As the pre-production stage is the one I relish the most I thoroughly enjoyed working through the pre-production paperwork.  Limited problems where encountered during this stage of the process.  However I still need to learn to be more relaxed and trusting in my partners work as after Tommy send me copies of the paperwork which he prepared for filming I made some slight adjustments to the Resources document as it didn’t quite match up with the Production Budget Forecast document which I had done.  Perhaps looking back I should have been more open with Tommy and send him a copy of the Production Budget Forecast and allowed him to make the changes however there was no real issues at this stage of the process as it was always well communicated who would do each of the tasks.  The important reason I felt that no issues where encountered at this stage is because nobody had any confusion about who had to do which task, this is something I plan to continue forward into future tasks.   

This was another crucial day in the planning and preparation stage of working towards the start of filming, as the Pre-Production Meeting was held.  While over the course of the filming week there would be two helpers on some of the days and at least one on each I felt it most suitable to only include the people who were going to be graded on the project at the production meeting. As this would allow Scott and Callum more preparation time for their respective productions which they are graded on. As I would be taking the role of Producer and PA on this project I was in charge of recording the production meeting minutes.  This is simply a record what we disused for further reference and to take a note of any tasks which are still to be completed prior to filming and ensure they are delegated fairly.  As the pre-production stage is one which I greatly enjoy I volunteered to do the majority of the pre-production paperwork. However given Tommy’s prior experience of the High School I agreed he should do the Recce Report, Risk Assessment and also as the was going to hand in the kit booking form the Resources document.  Although Tommy was going to be operating the camera during the majority of the filming I wanted both of us to come up with personal shot lists and then I could combine them and put them into shot lists and the call sheets. Looking back this may have been slight micro management personally and I’ll need to try and avoid this in the future in case it irritates who I work alongside 

In order to complete large amounts of the pre-production paperwork a Recce Report of Greenfaulds High School had to be carried.  This would also help to shape the equipment which is required for filming in such a specific location like a school classroom.  The lighting kit provided by the collage is rather large and bulky and as the only real ways of traveling to the location for either me or Tommy was by public transport so it unsustainable to bring them along to filming.  From the kit booking we decided to take out the scorpion lights.   However our recce of the location showed that Mr Rodgers had his own personal LED lights and stands in the class these could be operated by batteries from the Scorpion Lighting kit as I also felt the lighting kit provided by the collage wasn’t safe to have in a classroom environment due to the bulbs heating up and the wires being a trip hazard.  This is something which could be taken into account when compiling the risk assessment of the location.  Personally the most important aspect of the location recce was to be able to meet and introduce myself to the contributors prior to filming.  As it was planned to film interviews on our opening day with both the teachers, the opportunity to meet them before was hugely beneficial they would be more relaxed when that arrives.  Mr Rodgers also gave us the opportunity to speak with a few of his classes about what would be going on within the classroom in a few weeks’ time and also hand out consent forms.  A copy of both teachers timetable was vitally gathered as prior to this it had been impossible to organise accurate Call Sheets and Shot Lists due to me being unaware of the teacher’s timetables.  An important lesson for myself who had printed out the consent forms prior to going to location was that as the vast majority of students would have to get their parents to sign their consent forms due to them being under the age of 16, it’s important to provide a cover letter to give details for the parents to inform them what would be going on and what they would be signing their children up for.  This is something prior to my visit to the school to meet with the teachers I would have never considered and when working with children in the future I’ll always make sure to have a cover letter prepared to give more in depth information to the children’s parents. 

While lots of the preparation for filming at Greenfaulds High School is paperwork based I also had to prepare myself for working in a school environment.  To do this for reach I watched an episode of the Channel 4 show Educating Essex, it’s perhaps the most recognisable High School based documentary in recent times. (https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0212928D?bcast=72889395 – last accessed 16^th November 2019)

I gave close attention to the teachers in the interviews and how relaxed they appeared, also the backgrounds for the interview gave a clear indication it was filmed in a school but where all interesting this is also something I will look to transfer over. These are both aspects I can look to transfer over to my documentary with Tommy.  In preparing for interviewing both the teachers and students I watched various guides and tips on You Tube.  By far the most valuable was by Film Courage ‘Documentary Interview Tips by Kevin Knoblock’.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp3RaJ0AOOc – last accessed 16^th November 2019)

An  important tip which I wouldn’t have known had it not been for this video was trying not to talk too much to your contributor before starting the interview as they may not then cover that information during the interview as they had already discussed it with me beforehand.  This is a vital interviewing skill which I learned prior to filming.  Following on from this I planned out and structured the questions I planned to ask the teachers. 

As I hadn’t filmed a purely handheld documentary before and hadn’t been out with the equipment at all during the course up to this stage I decided to get familiar again with the equipment by borrowing it and taking it up to the 10^th floor of the collage.  This is where I practised using the same model of camera which would be available to film our documentary in October.  It was a model I were unfamiliar with so I printed off instructions from the My City page to help familiarise myself with its setting and various functions.  I was also able to use the shoulder mount and practice holding the camera steady for the interviews.  However it became quickly apparent this is an area which I must improve with as the shots I gathered weren’t the smoothest.  This was vital knowledge to gain prior to going out filming on location as it would have been disastrous to identify this as an area of weakness after recording important interview with contributors so I felt the best place to practice and improve my camera skills weren’t not during the filming stage of the documentary.  However even in the short time trying the camera I was much more confident with the buttons and the setting on the camera,  this highlights there is no substitute for borrowing a camera and simply practising.  Unquestionably in the further I will borrow the camera again to try and improve on one of my areas of weakness for any future projects. In further to I will consult various online tutorials before practicing to try and help improve my learning curve within this aspect of film making.

When I was initially paired with Tommy the topic he was fairly adamant on making his documentary on was Scottish Independence.  However from the outset I was very clear with Tommy I didn’t feel comfortable that we would have been able to achieve a documentary of a high standard on this topic as his initial ideas weren’t well planned out.  We had multiple discussions prior to being paired together about Tommy’s originally documentary idea of Scottish Independence so I was fully aware how passionate he was about it.  However on the opening day of being paired I made my feelings clear that I wasn’t comfortable with this independence as I didn’t see a specific angle, so we started to think of other ideas and later in the evening Tommy came up with what I believed to be the much more realistic documentary idea. A documentary based around two teachers in the Gaelic department at Greenfaulds High School. 

This collaboration was a massive learning curve for me, as in previous projects when I had an opinion I hadn’t always been confident enough to air that opinion but when working with Tommy who I knew would understand and not be offended by my thoughts, it showed how being open and transparent with my thoughts and feelings are able to bring change in a positive way instead of simply sulking and not voicing my thoughts.  In the future I’ll never hesitate to voice my opinion during group projects and this is a vital learning experience brought about in the very early stages of this production.   It also gives me so much more confidence for the project as whole as I now understand that my thoughts will also be taken into consideration by my partner. Tommy also voiced his thoughts on if he was going to make a documentary on a high school department he wanted the filming including for the interviews to be entirely handheld.   He recommend as I was unsure about this I watch a French documentary  Erte et Avoir ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S49qvE86Qs0 – last accessed 16th November) .  Watching sections from this documentary gave me a much clearly imagine of the natural and flowing style was trying to achieve by leaving the tripod at home however I still believe the tripod is a handy piece of equipment to be brought along.