DOCUMENTARY - CRITICAL REFLECTIONS.

At the start of the unit, this was going to be my favourite unit of all because of my passion for documentaries, I was under the impression that we would get to pick our own groups, yet instead we were put with people whom we were unfamiliar with, I feel like I have worked with everyone on the course so far and have had a chance to experience work ethic, professionalism and dedication, so in this unit it would have been great to decide who I wanted to work with so that as a group our best skills can shine through.

Coming up with ideas has always been my strength and Katie had some really great ideas too. Unfortunately, Taz or Katie wasn't there on the briefing date so I had to wait patiently for us to brainstorm.

I feel like I have a big personality with no filter, so when it came time to share our ideas I was getting really excited, the first idea didn't work out about the mental health because it was such a doom subject and we wanted to make it more breezy.

At first working with a new group of people was an interesting idea, then after a conversation about me being older and a perfectionist came about, I understood that maybe I needed to be more patient and understand that my group liked to work in the times suited for them (I am a workhorse) after tears and talks. I did adapt to my new surroundings and came to terms with this experiment of putting new people together, however, we made it work in the end.

The decision to work on the online scamming fashion stuff was a collective thought of Katie and myself but Taz also said that it was something she was also thinking about.
I went away and did the script and liaised with the group about what I had done and if they wanted to change anything, Katie helped out on the visual part of the script whilst I worked on the audio.

Katie and Taz worked on the pitch slides whilst I worked on the treatment and some of the notes that coincided with the pitch. Overall I think the pitch went very well although it was just myself and Katie, we did split the pitch and the delivery was good, I have to admire the confidence of Katie in the pitch as I know that she is shy when it comes to pitching but she did really well.
My only critic about myself in the pitch is that I felt I may have been to 'bossy' in respect of "this is the story, get some images" which was later relayed to me in a group meeting.

When the script was completed by myself and Katie, we split the tasks between us, I was to get Jane from 'Janes stall' in Strood and the Bridal shop, Katie was to ask Catlin  (the FMP student) to be our expert and Taz was to get the 'Fashion Atelier' student to discuss the fabrics of the dresses that we had bought online.
One the day, the interview that was completed was the one that I set up with Jane and the footage that we needed from Bromley Brides, UCA wasn't filmed at that stage.

I cannot critic myself on that because I stressed my concern about getting that footage to the group and I realise why I sounded so harsh because I knew that we didn't have enough.
When the shoot days came around (which we only had 3 shoot days but 2 was completed in shoot week) I was unable to attend but I did say to the group that I would be in post-production and I would be there on the phone if they needed me.
I had asked for the shots that were needed on the script and I said to them to get some extra stuff, cutaways etc.
For my own admission, I was gutted that I wasn't there on the shoot days as there was a lot of footage that was needed when it came to the edit, for every wide shot we need at least 3 shots (close-ups) for a sequence.

When in the edit I knew that the shots we needed wasn't there or the shots were very shaky due them being handheld, however, I worked with what I had.

I made the shots work but I feel like I need some more knowledge in sound as there was some fussing noise in one of the shots.
I really enjoyed the editing stage after having a panic because I managed to fix some of the framings, I wasn't happy with myself for not being able to fix the sound better but that is one thing that I am passionate about working on.

Our group came together in the end and we became more open with each other if we needed something done.

My critic to myself again on this unit is that I didn't spend enough time on my blog posts, I did a few at the start of the unit but then I neglected it, I am not sure whether it was because I was deflated or because I spent a lot of time wanted to get the edit right, its maybe a mixture of both.

The proof is in the pudding and I certainly have had my taste of most puddings!
The final edit has been a group effort although we never really saw each other, I could really see that the effort was there.