Producing my documentary:

I used iMovie to produce my documentary as I believed this would give me the correct tools to fulfil the brief, and my idea for my audio visual. After filming the interviews in the Jimmy’s homeless shelter, I transferred each 15minute interview to iMovie; I then selected the most significant and hard-hitting parts of the interviews. I cut down the interviews to about 4 minutes each, and then choose the 2 questions I wanted to focus in on in my documentary.

I selected the questions ‘What has been a significant moment or a turning point in your life?’ as this would allow me to response to the ‘turning point’ part of the brief. I also selected the question, ‘What advice would you have given yourself 10years ago?’ As this question lead to heartfelt and gripping answers from each individual.

Next, I created the main sequence of my documentary by placing the individual’s questions and answers next to each other; using montage editing. I also brightened the footage, added text (names and ages), and added a black border to the footage to create a cinematic effect I approached my documentary with a minimalist approach in terms of editing and effects; as I wanted my target audience to focus on the meaning and importance of the message I was trying to convey.

After creating the main sequence, I added a fast-paced montage section to the last answer. I singled out Sam’s answer, and detached part of her audio to fit over muted footage of the other individuals. I believed this created a sense of resolution to my product; as well as created anticipation for the next segment of the documentary.

To fulfil the conventions of a documentary, and reflect the informative tone of Channel 5 shows, I added an opening sequence to the show; whereby I displayed statistics about homelessness. I used panning, zoomed in, and establishing shots of Cambridge; to create a parallel to the statistics I gave on Cambridge to the images. The title ‘More Than Homeless’, was shown at the end of the sequence, and I used a bold font to engage my audience. Also, there is a sense of convergence in terms of the appearance of the documentary title, magazine title, and the article title. To create a dramatic effect, I used slow motion when showing the establishing shots of Cambridge, and in the final montage sequence.

In terms of sound, I added a dramatic and emotional soundtrack to the whole of my audio-visual to portray a sense of fluidity to my work. This audio also correlated to the emotional and heartfelt tone of the footage. I used black out fades in-between most of my footage to allow the footage to flow; and also, separate some of the answers. At parts, I zoom in on the individuals to show a variety of shots; as I mainly used medium close-ups of the people, but at times used close-ups. I used some different transitions between each shot, and in my title sequence to also create variety in my editing.

The first draft:

I uploaded the first draft of my audio visual to YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzzCwygrKbA 

Second draft:

I then uploaded the second draft to YouTube. After editing the footage further, and cutting out a few of my scenes to stay within the time brief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uitWpFvZmQ

Final draft:

After refining some audio errors, and cutting the footage down further to suit the brief; I uploaded the show to YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BW00Y9eA58