Individually we watched two documentaries, In the Teeth of Jaws and The Simpsons 20th Anniversary in 3d on ice. From these I learn how documentaries are made and the codes and conventions of filming and editing interviews. Some of the main points we learned were;
The interviewees were filmed in medium shot, medium close up or close up.
Framed to left or right to the screen - if there is more than one interview postioning alternates so as to create variety
Framing follows the rule of thirds - eyeline is roughly a third of the way down the frame.
Interviewee looks at the interviewer and not directly at the camera.
Postioning of the interviewer is important: If the interviewee is on the right side of the frame, the interviewee should be postioned on the left side of the camera. If the interviewee is on the left side of the frame , the interviewer should be postioned on the right side of the camera. In either case, the interviewer should sit or stand as close to the camera as possible.
Mise-en-scene: Background reinfoces the content of the interview or is relevant of the interviewee, providing more information about them in terms of occupation or personal enviroment.
Interviews are never filmed with a light sourse behind them i.e. in front of a window or with the sun behind them, the light is always in front of them.
Questions are edited out so its inportant for the interviewee to answer in full.
Cutaways are edited into interviews for two reasons: to break up interviews and illistrate what the interviewee is talking about and to avoid jump cuts when questions are edited out.
Cutaways are either: Archive material, it can suggest something said in the interview and therefore filmed after the interview and sometimes aspects of the interviewee are filmed with another camera such as extreme close ups of the eyes or mouth and hands and used as cutaways.
Graphics are used to anchor who the person on screen is and their relevance to the topic of the documentary.
Here is an example of a medium close up from the Simpsons 20th anniversary special. In the image you can see the codes and conventions of filming and editing put in to place. For example, he is sat of to right the right of the camera and looking across the screen talking to the interviewer. Also he dosen't look at the camera, he is looking at the interviewer whilst he answers the questions
To make our documentary we planned what the general aim of the interview would be, this was to show how the teenage general public have grown more and more interested in the phone that they own. We made a storyboard of the different angles and techniques that we were going to use during the interview and had 10 set questions to use in the interview. We also thought about where we were going to film the interview and who out of our group would ask the questions to the interviewee and who would take control of the camera. We had to also come up with suitable cutaway shots to edit into the interview which would relate to the topic of the interview and make sense.
We got our equipment together and our interviewee then headed off outside to the destination where we was going to film our interview at a bench in one of the colleges yard which had a lot of environmental factors and also was sunny which would make the interview seem more peaceful and because the place was quiet we didn't have much chance of interruptions. The first place we were going to use became unavailable to us because there was a technical problem with the camera and we had to change our filming area because of the problem with the camera and we had a lack of time left to film the interview. We moved our filming to the media class room where it was quiet but we had a few interuptions when the other students were coming back to the classroom after filming. We also had a problem with the interviewee shirt blending in with the background which was not a major problem but could of been provoked if we payed attention a bit more. Futhermore we also ran out of time and missed one of the questions we were going to ask out of the interview.
For the editing of the interview we had to edit out the questions we asked and just leave the answers in to make it look more professinal, and the plan was to put cutaway shots innbetween and during the answering of questions. Also the interviewee should of answered in full answers because we were cutting the questions out but he didn't answer in full on some of the questions. Futhermore we had a lack of cutaway shots and the ones we had weren't really nessacary to the answers that the interviewee gave so we had to go on google and get some shots of phones and content relating to his answers. We also cut out questions and answers that weren't really good and interesting to keep the interview short and good.
In evaluating our documentary, We came across a few problems that we found when filming. One of the problems we had was when we first started filming our documentary, we had a technical problem with the camera and filming so we lost alot of time on the first day of filming which put us a bit behind all the other groups and we had to change the scenairo we was filming in because of the camera trouble so we moved from outside in one of the college plazas into the media classroom where we have our lesson. Another problem we encountered was the interviewee's shirt was the exact same colour as the background that we was filming in front of so in the interview there is alot of blue so it may draw the watcher's attention away from the interview itself.
The interviewees were filmed in medium shot, medium close up or close up.
Framed to left or right to the screen - if there is more than one interview postioning alternates so as to create variety
Framing follows the rule of thirds - eyeline is roughly a third of the way down the frame.
Interviewee looks at the interviewer and not directly at the camera.
Postioning of the interviewer is important: If the interviewee is on the right side of the frame, the interviewee should be postioned on the left side of the camera. If the interviewee is on the left side of the frame , the interviewer should be postioned on the right side of the camera. In either case, the interviewer should sit or stand as close to the camera as possible.
Mise-en-scene: Background reinfoces the content of the interview or is relevant of the interviewee, providing more information about them in terms of occupation or personal enviroment.
Interviews are never filmed with a light sourse behind them i.e. in front of a window or with the sun behind them, the light is always in front of them.
Questions are edited out so its inportant for the interviewee to answer in full.
Cutaways are edited into interviews for two reasons: to break up interviews and illistrate what the interviewee is talking about and to avoid jump cuts when questions are edited out.
Cutaways are either: Archive material, it can suggest something said in the interview and therefore filmed after the interview and sometimes aspects of the interviewee are filmed with another camera such as extreme close ups of the eyes or mouth and hands and used as cutaways.
Graphics are used to anchor who the person on screen is and their relevance to the topic of the documentary.
Here is an example of a medium close up from the Simpsons 20th anniversary special. In the image you can see the codes and conventions of filming and editing put in to place. For example, he is sat of to right the right of the camera and looking across the screen talking to the interviewer. Also he dosen't look at the camera, he is looking at the interviewer whilst he answers the questionsPlanning
Filming
We got our equipment together and our interviewee then headed off outside to the destination where we was going to film our interview at a bench in one of the colleges yard which had a lot of environmental factors and also was sunny which would make the interview seem more peaceful and because the place was quiet we didn't have much chance of interruptions. The first place we were going to use became unavailable to us because there was a technical problem with the camera and we had to change our filming area because of the problem with the camera and we had a lack of time left to film the interview. We moved our filming to the media class room where it was quiet but we had a few interuptions when the other students were coming back to the classroom after filming. We also had a problem with the interviewee shirt blending in with the background which was not a major problem but could of been provoked if we payed attention a bit more. Futhermore we also ran out of time and missed one of the questions we were going to ask out of the interview.
Editing
For the editing of the interview we had to edit out the questions we asked and just leave the answers in to make it look more professinal, and the plan was to put cutaway shots innbetween and during the answering of questions. Also the interviewee should of answered in full answers because we were cutting the questions out but he didn't answer in full on some of the questions. Futhermore we had a lack of cutaway shots and the ones we had weren't really nessacary to the answers that the interviewee gave so we had to go on google and get some shots of phones and content relating to his answers. We also cut out questions and answers that weren't really good and interesting to keep the interview short and good.
Evaluation
In evaluating our documentary, We came across a few problems that we found when filming. One of the problems we had was when we first started filming our documentary, we had a technical problem with the camera and filming so we lost alot of time on the first day of filming which put us a bit behind all the other groups and we had to change the scenairo we was filming in because of the camera trouble so we moved from outside in one of the college plazas into the media classroom where we have our lesson. Another problem we encountered was the interviewee's shirt was the exact same colour as the background that we was filming in front of so in the interview there is alot of blue so it may draw the watcher's attention away from the interview itself.
