Some real excellence and technical flair at the top end of the moving image work but, interestingly, work from a wider range of candidates seem to have benefited from moving away from low end video cameras towards DSLRs. DSLR cameras appears to have increased the quality of candidates' production work.
Moving image work made very good use of sound, many creating their own diegetic and non-diegetic soundtracks, doing foley work etc.
Original images were clearly used.
There were several centres in which the ancillary tasks appeared to have been given insufficient attention in terms of the preparation of candidates' skills, confidence with relevant software as well as research and planning.
Font choice seemed to be weak, with many candidates seemingly taking little time to consider suitable fonts for the genre.
Candidates generally needed to take more test photographs and consider framing, lighting and mise en scene so that they had better images to work with.
Some excellent examples of detailed textual analysis research for all three texts, and audience research which informed the planning. Research into existing media texts was more comprehensive in this series than in the past.
Evaluations were generally relevant and were usually organised as discrete responses to each of the set questions.
Work was generally submitted promptly by centres and with the correct paperwork.
The majority of centres had taken note of previous moderation reports and created blog hubs for the submission of candidates’ work, which is excellent practice.
I have carried out some research and found out potential dates in which I could film footage:
London Victoria Park 5K Run - Saturday 12th October
Capital Runners Bushy Park 10K - London - 28th July 2013
Self-Transcendence 5K - London - 29th July 2013
Self-Transcendence 10K - London - 3rd August 2013
Regents Park Race - 10K - London - 4th August 2013
Self Transcendence Relay - London - 5th August
Capital Runners - Richmond Park - 10K - 11th August 2013
Greenwich Park - BHF - London - 17th August 2013
Clapham Common Series Race - 18th August 2013
Beat The Banana - Hyde Park - 5th September 2013
5K Run Challenge - Victoria Park - 12th September 2013
For these shoots, I will need the video camera and a tripod. To get to these places I will need to buy a travel card. I will not need to use any props as they will be provided at the fun runs such as: runners, water, charities, runners families and medals. I will primarily focus on shooting the runners as this will be my main focus point and also the hardest to shoot if not at a fun run.
The voiceover will usually be authoritative in some way, encouraging the audience to think that they either have some kind of specialist knowledge or the 'right' opinions that the audience should pay attention to.
'Real' footage of events
Documentaries often go to great lengths to convince us that the footage is real and unaltered in anyway, although editing and voiceover can affect the 'reality' we, as viewers, see.
Archive footage/stills
To aid authenticity and to add further information which the film maker may be unable to obtain themselves.
Interviews with 'experts'
Used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. Sometimes, they will disagree with the message of the documentary, although the film maker will usually disprove them in some way.
In this video in particular, I like the individuals story as he is simply just a normal individual who has no running experience. I also like the various different shots used in this documentary to give a variety to the audience. In this video, the individual's diet is also shown which I plan to do.
This video is very inspirational but also has given me ideas for my documentary/video diary. I personally like the personal element of this video and shows the individuals progression. I also like the fact he is promoting the charity that he is running for, which I hope to do in my coursework.
Below, is the feedback I received from my peer group from the idea that I pitched to them for my coursework. I will take this feedback into consideration to improve my coursework idea. I will keep referring to my focus group throughout the process.
Today, we have been looking at previous candidates work to gain inspiration and also good elements as well as bad elements. I have decided to blog these to help me improve my work and benefit my own production:
Ensure that the editing style is matched to the genre. For example, if the genre is horror, make the production seem like a horror. The editing process is extremely important.
Use a tripod for stable camera movement when necessary. A handheld camera may be used if necessary.
If producing a documentary, include statistics and interviews. If producing a horror trailer, use close ups to create tension.
Use composition techniques such as the Rule Of Thirds. Look for frames within a frame.
I have carried out some more research on marathon related videos. I have discovered another video which follows an individual who is training for the marathon. He films this sticking to a diary style video. Although I prefer the previous video as it included footage of the actual marathon I believe a video like this would be more practical to do given the time we have to do this.
I have been researching documentaries and I have found the video above very inspiring. As I am running the Brighton Marathon 2014, I believe this would be a great opportunity to base my documentary on something related to that. I will continue to research some more documentaries to gain some ideas and inspiration for my documentary. In this video, I particularly like the personal element with different individuals all running for different people.
