Kitty Moss

The Henley College: 62441

Kitty Moss: 980211
28th April 2020

Evaluation of FMP
Kitty Moss

1) Your intentions – what did you intend on making and

why?

I came up with many concepts for my production but my main

idea was to create a documentary based on a small farm down
the road from me due to the easy access and as I already knew
the farmers fairly well. This idea was something I was able to
do when starting my FMP as it was before the coronavirus
lockdown therefore it made it accessible. My documentary was
something that I wanted to create that looked professional and
of good quality, these were my original intentions for my
final major project. However, these changed slightly as I had
to create something that my audience would find interesting
and exceed their expectations of my topic. I also needed to
create a production that complied with the rules and
regulations of the Raindance competition. My new intentions
for my documentary is that I create something that will allow
my audience to really understand my topic and exactly what
makes my documentary different from a normal documentary like
country File for example.

I want my documentary to be an observatory sort of production

where I follow the routine and everyday life of my subject.
When gathering research on my topic I tried as much as
possible to soak up the information so I knew enough about my
topic before going into the interview. I wanted to make my
documentary something that people would learn from so an
educational documentary, where they learn about the lifestyle
of a farmer and how they make a living. I also wanted to
include some history of the farm. By doing this I want to for
fill my audience’s knowledge on farming and the Guernsey
cattle.

1) How did you use your findings from your research to plan a
production?

When creating a documentary I really had to do a lot of

research where I understood all the different aspects that
create a documentary. When doing my secondary researched I
looked at the purposes of a documentary, for example how
documentaries help the audience to create their own ideas and
conclusions on the topic. I looked into the previous
documentary winners, people who had won the Raindance film
festival and past 2020 Oscar winners. This helped me to find
out the expectation of what my competition wants to see in a
documentary. I also looked at past professional documentaries.
Kitty Moss

I watched Blackfish where I looked at how

they capture their audience’s attention and how they create
these effective elements that help to set the scene and story.
By doing this it really helped to pick out things that I would
definitely use in my production to make it look better. I
looked at two different professional documentaries and the
second one was a Stacey Dooley documentary where she gets
involved in the topic, it is a mix between participatory and
observatory documentary. I looked at the genres of
documentaries which really helped me to understand the
different types of documentaries and what genre I will choose
for my production.

I looked into the context of my production so I could

understand my topic so that I can ask relevant questions when
it comes to filming my interview. I researched into a
practical task where I found a video that explains how to
create a good interview and what equipment I should be taking
to an interview. This is extremely useful as it allows and
helps me to understand what makes a good interview and how I
Kitty Moss

should be setting up the interview so that

my subject/interviewee feels more comfortable and to create a
friendly and interactive interview.

I did some research on some artists and professionals so that

I can really understand the different styles and the different
ways people create documentaries I looked into some of Michael
Moore’s documentary’s and how he creates them so that his
target audience will understand, maybe relate and enjoy his
documentary’s as they are extremely interesting. I also looked
at Robert Kenner who created the documentary Food Inc. This
documentary spoke about the true incidents that food has
caused and has changed over the last 20 years. They both do
their documentaries very differently with Michael Moore asking
and presenting his questions and doing most of the speaking in
his documentary whereas, Robert Kenner does mainly interviews
of the subject and archival footage. This helped to see the
different things I can include in my own production.

I also did some primary research where I presented my survey

to different age groups asking about what sort of
documentaries they like to watch and how often or what
documentaries they have watched this gave me a rough idea from
audience what sort of documentary they want my production to
be. I also did a second survey where I asked about the
platform, I asked my audience where they would prefer to watch
my documentary for example on YouTube, Netflix, Prime video
etc.

2) Why would your production have met the needs of your target
audience?

I wanted to create a production that met my target audience.

Something that people enjoy and find interesting and that they
learn a lot from. When creating a survey for my viewers to
respond to, I made sure that I didn’t aim it at one specific
age group and that I made it so that it went to a variety of
age groups. Therefore, I got a range of answers from the
different ages, this really allowed me to make something that
everyone would enjoy and love. Students often like educational
documentaries, like Blue Planet, or crime series where they
find out about things they may not have known before. And the
older age group just want to expand their knowledge with stuff
they didn’t learn at school. So by gaining all of this
information it really helped me to meet the needs of my target
audience, I asked questions like what documentary do you
prefer to watch? What documentaries have you watched recently?
This then allows me to enter the stage where I can understand
and view some of the documentaries that came up the most to
Kitty Moss

really understand what makes this

documentary so different and so loved.

3) What codes and conventions did you plan into your

production?

The codes and conventions of documentaries is something that I

looked into to understand what sort of documentaries I could
make and which one would go best with my production. I looked
into four different genres of documentaries. Expository, a
documentary that allows the narrator to explain or argue the
film’s rhetorical content. Stories and statements are given
through voiceovers with images to illustrate the tone of the
film. Participatory, these are documentary’s where the
filmmaker interacts with the subject rather than observe them.
Reflexive, documentaries are when the producer creates a
production based on the making of the documentary behind the
scenes and the editing process. And lastly Observatory
documentaries involves emphasising the documentary filmmaker’s
engagement in observing the subject’s daily life and
circumstances and documenting them with an unobtrusive camera.
This is the type of documentary I plan to make as well as
expository by using voice overs and using footage. I plan to
create these convention types of documentaries due to them
being the best way to present my documentary in the way that
my audience would like to see it.

4) How effective do you feel your planning materials are?

Could they be used by another person to produce your
project? If not, what could be improved?

I believe my planning materials are effective enough for

people to understand and produce my project. I have got
clearances and confirmation from all my crew and from my
interviewee. I have created some relevant questions which will
be ready to be used in the interview. I have also done a
production schedule which is easy to read and understand, and
supplies enough detail to someone who is a novice to making
productions. I could have added a bit more detail to my
location recces as there aren't many for the location of where
I am shooting. I could think a little bit more about my props
list for example will I need to ask for some archival footage
of the farm like photos and videos as I have asked a question
about the history of the farm therefore this maybe relevant.
Other than a couple of add on’s I believe my planning is
fairly good with a little extra explaining to go with it.
Kitty Moss

5) What were the strengths and weaknesses of the work you

completed?

I do really struggle with the research as I feel as though I

get all the context down I just struggle to get it down in the
way that the examiner wants me to. Sometimes I feel as though
I haven’t written enough, but then I kind of don’t have
anything else to write about. I don’t struggle as much when it
comes to filming as I just get this creative flare, but then I
do really struggle with editing side as My creativity just
numbs down a lot and I don’t really know how I want to produce
the piece of work. I really enjoy the planning as it allows me
to see my production in front of me instead of having it all
in my head.

I have often struggled with the weekly blog aspect of the unit
and really getting all the detail down from what has gone on
throughout the week so that my teachers and examiners have
understood what has gone well and what hasn’t. This is
something that I am trying to improve but have struggled with
greatly. And I intend to improve for the next unit.

I do find the area of primary research hard to analyse as I am

not sure what I should be looking at when understanding my
survey respondent’s answers.

6) What areas do you feel you need to improve on most in

second year?

I really think I need to improve my editing skills even though

it is something I don’t really find myself doing in the
future. I plan to improve this aspect of the course so I can
get the highest grade I can, and move forward a stage. I have
spent many of the units trying to improve my research skills
as I have really struggled with that part of the unit since
the start of the course.

When it comes to the editing part I really struggle to put all

my videos together to make something that I am happy with,
Sometimes I feels as though I compare myself with others and
notice that my work isn’t up to the standard that I want it to
be. So I will try to in the future to look at my work and not
compare myself with others, and to be proud of what I have
created.

I also really struggle with coming up with ideas that I want

to do and often need a little push from my peers or teachers
to really create an idea that I can imagine and visualise.
Kitty Moss

Often when I do come up with an idea it is a

split between me knowing I can get locations and actors, and
then having the part of where it is to unrealistic that I can
get confused and overwhelmed by the idea. So this is something
that I will definitely need to improve for next year.

I often struggle with trying to get my research down in the

way that the examiner wants me too. I often don’t answer the
relevant questions that should be answered throughout my
research. This is something I have struggled with since the
start of the course but have gradually understood how I should
be getting the information on the page. For next year when
doing my research for my units it's always good to have simple
questions in front of me for me to answer as I adapt my
information for my website.

Sometimes towards the filming part of my production I have

felt a little bit unprepared and have had to really think
through what I am missing and what I want my production should
look like after I have filmed it. I often feel as though I
don’t explain in enough detail what I want my production to
look like and how I want everything to go to my crew. So I
need to make sure for future productions that I really help my
crew to understand and visualise what I want my production to
look like, so that they have an understanding of my
expectations.