Nisserin Bessioua - UCA Television Production

In our recent sound workshop, we were  given  the task of filming a short interview sequence. At the beginning of the workshop we were asked as a  group to set up an interview. There were lots of things we had to consider to make sure that everything would work well.  Some of the key things that I took from the workshop are that the sound set up is very important as the main thing to think about is the sound quality of the interview. The camera and sound assistants should know what they need to do in order to set up the camera and the microphones because the director will rely on them. It is also important to decide whether the interviewer is going to be on and off camera. If they are going to be off camera that the director needs to make that clear so that the interviewer and interviewee can leave gaps between their questions and answers so that it makes the editing process much easier. The interviewee also has to answer in full, referring back ...

To prepare for our pitch, we started by writing a list of all the things we wanted to include. This also helped us in writing out treatment.  Reading through the book 'Directing the Documentary' by Michael Rabiger really helped up as there is a section in the book on writing a pitch/treatment which gave us some good ideas of the types of things we should talk about and key things to include.  When deciding on what we should each say in the pitch, we each chose a selection of slides that we would take responsibility for so that each person was equally contributing to the pitch. This worked well for us and we we able to include everything we wanted.  In our pitch we mentioned, the genre of documentary and filming approach we would take as well as our main story and the different aspects such as narrative structure and characters.  Overall, I think the pitch was a success and I was happy with the feedback we received. W...

Different genres: Expository:  These types of documentary are usually carried by a presenter who narrates the information. They aren't always fictional but they try to persuade the viewers into having a specific opinion on the topic.  Observational: This is more like a fly-on-the-wall type documentary with only a small amount of narration or music. They usually just show the facts and don't attempt to dramatise the story in anyway.  Participatory: These can sometimes be considered the opposite of observational documentaries in that the filmmaker is clearly visible and part of the documentary, they appear on camera and interact in the interviews. The subject in question if discussed on screen between the presenter/narrator and the audience.

The Great British Countryside is a BBC production that looks into different parts of the UK and their countryside landscape. They go into the history of the countryside and look at how it is shaped that landscape that we live on today.  Commentary and Presenters: The presenters do lots of the talking in this documentary and they really carry  the narrative. This works because they are both famous actors so audiences will recognise them. With our presenter, this won't be the case so when it comes to decided what the presenter will say and what information we will take from our interviews, we will need to find a balance between them. All the facts and figures are said by the presenters in commentary, this is something I think we should consider when writing our commentary as there are lots of facts that we want to include. Actuality and Landscapes: The programme uses lots of landscape shots and sequences of the location to show the audience where the sho...

Tim Haines is a documentary filmmaker who has not only worked on nature documentaries but also in drama. He is known for directing shows such as Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Monsters as well as producing episodes of Horizon, Ocean Odyssey and Sea Monsters.  His programmes feature lots of graphics and are all very visual. I like this as it makes them much more interesting to watch and i found that being able to see what the narrator was saying made the information more apparent and I listened to it properly.  Thinking about our documentary, I want us to be able to include lots of wildlife footage to make our documentary very visual. Obviously, we will bot be able to use CGI but I still think it is important to include the visual aspect of the documentary and not just make sure that we have included all the information. 

We chose to have a presenter for our documentary to help carry our story and keep the narrative flowing. Sammi suggested that we consider carol to be our presenter as she has lots of experience in TV and she had worked on Sammi's previous project. Carol has worked on many theatre productions, including Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street and Chicago. She has also appeared in many TV shows such as The Bill and Sherlock Holmes smarter Brother, as well as films such as Muppets Most Wanted and Valentino.  From first meeting Carol and seeing how she interacted with John, the farmer we were interviewing, I knew that she would be good for our documentary. 

During our first meeting with John Harris, the main farmer on Broadditch Farm, he explained to us what  the scheme involves and all the different things he is doing in order to help preserve natural habitats under the scheme.  From doing further research into the scheme, I have been able to understand more what the scheme's main aim is and how it works.  "Countryside Stewardship ( CS ) provides financial incentives for land managers to look after their environment through activities such as: conserving and restoring wildlife habitats flood risk management woodland creation and management reducing widespread water pollution from agriculture keeping the character of the countryside preserving features important to the history of the rural landscape encouraging educational access The scheme is: open to all eligible farmers, woodland owners, foresters and other land managers suitable for many types of land use (eg conventional and organic farmland, coas...