LO4: Proposal for certification classification for Climate Crisis

In reviewing my final finished product of Climate Crisis, I recommend that the accompanying certification be a PG, this standing for Parental Guidance.

My documentary is based around climate change and the efforts we can make to reduce waste and in my opinion this should be taught in schools to young children, this is why I didn't include any violence, language or dangerous behaviour as i wanted to create a documentary that could be watched by everyone. Looking back on this however I do think some of the internet clips inserted in the beginning are distressing and upsetting especially for younger children, this falling into the threat and horror subheading of the BBFC guide below. 

I did debate whether to take a lighter approach however the subject is very serious and if played down the emergency of change wont be understood or followed by viewers.

I ensured I didn't include any discrimination to any groups or minorities, I particularly had this is mind whilst conducting vox-pops, I tried to include interviews from all genders and a range of ages to ensure that I was trying to demonstrate a varied response from mixed groups.
When conferring with my focus group I discussed the PG rating, this was agreed upon with some viewers arguing even a Universal rating however many of my audience was 16+ meaning that they possibly couldn't imagine watching the documentary from a young child's perspective due to desensitisation from daily media.

To ensure I had fully come to the right conclusion on my rating I wanted to reference it to a similar documentary that covers close themes. I found the ratings for the documentary Blue Planet 2, this documentary covers wildlife in the ocean as well as touching on pollution and dangers global warming creates in regards to the wildlife.

Here is the BBFC rating for the film, the film got granted a universal rating meaning its suitable for all ages, i think the strong coverage of animals makes it more child friendly due to them being seen in the wild and this therefore making it very educational. After finding this rating I did wonder if i had been too harsh in my rating however I do believe that the distressing images and harsh facts mean that the rating is suitable to the visuals shown.
I am glad that I did reference the rating however and think this demonstrates the target audience of the film being families that want to watch wildlife documentaries therefore visuals are planned around this targeted audience.

LO4: Evidence of a focus group of final film

Focus Group 

After creating the documentary I wanted to get the opinions of my peers and target audience on what I could improve and their perspectives on the project.
I thought it would be really important especially as they are prime target audience for the short film, especially with subjects such as youth climate strikes shown in the documentary.

I ensured to gather a vary of genders to make the focus group more fair and to ask them open ended answers such as 'What element of the film did you like the best?', this avoiding answers such as 'yes' or 'no' which aren't the most helpful when finding feedback.
I also tried to pick a focus group that I didn't know too well this to avoid them being bias in terms of their feedback being a reflection of me rather than the short film.

After viewing the film they really liked aspects such as the impactful clips placed in the intro as they thought this really demonstrated the importance of the subject, this also being backed up by the news headlines audio playing alongside as it denoted the national recognition of the problem.
However negatives they fed back were elements such as the music creating an over-exaggerated effect, and the clips during the voiceover being repetitive and not correlating with the voiceover.
After hearing this feedback I understand their point surrounding the music and agree to a degree however I think the music is very interpretative and can be viewed differently by audiences.
In terms of the clips during the voice over section I think by showing shots of Sheffield it allows the audience to associate the problem with their home town, this demonstrating the participation everyone has to take into minimising their waste in everyday life.

LO3: Final of Climate Crisis

LO3: Linking audio to visuals and applying audio effects

Evidence of added audio effects and linked to visuals in Climate Crisis Documentary

Example 1: Increasing/decreasing audio gain 
This screenshot demonstrates the audio gain added to clips, in many cases I had to decrease or increase the audio gain on clips. This being due to factors such as two clips playing at once and one clip had priority and had to be increased or when a clip recorded had been too loud this needing a decrease in audio gain. I accessed the ability to differ the audio gain by ctrl+clicking on the audio clip, as you can see on the screenshot this particular clip had been decreased by -15 db, this being due to the voice over taking priority over the soundtrack and therefore had to be the loudest audio heard to attract the audiences attention.
Later on in editing I had to use this tool again due to the actual recording of the audio being too close to the source of sound and therefore clipping in the audio level bar, this meant I had to decrease the level to make it enjoyable for the audience and not overly loud.

Example 2:  Matching audio to the visuals 

In this screenshot I am demonstrating how I have matched my audio to the visuals of the film, by having the audio matched up to the visuals this means my documentary can follow basic conventions of all short films/documentaries.

As you can see I have two lines of audio nearly constantly throughout the documentary, this being bedding music and audio from voice overs and interviewees, the two lines are very clearly divided and was always organised very clearly toe s

ensure no audios were lost or mixed.

Example 3: Adding Dehummer effect

In editing my audio, one of the biggest changes i had to make was to the interview section of the documentary, the recording of the audio had been taken too close to the interviewee and therefore there was a loud hum that accompanied the audio. To remove this hum I searched 'Dehummer' in the editing tools section and once I had it selected I then continued to drag and drop this onto the clips which then were a lot clearer and the hum was a lot less prominent throughout.  It was important that the dehummer was added as this allowed the quality of the audio to be more professional and crisp, this making the documentary more enjoyable to watch and the focus can be on the content of what Mathew is saying rather then the quality. 

LO3: Applying appropriate visual effects and transitions

Evidence of added visual effects to Climate Crisis Documentary

Example 1: Increasing clip speed

The screenshot shown demonstrates me adding visual effects throughout my short film, the effect added in the screenshot above is an increase of clip speed. To increase the clip speed I have ctrl+clicked on the clip in Adobe Premiere, this then bringing up an effects menu which I selected Clip Speed/Duration.    Once on the Clip Speed/Duration I then applied a 1500x on the clip, this huge additional speed to the clip makes a 5+ minute clip a couple of seconds, by increasing the speed it allows the clip to show the element of time passing but majorly increased. This technique of time lapsing clips allows a new interesting perspective to contrast other B-Roll with, by adding different visual effects to clips it keeps engagement with the audience. 

Example 2: Adding fade in

 Another visual effect added into the documentary is a simple but effective fade, this I added in both the end and beginning of the documentary to demonstrate opening and ending of the documentary.
To add this fade I opened the clips editing settings and selected opacity, once selected I then created a key frame at the beginning of the clip and turned the opacity to 0 and then created another key frame 2 seconds in at 100% opacity this allows a fade into the clip and allows the visuals to be revealed to the audience.

Example 3: Adding Text/Title

In this visual effect I have created a title and also added a fade onto both the title and the subtitle to stagger the shot. I began by using the text tool to add the title, I wanted to have the two words separated by St Pauls tower in the shot therefore I added spaces to make up this gap to fit the words into. After choosing a very bold san serif font, this connoting modernity and visibility, I then began to add a fade to both the title and subtitle, by having them both fade in it would intrigue and engage the audience as well as stagger the two separate titles demonstrating their importance.

LO3: Producing and reviewing an off line edit

In the first stages of producing my short film I created an offline edit, the offline edit is an edit that consists of only my raw footage before any editing, SFX or additional clips are added.
To create my offline edit I first reviewed my storyboard and other pre-production documents such as scripts, reflecting on pre-production documents is crucial in the production of the documentary as it reminded me of the clear timeline that needed producing with the footage I had obtained as well and helped in the organisation of the product.


I began to assemble the clips in chronological order on how I had planned the documentary, this meant rushes towards the beginning in which the voice over would accompany and interviews towards the end of the documentary. I plan to add effects to this portion of the documentary such as increasing speed of scenes such as the cars driving below the bridge, this would emphasis the amount of carbon produced by traffic and the overuse of vehicles on small journeys where public transport could be used.

As you can see in the screenshot i have also created the film with a rather unorganised timeline, this being due to pace I was putting the clips in at, in a later version I will make it more organised and clearer however due to this being a draft version I found it was easy to see where all the clips were and how they fitted at a fast pace.

In just putting all my usable footage into the timeline it allowed me to see what I needed to further film or if I was able to begin refining the clips to being to make a final version for the documentary.
After creating my offline edit I realised that the film didn't reach the minimum time requirements and therefore had to get some b-roll to extend the film, without creating the offline edit first I wouldn't have realised what stage i was at and what i needed in addition.

LO3: Evidence of logging rushes and creating edit list