AlexHoadResearch/Factual

Finished Product

When compared with my original, the two greatly contrast. For example, my original idea was to be filmed in ‘a day of my life’ documentary. However, I decided to make my documentary more about my own personal experience and less on people with scoliosis in general. This was because I felt that a more personal story would have more of a genuine feel to it and would be effective as a documentary.

The documentary is very appropriate to the target audience and it is appropriate for all ages as well, and it is also very educational, as it focuses on the limitations of scoliosis, but is also quite inspiring as it shows that these obstacles can be overcome. It also focuses primarily on the importance of family and how anything can be overcome with help from your family and others around you.

The audience would like the documentary because it has a high amount of educational value and has emotionally driven parts in it, but not complex enough that it would bore or frighten younger audience. People with scoliosis would also like the documentary because it shows that they are no different to everyone else and, as well as this, it can also help to provide them with hope when they are feeling frightened.

The style of the documentary is fairly serious yet touching, but also quite light-hearted and pleasurable to watch to see that people with scoliosis have just the same life chances as people without scoliosis. It is also an educational and emotional medical documentary with a slight twist of humour. In addition, the documentary is also quite formal and direct, which can help the audience to take what you say more seriously and help it to be more memorable.

Production Process

The technical side of the documentary is also quite good as the text and the interviewees are clearly visible to see and the documentary as a whole is very easy to hear.

I began my documentary project by researching the history of scoliosis and I discovered that research into scoliosis goes as far back as Ancient Greece, when Hippocrates discovered that applying hard force to the spine of a scoliosis sufferer could help to ease the pain. Although the treatment was a lot more primitive back then, it did help to create the treatments for scoliosis that we know today.

I also discovered the first real plaster cast goes back to the 1880’s, where Lewis Sayre observed people with scoliosis and deduced that a plaster cast back brace could help to relive the pain induced by scoliosis.

I also researched celebrities with various other disabilities, such as: Usain Bolt, Kurt Cobain, James Blake and Howard Hart, to see how they cope with their disabilities and how some of them have even helped to change the way that people view disability and have shown how there can be hope for people with disabilities.

They are also inspirations because they have not let their disabilities get in the way of them achieving their dreams and fulfilling their full potential and have also promoted disability equality via their various promotions and advertising endorsements.

I also researched YouTube clips on more recognizable and iconic celebrities, such as: Lenin Moreno, Theodore Roosevelt, Stephen Hawking and Ralph Braun, and ascertained some inspiration from them about my documentary. I can also see how their speeches helped to change perceptions on disabilities, as they were very emotionally powerful and genuine.

I also researched the statistics linked to scoliosis and the facts and figures that have been undertaken to obtain to full grasp of scoliosis and it’s limitations. I found this fascinating because, even though I personally have scoliosis, I have never learned about these facts nor have I ever been told about them.

Overall, I found the research part of the pre-production documentary planning to be relatively easy because the information that I required was simple to find and analyse.

I began planning by creating a calendar of the weeks that I had to film the documentary and edit it by on Microsoft Outlook. This helped me to gain a better understanding of balancing my time. I also made a list of the people who knew about my condition and me and would be willing to be interviewed. This helped me to plan ahead and to link information with my film. I then emailed my interviewees to see if they wanted to be interviewed or not. This helped me to practice my typing and manners skills.

All of this helped me to balance out and break down the time that I had left on this project effectively and to the best of my ability. This also proved useful later in the project, as I knew when and where I would interview them and until what time that they were available for.

I filmed the documentary using a Sony HandyCam Camera, a Velbon tripod and DV tape to save it onto. The documentary is in a modified aspect ratio with modified lighting. In all of the documentary footage locations, I set up the camera and tripod carefully and followed all of the appropriate safety procedures.

However, there were problems with lighting in some areas as well as some lip-synching issues when it came to editing on Final Cut Express. On the other hand, these problems were easily solved on Final Cut by learning various editing techniques.

As well as this, I also found filming to be slightly challenging, as this was new to me and I was not very experienced. However, I took notes in class and used these to my advantage.

In addition, I found placing the camera onto the tripod to be difficult. On the other hand, I practiced again and again until the method stuck in my head and I learnt how to do in a fairly quickly time constraint. Relating to this, I found where to place the DV tape to be difficult. However, my tutor showed me how to place the DV tape carefully and correctly.

Also, I found placing the Fire Wire into the camera to implant the camera footage into Final Cut Express difficult. However, I soon located where the Fire Wire port for the camera and plugged the Fire Wire into it.

Sources of Information

I began creating recces by copying maps of my various locations from the Internet and placed them onto my paperwork. I then wrote down information on the shooting information, lighting information, sound information and sound information. This was very important as it allowed the tutor to see where you are going and what information is associated with it.

I then created the risk assessments. For this, I wrote down the severity of the risk factor, how it can be avoided and how what type of risk it is into the corresponding boxes. This was very important because it allowed the creator of the documentary to take into account the various risks associated with the locations and see how these risks can be avoided.

I also created the storyboard. For this, I wrote down the various scenes that my documentary would consist of into various columns and placed them into a numerical order and then I drew images of each scene by hand and placed them into the storyboard. I created the script for the documentary on Celtx. I did this by typing the introduction and the outro for my documentary. I thought about this very carefully and took an amount of time into it.

I also created a shooting schedule for my documentary. For this, I typed into a number of dates, where I would be, who I would be interviewing and whether the date of the interview was confirmed or provisional.