Our Documentary On Baldock (Part 6.)

Well.
Last time I updated my blog, we had not been able to edit!
Now, we have a finished film.

The last few stages we went through are here for you:

First of all, we started to edit the footage we had made. Unfortunately, we have to to the editing on Windows Movie Maker, as I said before, because Adobe Premiere Elements was playing up.
However, even though we had to use a different program to edit, it was still do- able. We started out just doing one scene a day- this wasn't working out very well at all. We needed to finish it! So we then had to do longer hours in order to try and finish it, and managed to get all but two scenes done!

The first scene we couldn't finish was the scene all about Kayser Bondor. The scene wouldn't save properly, and so we couldn't import it with the rest of our scenes to try and put the film together! After around two weeks of attempting to save it, and having to re-do it a number of times, we finally did it! The scene was really long and involved a lot of attention, and us having to repeatedly do it over and over again was quite draining, as I'm sure you can imagine. However, that escapade is now behind us, and we shall not ponder over the stress we experienced. :)

The second scene we were unable to finish was the scuba diver outside Tesco's scene. This was because we hadn't actually filmed it! We had struggled to find a Sunday where we were all free for a long time, and it was starting to look like we would miss the deadline. However, on the 6th of December, we could finally film it! It was so funny, me walking up to Tesco's in a scuba diving suit and standing there saying some funny lines! We got a few stares, but it was worth it - the scene is exactly what we wanted! That was one funny day!
It didn't take us very long at all to edit the scene, because there isn't much ordering to do with it, the scene flowed well during filming.

The other scene we did on the 6th of December was a very short one. All Gemma had to do was introduce her meeting with Margaret Brown, so that the viewers knew what was coming, because in editing we found that it didn't flow very well, us going from one situation into another with an interviewee without any kind of introduction.

Last Tuesday, we spent the day sorting out our folders, and making sure we had everything we needed, and this week, we have done the same. I have done some evaluations and worked really hard on my book, to make sure it is completed by the end of the week, ready to go off to the examiners!


It has been a tremendous journey, making the documentary. I read my beginning entries and I see back to where it all began! Where our ideas were developing, and when we first began to film. What memories! The ups and downs and different emotions are all displayed in these blogs - it's quite funny to read back and see how I reacted about certain situations and what I'd written down to accompany them. I've really enjoyed filming and creating my very own documentary with the team; Gemma and Rosie!

I hope you have enjoyed the journey along with me as much as I have!


Thank you for following me!




Antonia xx

Our Documentary On Baldock (Part 5.)

The only update we have this week in regards to our filming is that Gemma had an interview with a lady called Margaret who used to work at Kayser Bondor. She described her day, what it was like to work there, and what she enjoyed. She mentioned things like 'going up to the front of the building was a driveway, with cherry trees along the edge.'

I love hearing about the factory! It sounds like it was a lovely place to work, with so much attraction outside as well as what their products had to offer! Gemma had so much to say about the interview, and how she found it. I wish i could have gone, but my sister's christening was something i truly couldn't miss! As it is on film, I can still hear all about it.
I wish i could have seen the place, and how it was, because Tescos seems like a poor replacement in comparison!

The other update is that our Art books are slowly on the move! We have a little more to do, but It shall all be done.

Today should hopefully be all about the editing, seeing as last week it was stalled as the program we needed to use wasn't working. None of us are at all happy about using the programme that is actually working (Windows Movie Maker.) In my past experiences, I have only been able to make films with amateur looks to them when using the programme, and the quality isn't very good at all. My 10 year old brother can successfully make a film with it. At 16, professional programmes are what I'd prefer to use on a Creative And Media Diploma. I think after the last two films we have made, (which have both been SO successful), using Adobe Premiere Elements, it would be a shame in our last filming project, to lose our high standard.


On a better note, we shall hopefully aim to get the Scuba Diving scene done in the next two weeks. We shall borrow the suit again and i will go outside tescos looking for the swimming pool that is non-existent.

Until then, good bye.

Our Documentary on Baldock (part 4.)

Our half term was jamm-packed full with our filming!

We had finished the granny scene at Rosie's house one day after school, but other than that, everything has been done in our half term!

The granny scene took us about half an hour to do. We (myself and Gemma) made sure our hair and uniform looked relatively childish, and then checked that the granny (Rosie) was all wrinkled up! We had the granny sitting in an armchair with the bookshelf in the background reading a book, and then the two children came bouncing in, interrupting the Granny's sleep. They are then told the Story of Baldock, and the camera will zoom in on a picture to bring the story to a reality. The end scene will have both children falling asleep- this took a few scenes to get the rght angle, but it was done relatively quickly.

On Sunday we filmed the scenes to do with Tescos, all except for the scuba diving one. We filmed the bits all about Tesco's history outside it, in our talking to the camera documentary fashion.
We talked about Kayser Bondor and it's facilities, and then did a dash around Tescos in a trolley.
We then filmed the church in the dark, because we wanted to add a spooky side to the filming! We went there and did some night filming of the church and talked about the graves. It wasn't filled with information, that was done in the day- we just thought it would be interesting for the viewers to see the church at night, and see if anything really would happen to us.


Two days later, we met again, and filmed the church in daylight. We gave a few facts on the history and the archectectual side of the church too. We decided to go from different areas of the church to make sure the viewers got many different scenes and saw as much of the church and it's grounds as possible.
After that, we filmed on the high street. We had our coloured microphones, which are our themed thing for the interviews, and the 'logo' kind of thing for our whole documentary. We then asked people if they wanted an interview and if they didn't mind talking to us with the camera there, we went ahead and asked them the following questions:

• What do you think of the newly refurbished high street?



• Do you think it was money well spent by the government?



• Do you think the traffic has decreased since the refurbishment?



• Do you think it is now safer?

The people we interviewed certainly had a lot to say! They were very happy to talk to us and say exactly what they thought, (which was sometimes a very long speech) and they were all very chuffed by the camera- they all made jokes about being on the 6'o'clock news!

After our funny interviews, we went up to Clothall Common and filmed the bypass and talked on the history of the Common. We wanted to have the view of the Common as a background because we thought it would be quite picturesque and nice for the viewers to see the whole area from a higher point rather than just filming some houses that could technically be anywhere. We said about the land it was built on, and it's said myths. We added a bit of comedy to this bit, so that the audience wouldn't get too bored! It was good fun actually- there are a lot of outtakes! We visited the area behind the Primary School on the edge of the common and talked about the discovered roman remains found there just over a year ago!

On friday, which again was two days later, we filmed the introduction to the film on our high street. We have the opening scene, (the one with the Granny) and then this one. This one is the introduction to the town and the statistics of Baldock. We filmed this on Friday and then went home- it didn't take very long at all.

The last few things for us to film involve an Extra called Charlie, who will pretend to be an old fashioned man and pretend to be in awe when Gemma does her Marilyn Monroe based character and flashes her big pants outside Tescos (the old langerie factory, see the link?). We will do this scene at lunchtime today. Charlie needs to look really old fashioned, as he is supposed to have been around when Kayser Bondor was, so he will wear a white shirt, top hat, bow tie, and perhaps have a pipe.

We need to film me outside Tescos in a scuba diving suit, which has to be done on a sunday so that it is not busy at all- Tescos closes at 4pm on a sunday. More filming we need to acheive is that of the interviews from people who remember Kayser Bondor. Gemma knows a few people that could help us create a picture of what the factory was like, what is was to work there, and how it played a part in Baldock's trade and so on, so we shall go along and interview them.

It sounds as though we have quite a lot to do, but really, they can be done quickly and efficiently, and shouldn't make the finished product any further out of reach, despite the fact there are 3 or 4 things left to film.

In music today, we filmed the voice over from the book of Kayser Bondor. There is a chant that is all about the factory, so we thought we would do a montage of various images from the book and then have the chant as a voice over during the montage. We practised a couple of times and then got ready to record, using a microphone, and editing the volume on a programme called Audacity.

We now have our theme tune for the documentary! It is a short clip called 1960's that we all love, and feel it really fits in with our recordings.

I shall keep you well and truly updated with our sucess and maybe our unsucesses as we near the final weeks available in the creating of our documentary.