Development diary
- 2. Research
- 3. For my research, I researched some YouTube Channels of Ice Skating videos. For each channel, I looked at who the audience is and what the purpose of the channel is. I then looked at some of the videos of each channel. For each video, I looked at the studios/locations, reviews, instructions, graphics. I looked at the camera angles and described what was happening in each shot and why they might have used that angle. I also looked at the mode of address, effects, post production, editing, lighting, composition and audience appeal and subject and context.
- 4. Time Management for research I feel like I managed the time well for the research because I managed to get it finished in time. I did some of the research outside college to help me get further ahead.
- 6. Mind Map I made a mind map which includes everything I’m thinking of including in my video. This includes Locations, Time of day the video could be set and when the interviews will be set, sounds, equipment, lighting, hardware and software. Then it shows what each thing might or will be used for and when it will be used. I feel like I managed the time well to make the mind map because I finished it in time in lessons.
- 7. Mood board I made a mood to show what I’m thinking of including in my video. This includes different shots, effects, settings and times of day which I could set it at. I included an image of the bokeh effect because I’m thinking of using it on the Christmas tree in the middle of the rink if I set it at night. This will be more effective at night because the colours of the lights on the tree will be seen more clearly. I included a close up image of Ice skating feet because I’m thinking of using this when I do one of the moves on the ice. This will be effective because the audience will be able to see how to do it clearly. I used a lot of images from the Yorkshire Winter Wonderland. This ranges from the Ice Rink to the rides and Santa's grotto. These are places that I could film at while I’m at the Winter Wonderland.
- 8. Mood board 2 • This is the second mood board. I had to remake the first one because the images disappeared. I managed to find some of the Images I used in the original, but didn’t find all of them.
- 9. Proposal
- 10. Production Schedule I made my production schedule earlier than expected because it would help me to get further ahead in the project. I worked out what I needed to do, when to do it and when it should be finished by. I left the production weeks blank because I haven’t worked out when and how long filming and editing will take yet.
- 11. Pre-Production
- 12. Resource list I made a resource list showing what I need and what locations I will need them at. The list shows what equipment I will need for filming, What equipment I need for editing and what software I need. This will be useful for the project because then I know what I will need and when I will need it.
- 13. Contingency Planning I made a contingency plan, listing all the Issues that might occur while doing the project, and what I can do to solve it. This will be useful for the project in case something happens because I will be able to deal with it in an appropriate way. E.G – The Ice Rink might say no to me filming on it, meaning I would need to either use an alternative rink or I would change my Idea slightly and make it about Yorkshire Winter Wonderland itself. If the camera doesn’t work, the battery either isn’t fitted properly or the battery is flat. I need to book a battery charger out so I can charge it if it does go flat and I would need to check that it’s fitted properly before using it.
- 14. Health and Safety I made a list of health and safety issues that could happen during filming and any other point in the project. This is important because it will make me think further ahead and make me think about what to do if something happens. E.G – If the equipment gets wet, I would either put up an umbrella to cover the equipment with an umbrella or I would pick an alternative day to film. The setting of my video is set on an ice rink, it wouldn’t be safe to take a DSLR camera onto the Ice because it would be too heavy to old and it would be at a bigger risk of breaking because people could knock it over. Instead, I decided to use a GoPro because they are smaller and lighter to handle and there is a less risk of breaking.
- 15. Email/Message to Yorkshire Winter Wonderland I emailed Yorkshire Winter Wonderland to ask them If I can use the Ice Rink to film my project. This is something I felt apprehensive about because I worry that they might say no, but I have a backup Idea in case they do say no. I don’t know if the email sent because I had to send it through there website, and it came up with ’Insert text into image’ and when I tried sending it, there was just a whirly loading sign. I tried this on Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox and the same thing happened on each. I sent the message to there Facebook page which did send. I haven’t had reply yet.
- 16. Reply from Yorkshire Winter Wonderland This is the reply from Yorkshire Winter Wonderland, more or less saying no to filming on the ice rink. This could be because the general public might not like being on camera in the background. I’ve started working on the backup idea which is doing a factual video about Yorkshire Winter Wonderland all together. I sent another message to them asking if I could interview some of there employees.
- 17. More conversation with Yorkshire Winter Wonderland I got a reply from Yorkshire Winter Wonderland saying that they are ok with me interviewing some of there employees. I need to send a reply saying when I’m available to interview them.
- 18. Interview Questions I’ve made a list of questions which I plan to ask two employees at Yorkshire Winter Wonderland. Both lists are separate and the questions aren’t the same. Both sets of questions are different to ask different people, then the answers aren’t the same.
- 19. Script Draft This is a draft of my script. The (…) shows that they’re should be a name there, but I’ve left it blank because I don’t know the names of the people I might be interviewing. When I know the names of the people I’m interviewing I will put there names in. I didn’t want someone to act the questions out because then it would have made the project feel slightly fake. Asking the real people who work there will make the project feel more real.
- 20. Voice Over Script Draft This is the voice over script draft which will be played over the video of Yorkshire Winter Wonderland. I’ve highlighted some of the words red because I’m not sure whether to use them or not. I might change them later. The bits in brackets and in red text show that this is something I might say.
- 21. Interview Storyboard Drafts I’ve made some storyboards showing how I plan to film my interviews. I’ve used green screen as the background because I haven’t decided on where they will be set, but haven’t decided on the background. I will change this later. Also, there are a few placing issues with the characters, chairs and microphones. In some shots the microphones are either too close or too far away from the character. The size of the characters aren’t consistent throughout, there either too big or too small. I will fix this later.
- 22. Real Storyboards I made the storyboard using storyboard that. I used a green backdrop because I’m not sure what the background will look like, it will depend on where the interviewees want to be interviewed. When I was putting the real storyboard images into PowerPoint, I saved them on my desktop, renamed the file to the name of the question and which interview it is meant for (e.g. Has there ever been any celebrities come to Yorkshire Winter Wonderland Int.2) meaning interview 2. I adjusted the angle which the character will be looking because they will be talking to the interviewer. They won’t be talking to the audience directly. I fixed the placing issues by copying and pasting the background, chair and characters at the same time, and changed the facial expression to the appropriate one (e.g. a smiling mouth shows that the character is talking, and a closed mouth shows that they’ve finished speaking and it’s a freeze frame). This made the storyboard look better because the size and placing of everything is the same throughout. Also, I took the boom microphones out of the shot because they will be placed above the interviewee. In each shot of the video, people will only see from the waist upwards. It was difficult to make this shot in the storyboard so I decided to leave there whole body in the shot and explain that the waist upwards will be in shot only.
- 23. Kit booking I booked my kit out for Tuesday 17th December. I will be picking it up between 12:15pm and 12:30pm. I will be going to film at Yorkshire Winter Wonderland on the same afternoon. I decided to bring the kit back on Thursday 19th December because I’m back in college on that day, making it easier to bring back.
- 24. Production
- 25. Tuesday 17th December 2019 Today, I went to Yorkshire Winter Wonderland to film my interviews and the scenery. Unfortunately the camera wouldn’t let me film because it kept saying the SD card was full and then it had no images. Because of this, I used my phone to film instead. I might re-film I used the boom microphone to record the voices. Overall, the sound quality was a lot better than what I though it would be because there was a lot of noise in the background.
- 26. Thursday 19th December 2019 Today, I started editing the footage I collected. First, I added the audio and extracted the parts with the questions because I’m going to replace the voice asking the questions with text. This is so people can read it. Then I added the footage and cut it down so it was in time with the audio. This made the audio sound louder because of using a camera which has a built in microphone. I downloaded a Christmas font style from dafont which I will use for the questions. I zoomed into the shots of the interviews because the boom microphone appeared in the original shot and the camera, and the shot wasn’t from the waist upwards on the interviewee. Zooming it in has fixed both issues. I increased the shot of the speedway to make it move faster, and made it reverse. I adjusted the frame of the shot by zooming it in and moving it to the left. This improved the framing position.
- 27. Friday 20th December I drew a Christmas Tree in Photoshop and drew circles to make Christmas lights. I made the lights using the circle tool to make three different colours (red, blue and yellow). I duplicated each light three times so I could change the colours in a frame animation. There was an issue with the light at the top because it didn’t alternate in one frame. When I put the frame animation into Photoshop, it was too small so I went back into Photoshop and increased the amount of frames from 3 to 105. This made the frame animation last a lot longer and made it easier to edit in Premiere Pro.
- 28. Thursday 9th January 2020 Today, I added the transitions between each scene. So far, they work and are timed well. I Placed some of the shots of the rides over the interview so that when she started talking about an area/ride of Winter Wonderland, it would then cut to the shot of the ride she is talking about.
- 29. Friday 10th January 2020 Today, I added the music and cut it into sections. I changed the volume level on the music that is played when she is answering the questions. I lowered the volume by 5 dbs. This blocks out the background noise, but still able to hear what she’s saying. I made the Christmas tree slide across the screen so it will reveal the question as it slides. Although it looks good, there was an issue with each blank slide – they needed resizing because some of the questions were quite long. This also caused issues with some transitions because the blank slide would sometimes overlap with the interview shot. I also made the end credits. I used the still titles slide to make them because I thought it would be unusual to have end credits rolling up the screen for a factual show.
- 30. Friday 17th January 2020 Today, I fixed the animation of the Christmas Tree revealing the question. This has made the animation run a lot smoother. I turned the music volume down to make it easier to hear the interviewee talking. When the volume was higher, it was quite difficult to hear what she was saying. I finished editing and exported the video.
- 31. Time Management for Production I feel that I managed the time well in production because I managed to get the filming and editing finished within the time I was given. I managed to film all the footage in one day which gave me more time to spend editing. I spent two days before Christmas and two weeks after Christmas editing the footage. I managed to add more features like the Christmas tree animation, which wasn’t in the original plan. This has helped make the video even better because it adds more to it.
- 32. Issues
- 33. Pre Production PowerPoint I had a problem opening my Pre-Production PowerPoint. This caused every image in the PowerPoint to disappear. I had to redo the storyboards and mood board because of the images disappearing. In case this happens in the future, I will save the images I find/use on my mood boards and storyboards. This will make it easier to find and easier to remake in case this happens again. Also, I will save the PowerPoint in another place, then it doesn’t get lost.