Professional Practice: Report Brief & Proposal Ideas

What does the Report Consist of?

As well as our professional practice, we have also been assigned to write a 2000 word report regarding our practice. This focuses mainly on how we think it well which is reinforced by all of the preparation and research we have done for the video. Below are some notes which I took during the lecture:

Report Structure

How Can I Structure my Report?

Now that I have filmed a day's shoot and generally getting closer to finishing the video, I feel more confident on writing the report. So I decided to plan and structure my report, which you can see below:

Introduction (Company Profile & Commission Process)

-       Brief as to what the Dockyard is, covering tourism and other aspects.

-       Mentioning main attractions: The 3 warships, ropery, galleries.

-       Facts on tourism, and information on when it was created plus its progression through time

-       The outside elements of tourism: volunteers, residents, etc

Commission Process

-       How I got the role: used to work there, noticed there wasn’t a promotional video.

-       Was intrigued into creating a promotional video (as haven’t before) + filming something 
     physically attractive & the tourism aspect

-       Asked my old manager who diverted me to the HOD of media communications. Gave a brief of 
     the project which was then accepted after a brief meeting/interview.

-       Allows DOP work to commence as the promotional video is completely independent: I only had    
     to confirm ideas regarding organization (such as dates, interviews, etc) with employer. I prefer 
     working independently as it allows you to create something which is your idea only.

-       Feel of professionalism as if the video is good it will be published on the website, plus given
     future work (paid) opportunities) (never done anything professional)

Content for the Promotional Video

-       Structure of the video

-       Introduction: Setting the scene

-       3 warships: Virtual tour of the submarine, with voice over giving general brief on 3 warships

-       Smithery: Interview about what it is and its past/upcoming events

-       Ropery: POV of ropery tour, interlinked with interview of ropery tour guide.

-       Festivals: Footage from the steam & transport festival, interlinked with interviews with HOD and
     vox pops of tourists

-       Section on what makes the Dockyard special: interview with volunteers showing people’s 
     passions, then with HOD to mention how it’s preserved and it’s upcoming plans (Command of 
     Oceans)

-       Ending. Montage of key aspects of the film.

Creative Methodology

-       Using a track and dolly to keep shots moving. Constantly keeping the narrative flowing purposely 
      to build tension and maintain interest (RESEARCH)

-       POV style: Using GoPro cameras to create a 1^st person perspective, allowing the audience to feel 
      what the Dockyard is like (U+Gs)

-       Reinforced by frequent interviews: Highlighting that the Dockyard has passionate staff thus a 
     positive atmosphere

-       Iconography (semiotics): Frequently using Dockyard SFXs and shots of the attractions to help to     
     set the scene plus gain immediate understanding

-       Other promotional conventions which have been researched

Production Management Skills

-       Created a treatment regarding presenting my initial ideas to my employer

-       Creating a time schedule to organize time to perfection

-       Allocating meetings every other week, and constant emails regarding my process + organising 
     interviews with staff

-       Location recce to see directly what can and can’t be filmed, reinforced by images

-       Carefully choosing shooting dates, to make sure coverage of busy and quiet days are both 
     covered: quiet days needed for establishing shots, busy to show how the Dockyard is popular

-       Considerable difference with student projects: Interviews have to be organized in advance, check 
     availability of dates when filming (to avoid school trips, or to film on busy days, etc).

-       Creating something from scratch, having barely any support (only slightly from employer)

-       DON’T FORGET RESEARCH!

Relevance to Future Plans

-       Similar to DOP work: enjoy being independent and covering directing, camera-work and editing   
     aspects

-       Freedom of controlling the camera, creating your own filming persona/style

Problems

-       First filming date clashed with school tours, meaning we wouldn’t have permission to film them 
     without consent, restricting some elements of the tour

-       Accessibility: Tour guides working different dates, building work due to new project, tour guides 
     working meaning interviews would have to be off-time or on a very quiet day

This is all subject to change whilst I continue to film. For example, I may face more problems in my upcoming shoots.