proactive approach during my free periods and perhaps due to my perfectionism and unfamiliarity with Final Cut Pro editing software which I've had to research online, I feel that I'm slightly behind in my time management; however I'll continue to dedicate my free periods alongside my lessons to editing my documentary, and produce my ancillary products within this time as well as at home using my own facilities which are appropriate for this area.

Adding my Archive Footage

Following my storyboard, I added archive footage of examples of sexist music videos within my documentary to align with expository documentary conventions and support my narration with evidence. The music videos I added were taken from the most popular suggestions of controversially sexist music videos within my questionnaire, in order to effectively target to my audience through music videos which are relevant to them, and also included sexually explicit music videos which I felt were more sexually liberating rather than sexist to follow the line "Some would say this has liberated modern artists by allowing freedom and pushing the boundaries of creative expression". Therefore the music videos I added are;

• Beyonce 'Partition'
• Nicki Minaj 'Anaconda'
• Miley Cyrus 'Wrecking Ball'
• Lil Wayne 'Love Me'
• Redfoo 'Literally I Can't'

From researching how to download music videos, I tested keepvid.com and savevideo.me, and found that savevideo was the most effective.

Link to post about copyright and permissions.

Next I imported the videos to my Final Cut Pro project, trimmed them, and detached their audio to overlay my voiceover. However as I'm criticising the lyrics of 'Literally I Can't' in an individual section, I left kept this audio and researched ducking tutorials for Final Cut Pro so that the transition between my diegetic/ voiceover narration and the song gradually builds for a clear, smooth and flowing effect, using these resources;


www.geniusdv.com/news_and_tutorials/2011/10/ducking_audio_in_final_cut_pro_x.php

Ducking my audio by lowering the height of the waveform from at the beginning and end of the clip, creating a fading in/ out audio effect and ducking my voiceover which overlays the quieter fades.

To address possible copyright issues with using this archive footage, I will need to research this area further and add appropriate disclaimer text over the footage - which I will update in a separate post.

Developed Script and Shot List

Following my decision to extend my script and shot list in order to ensure my production meets its 5 minute duration deadline, and to refine my work, below is my developed script and shot list. I am shooting this developed footage with Rowan at 12am on Saturday.

I have included my script with corresponding shot types/ camera angles and some editing transitions, details of audio, and evaluative comments on their effectiveness and the developments I've made; presented using SlideShare. I will refer to this presentation from my mobile to direct and organise my next shoot.

Developed Script and Shot List from Courtney O'Donnell

Production Log #4 - Second Shoot and Updates

I met with Rowan at 10:30am on Sunday to shoot for her parts in my documentary, and also photograph her for my ancillary products. However there was a dilemma as although I had checked that my library location's opening hours are 11:00am-4:30pm on Sundays, I didn't realise that only the bottom floor of the library was open. As most of my footage of Rowan will be shot on the second floor, we are arranging to meet at another date.

A location we found whilst shooting, and considered using, however I decided it was too quiet for my urban documentary location style

Rowan's hair in continuity with her hair style from my first shoot

Rowan's similarly formal shoes and youthful and unique roll-up jeans to represent my younger demographic and narrator character's interesting and unique style

Rowan's make-up in continuity of character's style but more detailed than the previous shoot due to my brighter natural/ artificial lighting for these locations. Eyeliner and mascara for youthful cat eye and bright eyes, foundation, highlighter, blush and tinted lip balm for a fresh and glowing face, and defined brows with an eyebrow pencil for detail as well as a sophisticated look which represents my character and target audience

Rowan's formal and sophisticated costume to represent my professional documentary style and older demographic (fitted jacket and high neck/ modest shirt), incorporated with more casual, youthful, and uniquely interesting roll-up trousers for my younger demographic. This reflects my intended character style, and is also in continuity with the first shoot's costume due to the black colour scheme and style

The footage I did shoot of Rowan was within all of the locations other than the second floor of the library, however after making a rough cut of my documentary footage so far (as not all of it was shot) on Windows Movie Maker to test my timings and structure, I've decided to make some adjustments to my script and shot list. This is in order to meet my 5 minute extract duration, as my rough cut presented that there's a chance I won't, despite planning this with my animatic. I would also rather have more footage to edit with so that I can be selective and replace any unsuitable shots with my extra footage rather than film a re-shoot. I'll be making a revised script, shot list and changes to my storyboard this week, and when that is finished I'll re-film my final footage with Rowan again (hopefully this weekend or the beginning of next week).

Equipment brought to the shoot included my tripod, camera, script and shot list (pictured in first shoot), and;

Laptop mise en scene with loaded and pauses at points to film - making me prepared for this shot and without wasting time, and planning. Also prevents the possible issue of not being connected to wifi

Sexist tabloid newspaper mise en scene

Magazine mise en scene

I'll be bringing this exact equipment along to my next shoot, and will also style Rowan with the same costume and make-up to maintain continuity.

Blog post with rough cut deconstruction: http://codonnella2mediaproductionsschs2015.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/rough-cut.html

Rough Cut

Rough Cut of Documentary from Courtney O'Donnell on Vimeo.

This is a simple edit of just my timings and structure so far, as Windows Movie Maker doesn't provide many audio or editing transition options. Some of my clips are also repeated, as I haven't chosen which final ones to use.

Audio: Rowan's narration audio is mostly clear due to the quiet locations used and her well-spoken, clear and projecting voice; however I will use noise reduction for all of the clips, with higher percentages for her narration inside The Forum location which is muffled. The background noise during the interview proposes a greater problem, as I noticed it's quite loud. I will test how effective noise reduction is on Final Cut Pro during my final editing, but if it's ineffective, I will foley their dialogue. This would be especially important for Emily's dialogue, as she's slightly quieter than Rowan. I'll also add my non-diegetic music in my final edits with ducking, as I don't have enough final footage to organise the timings yet. I'll also be splitting the audio from some of Rowan's footage to use as a voiceover for the location and tracking shots.

Timings: As 30 seconds+ of my footage so far is repetitive shots or shots which will be split into voiceovers during my final editing, I only potentially have 2 minutes of footage whilst I've shot less than half of my total footage. Although it's possible that I could reach a 5 minute total duration once I've finished filming, I feel that this would be too risky in relation to my deadline. This has therefore encouraged me to adapt/ add to my script and shot list and re-shoot to prevent this issue.

Quality: Overall I'm very pleased with my lighting and high footage quality so far, however I may apply a brightening filter to counteract the yellow glare from the artificial lighting with my interview footage.

Editing footage: I will be applying all of my editing transitions, titles and subtitles, text, effects, crops/ kens burns, and filters etc. according to my shot-list and storyboard during my final editing on Final Cut Pro, as Windows Movie Maker is very limited in this area for the types of editing which I require.

Cinematography: I'm slightly unhappy with some of my quality of shots, particularly this shot of Rowan in The Forum.

I don't like the amount of space above her within this mid shot, as it is unconventional for mid shots and makes it look unprofessional and un-aesthetically pleasing. I also don't like the background of the fire extinguisher and the bottom floor. Therefore when I next re-shoot this footage, I will use a mid shot in front of the 'BBC Radio' sign, which is my cleaner and therefore focuses to Rowan whilst looking aesthetically pleasing. This sign also relates to the music industry which she is discussing during this shot, making my footage and narration link/ flow - one of my main aims for my production.

I will also consider using a different location for this shot, as I'm not sure on whether I find the drainpipe which takes up the left third aesthetically pleasing; however I'll ask for a second opinion from my media teacher.

My extreme wide, tilt and pan shot (00:29) is also unstable once it reaches the lowest height within the shot, therefore I'll be testing whether it could be corrected using Final Cut Pro stablisation, or re-shoot it during my next shoot.

Narrative Codes and Systems

I have researched and identified the narrative and structural codes of my documentary and presented these below using Prezi.


I also found this SlideShare as a helpful resource for research into narrative theorists;

Narrative Theory from guest9e3b3b

Production Log #3 - Shooting Update

I've rescheduled to shoot with Rowan on Sunday morning rather than tomorrow as shooting would be difficult whilst I'm feeling under the weather. This won't affect my timescale as I can't begin editing until I'm back at school next week with access to Final Cut Pro editing software on the Mac computers.

Production Log #2 - First Shoot

Today I shot the first footage of my documentary, which was my interview content and interview introduction within my cafe (Starbucks) locations with Emily Gooda as my interviewee and Rowan Perrow as my interviewer. After reviewing my footage and considering the shoot, I am very pleased with its success.

Styling my actors:
The costumes and make-up styles for my first shoot consisted of formal, sophisticated, expressive, and feminine contrasted with non-feminine outfits to be representative of my feminist and formal documentary style, and expressive-sophisticated young-mature target audience;

Emily's sophisticated and expressive cat-eye liner, shadow and mascara, and defined brows style

Emily's sophisticated, feminine and formal, yet youthful and expressive make-up, hair and costume to represent my different target audience demographics

Emily's formal and sophisticated shoes

Rowan's simplistic and formal make-up (simple eyeliner, mascara foundation, highlighter and blush for a fresh and natural face), contrasted with her interesting/ expressive hair style

Rowan's simple and sophisticated outfit to represent my older demographic

Rowan's formal and sophisticated shoes

Production:
The equipment I brought to my first shoot consisted of;

My tripod (borrowed from my media department)

My camera (also borrowed)

My shot list, script, make-up, and coffee cup mise en scene to set the relaxed coffee shop location (which I purchased)

All aspects of my production were successful for this shoot, including;

• a wide range of fluid and steady shots by shooting with my tripod 2-3 times from different angles/ shot types
• my clear and unfiltered lighting
• costumes/ acting/ make-up
• my organisation

However, when reviewing my footage, I noticed that there is background noise in some of my shots due to the varying business of my public location. Therefore, I will need to experiment with noise reduction audio options during the editing process for this footage. My next shoot is tomorrow at 9:30am with Rowan for the introduction and main content of my documentary, as well as my ancillary product photographs; for which I am bringing the same equipment, in addition to my shoot specific mise en scene and costume for Rowan.