Draft for 1000 words

Introduction:
I chose the project because of my passion for the subject areas of film and media as well as the marine aquatic hobby. I have done various short films and projects in the past and also have always been interested in the biology and beauty of aquatic animals.
I found that this would be a perfect way to express my skills for later use in a portfolio when applying for further studies. I also thought that creating a documentry film would be a challange as I have not approached a task like this before.

I chose to create a magazine insert for a favorite marine hobbiest magazine 'marine habitat' as well, where I could present my video. This way I set my self a detailed brief and had a defined target audience.Then I thought it necessary to create a Ghant chart to track and view my progression as well as creating myself targets and goals to reach the deadline. I would present my work online, on blogger.com. I have used this in the past and found that I could use it both at school and at home without the worry of loosing my work or forgetting to bring it to school.

I started to research into critical thoery and analysed 'Communicating Ideas with film, video and multimedia' This book showed me Sheltons communication theory and gave me a grounding to base my content upon. I learnt the best ways to project my ideas and designed my video around these bearings.(explain specific elements of the theory that influenced my video)

I then researched various areas the i would need to know when making print work for a dvd like this. (magazine layout, CD packing, Marine species deatabase, Photoshop, conventions of magazine and buying the amrine habitat magazine.)

Then I looked into researh for a video of this type including various videos of using Adobe premiere, documentry filming, interviewing techniques, technical analysis, audeince research.
I started to plan what aspects I wanted in my video. I began thinking about the 'treatment' of my video which is an overall paragraph that summarises the content, as now i was able to gaina rough idea of what elements to include. I knew that i wanted it to be...

I then started to contact The london sea life centre...I explained what I wanted to do and then came across filming permissions and staff on holiday etc...When most was cleared I was able to send a list of questions to Matt Haworth as I had learnt to do this from a video I watched in research. I was cleared to start filming and a date was planned.

I then storyboarded the entire video and prepared for filming on the 13th of November. I bagan to draft and ararnge my magazine layout cover.To track my progress I took print screens and uploaded pictured of my sketches onto my blog.t haworth

Then came the process of filming. I arrived at 10am....filmed etc met matt haworth. How the filming went and what shots i got. The negative of way too much footage although this is good it takes ages to go through all the shots. Began editing the clips together on premiere cs5.5 and matching up audio and video, (this proved to be hard to match because of the two different angles). I used the blog to print screen my editing.

Filming

I have conducted my filming and am very happy with how it turned out. I arrived at the Sea Life Aquarium at 10am as agreed and met Matt Haworth. He showed me down to the coral section of the aquarium and I began to explain how he would be helping today. He had already printed out the email I had sent with the questions attached and he felt he was ready to talk. This was a good move and am happy I looked into the video of how to film for a documentry interview. He had prepared what he was going to say and this is essential for a good interview. I then interviewed Matt with the agreed questions and he answered with confidence. After, i was allowed to go back to the public viewing side of the tanks and film for as long as I needed throughout the whole aquarium. I spend about an hour filming various tanks as well as behind the tank for that 'behind the scenes' feel the audience will be wanting this is normally off limits to the public.

I gained over 20gb of footage that is usefull and feel i have enough to complete my video. Now all there is needed to be done is the magazine cover, insert and the editing process.

When watching a video shown in my 'critical source analysis' post on tips for interviewing, i earned that it is important to send the interview participant the questions before tovoide poor quality of response and short answers. I have begand to draft a list of questions for Matt Haworth to answer. They are listed below.

Questions for matt

A brief introduction of yourself and role in the centre. e.g, Matt Haworth, deputy head of corals section, been working for about x years…my job is to…

How many litres/gallons is the entire system in the London sea life centre?

-Is the reef/marine section run separately to the other displays (plumbing pipes etc, filtration units)?

What kind of lighting and light cycle do you use on the reef tank (halogens, LED, T5’s)?

How many and what kind of species are kept in the tank? (A brief rundown of the fish corals, invertibre etc.)

What is the size of the tank? (Dimensions, glass/acrylic width, capacity, how many pounds of live rock/sand?)

What is fed to the  fish/ corals/ invertebrates (frozen flake, brine shrimp etc.)?

Would you say that working at such a place is enjoyable and rewarding for an enthusiast like you?

Jamie Oliver update

I have managed to arrange a time to interview a memeber of staff through various emails between myelf and Jamie. This is the email he sent me regarding filming dates. Although i am able to film in the centre there is still an issue of timings, i will have to adjust my Gantt chart to make room for the extended period of time allowed for filming and editings due to this unforseen set back.

Hi henry,

Our coral section head, Matt haworth,
has agreed to be interviewed. However,
he is on holiday for 2 weeks from next
week so the earliest you would be able
to tinterview is Tuesday 13th
November at 10am.

Please let me know if this is ok and I will
confirm with matt.

Many thanks,

Jamie

Jamie oliver

Deputy Curator

E-mail to Jaimie Oliver

I have E-mailed Jamie Oliver at the London Sea Life Centre after visiting at the weekend. This is to organise dates for filming and his participation in a filmed interview for the video.

Dear Jamie Oliver,
My name is Henry Cramer-Todd and I am a student at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys and am currently studying A2 level Graphics, Media studies and Business studies. In the future I hope to become a film producer after studying at university. I have been a marine hobbyist for many years and have a reef tank of my own.

I am also currently working towards an EPQ qualification in which I have chosen to specialise in making an informative video about one of the reef tanks at the London Sea Life centre. This will be produced onto DVD format before being placed as an insert into the Marine Habitat magazine for Aquarian hobbyist.

I have undergone extensive research into critical theories and documentary filing as well as drawing upon my personal knowledge of marine species to create a plan for the video. The video will roughly be split into three sections relating to information on LPS, SPS, soft corals and invertebrate in one section whilst the other two are based upon the fish and technical elements to the tank.

I am wondering if you would be willing to participate in a filmed interview at some point between the 21st of October and the 11th of November to talk about the keeping and maintenance of the tank as well as its set up in terms of chemical dosage and lighting. I would also be filming the tank on the same day for the other sections of the video and would greatly appreciate a response.

If you are unavailable or do not want to participate in my project, I would be thankful if you were able you to put me in contact with another member of staff who would feel comfortable helping.
Thank you for taking this into consideration.

Yours Sincerely,
Henry Cramer-Todd

Update (treatment and gantt chart)

Treatment:

This is an nformation video starting with an establishing shot of the Sea Life Aquarium exterior. This is then followed by several more establishing shots of display tanks inside the aquarium.This includes shots from the turtle displays, shark enclosures and freshwater fish tanks to give variation and to show the wide veriety of species that are available in the aquarium. The entire video is overlayed upon a cool soothing soundtrack to replicate the smooth motion of the fish. A female voice over will begin explaining the London Sea Life centres background and scale.

The next part of the video will include a voice transition where the interview with Matt Haworth begins. His voice will be overlayed upon the main fish footage before cutting to the visuals of him. His name will appear to animate itself in the bottom right hand corner of the frame 'Matt Haworth - Coral Section Head'. These visuals are of him explaining his postition at the sea life aquarium and how he got to where he is now. He will be talking for about 4-5 minutes about the various tanks in the aquarium and the set up and up-keep of the red sea tank specifically. The video is static with Matt placed on the left hand side of the rule of thirds. The lighting is dark but brighter on Matts body and face to give him importance. This video will be intercutting with a more mobile camera to the right side to give variation.

This treatment was approved by my supervisor and now I can begin to plan the practical side of the filming process.

Premier Pro CS5.5

For my video i will need to accumilate my footage into one piece of software and edit them together. I have past experience with Premier Pro CS5.5 and therefor am going to use this software when editing the clips. This software is complicated however is perfect for putting footage together and adding visual and audio effects/transitions. I have used this software before to create videos for my Media Studies projects and have had great success however it has been some time. I have looked on You Tube for tutorials on the basics of Premier to brush up on my skills. This video allows the audience to create a composition all the way to exporting in the correct format. I have learned a number of skills i hadnt before known through the entire length of the video. He covers the following areas.
Overview of Interface
Settings Setup
Keyboard Shortcuts
Sequence Setup
Importing Footage
Tools Overview
Applying Effects and Transitions
Creating Titles
Creation of Color Mattes
Overview of Exporting
This video is fully explained and shows exactly what is being explained. I was able to find all of the tools explained in the video and due to the large number of positive reviews i believe this is a credible video as it has helped me further my undersanding of the software.