Pre-Production
During the Pre-Production, as the Director of Photography the communication between myself and Jemma kept at a high level. During the Pre-Production stage prior to Christmas there was a misunderstanding on who's job it was to decide on the visuals for the documentary and it was then made clear that Jemma needed to set out the visual picture and I then had to bring it to life with my technical skills as the Director of Photography. When planning out the shoots the communication between Jemma, Victoria and I was kept at a high and professional level. We always knew the latest script, the newest schedule, I would keep Victoria updated on dates I would be working to ensure we always knew what was happening. I kept them updated on the situation with the Canon C100 and how the borrowing of that was going.
My preparation for the majority of the shoots was at a high level with the detail within the shot lists I did. Although Jemma and Victoria didn't require them, they were more for me to look at and refer back to if ever I needed to know what we had and hadn't filmed. The reference images were an really helpful idea I had in terms of finding locations on shoots, by doing that little bit of research I knew what I was looking for when I arrived at the location and helped me if ever we all wondered what we could go and look for next.
As well as the planning I did for each shoot in terms of what kit would work best. As I learnt from my research from Lee Thomas, choosing the kit is literally like choosing a tool. It has to be right for the job and I took this very seriously. With Blackburn I found that I'd need high quality cameras to get the best footage of the event but I'd need a light weight and high quality camera that I could quickly grab and use to film small actuality and vox pops. Where as with interviews I knew I needed a high quality camera that could have clip microphones running into it for high quality sound that could also attach to a rig for handheld operation. All of these aspects I put into consideration when deciding what to take in terms of kit for each shoot.
Organising the kit hire from Mann Bros Productions was a good skill for me as the DOP as it was my job to recommend the kit hire to Jemma and Victoria and then being able to find the camera for free meant that we saved money on budget which could then be put towards travel which was highly important for this shoot to happen.
In terms of weakness for the Pre-Production I would say my recces were a weakness as I didn't do any. Although Blackburn and Cornwall couldn't be helped due to the distance, Folkestone I could have gotten the train down one day with Jemma and walked around and planned out where we would film. Although the reference images did help we could have gotten a much more clear idea prior to this if I'd have recce'd. Also, if I'd have gone to the hotel where the pageant was being held they may have let me view the event room and I could have made a detailed camera plan rather than deciding during production how I would film the event based off the success of Blackburn. This could have really helped in terms of planning out where to film the event and also me allocating time for set up as I was the only one who could set up the kit.
Production
During the Production stage, my role began to split as I began to research into what it takes to be an Editor.
As the Director of Photography, my strengths would be my technical management and multi-tasking. Throughout the shoots I would be in charge of setting up the cameras, lighting and sound equipment and once I'd done these I would adjust the cameras, white balance, focus, expose and set, lighting I would need to adjust, add in diffusers if needed and ensure it all works well in the camera and once that was done I would then set up the clip microphones (if doing an interview) on the subject and set the audio levels on the camera to record the audio and then set up a back-up microphone for back-up sound via Shotgun microphone to ensure we had coverage on sound. All this I would do alone and ensure it was all set before shooting and then when recording I would be monitoring the visuals as well as the sound levels. I would also have to do a mixture of tripod and handheld operation with a mixture of different cameras depending on the event which I did without hesitation.
Team work between Jemma and I during Production was excellent. Throughout when we were shooting we'd be communicating whether it was on a shot or location or during interviews where we would communicate on when to adjust the shot. Communication between Victoria and I was also excellent as she would regularly update me on changes to shoot dates, events or locations and also keep me updated with the relevant risk assessments. I kept Victoria and Jemma updated on the kit that would be being used and how long I would require to set up for the shoot. As well as Jemma and Victoria working with me with shoots where I needed a second operator but we didn't have one such as the last day with Tanya where Jemma filmed the cutaways she wanted so we didn't go over on schedule or during Miss Drag UK where Victoria operated the Panasonic because we didn't have another operator. The team work between myself, Jemma and Victoria was consistent throughout production.
My operating through the shoot was one of my strengths due to the amount of hand held operating I did from shoulder rig to handheld, this isn't easy to do and even though some of the footage is shaky, I'd argue it's at a good quality for footage that at some points I wasn't able to actually use the rig.
My biggest weakness during the Production stage would be my communication during actual shooting if I began to panic. At stages such as in the Tom Thumb Theatre where I would begin to panic about not getting shots or going over schedule I didn't communicate very well to my team and from this it made the shoot stressful and caused us to go over on schedule. This could have easily been avoided by me telling Jemma and Victoria that I was panicking but instead it lead to the camera and gimbal dying as I wasn't paying attention to the battery, me and Jemma getting stressed and a lot of miscommunication. Another example is the gimbal that I organised for the Tom Thumb Theatre I hadn't kept Jemma and Victoria in the loop about getting that, although I'd mentioned I was trying to organise one I never confirmed when i did get it.
Being put in the situation of not having a tripod I couldn't have handled better. Whereas at first I was very against this (for obvious reasons that it meant a lot of handheld and manual handling) I should have sat with Victoria and explained my concerns, although the outcome wouldn't have changed due to filming permission it would have resolved the situation better and in a more professional way.
In terms of being an Editor, my research into editing during the Production Stage was very high. Not only was I looking into the correct way to edit and documentary but I looked into what a Documentary Editor does and what it takes. When trying to contact Editors and not getting any responses I found online articles and Masterclasses from Editors. I also contacted a self shooting editor Tom to ask questions which the Masterclasses didn't answer.
With logging the footage and organising it, I did this as I went along with the shoot days, I made the organisation of the folders as simple for me so that if Jemma or Victoria said (for example) "I want to see Tanya's cutaway of her art work" I could easily find it and show them and then when it came to the edit I would be able to quickly find the relevant clips and get them into the timeline.
A weakness from my research was definitely not researching into colour grading. This is an EXTREMELY complex part of Editing and something I've never taken on before so I should have done some serious research into it and how to colour grade as it may have made grading easier and I may have been able to finish it.
Post-Production
During the actual edit, my technical skills and organisation of the footage was one of my biggest strengths as I knew all the footage and where it was so assembiling the edit while working off the detailed script that Jemma provided was simple and easy. My knowledge of Premiere Pro meant I didn't struggle to assemble any of the edits and I knew all the relevant tools when I needed them such as Blur, Warp stablizer, Noise reduction, cross fade, etc. and I was able to fix next to all of the audio in Premiere without needing to go into Audition to do more complex audio editing.
I would regular upload the latest version of the edit for Jemma and Victoria to view and feedback on which I would act on.
The partnership between Jemma and I during the edit really helped to get it to the high level it was at. Working together on choices such as graphics, music placement, archive photos and montage assembly. However, I was also given freedom with sequences such as the montages, the title sequence and finding alternative sections of interviews such as with Amy when I had to replace the ending of her first segment due to being such off.
My work on the title sequence was something I'm very proud of, I had little inspiration with this and simply went off an idea and my gut instinct and it worked well. This is something Editors have to do, I knew my Directors vision for the documentary and the tone of the film and feel I put that really well together in the title sequence as well as working with aspects of the film which had been done through the poster (the title font) and keeping that consistent throughout the entire edit.
Post-Production brought out a few weaknesses for me. Time management and organisation with feedback would be 2 big issues. Keeping to Victoria's post production schedule proved harder than I thought which did cause late viewings or issues when it came to receiving feedback, as well as repeatedly missing sections of the script which I want meant to edit or misreading sections which would then lead to another version being made to amend the changes. This could have been avoided with more organisation and management of my time better.
The grade is one part which is a real weakness. Quite simply I was not prepared. Although a Colour grader and Editor are 2 very different roles. I should have prepared more for this and given myself more time for the edit as it was repeatedly not being fixed and caused more and more issues for me. Although it resolved in the end if I'd have gotten to know the software and the process better it could have benefitted the film much more.
