Final major Project

Peter Baddeley
University Documentary
A steadfast Production

Centre Name - Henley Collage

Centre Number – 62441
Student Number – 973225

Unit 13 – FMP
Proposal

www.CMPeterBaddeleyFMP.weebly.com


Rationale
Throughout the units in this course my skills in media productions has improved
exponentially, techniques I have learned vary from camera work to editing.
For example I have learned how to green screen in editing, and also now
know multiple effective camera shots that can be used in interviews and
general films. I will be able to use these skills I have learned in my final project
as I propose to produce a documentary. The technical skills that will be useful
in this task will be the use of effective camera angles in interviews, at a basic
level the rule of thirds wil help me to set interview to maximal effect. In
addition I will use lighting skills that I have develoed such as the use of light
bounces to light up a interviewees face.

During the second year of the course I have specialised in editing and
through the year I have improved and expanded my knowledge of this
specialism through research and actively trying and experimenting with
different effects and techniques such as colour grading and transitioning. In
the most recent units we have developed our understanding of methods to
provide a strong narrative using visual and audio prompts. The previous
research based unit focussed my attention on editting techniques so
compared to my year one productions I feel more prepared to sequence my
documentary with good transitions and messaging. I have also experimented
with the use of different genres of production such as stop motion which I
found took a lot of time and patience, however from an organisational view
it became much easier to produce due to the lack of a need to rely of
actors and other production personal. Despite this and on the basis of
enjoying and attaining my best grade in unit 8, I have decided to produce a
documentary, I have decided on this because I have found in previous
productions such as my music videos that the most vulnerable part of the
production is the reliability of cast and crew. However I found in my last
documentary production that if I present the production and pre book
enough backup Interviewees then I have a better chance of still creating a
production that has enough related content.

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Project Concept
For this project like I have briefly explained in my Rationale I will be producing
a documentary, I want to produce this because over the last 12 units I have
developed a passion for creating an interactive production that will attract a
wide audience and will also educate people in areas that I have a strong
interest in myself but also be engaging and that the audience can relate to
while also being a hot currant topic.

The topic are that I want to approach is the issues of a choosing a university
education. Research published in 2017 suggested that the proportion of
young people who think they are likely to go to university is at its lowest level
in years. Many young people cite cost as a primary concern, leading to
many sixth form students facing a dilemhma that don’t want to go straight
into work but also are unsure that university presents good value for them. The
university dream for many becomes a nightmare, with concerns around rising
debt, quality of teaching and employability. I feel that this subject is relatable
to many people around my age but also interest parents who are concerned
that their young people may miss out if they opt out of university but worry
about the benefits and costs. It is also is a big issue for myself. It is important
to engage a range of age groups and also be approached from multiple
angles and perspectives on the subject.

In the documentary I want to consider the pressure that young people feel
under to apply to university. It is important to consider how decisions are
informed both from the perspective of universities, tutors and the students
themselves. I would also like to investigate how universities market themselves
to students and the impact of national data such as rankings, TEF and NSS
scores. Do students really understand what they mean and how much to
they reflect student experiences. Finally I am keen to review the alternatives
such as apprenticeships or professional training.
To create a production like this effectively I will need to make contact with
industry professionals, I will also need access to facilities such as university
campuses and different organisations such as student unions and alternative
options to university’s such as apprentices and internships. There are a

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number of different approaches I could take to this documentary. I could

make a traditional expostitory approach – using a authoritive voice to
present the ‘facts’ around the topic. Alternatively I could simply observe the
activities – by filming at events such as open days, university fairs and
interviews I could provide an almost fly on the wall documentary. Finally I can
place myself within the documentary either as a narrative ot reflexive
appraoch.
Most importantly I want to address the main concerns of young people while
placing them in the context of the challenging times for universities
competing for student in a shrinking market place. I want to provide a
balanced voice abble to help young people and their parent understand
the costs, benefits and options involved.

I will include interviews with existing university students, recent

undergraduates (under the current loan system), parents, university staff and
college or careers advisors. I would also like to interview both professionals
and students taking alternative options such as commercial pilot training,
vocational training and apprenticeships. To enhance the narrative I will set
the interviews in the context of opens days and other prommotional activities
such as taster events. I will research the information and advice available to
prospective students and hope to explore the efforts that are made to
provided informed choice in a competitive market. I hope to explore
whether ‘selling’ university has become a commercial process rather than an
academic selection.
While producing this documentary I believe that I will be putting all of the skills
and practices that I have developed throughout the year to the limits as I will
aim to create a professional looking production, I will do this by researching
what properties professional production use technically e.g. frame rate,
frame size, camera angles. Although I have previously researched types and
approaches to documentary I will conduct more research into codes and
conventions. By doing this my aim is to create a final production that will
have the same professional view suited for external scrutiny.

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Evaluation
During the production process I will publish weekly blogs that will reflect the
content and progress of the week, this will allow me to reflect more in-depth
to the smaller tasks and achievements throughout the production process
which could be overlooked in a single final review with the final evaluation.
Along with the weekly blog I will also publish a final evaluation of the project
as a whole this will include a comparison of my project to a professionally
produced documentary of a similar subject.

I will also ensure that I use feedback at each stage of the production to
ensure that I can meet my objectives both in terms of content and appealing
the audience.

Project action plan and timetable

To produce the documentary it needs to be thoroughly researched to ensure
that it is accurate and informed by well researched sources. I therefore plan
to spend time initially researching:

1. Context – applications to universities, applicant profiles, performance

indicators, costs, and marketing strategies.
2. Medium – documentaries codes and conventions; examples of
particpatory and reflexive documentaries;
3. Platform – how to audiences engage with this style – online, TV etc
4. Techniques – camera angles for interviews, voice overs, b roll,
transitions and linking techniques.
5. Structure – editting techniques such as montage that can enhance the
impact of the final production

Week Activity Evaluation

28th January Proposal - development Feedback from

teaching staff

4th February Research – factors and Target audience

back research – surveys and
interviews

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11th February Research and Planning

18th February Planning & technical

considerations

25th February Confirm plans & start

filming

4th March Filming

11th March Filming

18th March Editting & further filming

25th March Edit

1st April Further filming

8th April easter

15th April easter

22nd April Ist edit completed

Prepare supporting
material

29th April Review feedback and

adapt

6th May Compile final submission

13th May Sumbit for marking Feedback from

teaching

20th May ? revise if changes

required

The timetable above outlines an initial overview of the key activities for
timeframe of the project. This will be used to develop a more detailed week
by week plan to be included in the production brief this will include details of
all time considerations and activities but cannot be produced until the basic
concept and design is confirmed.

I plan to focus on one local university and already have contacted Bucks
New University who have indicated their consent. However I think that I will
need to collect B roll footage of more than one university setting so I plan to
visit at least three other locations to give sufficient variety. I will need to
collect as many interviews as possible with a range of perspectives potential
students, current students, graduates, staff and others, so I will try to group

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interviews together but may need to visit several venues to get a wide
enough range of people. I maybe able to interview some college students at
Henley to reduce the travel, but I estimate a minimum of six days filming and
potentially more if the opportunities are affected by factors such as no shows
for interviews. I also need to give myself enough time to edit the footage as
the documentary needs to have a strong narrative and transition smoothly to
keep the viewer engaged.

The client / purpose

I intend to work closely with universities such as Bucks New University however
I want to make an independent documentary that can give a balanced
view point and is not constrained by a ‘customer’ focus.

I have explored a number of competitions that I could submit the final film to
and have identified the Into the Film monthly competition. This competition
has an open entry, which provides me with flexibility to fit with course
deadlines.

The details can be found here: https://www.intofilm.org/competitions/1

Entry criteria = open to all young people aged 5 to 19 across the UK.

Genre or theme = no restriction on genre or theme

‘Entries are judged by Into Film staff, members of our Youth Advisory Council,
and film practitioners, and are assessed on the idea, sound, story and look, as
well as the technical ability on display.’ (In to the film, accessed 2019)

Judging criteria: (must be 10minutes or less including titlesand credits)

§ Idea - the film idea is original and creative and has been delivered well
§ Story - the story is strong and engaging and captures the audience's
attention
§ Sound - the music, sound effects and dialogue are clear and
strengthen the narrative
§ Look - the use of camera angles, movement, lighting and framing
support the narrative

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Restrictions: film must NOT be:

§ Training videos
§ Music videos
§ 'Making of' documentaries
§ Trailers or extracts of longer films
§ Straightforward recordings of arts (or other) events
§ Film clips made soley for the purpose of curriculum learning (such as
record and playback)
§ Video diaries or vox pops

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Proposed Research Sources and

Bibliography
The starting point for my research will be to use the internet to locate:

Information about student choices:

The Independent (2017)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/number-
of-young-people-planning-to-go-university-falls-lowest-level-eight-years-
students-tuition-a7884901.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/university-
tuition-fees-uk-rise-increase-every-year-government-higher-education-
courses-study-a7707291.html

The BBC (2017)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40511184

The Times Higher (2017)

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/advice/cost-studying-
university-uk

UCAS
https://www.ucas.com/

Not going to Uni

https://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/

Texts to help with making documentaries, intial library search showed two to
make a start:

Nichols B (2010) Introduction to Documentary; Bloomington New York

Hampe B (2007) Making Documentary films and videos a practical guide to

planning, filming and editing documentaries, Henry Holt, New York

Furthermore Into the Film provides resources:

https://www.intofilm.org/resources/all#search=documentary&sort=relevance
&suggestionFilter=isNotClubMemberActivity&fk_product_id[]=1&fk_product_i
d[]=2&fk_product_id[]=3

A full bibliography will be provided and maintained throughout the process.

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