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Unit 8: Evaluation

Throughout the past 13 weeks, I have researched into my chosen topic and its aspects, I’ve
planned out everything I needed to do, I filmed every piece of footage I needed, I edited my
production to the best standard I could and presented my work for my class and teachers.

I first got the idea for my final major project in


February. I knew I wanted to do a documentary, but it
was hard to find something to research and produce
and that’s when my sister came to me and suggested
that I make it about mental health.

I plan to enter The UK Film Festival in the category for Best Documentary. The rules for
Henley College are no nudity, no necessary swearing and no drug use, I didn’t break any of
these rules.

I chose a documentary because I enjoyed making my last one (Miniature: a documentary). It


was so much fun to make and produce that I tried it again, but I wanted to improve my skills
as best I could this time around. The aspect of teaching people something that they might
not know is exciting and you can captivate them with the information, and you can be
creative as possible to get the point across. I find that documentary making is more straight
forward for me after you’ve planned/scheduled everyday then all you need to do is follow
this plan for each day. When making a documentary, you need to be organised by making
sure that you’ve prepared the interviews to be filmed and everything else will fall into place
and you’ll be finished as soon as possible.
Documentaries are educational and informative, especially if you have an important subject.
And that’s why I wanted to do a documentary.

Mental health is a huge thing in my family and when my sister


suggested doing a documentary about mental health. I was
originally going to make it about depression and anxiety in school
and at home, but when my sister got diagnosed with BPD in March
that I seriously thought about doing the documentary on BPD and
other mental health issues.

I also wanted to learn how my sister was thinking and how she copes so that I could help
her and understand to a point what she is feeling. Just watching how she acts every day and
when she has an episode is very upsetting for me and my family because we don’t know
what’s going on in her head. So, when it came to writing the script I was more educated
with the issue and I was able to come up with the questions and information that was
displayed on screen.
In a survey I asked if they’d heard of this topic.
70% knew of it and seeing that 30% hadn’t I knew
that they should know what it is. By showing this
30% about mental health, then they’d become
aware of the issues that others face.
Informing more people about a serious matter
that needs resolving is the main aim in this
production, more people need to know about
these serious issues in mental health. Not just in the UK but around the world.
In my brief I set out to make a documentary about mental health (BPD). I think I managed to
follow through with it, I had all the information up on the screen, proper interviews that
were relevant and in all it was what I planned out to be.

I chose expository documentary because it was the best suited type to show my production.
I could’ve chosen Interactive instead, but I think expository really fit having a voice over (an
invisible person) asking the questions and taking to the audience.

There are quite a few expository documentaries out there, but they don’t all have the ‘voice
of god’ over it, mostly titles or the interviewees speech has been cut a certain way as to
introduce the film. Most of the expository won’t be about mental health, there are a lot of
them that are the Performative or Interactive type. You need to decide on the type of

documentary you’re putting out there and work around how you will address the
public/audience.
Each documentary has a purpose and like mine, I hope to impact people hugely with this
piece. I don’t want to upset people I want to teach people, and this is my opportunity to do
that.

Mental health is a serious subject to talk about and I was very wary when it came to writing
all the dialogue or information. Coming from someone who’s been through the mental
health unit of the NHS, it’s very easy to upset someone and I knew that every bit of
research, study, infographic I saw was a question mark as it might not be genuine. Many
mental health documentaries have been made and I suppose mine will be like theirs, in the
way it’s made and produced to the world.
Mental health can be anything from stress to
anorexia, you can’t put a label on mental health
because it’s so many things.
I chose BPD, and in that came Bulimia,
Depersonalization Disorder and Self-Harm. These
were the main aspects of mental health that was
mentioned in the documentary, between
different people, Natalie and Esther suffer on the
same level. It also adds a personal touch to the
production and I made this video my own.

The narrative for this documentary are the lives of the affected
people of mental health. Through the struggles of everyday life
and the demons they face all the time.

This comes from the college councillor who deals with troubled
teens every day, listening to hundreds of different stories every
month. They listen to the struggles of these young adults and they
help them through this and often refer them to the national
health service.

The families of those that


suffer are also affected by this.
When I added the time-lapse of the family eating
together, I wanted people to see that even though they
face all these troubles that they act like a normal family,
they talk with one another like nothing is wrong.

There are last of all those that suffer with these mental
health issues. They are the ones most important to this
documentary, I want these people to look for the help they need and deserve. They are
affected more than anymore knows, they keep to themselves for a while until most
commonly they confide in someone they trust.
Having a voice-over is
calming and by having it in
the production it gives it a
dramatic effect, the ‘voice
of god’ is very effective as
they are the real
storytellers. It can explore
the topic with the audience
whether the topic is happy
or sad.
100% of people agreed that
the voice-over told its story.
Having people saying that it was important is good because I then could script every bit of
dialogue I saw fit to the documentary.

My specialism was camerawork and I used a few different techniques. When I was setting
up my interviews, I wanted the subjects to be lit with more natural light than artificial light.

Brian and Jo were sat on a sofa directly opposite a large


window, I had purposely placed them there so that the
natural light would be enough. Unfortunately, I had to turn of
the overhead lights on but there was a dimmer and I had it on
the lowest setting, so that the artificial light wasn’t making
the interview look too bright and yellow/orange.

From this survey, I got an average rating of 8.24%. I’m actually


happy with this rating, I suppose in documentary the camera
work is mostly stationary especially during the filming process
with the interviews.

I had many responses about my camera work, most were very


positive and there were a couple with a few improvements.

There were a few comments like this about it being blurry,


they were talking about the college
interview with Tracy. One of the
cameras wouldn’t focus properly and I
tried to change the settings
but I couldn’t change it.
I will try for next time that I use a different camera or set it up in advance, so the blurriness
doesn’t happen again.

When I was editing the final


product, I didn’t have any
trouble putting all my footage
together. I put the interviews
into separate files so that the
full file wasn’t messy. When I
edited each interview, I put
them into the file and start
constructing the final
production. It was a lot neater
and I could navigate each
section easily.
In this picture, the final
product, I had every interview, voice-over, music, graphics and credits in it.
It really helped to do this as I could cut out pauses and ums or any small pieces of footage
that looked sloppy.

I had previously done a test shoot to set up an interview so that I


was prepared/equipped for the real thing. It really helped to do the
test shoot though and I improved it for the actual
interviews, so setting up the equipment was easier as I knew where
I wanted it and where the interviewees where in the line of the
camera.

My audio was good in the interviews as


I had a Rode microphone to catch
everything that was said. The music I
had I had to put into Adobe Audition as
it was too loud and drowned out the
interviews.

I adjusted the sound levels and brought


them down to -11.15, I then played the
interview on premiere and the sound
was the perfect level.
The only thing that didn’t work well was one of the
camera angles for Esther’s interview, it had turned
black and white. Apparently, the infrared switch was on
and had changed the setting, so it had ruined the
footage for this angle. I don’t know how it got switched
to a different setting, I suppose I knocked the camera
and changed it. I put it into premiere to see if I could
put it in as a stylistic choice, but I chose to scrap it as
the contrast would be way off.

In the final product I tried to make it more colourful and appealing to all ages, I didn’t want
it to be an ordinary documentary, I want people to remember it. So, when I added the
graphics, I needed a colourful background
The brightness of the
background really
makes the
information/history
section interesting and
gets people’s attention.
I wanted to make the documentary as ‘bright’ as possible, I want it to be colourful and
memorable.
I wanted my interviews to have a more neutral look, so that
there weren’t any overpowering colours or if it was too
bright.
Tracy’s office was very bright and there were white walls
with a small light in the corner, so I set her there and having
that white background really worked out. It wasn’t a potent
white so having it for the background made it very neutral.

Esther’s interview was quite easy, as the room we were in


had green walls which was quite calming, and I think
different from the rest of the interviews apart from Brian &
Jo’s. Esther asked what she should wear, and I told her to
have either a top or jumper of one colour and not a bright
colour. She ended up wearing a blue jumper and in the
footage, it looks darker but I think it works well.

For Brian & Jo’s interview, they were in the same as Esther
when she was interviewed. It has the same calming
background and they were also lit with natural light. I was
originally going to interview them in the conservatory
where it was a lighter, but I think it would’ve been too
bright and seeing this footage in the production stage, I can
see that it’s better this way.
ß I asked people if they thought that the
interviews were in a relevant order, 78.95%
said yes.
à I also asked them if they were all
necessary.
From the feedback, I can say that the order
and necessity were relevant, and I wouldn’t
change the order.

When I started this documentary, I wanted to get a couple of volunteers to contribute to


the topic.
My sister posted on Facebook asking if anyone was
interested in featuring in the production, she knew
of a few people who might be up for it but wasn’t
sure if they’d be comfortable in front of the
camera. So, asking over social made sense because
if they were comfortable with it then they’d reply
to it or message one of us.

That was when Natalie messaged me saying she


was interested but unfortunately, she was at uni, I
came up with a solution to this and it actually
worked. I asked her to film herself on a phone or
camera, I gave her a few questions so that she
wold have a rough idea to talk about.

She sent me the video in the week 7


(1st editing week).

I had a few other people that were


interested but they were too busy or
unable to film themselves.

I think by having someone else that


also suffers from mental health that isn’t family really helped, I chose Esther because I knew
she suffered from this, but I wanted people to see that there are more people out there that
are suffering from these issues every day. You wouldn’t expect it from certain people,
especially from friends or family.
I choice to film the family at dinner because it makes it more homely and personal to the
documentary. Even though I filmed it and it came to 45 minutes, I cut it but then decided
that it would look better as a time-lapse. By having the time-lapse, I could fit more of this
footage as b-roll over Esther’s interview. I’m glad I filmed this, it makes it more personal and
how Esther talks about her family being supportive, there they are all together (not
everyone is though). It shows that even though the family have been through a lot, that
they can go about as normal and casual as if the issues didn’t exist, and they move on with
their lives to get on.

I think in all the production went well and I’m very


proud with what I’ve created for this unit.
Considering my family has mental health issues, I
was lucky to secure two interviews straight away
from my family. I also had access to family videos
and photos. I was also lucky to have an interview
with Tracy from Henley College give some insight
to the topic.
The interviews went well, and I don’t think even
with feedback that I would’ve re-shot them, I also wouldn’t have had the same brilliant
answers I got the first time. The editing process was good, I had pieced the interviews
together separately do that in the end I could export them and add them to the full file on
premiere.

What I will try to improve for next time will defiantly be with the cameras, I was working
with three different cameras. One of them didn’t work properly and the other one I didn’t
use before, so I didn’t’ know that it had changed to the infrared setting.

Next time I will be familiar with all the equipment I will be using, this is mainly about the
camera. I will also try not to ask too many questions because I think that having too many
of them and it make the production quite long and also if the answers are really good, it’s
hard to cut them.

There were a couple of videos I found that I talked about in my research that I drew
inspiration from.
I didn’t really get a lot from these videos, I had already decided what my documentary
would be and being a fan of documentaries, I had seen a lot over the years, so I have a
common knowledge.

One was a short film about BPD and the other was a documentary about mental health.
I AM BORDERLINE
A short film based off a campaign to raise
awareness for Borderline Personality
Disorder. In this short film, there is voice-
over recorded by a female, this is where I
had the idea of having a female in for my
documentary. I feel that having a female
voice is gentler and more caring for this type
of documentary. Overall, it worked and from
feedback people preferred having a female
voice-over.

I also got the idea for having a number for a


help line, this film was a campaign for
awareness, so they had a hashtag.
I also added a helpline at the end of the
production, so that if anyone suffers from
mental health would see it and seek the help
they need.

The other video I drew from was - "Back from the Edge" - Borderline Personality Disorder

In this documentary, you encounter


different people with different issues.
But as it goes on, the stories get more
intense and emotional. Having the person
who suffers telling their story, is the most
important part and I also used this in
Esther’s interview and Natalie’s video.

From feedback, people said that they liked


the variety of different topics that were brought up. Having the councillor, two people that
suffer with different mental health issues, and the parents of one of these people made a
difference to the order and importance of each topic.

I drew from their style of interview


they used, they had a professional
with the titles at the bottom as well
as the camera being from the
shoulders up.

Having this professional


documentary to draw on, there are quite a few things that you
could learn. For example, the information that is displayed, how the topic is dealt with and if
it was used properly and that it wouldn’t offend anyone, the professionals with their
profession and what they excel in. I learnt about how they display their interviews,
conforming to the rule of thirds, and how they introduce the professionals on screen and
off screen. I also listened to the interviewees and could guess the questions they were
answering and how they were answered, especially each person with their different
backstories. This helped me a bit when I re-phrase the questions when I was writing my
script.

In general, the style of interview that I displayed was welcomed by the


people that took my survey, and they gave it an average of 7.9%.

Overall, I thought the whole unit went well and I’m pleased with all my work that I’ve
presented. There’s nothing that I would change in any planning or even my production. I’m
very happy with how it turned out and how
many people have been made aware of the
complications of mental health. I missed a
few problems in the filming stage and a bit in
the editing, but I think I’ve overcame these
problems and make improvements.

It was also shared on Facebook and that’s


where a majority of the viewers found it. It
also got shared 5 times and there was quite a
good reception in the comments.

I have learnt so much over this first year of


college and I feel that I have used all the
knowledge that I had learnt over the past
year.

In the end this went very well, and I’m really


pleased with the outcome.

Would I be suited to the media industry?


I think so, yes. I followed my whole brief from the idea to the planning, my planning was to
standard as I planned out every day to make it more straightforward and neat. My filming
was to a high standard, but it could have been better and also my editing could have been a
bit more professional, like camera footage changing colour and colour correcting dark
footage. I can follow deadlines and I have everything uploaded and finished for them.

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