Intentions

The reason I created this documentary was to teach my audience about the culture of Liverpool. My idea came from my interest in my city and there are different cultures and has a long line of history to it. I considered my audience in the early stages by their interests whether it may be music or football or whether they are just from Liverpool. 

I planned to post my product onto a Liverpool related Facebook group as one of the main platforms and also to create a youtube account based on Liverpool and post it on there because younger people who I planned to have as my target audience use both these platforms for social media. 

Developing idea

My initial idea was to create a balanced documentary on Liverpool as a city, discussing the history, the different cultures but also the down sides to the city including homelessness in the city and how it has developed to becoming the modern city it is today. I planned to interview a historian, musician, and also a homeless person and what it was like living on the streets. 

My idea began to change from my proposal as I began to do more secondary research it began to change into just the culture in Liverpool, this is when I decided to have interviews with a historian, musician, footballer – or someone related to football – and an artist.

The voiceover introduced the whole documentary over a montage which are two documentary techniques, it starts with the soundtrack playing and plays right throughout the whole documentary. 

After I had my focus group with Frank, I decided would have him talk about the history of docks and how they developed in the city because they are one of the most iconic locations in the city and the redevelopment projects we have had in the city such as the Anfield project and the Liverpool One redevelopment and which then changed my idea once again since my proposal. I decided instead of using archive and having to contact the owners so I ended up using all of my own shots for the history part, I spoke about it in my copyright considerations. 

After deciding we were talking about the redevelopment projects, I decided to interview my grandad who lived in Anfield in the 1950s before its development so he could tell us exactly how it was and what he did growing up there. The interview of my grandad would go straight after Frank talking about the regeneration of Anfield so that the narrative is easy for the audience to follow and so it flows to his interview. 

Then it would go to Paul the musician talking about the music and how it started in the city and what effect music had on the city, this is a huge part in the documentary because it plays such a huge role in the city and the culture. 

It then went onto the football culture, I was interviewing a past footballer to speak about both teams, Everton and Liverpool. I ended up changing my idea from interviewing someone to having just the voiceover tell it because I thought I had enough interviews and to write the football part in the script, I used the research I got on the football culture in the city. 

Right after the football segment, I was going to have the voiceover talk about the art culture in the city, I had lots of cutaways for the art part but I changed my mine when it came to editing and I ended up taking it all out and because it was too long. 

I then interviewed my friend to talk about the different opportunities in the city for musicians and artists so that audience know about what there is to do for people wanting to achieve their goals in the city for any ages. 

The ending was summarised by Frank which was my idea from the very beginning, I decided this when he said it in the interview. I didn’t want put cutaways over his part at the end because he seemed so happy and looked so proud and I wanted this part in it so it effected the audience so that the ones from the city felt just as proud. 

Audience 

My original idea for my target audience was going to be high school children for geography lessons, I was going to get in touch with the museum and my previous high school. I looked at what resources I was going to use such as TES. My mind changed once I went to the museum of Liverpool and went in to see what audience there was for a history documentary film made in Liverpool. I noticed that the audience was different compared to secondary students as they were all mostly in their forties and over 

I then created a primary research questionnaire and sent it out to many people so that I had a range of ages and their honest opinion to use what they want to see in my work. I got a range of answers as there were a range of ages such as 11-16, 17-25, 26-39 and 40+ but the most popular  ages I got out of twenty people was ten. I knew that my target audience were then 17-25 who. Are  really young but older than secondary school students. 

I had a look into Frank’s Facebook friends and a lot of them are young but most of them are older starting from their thirties and a lot older. The genders are very mixed, there are a lot of males and females in his friends. These people will be my audience for my project and I will be getting feedback from them because Frank’s facebook page is one of my chosen platforms and Frank has uploaded my video and his friends will see it and I will be getting their feedback. 

I have also looked at the facebook group members on In My Liverpool Home and their demographics, there are a mix of females and males and they are mostly middle aged or younger but there are a lot of older people. This is my audience because my product has been uploaded to this group and my feedback is based on them. They are all interested in Liverpool’s history and culture because the group is a history and culture based account on Liverpool and my documentary fits perfectly into the group and the members interests  and most of them are from Liverpool.

My decisions were based on the target audience who were interested in history and culture in city documentaries which I discovered in my primary questionnaire feedback when I asked whether they liked city documentaries or not, history documentaries or not and if culture in cities are  important and this is why I changed my idea to the culture and history of Liverpool. 

Research

The research for both primary and secondary have impacted my decision making. The primary research already influenced my idea from when I had done my questionnaire at the very beginning of the project and this helped me with what I want to mainly talk about compared to my proposal where I was talking about talking about the down side of the city. 

The primary research questionnaire helped me decide that to only talk about the history and the culture of the city. The secondary research also decided what topics I would talk about in the documentary, I did research on the history of the docs which helped me decide the questions to ask Frank to talk about in the history of the docks. The secondary research on music and football culture in the city helped me with deciding on what cultures I wanted to talk about and so I could focus on them, this is also two of the biggest interests for most people and they have had massive affects on the city. 

I did research on the music venues and the football stadiums and the history of the docks which helped me write my shot list for when I went out to film. This research I did helped me with the cutaways I needed to get to have over my interviews and for the voiceover. 

When it came to editing, I created my montage and I explained how the research I did using Bill Nichols theory on expository documentaries which is the reason why I did a montage at the beginning because its an important technique because it gives the audience an idea of where the documentary is set and what it may be about. 

I applied a lot of my research when it came to editing 

Theory

I did a lot of research on academic theory which I have applied right throughout my project. I did semiotics which is the study of signs used within my work. This theory helped me when it came to filming my interviews because I had to think of the mise en scene, lighting and the framing. I considered this when it came to filming my interviews, with Frank, we filmed in his house and I got him to sit by the pictures he has on his wall that are all of Liverpool and I thought it was relevant to the topic because he was only talking about Liverpool and represents the city; before he starts speaking, they will know that he will be talking about Liverpool because of where he is. The shot I used was a mid shot of him which suggests he is telling a story which he is.

Uses and gratifications is a theory from Biulmer and Katz. Uses and gratifications are what the viewers seeks out for the media source that best fills their needs. It assumes what the audiences choose what they want to watch for different purposes. I decided that my audiences fit into the cognitive needs which is what people watch to get information and fulfil their intellectual needs, they usually watch documentaries, quiz programmes and more. The theory helped me when creating my documentary when it came to filming, writing my interview questions and writing the script for my voiceover because I knew I had to fulfil my audiences intellectual needs so I was continually feeding them information throughout the documentary from both the interviewees and the voiceover. Frank would tell them about why the Albert dock opened in 1846 and my audience would be gaining knowledge from this if they didn’t know it already. My script gave out facts about the music in the city as well as the musician and same for the football. 

Reception theory was developed by Stuart Hall which media tests are encoded and decoded. It is where the producer encodes a message and how the audience have decoded it in different ways and not the way the producer intended originally. There are different types of readings in this theory and my audience fits into the dominant, or preferred reading because the audience are able to follow my product easy because they are of the same culture, it deals with themes relevant to the audience who will mainly be from Liverpool and they will get the message that I am giving. I used this theory when it came to writing my interview questions for Frank, Paul, Grandad and my friend. I asked them questions so that the audience can follow what they are saying easily. When I was wiring my script, I spoke about the history of the docks, music and football culture. I have the narrator introduce each part of the documentary and the narrative is easy to follow and they know what is coming up with cutaways to match with what is being said which gives the audience a visual representation of what is being spoken about. 

Pre-production, planning and organising

The first thing I did was the production schedule which helps me determine when my product will be finished. It includes everything from context to there presentation stages. My treatment is part of my preproduction which discusses my target audience, the research I did in the beginning and how it will turn out, the break down of my whole project, problems, timescale and budgeting. 

The shot list is a huge part for planning because the shot list helps me visualise the places and locations I will need to film for my cutaways to put in my voiceover and over the interviews. They help me with the amount of shots I will need and where about they will go, I got the ideas for my cutaways from looking at my interview questions as well as the research I had done on different places such as the music venues and the football stadiums. 

The legal and ethical constraints talks about the human rights act and the privacy law which is about protecting other people in my work due to copyright and filming people which I did a lot because I was filming in public places in the city centre. 

I did practise shots around Liverpool before I filmed my proper shots so that I was prepared for when I went out to film my proper shots and I knew what shots I was using when filming the proper thing. 

The soundtrack and audio planning sheet I used in my work as a rough idea of when my audio was going to come in and out throughout my documentary, it helped me when it came to editing so I knew where about to put the soundtrack and audio into my work. 

The script for the voiceover I wrote I got the idea from my research on the culture and history in the city so that I knew what to write for the music part and the football part but I also had to 

watch what was said in the interviews. 

I had to film around Anfield later on in the project because when I realised I didn’t have enough cutaways when it came to editing. I hadn’t put enough on the shot list when I went out filming and I didn’t get everything I needed so I had to go out to go out and film some more which was a problem because it was last minute but I did it. 

Production and practical skills

My editing skills have developed once I came to this project,  I edited each interview by cropping them, flipping them like I did with my grandads one to match the interview conventions, explained how much I flipped it by and then changing the scales of the shot so it looked better than it was originally. 

After creating the equipment and resources blog, I booked out the equipment I needed and went out to do some practise shots which helped me in preparation when it came to filming my actual cutaways because I then knew what types of shots to get of different locations. It also helped me with writing my shot list as well as my research and I had to put what types of shots I will be using to film. 

I knew how to work the camera, so I practised doing different shots when I went out filming, I went to the cavern pub and did some shots that are pull focus so that I was getting different techniques within my work. 

I applied my interview techniques and research I had done on them and I applied then when it came to filming when setting the camera and tripod up on one side of the interviewee  and them having enough looking room, the lighting and the framing of each one. 

Audience feedback

I have had my audience feedback for my final product from the questionnaire I and Frank both sent out and the chosen platforms feedback. I had people who answered the questionnaire to put their age so I knew my audiences were all of different ages. They had to answer yes or no if my documentary taught them anything and most responses were yes out of 36 people which is what I originally intended from the very beginning in my proposal which also links back to my uses and gratifications which is where I speak about fulfilling my audiences intellectual needs as they fall into the cognitive needs section of the theory. 

I asked what they learnt from my documentary and their replies were the importance of the Albert dock, how music in the city has impacted young people and this is the type of responses I wanted because I wanted to teach people things they didn’t know about before. I got different responses from my audience from the platforms such as facebook who spoke about being proud of where and how proud of their city they are. 

From my audience feedback on Facebook, I have linked it to reception theory because the audience found it easy to follow because they are all of the same culture and the message was clear to them because the themes were relevant to the audience, to their city, this is where they fall under the dominant, or preferred reading section of the theory. I thought of them when writing my interview questions and voiceover so they can follow it because they are all part of the same cultures. 

On my youtube channel, I had over 100 views, I had 8 likes and 10 subscribers and 3 comments. I have looked at the analytics on YouTube of the views, audience retention and realtime activity. On the views graphs, it shows that on the first day I got 73 and within 5 days I got 111 views. The audience retention shows that 37% was the average view duration and it got lower as it came towards the end of the video. 

Final Thoughts

I think my project went well, the finished product has come out better than I had expected and had better audience feedback than I imagined. My idea from the very beginning has changed right throughout from context and theory to planning, to production skills and problem solving. 

My proposal at the very beginning of the project has changed a lot compared to my final product. In the proposal, I spoke about talking about the down sides as well as the good side of the city but as I began to do more research, I ended up changing my ideas from interviewing homeless people, I stuck to wanting to teach my audience about the culture of Liverpool which is what i did until the end but it is only based on the culture and no down sides. There was an emotional part when Hillsborough was mentioned which I mentioned in the proposal on how I wanted the audience to feel. I also said I wanted to show how Liverpool had developed as a city which was when I had Frank talk about the regeneration projects but I ended up taking them parts out after writing my transcripts. 

My final product is a documentary based only on the culture of Liverpool and some history on the docks, it has taught my audience many different things about the city which isn’t much different from my proposal as I still had the same aims right throughout it. 

This week, I continued with my Editing day 3 which is when I began editing my cutaways over the interviews. I also explained some of the techniques I used when filming, explaining how I did a pull focus on one of the clips I used as a cutaway.

The next  day, I continued with my editing day 4 where I put the images my grandad gave me into his interview. I continued putting the rest of the cutaways in the rest of the documentary.

After I did my editing, I realised that there was Not enough cutaways so I had to go out the same day to get some more shots around Anfield to use in my grandads interviewee created a. Shot list for filming around Anfield for when I was Filming around Anfield so I can edit them into my timeline when I went back to editing the next day. I created a Call sheet for filming in Anfield for when I was out filming on this day as well.

I had to scan the photographs from the photo album my grandad gave me. I had a problem doing it but then I had to get an app on my phone to do it. I explained it in my Scanning Photos (problems) blog.

The next day, I had to get an image from Creative Commons which was Anfield gates saying ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and I have to edit it so it moves so its not just a still image.

I continued with my editing day 5 which was my last day of editing and I edited the videos I got from Anfield into my timeline as cutaways over my grandads part and also of the ground to put it into the football section. I edited the image I got from creative commons and explained it in my blog. I changed it and didn’t have the art section at the end which changes from my original idea and had Frank at the end summarising the documentary and the city. I then had to sort out the soundtrack and where about I was using it and then I sorted out the volume of each interview, the voiceover and the soundtrack so that it was all level. I then sorted out the title and the end credits.

I had to sort out my platforms and where I was going to put them. I messaged different people including frank and a moderator to upload my work to their facebooks and facebook groups so that I can get some feedback on my work. I did this in Sorting platforms.

I then created a final blog this week on Representation and how I have represented the city and the people. I did some research on representation in documentaries and explained how I did that in my work.

This week, I did created a Documentary idea – visme of my idea which is a visual structure of my documentary in linear style. I explained what order my documentary will go in from Frank’s interview at the beginning to ending it with Frank at the end.

After creating my visme, I did some research on Narrative Structure in my documentary and how I will use this in my work as only each interviewee is seen once apart from Frank. This blog will help me when it comes to editing and the structure I will be editing it in which is linear.

I began my Editing day 1, this is when I began editing my montage without any audio which was just a rough idea of how long I wanted my montage. I then started putting Frank’s interview into the timeline and edited the shot by cropping it.

The last thing I did this week which was Editing day 2 when I began editing the shot of my grandad’s interview and why it needed fixing, I talked it through step by step on how I edited it. I also then edited the voiceover into my timeline which will help me with. where about I will be editing my cutaways into towards the end of the edit.

I created a Theory problems blog which spoke about the problems I had and me changing my ideas and how they developed, my documentary theories changed a lot since my proposal and same with my audience theories.

I have done quite a lot this week. The first thing I did this week was do my Location recce and risk assessment – interview with Grandad in preparation before I have my interview with him because we are filming in his house and I as the director need to know what risks may occur and also this was created for the location details and my contact details for when I am out filming.

Later on in the same day, I had my Interview with Grandad and I spoke about the angles, mise en scene, the shots and the lighting and more. I included the questions that I asked in the interview.

The next day after watching the interview with my grandad, I noticed he was looking at the other side of the camera so it looked like he didn’t have much looking room and how I will have to try my best to edit as much as I can when I get to his interview in my work. I explained this in Interview with grandad problem.

I then created a Location recce and risk assessment – interview with friend because I was interviewing my friend the next day to talk about the opportunities in the city I put down my contact details in case of emergency and the location details which is Everton hills. I wrote down the risks possible that could occur because we were filming outside so it was very similar to the risk assessment I made for when I went out to film my cutaways.

I then had my Interview and questions with friend the next day on the opportunities there are in the city for musicians and artists and more. I discussed the location, the framing and the questions I asked him and why.

The Transcript – David interview I wrote the day of the interview after watching it. I pointed out the most appropriate details in the whole interview so the audience know about the most important points he makes.

Today, I wrote the Voiceover Script for the person doing the voiceover can read off when recording it. The scripts includes the different segments and what cutaways will be used and what interviews will be coming up.

I also did some research on Cutaways in documentaries and what they are used for. I have spoke about what they are used for and how and where I will use them in my own work.

The last thing did was Recording voiceover which was before, I explained what equipment I used to record it which was a zoom microphone and then who I got to do it for me.

I didn’t do many things this week but I ended up Filming cutaways for them to go over my voiceover and my interviews and my montage at the very beginning.  I went to different places and why I filmed in them locations.

I then did some Platforms 2 research which was more research on the platforms I want to use when it comes to uploading my product to my chosen platforms. I looked at twitter on this blog because its a different platform from the other ones I had already looked at previously but I spoke about the type of page I would ask and ask them to tweet my youtube link so their followers will see and watch my video.

 

I had my Interview and question list with Paul McDonough at the beginning of this week, I spoke about the whole interview with the shot, the mise en scene, the lighting and the questions. This includes his contributor release form.

I began my Platforms research so I knew what platforms I wanted to use when I upload my complete project, I looked at facebook, youtube accounts and film festival websites for ideas that are all Liverpool related or documentary based.

After I had done my platforms research, I noticed How my audience has changed from secondary school students to older teenagers to middle aged people completely since my pitch presentation so I explained how it had changed due to all the research I have done for my platforms and from my primary research questionnaire feedback.

I filled in a Soundtrack and Audio plan which gave me a rough idea of where about I will have my audio and music and when about it will come in. This will help me when it comes to editing and where about I will use it.

I then watched my my interview with Paul Mcdonough and then wrote a Transcript – Frank Interview so that when it comes to my editing, I know what parts of his interview I want and I can mark them in my library on Final Cut Pro so I know what parts are going on to my timeline and what. cutaways I will need and use over certain parts.

I then had my Interview with Frank 2 which was the second time I had my interview with him and I discussed the changes I made in the interview compared to the last one I did with him. I spoke about all the interview conventions I used when filming my interview including the framing, the lighting, the miseducating en scene and the equipment.

 

 

This week, I have created a blog on how to Filming interviews with one camera for preparation for filming my interview earlier this week. I have looked at a website online which gave tips on filming an interview with one camera and looking at the angles, the lighting, the shots and the microphone but also focusing on the contributor. I applied all of these when I filmed my interview this week.

I also created a new Revised Schedule for film dates for when I create my call sheets and for when I go out filming because the dates of my filming have changed for when I go out filming since my production schedule at the very  beginning of this project.

I then created a Location recce and risk assessment – filming cutaways around Liverpool City Centre and what I needed to look out for when filming. I created a location recce to let my teachers know where I will be that day, what I have access to and the suitability of the location. The risk assessment was created for for the risks that may take place when I go to film in different areas.

I then arranged the interview with Frank that same day and had the screenshot of the text message with the details of where and what time to meet.

I then created a Location Recce and Risk Assessment for filming in Frank’s flat before the interview. I then wrote a blog on the location recce and risk assessment and explained the importance of creating these forms and what I as the director and producer should do to prevent these risks and lets them know the contact details and the locations what there is access to.

On the same day, I went out to film my cutaways for my documentary. These shots will be used right throughout my documentary under the voice over to fill blank pieces and then also over the interviews rather than just having the interviewees on the screen and this technique helps the audience understand and be able to see what they are talking about.

Before I filmed my interview with Frank, we had a Focus Group on what we will discuss in the interviews and what questions I will ask him, this was really helpful when it came to doing my interview.

I created a blog on the Interview with Frank Carlyle and analysed it right through. I spoke about the different techniques used in it including the shots, the lighting, the angle and how I set the camera up and the location in the room. This interview is important because I need it as the baseline narrative which helps me with what interviews and cutaways I need from this.

After watching the interview with Frank over, I realised that the eye line wasn’t right  as he kept looking away from me so I created a Having to film interview with Frank again with the problems throughout the interview so I arranged to have another interview with him. I messaged him asking if it was okay to redo it and he agreed.

The last thing did this week was Arranging interview with Paul McDonough who is a musician from Liverpool who I will be using as the interviewee for the music section in my project. I will be interviewing him next Monday at Frank’s house again. I put a screenshot of the messages of where to meet and the time.

I did some audience theory blogs, the first one I did was Reception Theory which is how media texts are encoded and decoded and how the producer encodes a message and how the audience decodes it – whether it is the same idea or not. I read about the different types of readings from different audiences and I said how my audience would go under the dominant, or preferred reading because it is easy to follow if they are of the same culture as it deals with themes relevant ti the audience who are from Liverpool. I wrote a section at the end of the blog of how this theory will help me when it comes to doing my project and how I will think of my audience. I spoke about how I will refer back to this when writing my script and making it easier for my audience to follow.

I did some research on the Hypodermic Needle Theory is also the theory on audience but this didn’t apply to my work. I did a blog on it to get a better understanding of it and how I could use it in the future in my projects. I discuss that the theory is about getting passive audiences attention by injecting ideas into the audience who are not interested in the messages that products are trying to give. I showed my understanding that the hypodermic needle theory is used more in political views or propaganda which was used more in old time films like World War times.

Legal and ethical constraints are one of the most important things I have to consider in my work because it is a documentary on a city and I will need to film in public places so I wrote about how I need to consider the Human Rights Act, Privacy Law and more when it comes to filming. I showed how I will consider these acts and laws so that I am protecting myself and the people aren’t offended.

The last blog I did of the week was research on Semiotics which will be a theory I will be using when it comes to my interviews and filming my cutaways. I have explained what the theory is and when I will consider this theory to help the audience understand the the reasoning behind the signs in each shot.

 

This week, I finished all my research on the Football Stadiums and I also created a shot list as part of my preproduction for when I go out to film my cutaways.

I did a research blog on the football stadiums in Liverpool which is the Everton ground, Goodison Park and the Liverpool ground, Anfield Stadium. They are two of the most famous football stadiums in the world. I did research on them both so I knew what I needed to go out and take some shots of. I will use these shots in the football part in the documentary over the interview and the voice overs.

I then created a Shot list for filming cutaways so I know what I need to film for when I went out to get my shots around town. I put my shot list together using the research I have gathered.

I also did a blog on the Music venues which was on Mathew Street which is part of the most iconic locations and plays one of the biggest part in Liverpool. I did research on the cavern on the street, The Philharmonic and The Echo Arena – M&S Bank Arena. I did research on these so I knew to go out and get some shots of these locations so I can use them in the music part of the documentary which can be used under the voice over and over the interview.

This week, I have created my treatment, wrote a blog on my interview ideas, some information on Nick Broomfield – the film maker, information on Bill Nichols who is a documentary theorist and a blog on how technology has changed.  

I did my first blog on my Treatment which is what my whole documentary is about and a cut down of it scene to scene. I have discussed how it will help me with my project as it is part of my preproduction. I talk about what I discuss in it like the target audience, break down of the full project, the problems I may face and timescale.

I then did an Interview ideas blog on what I interviews I will want in my documentaries rather than having one voice right through the film. I had decided I will interview six different people as well as the main interviewee who is the historian and they will all talk about different things in Liverpool.

I then finished my research on existing documentarists and filmmakers; I did a blog on Nick Broomfield – Filmmaker and just gave some information on his life and his work. I spoke about some of his most famous films and how he inspires many documentary filmmakers.

I used Bill Nichols – Theorist who is a famous documentary theorist and used his book for some research on documentaries so I did a blog on him and his work and what he does.

I have done a blog on Equipment and Resources which explains what equipment I will be using throughout this project and why. I said that I would be using a year 2 video camera, a tripod, a clip on microphone and a zoom microphone. I explained why I will use these and that I know what I need from past experience in other projects.

I then made a blog on Technology Changes and why more people watch documentaries nowadays and how they are easier to watch over the years and how technology has changed at home and how they have more chances to watch more things on the internet and on other consoles as well as the television.