Professional Experience Diary Day 7-10

Coventry City Council carers DvD Main shoot

These 4 days were the main shoot for the council job i was going to be on main camera and sound where needed and these were the main 5 days of the project that i took part in.Jim Peakman had already organised a shooting script with the producer of the project which was Mandy Sanghera. The shooting for the week was not intense but was tightly organised not leaving us a lot of wiggle room for extra time needed at a location or if there were any delays but that would be dealt with as we went along.

Day 7

Today we shot the portion of the dvd that was dedicated to the “Life Past Trust” which is a company that employs disabled people to give them a role in society.We got there early and set up the equipment and set the scene ,the day consisted of one main interview and then cut aways in the factory which the interview is based on .On this day i took the job of camera with advice from my director it went well and the clients were happy with the outcome as were we.

Day 8

Day 2 of filming for the council was more intensive than the first as there was double the amount to be filmed than there was on the first day. The first location was at Ribbon court which is a modern top of the line care home.We conducted two interviews there again dressing the area and setting up ,today alot quicker than the previous day. Mandy took the role of interviewer and would be taking this role along with one other council member for the duration of the filming period. The footage taken was good but our director wasnt 100percent on it but we had to accept what was filmed due to time delays ,but the footage was still usable and to a high quality it was just a learning curb on framing that we would adapt to our work for the rest of the week.

We then conducted a third more informal interview with one of the residents that was disabled so we adopted the method of a lecturer we had been taught by in a previous module Ken Fero who said that while conducting an interview only have those that are necessary in the room. I took this role as i am good with people and was confident in the fact that i have a mild mannerism which wouldn’t upset the resident. This went well and we were then able to conduct the interview,take surrounding shots and get out of the care home quickly as possible as it was a working care home we didn’t want to intrude on the staff or residents longer than we needed to ,keeping a good professional relationship intact.

The second location was actually in a small residential care home and we were filming the relatives and the story of a severely disabled lady named Susan. This interview was the least successfull of the week ,time was against us and the room we were given was dark made a terrible echo and the set up was extremely difficult .Due to the producer manys lack of experience the interview which was already difficult did fall through and it turned into one large conversation that lacked meaning. The director afterwards did inform her that this scene was not going to be used.This was a steep learning curb for us all that if we are not happy with the aspects of the filming as it is a interview and it can be controlled then we should change it rather than loose footage and interview in post production decisions.

Day 9 

Day 3 was the most simple of all the days of shooting. It was one interview based in a bungalow belonging to Brenda and Terry, a couple who had has a son who needed care.The son now lives in his own bungalow.We did master shots of the location and we did a basic interview with in and it went without any problems or anything to note.As we had the addition of an extra person that day i stepped back and just viewed and helped as we went along as well as set up.

Day 10

Day 4 was our first chance to get out into the sunshine and give variety to the dvd as the location we were in had a nice garden and the carer we were filming as well as the interviewer were more than eager to sit outside being as it was the nicest day of the year. I was put on camera again but worked very closely with the director as the lighting was impossible to control and the sun did cast shadows but the overall look worked well. Jim went on sound as this was the hardest task and as director reducibility fell  on Jim ,it was noise and was situated on a main road so sound was difficult to control but we were happy with the outcome. The second location was at ;ife path trust to discuss other methods of housing that they provide.

I have learnt a lot from this shoot ,mainly how to conduct myself around clients and at no time should you relax your working mentality. We conducted our selves well and have even been offered more work because of what has been produced.Also we actually saw a difference in quality from the start of the week to the end as our confidence on the cameras topic and people grew we were able to control the environment better and our footage improved. It is something we will take forward, now that we are more confident and compitant in our roles it will make future projects a lot better and will rub of on all our filming adventures.

pictures can not displayed due to the nature of the film and the footage belongs to them and not to be advertised or used with out there consent.