FMP

Research page

My mind map

Diary entry 27/03/2018

Today we were introduced to the brief, I was excited by this as I can not wait to get started with FMP. We then went back to our desks to discuss with other class members our initial idea and what we wanted to produce. We were then given examples of past students proposals and were asked if we thought they were good or bad. From doing this I have gained knowledge in what I am mean to be doing with my proposal. I then started on my first draft using the examples I was given my tutor then looked over my first draft to give me some feedback so then I could move on to the final propsal. Tomorrow I will continue with this to get the whole document completed so I can move onto research.

First draft Proposal

Final draft Proposal

Diary entry 28/03/2018

Today I completed my final draft of my Proposal, which I was working on based on feedback from my teacher. This did not take me too long as I knew exactly what I needed to do as I had received feedback from my tutor yesterday. I also received feedback from my tutor about my interactive short film which can be seen on the post production page for that unit. As it is now the Easter holidays I will be continuing my work some of my research at home so that I will not be falling behind when we come back I will also be meeting with the CEO of "Tokko" to discuss when we would like to start filming and what we want to include.

Secondary research

Documentary

adjective

1.

consisting of or based on official documents.

"documentary evidence of regular payments from the company"

synonyms:recorded, documented, registered, written, chronicled, archived, archive, on record, in writing, on paper; More
2.

using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject.

"a documentary programme about Manchester United"

synonyms:factual, non-fictional, real-life, true to life, fact-based

"the event will be the subject of a documentary film"

noun

1.

a film or television or radio programme that provides a factual report on a particular subject.

synonyms:factual programme, factual film; More

I researched the definition of documentary as I wanted to make sure that I knew everything about it and that my documentary meets this definition to ensure it is of the best quality. I feel that by researching this it will help me understand what my documentary should look like. I will also be looking at the definition of the type of documentary I am planning to create and by researching into this this will help me to understand how as an interviewer I should conduct myself. This will also help my group member for when he is also editing as we will both know how the final product should look.

Participatory mode. In the participatory mode "the filmmaker does interact with his or her subjects rather than unobtrusively observe them." This interaction is present within the film; the film makes explicit that meaning is created by the collaboration or confrontation between filmmaker and contributor.

In the definition it says that this mode means 'interacting with his or her subjects' which means I will need to be conducting interviews with people to ensure that I will be making the right type of documentary. From researching this it has helped me understand more about this type of mode. The definition says that the interaction should be presented all the way through the film which means I will have to talk to lots of different people to get lots of different opinions.

3/04/2018

Today my group member and I went to visit "Tokko" which is a charity that will feature in our documentary we spoke about what we aim to film and what we can and can't film because of certain guidelines and restrictions. We agreed that will film in may and that we are going to come back for test shots. Following on from this I have started to complete some more research about documentary and the type of documentary in which we will be filming. From doing this it has taught me about how I should conduct myself as an interviewer.

Gift Aid

Donating through Gift Aid means charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give. It won’t cost you any extra.

Charities can claim Gift Aid on most donations, but some payments don’t qualify.

What you need to do

You need to make a Gift Aid declaration for the charity to claim. You usually do this by filling in a form - contact the charity if you haven’t got one.

You must give a declaration to each charity you want to donate to through Gift Aid.

You can include all donations from the last 4 years. Tell the charity about any tax years where you didn’t pay enough tax.

Paying enough tax to qualify for Gift Aid

Your donations will qualify as long as they’re not more than 4 times what you have paid in tax in that tax year (6 April to 5 April).

The tax could have been paid on income or capital gains.

You must tell the charities you support if you stop paying enough tax.

Higher rate taxpayers

If you pay tax above the basic rate, you can claim the difference between the rate you pay and basic rate on your donation. It’s the same if you live in Scotland. Do this either:

through your Self Assessment tax return
by asking HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to amend your tax code

ExampleYou donate £100 to charity - they claim Gift Aid to make your donation £125. You pay 40% tax so you can personally claim back £25.00 (£125 x 20%).

With Payroll Giving, you don’t pay the difference between the higher and basic rate of tax on your donation.

Getting tax relief sooner

In your Self Assessment tax return, you normally only report things from the previous tax year.

But for Gift Aid, you can also claim tax relief on donations you make in the current tax year (up to the date you send your return) if you either:

want tax relief sooner
won’t pay higher rate tax in current year, but you did in the previous year

You can’t do this if:

you miss the deadline (31 January if you file online)
your donations don’t qualify for Gift Aid - your donations from both tax years together must not be more than 4 times what you paid in tax in the previous year

Keech

Macmilian cancer support

I wanted to research into how gift aid works as I thought it I should fully understand it before I start filming the documentary. From completing the research I have found out what gift aid means and how it works, this will help me with my research as I will understand exactly how giving to charity works and when filming for the documentary as a interviewer I will know how to include it conversation. I found it interesting to see how when you pay a certain amount the charity they actually end up getting more than what you donated through gift aid which is a really good idea.

10/04/2018

Today I decided to look into how gift aid works and how this benefits charities in different ways from ding this I have a greater understanding of what this means as before research I did not know what this meant.I would also like to research into how people spend their money and how much of it is spent on charity donations. As the easter holidays go on I have been regularly checking my results for my questionnaire, in order to get a wide range of results and answers I joined a facebook group called "survey exchange" which means that lots of people from all around the world could take part in my survey, which would help with my research. I also approached a member of my target audience to share my survey with their friends as they would also be part of the target audience which would mean that I will have the most thorough answers I could possibly get.

Spending breakdowns

I researched into how much the UK spends a year and what they spend it on, from doing this I have noticed that charity donations is not involved in this breakdown which tells me that not many people in the UK deem it important to donate to charities on a regular basis. This also tells me that it is very important to make this documentary as it might influence people into spending and investing into charities. In conclusion from researching into this I feel like I have a greater understanding of how hard charities have to work in order to keep and save money, this will help me with my final product as I will have a great understanding and I will be able to ask questions that will get a good answer for the audience watching.

My survey results

In my survey I asked people there age, as our target audience is 45-65+ so by asking the age of people taking the survey I am then able to understand then following answers better and I will also be able to see how people of my target audience react and answer the questions which could possibly influence how we change and develop our idea. The biggest percentage of people who seemed to have answered my survey is within my target audience which is 41-65, the second closest is 13-18 which tells me that this could be my distribution method as most people who would have seen it would have been in this age group. the two smallest percentages for my results was the age groups 25-40 and 19-24 this could have again been because of my distribution method and how I am managing trying to reach out to these types of people which is something I know I need to work on for my next survey. However I feel that I have a wide range of results which will help me inform my idea to develop it further.

For my second question I asked people "Do you often donate to any charities?" I wanted to ask this question as I know that personally I do not really donate to charities because I do not always have enough money, so I wanted to see if people have the same mindset especially people within the target audience. the biggest percentage and most popular answer was "sometimes" this is the answer I actually expected and know that it will help with the final product as it means that we maybe able to convince people that they should give more to charity after watching a documentary about their struggles. Quite a few people said yes however not as many as I had hoped would. From asking this question I have learnt that when creating the documentary we need to include as much information as we possibly can as this answer has helped me understand that we can change peoples opinions on giving to charity.

Following on from the question above I asked people how they donate and why they do or do not donate to charity, a common answer I received was "If I feel passionate about something" or "I do not have the money". From this answer I have received a mix of answers, this will help me with my final product and my research as I can look into why people feel that they can not afford to give to charity and with my final product I can convince people that charities are grateful for any donation big or small. When reading some of the answers I noticed that "if I feel passionate about something" came up a few times which tells me that in our final product we need to create it so well so that people do become passionate about the charities we are focusing on which will also help me with research as I know that I need to look into interviewing techniques in order for me to be able to connect with the audience.

I asked people to tell me which charities they donate to, the highest pole seems to be save the children, I asked this question as I was interested to see how many people would answer with less known charities such as "Level Trust" or "`Tokko" as this is the aim of our documentary to give the less known charities a platform to get more attention. Most of the charities that were said are quite well known charities such as "Cafod" which is a catholic charity that does work over seas for children, "Great Ormond Street Hospital" which of course is well known all over the world. This question has helped me as I now know that we need to give the less known charities some more exposure as they should be able to get more attention from the documentary which will help them with their fundraising.

I asked people to tell me how they donate as I know that there are many different ways to donate and that sometimes people feel more comfortable with a certain option. The highest percentage was in person e.g coin boxes, this was an answer I expected as I know that sometimes this is the easiest way to donate. Quite a high percentage also said other this could mean going to fundraising events such as fun runs or bake sales. Interestingly the lowest percentage was appeals such as "children in need" this did surprise me as I know how many people watch these shows every year. From asking this question I have learnt that by creating this documentary hopefully we will be able to look into why people feel that donating a certain way is best and if they knew that gift aid will able these charities to receive more.

I asked people if they thought that the government does enough to support charities, I had a mix of answers for this questions some people thought they could do a lot more however some people thought that they could do way more and some thought they could do more to support smaller charities. This helps me as now I know that I need to look into exactly how the government helps charities other than just gift aid and which celebrities are associated with what charities and how they help to give these charities exposure.

Following on from my previous research I asked people if they had ever heard of gift aid and if they understood what it meant. From asking this question I have learnt that not enough people understand what gift aid is which is a bad thing as lots of charities could be able to receive a lot more money than what they get through people clicking a button online. However also means that in our documentary we are able to give lots of information about gift aid and what it means for charities especially the smaller ones. I would like to research more into gift aid and what the government does to support this and by asking this question it has helped me inform my research.

I asked people what they would expect to see in this documentary as we need to make sure that we include everything the audience wants to see, one of the answers that really stood out for me was "honesty" I think this is such a good answer as it is so true when you watch different documentaries they do not always show you the full picture or somethings are over the top so that they will get more attention. I would say that this question has helped me the best as I need to know how to please the target audience. From reading these answers I know now that I need to go and research into interview techniques.

16/04/2018

Today we went back to college after the easter break, as you can see above during the break I conducted and started to research lots. From doing this I have learnt a lot about charities that I did not know. I have also had a meeting with my tutor about my work from over the break and what I need to do to improve for the final deadline on Monday. During this meeting I spoke about what I have done during the break and what I still need to do which includes setting up meetings with the charities as a form of research.

Interviewing techniques

How To Interview Someone for a Documentary

Prepare your questions
Think ahead about the type of questions you want to ask your interviewee. What kind of information are you looking for from this particular person and what are the type of questions that will best get them to give you the information you’re looking for? No need to go crazy. 5-10 questions is usually enough.
Avoid “yes” or “no” answers
Your questions should be asked in such a way that you won’t get “yes” or “no” answers. You need your documentary interviewees to give you substantive answers that you can use in your video edits. Instead of “Are you happy with the outcome of the court case?” Ask, “What is your response to the outcome of today’s court case?”
Prepare, but be spontaneous
Even though you have prepared questions in advance, allow yourself to veer off from questions if the interviewee says something interesting or unexpected that you’d like to explore further. Sometimes the unplanned “spontaneous” questions & answers create the best moments.
Get the interviewee comfortable
When the video camera rolls, ask easy questions to warm them up. Ask them what they had for breakfast, where they are from, how many kids in their family.. anything to get them talking and comfortable. This is a key interviewing tip!
Don’t give out specific questions in advance
I cannot stress this point strongly enough. It’s perfectly acceptable to give someone a general idea of what the interview will be about, but do not give them your list of questions. If you do, they will try to memorize their answers in advance and you will lose spontaneity and freshness. Your interview will end up feeling stale, unauthentic and rehearsed.
Have them repeat your question
This is a great idea, especially if you plan to have no narration for your documentary. Get the person to repeat back your question in their answer. This will help you with the video editing and storytelling later during the editing process. For example, you ask, “How are you feeling?” The interviewee says, “How am I feeling? I’m feeling excited!”
Proper positioning of interviewee
If you are the person both shooting AND interviewing, the person may end up looking into the video camera, which gives the feeling of a personal and direct connection with the person talking. However, the off-camera approach is most common. The interviewer sits or stands right next to the camera so that the interviewee is looking just off camera. You get your best results if the interviewer (you) is standing right next to the camera, that way you can see the full face of the person you’re interviewing and not a profile, which can be unattractive and distracting to the viewer because you can’t see their eyes and facial expressions very well.
Keep your mouth shut
Stay quiet when the other person is talking. You don’t want to hear yourself in the background. (Watch out for the “hmmmm”, “Oh right..”) Just ask the question and then keep quiet. It’s good to nod, and make gentle facial expressions, just no sound. Unless of course, YOU are part of the story and the camera has both of you in the shot.
Ask for final comment
Here's a great video interviewing tip: at the end of the interview, always ask the person if they have any final thoughts. Ask them if there was anything you missed. This can sometimes bring out some great information you hadn’t thought to ask about.
Don’t stop filming when the interview is “over”
Especially when you have someone who is nervous and never got quite comfortable with the interview. When you’re done with your official questions, say “OK, that’s the end of the interview.” Make sure the camera continues to roll at this point because often the conversation will continue. Psychologically, the person no longer feels the “pressure” of the interview and will loosen up. This is the time I have often gotten the best quotes of the interview!

17/03/2018

I researched into how to conduct the perfect interview by having the best questions, soon I will be conducting practice interviews with the clients which will be filmed this will help me as I will be able to understand the reaction of the interviewee when I ask the questions and will prepare follow up questions as well. I would also like to compare and contrast two different documentaries which are both made by media students from different establishments about Luton town. This will also help me because I will be able to observe the different techniques that the interviewer/film-maker is using. Today I also visited a local charity who we will be working alongside for the documentary. During this visit I asked them some questions about their charity and what they do on a day to day basis this interview was very interesting as I learnt a lot that I did not know before this interview will be on my website in a few days time.

Barnfield University student

Even though this documentary is different to our aim for our documentary it has really helped me understand the techniques for making a documentary. The interviewees gave detailed answers about luton and how it is ever changing and ever growing. I also really liked how we were able to see archived footage from Luton borough council and Luton football club as this gives the audience a greater understanding of what the interviewees are talking about. I was also very impressed when seeing the drone footage as it was something that was different however interesting to watch.

College student

Just like the documentary above we do not have the same aims for our documentary, however this was still a very good documentary I liked the way that the documenters were able to talk to the mayor of luton about how Luton is changing.

Both documentaries were different in their own way as one was about "Is Luton the worst place to live" and the other was about "Updating Luton" however both were trying to promote luton in the best way. The first documentary was better because of the drone shots which were used for cutaways. The second documentary did show more of Luton rather than the first documentary which only really stayed in one area. What I have learnt from watching both documentaries is that when interviewing different people I will have to make sure that I get as detailed of an answer as I possibly can. I would also like to conduct practice interviews with our clients, this will help me as I will be able to understand which questions work best which will help with further research, and with the final product.

Practice interview with Tokko

This is the interview that I conducted with Sue and Ian Pirks from green house mentoring, I asked the same questions that I asked in the interview above however I felt that with the answers I received it was easier to have an adlib conversation. From finding this out this tells me that I need to work on understanding how to make a conversation go further. From watching the interview I have noticed that both Sue and Ian had a lot to say about every question which made it easier for me to gain confidence when asking the questions. I feel that this interview may have gone better than the interview above only because of the detailed response I received.

We went to Tokko yesterday to talk with Andy, from this interview we gathered lots of different information about the charity: what they stand for, what they do on a day to day basis and what struggles do they face. From talking to Andy we have gained a clear understanding of "Tokko's" history and how they have grown. I feel that this interview went very well and when preparing for filming this practice interview will really help both myself and the camera operator with interview questions and camera angles for certain questions. Before filming I will watch this interview back to have a more clear idea of the types of questions I should ask and how I should adlib from there.

Practice interview with Greenhouse mentoring

From completing practice interviews I have noticed that I would like to look more into documentaries. how they have developed over time and what they truly mean. To be able to do this I am going to look at "Introduction to documentary by Bill Nichlos" This book was written to ask the idea "is all film fiction?" from studying the book I have learnt that any camera shot that will be taken when filming will have been carefully thought out before hand and during production props would have been carefully placed to create the perfect scene. Personally when I watch documentaries I always take into consideration the editing process and how what I am watching will most likely not be real. However when people watch our documentary we need to make sure that no one feels this way as this documentary could potentially help so many charities all over Luton and by making it as real as possible we will not just be helping charities but will also be changing some peoples perception on documentaries.

Bill Nichlos also touches on how people some times change when they are in front of the camera, this is something I totally agree with as it is something that I have picked up on when watching reality shows and documentaries. This is something I will be very considerate of this during production as I want the audience to see the real me with my real opinions.

By researching into this book it has actually taught me a lot about documentaries and how interviewers should conduct themselves but also how the editing process should not make the documentary look fake in anyway.

Conventions of documentary

Interviews: During our documentary we will be conducting lots of interviews with various different people. As a group we decided to do this as it will be amazing to hear from expert opinions about how the charities work on a day to day basis. By doing this we will be able to inform the audience on things that they may not know.

Voice over: During the documentary we will have shots were there will be some scenes where there will be no dialouge and we have chosen to do this as we feel that it might be more effective to hear a voice over from the presenter.

Editing Process: I am very conscious that when editing I do not want it to look in anyway fake or put on for the camera therefore when editing I want everything to look real. I want to spend time looking into what music would be best for the different situations this is again something that I feel will engage the audience and make them reflect on giving to charity.

Camera techniques: I feel that when creating the shot list the camera operator will include a lot of close ups and extreme close ups as this will engage the audience because the will be able to see reactions and facial expressions of the people who we are interviewing.

Music to suit documentaries

As some of the content we are filming will be quite sensitive we will obviously need to carefully select the music we use for different scenes. I have already found a few songs which I feel will be perfect for different scenes.

The xx - Intro

I chose the song Midnight City as it is very upbeat and can be used for happy scenes where something amazing has happened. By using this song it will make the audience happy, personally I would prefer to use the song towards the end of the documentary as I feel that this song easily makes you reflect on what has happened and by having this song the audience can reflect on what they have watched and why they should start to donate.

ColdPlay - Fix You

This song will be perfect to use for when we want to create a scene which is quite sad and reflective. This song does not have any lyrics it is all dialogue which sometimes I feel can be more powerful. I would only use this song if something very sad was to happen which was filmed as it could also hit home for a viewer which could persuade them to donate to the charities.

M83 - Midnight City

I feel that fix you should be used in our documentary as even though it is a sad song it is so inspirational and would fit in perfectly with what we are aiming to film. The lyrics to the song will effect those who may be able to relate to the words which will hopefully influence donations to the charities which we are working with.

18/03/2018

Today I have completed a lot of research which I feel will really help me with informing my idea, I decided to look into Bill Nicholas to research his idea of the different types of documentary this has helped me because as the interviewer I want to be involved in the documentary and with interviewing different people. I then researched into different conventions of documentary to ensure that I have chosen the right type of documentary for myself from this I have learnt the same from what reading up on Bill Nicholas taught me. I then decided to start looking at what types of music I would like in the documentary as I feel that this is one of the most important parts of research, I have so far chosen these songs as I believe they are the most effective for the style of our documentary. My group member Chris does not agree with me as he feels that the documentary should be upbeat however I feel this is wrong and that we should not shy away from the truths of the documentary which is that sometimes charity can be sad. I have almost completed my research and tomorrow I will be moving onto copyright to make sure I understand what I can and can not use in my edit.

Copyright

As I have started to look into the different songs we could use another thing I realised we need to consider is copyright. We may not be able to use some of these songs as they may not be royalty free or another copyright issue. In preparation to this I am going to look into how copyright works and what I need to do to avoid it. From researching into copyright I have found out that as long as we only use the audio for every song we use we should have no copy right issues. As all of the footage will be all our own we will also have no issues with copyright in that sense.

Target audience

Primary Audience:

For our documentary the primary target audience is 45-65 year olds with a disposable income, mainly Luton and at the peak or their career and non gender or ethnicity specific . We have chosen this audience because we need people with a disposable income as they will be the people who will be able to afford to give to charity on a regular basis. We have chosen mainly people in Luton as all of our charities are local to the area. We have not chosen a specific gender or ethnicity as anyone can donate to charity and anyone can enjoy our documentary. Another reason why we have chosen to target these particular people is because when they are at this point in there lives they may also be able to relate to the documentary which will encourage them to donate.

Secondary Audience:

For our secondary audience we have chosen 66+, people who are retired or are in the process of retiring these people should again have disposable income, mainly Luton and again non gender or ethnic specific. By choosing these ages it will help the charities we have chosen as these people may be influenced to donate.

Diary entry 23/04/2018

Today in college we had an issue with the internet which meant that it was hard to upload the work, therefore we worked on our pitches and when I got home I continued to work on my research. The pitch is on Wednesday and so far I am feeling quite confident about it and am looking forward to sharing our idea with others. Hopefully when we get back into college tomorrow the internet will be working which means I can carry on with my research.

Level trust interview

Unknown Track - Unknown Artist

00:00 / 00:00

Diary entry 24/04/2018

My other group member Chris went to Level Trust to interview them about how they run the charity and what they do on a day to day basis. The reason we wanted to work with level trust is because they are very different to other charities in the way that the donations that they receive is old school uniforms so that people that can not afford to buy brand new shirts can come and get some for free. In my opinion this is a great and unique idea as many people may have issues with new school uniform every year where as now thye have somewhere where they can go which will really help them. The interviewee Maddie shared with Chris that their main income is from grants which pays for the 4 staff members and the rent of the shop. Maddie also shared with Chris that her main intention for the shop was for it to be a happy place and a fun experience for the children who come in. Even though I will be conducting the interviews during production I had other commitments that day which meant that I was unable to make it for the practice interview. However from the information Chris shared with me I feel that he did do a good job.

Today the internet still was not working so therefore we had to continue to work on our pitches, we also practiced with our peers and received feedback. We then took on board our feedback and changed some of the slides to look better or add more information to prepare for tomorrow. I have also created cue cards so that I never forget what I am going to say to ensure that the pitch runs smoothly. When I get home I am going to continue on with my research to make sure that there is no gaps to prepare for the deadline.

Biblography

In conclusion

I have enjoyed the research process of this unit and I feel that I have learnt a lot so far and hope to learn even more during production. On Thursday my team member and I are going to visit Keech hospice to talk about filming. I would say that my favourite part of the research so far has been meeting with the clients to talk about the charities and what they do on a day to day basis. I enjoyed this because it was something very different to what I am used to. Normally research is always my favourite part of research and this time I have really tried to push myself by researching into anything that I think will help me, I have also tried to be consistent and constantly explain as to why I am researching a certain thing and how it will help me during production.

This is often something that I forget to do however this time I have tried so hard to make sure that I have remembered to be consistent through out. I am now looking forward to production and meeting with each of our clients again to gain even more information. Then I am looking forward to creating the final product I have never really been confident with editing however as this project is so important I am looking forward to making it my own by adding in music to make it look so real for the audience.