Post - Production Diary

Filming podcast

Overview of filming

On this day we recorded our podcast in the 'Creative Media production room at Sunderland college Bede'. This was our only location for shooting the podcast as we knew that it would have all of the facilities and enough space for what we are filming. 

Our presenters for the podcast were Henry Briggs and Katie Moon and they did an excellent job of answering questions and giving advice on our class questions. They also added comedy as well as important information, which will make the viewers and listeners less stressed at participating in the exercise as it does not need to be serious. You can have fun and enjoyment while exercising and this podcast shows this very well. 

The filming crew was Faith Sowerby and myself as an assistant. We had a camera on a tripod with a microphone to capture the speech of our presenters. The setting for the podcast was a sofa with a plain background. there was a table where they had their script and they were reading from there to keep themselves on track (you can not see this in the podcast). We had the camera in front of our presenters. 

Summation of progress and good practice controlling production

problem-solving

The first problem we encounter was the 'camera battery' we got told that the camera battery was fully charged and would last for how long we were shooting. This was not true so we had to go back to the technician and get the camera battery changed. Once we got a new battery it solved that problem and lasted as long as we needed it. 

We learned that if this had happened when we really needed to film and we did not have much time left, this issue would have been more of a problem. As if this did happen at this time or in the industry we would have been wasting money and time. These elements wouldn't have been good for any of us as we would have needed to reschedule filming and make sure our camera battery was full. For our future project we will make sure we take more than one camera battery with us so if one is not fully charged we would have a second one to use, which would save us time. This would also be helpful as if we had been filming longer than we thought a second camera battery would have been helpful.

The second problem we encounter was the 'microphone for the camera' the first microphone we used would not go on the camera as the part we slid in wouldn't fit as it was damaged. This was an issue as we did not know if there was another microphone. If this was the case we would have needed to hold the microphone (as it needed to be plugged into the camera) to get good audio quality. We then found another microphone that fitted correctly and we got great sound quality. 

We also learned from this problem that if this did happen when we had not had a lot of time left this issue would have also caused a big problem as well as the camera battery. If we did not find another camera microphone we would have had to hold the microphone near the camera and the presenters. Even though we might have got good quality, it would have been a nightmare as we would have needed to not get the camera microphone in the shot and us holding the microphone. There might have been an issue when doing this method as the audio might not have been good quality and we might of find this out when it comes to editing the podcast. This would mean that we would have wasted a lot of time as we would have needed to do everything again.  

Communication with cast/crew

As we had planned out everything before we even started filming, everyone knew what they needed to do and how everything was going to go. For the little improvisation and chats, we all communicated in helping to get a perfect video and speech for our podcast. 

Making use of pre-production planning (scripts, risk assessments)

Scripts - When we were starting to film the podcast, we did not need to think about anything as we already had a plan for what we were going to do and say. This made it so much easier for us as we did everything we needed to do in pre-production, to get to this point in production. This made it a lot easier for our presenters as they knew what they needed to say and talk about, as we planned out the scripts previously before filming. 

Risk assessment - The way we controlled any risks from being occurred was by getting our presenters in place before setting up the camera equipment. This was so no one tripped over the tripod. Once they were in the position we positioned the camera and started to record the footage. This prevented any accidents from happening. 

Logistical detail

For filming the podcast we did not need time for filming as we knew we were going to film in the morning before midday. For the location, we did not need to travel far as the room is next door to our classroom. We did not book the room even though there might have been some people from our class wanting to use the room as well on the same day.

Details of equipment used

For the equipment we used to film the podcast, we used the college's cameras which are Canon DSLRs (with audio jack). We used a shotgun microphone to capture good audio sound quality, and we had the camera on a tripod. 

Filming part of TV Advertisement

Today we were going to film a TV advertisement. But we did not end up filming much because of the weather. 

As you can see this is the weather forecast for today. The temperature is VERY low it is really cold and not a positive surrounding to film in.

Summation of progress and good practice controlling production

Problem-solving

We filmed some inside clips that we are going to use for practice as learning and remembering TikTok dances is important as this is the type of exercise we are going to use. I filmed these clips to add to my problem-solving as we could not film outside because of the weather and it would have been difficult to film in certain places for example the field as it was really muddy and would have resulted in us potentially injuring ourselves and the tripod would have got stuck in the mud.

As we needed to film somewhere inside it was hard for us to find somewhere. We were going to film inside the 'photography studio' but there were people already using it for their filming production or because they were in a lesson. We thought about using the 'dance studio' but there was a lesson going on. At this point, every place we could think of was getting used which felt like we might not be able to get a place to film. As a final result, we had to film in the 'corridor 'where our lesson was.

This place was a perfect alternative place to film some clips of learning TikTok dances. This is because learning TikTok dances does not require a lot of space but we did have enough space to do them.  

Risk assessment - We went to a filming location that could have worked for us which was 'the football field'' but that was waterlogged. This meant that there could have been 'slips and falls'. This would have caused injuries to our camera crew and actors. Also, the equipment especially the tripod would have got damaged because of the mud and water. 

This place was perfect as there were no hazards to harm any of us. This place is not where we are going to film all of our clips for our TV advertisement, this was just a place that was free and had some of our requirements for the TV advertisement.

Benefits and drawbacks of editing the podcast

Drawbacks before editing:

1) From editing this podcast from start to finish I hadn't had any issues or problems when I switched editing software. Before I switched the previous software I was using was working really well for me, and I already knew how to use it because I had been using it for a while, and I was able to do everything I indented to do. I got the full podcast finished and I was rendering the podcast to be able to upload to YouTube and share it with Blogger. The podcast had only been rendering for a few minutes and it suddenly crashed. I have no idea why this happened and from that day the software kept on doing this when I edited the podcast again, and when I was using the software for personal use.

Drawback during editing:

2) The issue I had was I did not know how to 'zoom in and out' for the clips I wanted to do this for. To solve this issue I watched YouTube tutorials and learned quite quickly how to do this from the clear instructions.

Benefits of editing the podcast:

1) I decided to change the software to the one my friend recommended to me as they had no issues with the software at all. I also knew that if I kept on using the software I was using it wouldn't get me anywhere as the podcast and any other video I edited especially for college. As I wouldn't be done at all as every time I think it would be done it would just crash over and over again. I even tried to update the software to see if it would work being updated, and that did not make a difference at all.

2) When I switched I knew that I might have to watch some tutorials to understand what each gadget was and how to use them. I also knew that it could take me some time to fully be comfortable using this software. When I opened the software it look pretty similar to the previous one I was using. I just used everything I have learned and just used that knowledge to get started.

3)Since that day I had been using the new editing software and it had been great for personal use. I then started to edit the podcast and this may as well of be from scratch as all of the 'project notes' I had made from editing the podcast in the software had gone as well as the full podcast.

4) While I was editing the podcast right from the start I started to type up some editing notes that I could use when I am doing the final cuts. This made my editing progress so much faster and less stressful as when I needed to come back to editing I did not need to remember what I needed to add. 

5) Another benefit I had was I already downloaded the clips from teams and moved them onto my One Drive to make sure I had the clips I needed to edit the podcast at home.

What have I learned from editing the podcast?

I learned that it was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. As a podcast is mostly audio I knew that I had to put more attention to the audio side instead of the video side of the podcast. I knew that everything had to be linked together and flow correctly. I learned that I can do it again no matter the topic as I did not change the clip's audio at all I only added in some over layers, text, and effects to the video aspect of the podcast. 

This podcast is good for our audience which is ages between 16-20 years old's. This is because it is not really serious as there are comedy elements throughout the full podcast. There is also helpful information that is in this podcast from people who have asked questions that are in the same age range. This means that people who would be wondering about exercise would get their questions asked through this podcast.

Benefits and drawbacks of editing the TV advertisement

Benefits

1) Before I started to work on the TV advertisement I already downloaded the clips from teams and moved them onto my One Drive. This made it easier as I needed the clips from college computers onto my Laptop, to work on the TV advertisement at home. 

2) As this was my final project to edit for the NHS campaign I already knew how to edit on the new software as I used it to edit the 'NHS podcast' and I have been using it for personal use. This made it a lot easier for me to start editing the TV advert as I know how to use the tools that I may need for editing the TV advert. 

3) I don't really have an idea of what I want the final product to look like at the minute. But I do know that I need it to look motivated, inspiring, and entertaining as I want people in the age group of 16-20 and even people older to get inspired to go and do exercise whether it is inside or outside of your home. 

Drawbacks

1) I had an issue where my laptop at home was not allowing me to download all of the files from my One Drive as the disk was full. I did not know how to fix this problem as I needed all of the other documents and downloaded files for personal use. I then discovered that I could use my college SD card as I did not have anything on it. I transferred everything over to the SD card and I had all of the files I needed. This worked as the SD card did not have anything on it and it is a 64GB one which meant that it could fit a lot of files on with no problem. 

2) Another drawback is I had started editing the TV advert and I did not have all of the clips to make part of the TV advert make sense. I then started to look at the clips I have already imported to see if they were just in a different order on the 'media' section. This was not the case, so I went back to teams and looked through the names of the clips I had not downloaded. I figured downloading all of these clips might of been pointless as some of them were ones I already had. I read the titles of the clips and went through the ones that would apply to the certain scene I needed. I found the clips I needed and added them to my software. This meant that I had to go and look for clips that I should have already had. This meant that I did not get as much editing as I wanted to get done. I learned that before I start editing I should sort out my clips first and make sure I have them all, as it would keep me more organised and on track.

3) Another drawback I experienced while uploading the TV advertisement to YouTube was that I got a copyright claim. This is usually the case when uploading TikTok clips. I knew that my options were either to remove that clip as it was only one or to put the volume of the TikTok clips down and put uplifting music over the clips. I did this as I was less likely to get a copyright claim.

What I have learned from editing the TV advert?

I have learned from editing this podcast that having a vision of what I want the outcome to look like is helpful. This is because I could base my editing on that vision. An example of this was I knew I wanted dialogue in certain parts of the TV advertisement. This is because I wanted people to realise the different stages of working out, and everything you see on the internet example TikTok is not necessarily true. This also helped me know what kind of clips I wanted between the different dialogues as the message on the dialogues cards had to match up to what was shown after. 

I have also learned that the clips I first add to the timeline may not be the ones that make it into the final product. This is because there are so many clips filmed with different scripts and what they are going to say, and this is good as it means that I found the type of clip I wanted to use later in the editing process. This also meant that the overall TV advert changed for the better, and I really liked the style it had as I made it to what I wanted it to look like before I started to edit.

I have also learned editing this TV advert is that I actually enjoy editing this TV advert and I like editing as it is a fun way to express my creative ideas. Editing this TV advert was different from what I had edited before, but learning how to edit different styles of content is important as it means that in the future I can tackle any video or podcast with ease. 

My age range is 16-20 year old's would like this TV advert because it has people who are in the same age range, performing activities that they might be interested in.