BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

In this piece of work, I will be explaining the steps, meetings and

discussions myself and the production teams I was working with in a given
production and how they have helped not only to format my production
properly but also how these processes have helped to improve on my
management skills whilst using this skill to my best standard already in
certain areas.
Whilst preparing for a production, as a team, we would break down the
tasks to fit in either the pre-production stage, production or postproduction stage. the pre-production stage includes the main handling of
paper work such as things like initial ideas and proposal, these are the
first steps before continuing into more detail about the pre-production,
after exploring ideas about what sort of format we wish to use along with
the main concept of what the production will be, we, as a team will
proceed to other important documentation like recce, considering where
we will record and other pieces of work like writing up a script and
producing a storyboard to help us section and layout the production
visually. We will then continue to explore things like what sort of people
we will consider to use for our interviews, why and what questions we will
ask them, along with then following up and actually doing the interview,
including as many codes and conventions learned from researched
programs with a similar format to ours at the given time.
However in order for things to run smoothly for a team when preparing for
a production, is as mentioned before to break things down into the three
different categories and then also, what I have used throughout my
production is identifying how am working with. By this I mean I hold group
meeting, asking each member what is there strong points and weakness
in a situation like this, what sort of things do they find easy or hard such
as if a person finds producing a storyboard hard but find editing to be a
strong point, I will then begin to assign roles to my production crew. This
way, it helps the team to all be in a field they are most comfortable in but
also I have learnt ( from first using it in my first production) that I will get
people to work together in areas that one isn't confident in but another is.
For example, whilst preparing for my second production, rather than
assigning roles to my colleague that he is used to, I also helped him to
understand areas he didn't know which was editing, which happened to be
my strongest point. By this all I was able to show my own existing
management skills and take role as almost a team leader in certain areas
to help organise the team effectively.
Another key area where my management skills where put to the test was
where, as an individual within the group, we had to choose our
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BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

interviewee, and follow up with an agreed time and date, sorting out all
the necessities with them in regards to the actual interview. The first area
is finding my interviewee, this tested my skills because it was then that
showed whether I was able to manage myself from all the written work
needing to be completed and also have time to effectively find a good
guest speaker.

During my first production, whilst testing this skill, I feel as though the test
got the better over me, because of the fact that I believed my interviewee
could have been better if I was able to manage my time a bit more
carefully however my downfall at the time has now lead to it becoming an
improvement in not just helping to manage my team effective but also
another key area of time management. Whilst trying to complete the
paper work to the deadline and giving myself time to prep a interviewee, I
did not take into account the possibilities of a plan B, for example, whilst
agreeing on terms and questions with one interviewee during finalising
who I will be interviewing, I did not leave enough time for me to get a
strong back up interviewee ready, while I did have other interviewees in
mind, I did not contact them prior to the production, and the result of my
interviewee cancelling at the very last minute on me, I was stuck in a
situation with no real interviewee for myself to question about the topic.
This then lead me to rethink how I plan out and manage my production,
whilst I already was able to control and maintain my time management
skills effectively already, I alternated it slightly to ensure a situation like
this would never happen, the actions I took was that whilst I had the time
finish the paper work, once finalising who I wanted to interview, I would
also keep details of a second person who I think would be the next best
person and also I proceeded to push the time frame of my production
slightly earlier, leaving more times closer to the deadline for any hiccups
or space in-between for any problems.
I think that for my last production however, my own management skills
were at its finest and I was able to effectively take the lead for my group, I
say this because whilst doing
Here are a few example from the productions we held, of meetings and
discussions we had.
Showing what we did as a team, as an individual, where I took the lead
and problems we faced.
Binge drinking production log Examples.
13/10/14
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BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

Werth researched into any existing chat shows on BBC Three and found
that there is no existing programs, so the next tasks as a team will be to
research into relating shows on similar channels with the same target
audience of 16-34. We have also concluded that while researching BARB,
the best time to air our show will be during November 17-23. This is
because this seems to be the period within the year that people most
watch TV.
20/10/14
Today we considered where we could record our Binge Drinking program;
going to different local locations, Sidcup High-street at the different times,
monitoring the different types of people on the streets and we also went
to check, Woolwich, Lewisham, Dartford and Bexleyheath all nominated
for the same purpose.

22/10/14
Update and conclusion on location, detailed discussion into the pros and
cons of each locations, Sidcup- Local, there are usually a much older
crowd during the day, rough judgement of people mainly around the age
of, 40+ however a slightly younger audience, aged between 30+ join the
streets during the times of 8-10, this may be due to the nearby primary
school, mothers out shopping ( Local Morrisons) the local shopping
place is usually busy, more of an general crowd of females. A lot more
children/teens at end of school days, coming towards 2pm a few/handful
of teens finish education early and are around the food shops/ bus stops (
McDonalds) there is also a nearby creative dance school, more teens
around the area + Chislehurst Grammar school not too far. Increase in the
overall teens in the area.
27/10/14
Today we update and conclude on a location Bexleyheath. Local,
Bexleyheath is a much bigger location can generally mean more
audience/ wider range. Bexleyheath is similar to Sidcup. Much older
audience during/earlier into the day however nearby schools too, so
Bexleyheath follow a similar pattern however slightly more families seen,
less of a much older audience, Sidcup is 30-50+ however Bexley is more
like 25-45. In comparison to Sidcup School ending hours, there seems to
be a longer duration of school kids coming out and about however in
Bexleyheath there is a much larger group of teens seen at one point.

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

Is there a God Production Meetings/Discussions.

28/04/2015
On this day, my group decided that it would be best if we all researched
into the topic of , " is there a God". The research we would look into would
include information like peoples general feelings, what sort of questions
frequently occur when watching interviews ( if applicable) and general
knowledge about the topic, trying to get an insight ourselves on how
others with different religious or non-religious backgrounds approach the
subject.
We also towards the end, each had ideas of what sort of person we would
want to interview, so I decided, knowing everyone's own personal
background, that we should each tackle a certain person, for example,
Renata had a more atheist background, so i thought that if she was to
interview a priest asking questions from an opposite side , this could make
the interview more engaging and interesting to watch, seeing how two
different sides contrast and maybe compliment in certain areas, I also
thought this could work well with Werth, as he was a born again Christian,
i thought that he could challenge the likes of an atheist, however he
decided challenging a Scientist, believer of the big bang theory would be
as engaging as Renata's interview but in a different perspective. So I then
took my own background into account and thought rather than to
challenge I could compliment more and I would interview a Buddhist such
as myself.
29/04/15
Today, we decided to break away from the paper work and usual talk
about the production because of the fact we felt that making sure our
interviewees were in place well-before the production date, it would allow
time for both us and the interviewee to get ready and in case any
problems occurred, we could have enough time to look for someone else.
Renata had found a priest to interview whereas I and Werth were still yet
unsure.

30/04/15
Today, we began exploring questions, making this our main focus of the
day. Looking at what sort of questions would relate to our speaker,
challenge them and also help get their point across. Upon completing this,
we began to brainstorm ideas about how to turn the production into a
clear documentary style show, looking at introductions, codes and
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BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

conventions and layout. We decided on the idea to feature include three

different quick snappy back stories on different people into why they
believe there is a god or why not, this idea was inspired when watching a
few BBC three programs, with a brief audience part taking in the
beginning.
What did I do?
Today, whilst I focused on researching questions and exploring
introductions with my team, I also decided to go out and find my
interviewee, my initial idea for my speaker would be that he or she would
be a Buddhist, so I decided to go to the Buddhist temple in Wimbledon
and scout out people. Whilst being there, it also gave me a chance to
better my understanding of how the way of life for Buddhist work which I
thought would help me a lot whilst interviewing my speaker. After
speaking to a few people, I ending up having a conversation with a
teenager who lived in Greenwich and who has also been attending the
temple for quite a long period of time and who also had an interesting
story behind how and why he leaned towards Buddhism when he was born
Christian, when I proposed the pitch to him about my documentary and
agreed to feature on it, he also agreed to talk about these sensitive topics
too.

01/05/15
Today, we began calling up our interviewees to either book an agreed time
and date or in my case, confirm the production was still on and then
giving the details about the date and time. Whilst Renata wasn't able to
get through to her speaker through both Call and Email, Werth did. He had
researched into a Scientist professor at a nearby university and took the
time to pitch to him the idea of his production and proceed to a agreeing a
location, date and time. I, myself also called up the teenager I spoke to at
the Buddhist temple, however being a university student, he was unable
to pick up my call but I did leave him a voicemail to help increase my
chances of him getting back to me and still providing him with the
information that the production will still continue as planned and
confirming he will still be available. My contact did get back to me with a
confirmation and an agreed time and date.
What did I do?
After confirming my interviewee was available, I then sent him an email
covering, the confirmed location, date and time, who he will be
interviewed by to reassure him, a brief paragraph about the topic and also
the main objective, a copy of the questions I will be asking him at the
interview. I decided to phrase my email in a certain way towards the end
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BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

to make sure to get a response back so that I knew my contact did read
the email properly.

"Please let me know if the questions are suitable for you, if not feel free to
tell me what I
would need to
change or remove
and I will be
happy to do so, however if you feel the
questions
are
suitable please do
reply stating so.
Hope to wish from you soon." By including this part, I was
able to ensure I would get a response email and also get
confirmation that the questions were suitable too.

05/05/15
Today, my production team and I went to Westminster to record footage
for Renata's interview with her chosen interviewee, Paul Bickley. We
proceeded to use the single camera techniques we had learnt from
previous productions such as an older task of producing a film with a
single camera. The footage look professional, with great lighting and clear
visual along with audio.

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

06/05/15
Today we was able to upload, two of three interviews done by myself
interviewing the Buddhist from Wimbledon and Renata recording the
Pastor in London. We was also able to put the footage in order and edit the
existing footage to best.
What did I do?
Today I was able to get my interview done and also got it uploaded to the
mac with slight edits already taking place, I also began to think of footage
I could use to help the audience see visually what we are talking about
rather than them just watching an interview.
07/05/15
Today I decided that as the main sections for the production was done, we
should focus on the smaller details and things we may have missed out,
after thinking things through, we then realised we had forgotten to find
background music for our shows throughout. Another problem we had
sorted today was that Werth, being unable to get in contact/ a reply from
his first interviewee choice, found a new interviewee to use, Mr. Jones, a
Science Teacher. On such a short notice, it was lucky that Mr. Jones
accepted the offer and Werth proceeded to send him an email with all the
details including things like Questions and overall information.
08/05/15
Today, Werth was able to get his interview with Mr. Jones Completed, using
the single camera technique, we was also able to edit his part in in the
correct order, adding some transition to it also. We also continued to
brainstorm ideas we could do for our introductions and outros; the ideas
we had were good and different however, none of them quiet had the feel
of the BBC Three style we was looking and hoping for.

11/05/15

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Bradley Bablee

Ms.Schutze

Today, we recorded our voiceovers for our footages bridging to our

interviews and also our introductions. We used a style similar to BBC
Threes Worlds toughest jobs, where
the narrator introduces the three
guest appearances. I decided that we
could use this idea to introduce
briefly at the start who we recorded
by saying the important information
about them such as their name,
religious (If any) background and area
of professionalism. Here is a copy of
the notes we made in the meeting
about the idea of introducing our
speakers and the image below is the copy of the notes made for the
introduction voiceover and the main idea we decided to follow.