Finished Product

Here is the link and video of our final piece on YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOn5r1vtrg8 

Double Page Magazine Spread and Newspaper Advert

INDIVIDUAL TASK (MAGAZINE)

Having done research and looked at existing magazine spreads for listing magazines I designed and created this for my ancillary task to support the final documentary. I worked with a large image and merged it onto the black background and used white text to contrast and make a bit different. I used the Channel 4 logo to make it clear as to what channel the documentary would be on and a star in the top right hand corner displaying that it is a documentary. I am pleased with the outcome of this and as I used Publisher I couldn't have made it any more advanced as I was not able to access any program that would let me.

This task did not need any research into it as we already knew what a poster/newspaper advert needed to include, and the main thing was to make it eye catching. We used a bright picture, a quote, a logo and a title that merged into the picture. The outcome is successful and the whole group was pleased with this task.

Ancillary Tasks

We have been given a task to create a double page magazine spread relating to our documentary and also a poster/newspaper advert. We may choose one to do individually and one to do as a group.

We have decided to do the poster/newspaper advert as a group because it is easy to get together and create a smaller task that will take less time and we have more time at home to create the longer task which is the double page magazine spread.

I have done my research on double page magazine spreads and started planning but i am yet to complete this task individually and the group want to do the ancillary task together once the editing has been completed.

Progress So Far

So far the group have now completed all of the filming and uploaded the footage, now we need to concentrate on finishing off the editing on iMovie and getting on with the ancillary tasks.

- We have managed to work well as a group and everything has come together nicely
- We will have the final product finished on time
- Enough research and planning has been done
- All of the footage has gone together nicely and just needs to be edited for it to run smoothly

Exam Results

We thought we would include an educational twist to the documentary by displaying and comparing the GCSE exam results from both schools. Here is a photo of the Reeds results in both years of 2010 and 2011. We now have to find out Heathside results and create a clever way to display this during the documentary.

Editing Progress and Archive Footage

EDITING

We used the famous program iMovie to edit the footage, we began editing as soon as we had got any section of footage for our documentary. Because our whole group used this program last year we all have enough experience to use the program to the best of our ability to aim for a succesful finished product.

So far we have uploaded the footage from reeds including the interview with Mr Haining (the strength and conditioning coach at reeds school). Now we must get footage from Heathside and import everything together, work out an order and add transitions, titles and other extras.

ARCHIVE FOOTAGE
Our main archive footage was found by Adam, a debate involving Barack Obama talking about public and private schools. This is a huge help to us and we will definitely be including this in our documentary.

We knew that as part of our documentary we wanted to involve exam results as part of the comparison topic, local schools from surrey got their results in 2011 and we found a video on the internet that combined these schools together and interviewed the students and filmed their reactions to what they got.

Mise en Scene

For our documentary we had to consider the 5 key things as part of Mise en Scene. This wasn't something we could put much planning into which is why i am analysing it so late on. Due to the fact it is a documentary its not as if we had to build up atmosphere using these things, whatever was in out footage was there to observe and compare, everything was naturally done to enable us to look at the real life in the schools.
Costume- The obvious for this section is the uniform. It is easy to compare the quality of the uniforms from public schools to private schools and it is also obvious which is which due to the way the students wear it.

Lighting- This is all natural lighting too, however in some of the clips we will have to adjust the brightness to make it easier to see the action.

Acting- There is no acting in our documentary and nothing was scripted because it would have seemed more fake and things could have gone wrong.
Make-up - No make up was needed because we weren't trying to create anything funny/scary it is an expository documentary on real life in public and private schools.

Props - There was no need for props either, we filmed what was already on show.
Settings - Reeds School was setting 1 and Heathside school was setting 2, these two will be compared throughout the documentary looking at exam results too.

Target Audience

We decided as soon as we planned the documentary that the target audience would be very wide spread, it is suitable for most ages and categories of people in society so it was easy to aim the documentary at anyone. This meant the footage and editing didn't have to be made to suit a certain group of people.

We asked a few class members to watch what we had done and comment on who and why they think the target audience is. This helped us get an idea of who would prefer the documentary out of the target audience.

Filming Around Heathside

We needed footage from around the public school that we are all currently students in Heathside School, we have already taken and uploaded location shots and the next step was to get interviews and footage from around the building including students and facilities. We managed to get interviews with a girl student, boy student and a few teachers but will only include a few of these.

Too Poor for Posh School (Existing Documentary)

Renowned for producing the finest statesmen, including Churchill and Nehru; writers like Richard Curtis and Anthony Trollope; and numerous captains of industry, Harrow is one of the last remaining all-boys boarding schools in Britain and one steeped in history.
Yet access into a world seen as the preserve of the super-rich really does come at a price: over a whopping £28,000 a year in school fees. But for those who can't afford the fees there's another way in. Each year, two boys from far less wealthy families are offered the chance of a scholarship.
The Peter Beckwith Scholarship is targeted specifically at families who'd never be able to pay for such a privileged education at a boarding school. The means-tested scholarship can pay up to full fees for a boy's entire career at Harrow, and two years at a prep school before they join Harrow at 13 years old. All in all it's worth close to £200,000.
The scholarship was founded and is funded by multi-millionaire businessman Peter Beckwith, himself a Harrovian and the father of former It Girl Tamara Beckwith. So far he's paid for 37 boys to go to Harrow.
In autumn 2009 Harrow granted Cutting Edge access - for the first time - to film the annual selection contest. It all happens on a single day in November.
The documentary follows the journey of three of the 11 shortlisted boys as they undergo a relentless day of tests and interviews. The parents of 10-year-old Krishan and 11-year-olds Numhan and Tumi can only wait in hope as their sons compete for a prize that will change their lives forever.

Filming at Reeds

Due to a misunderstanding in the group I was the only member who missed out on a day of filming at the other location that is Reeds School. This was a huge shame and occurred as a lack of communication causing complications between the rest of my group and myself.

This would have been a good opportunity for me to input my ideas, however because I didn't go with them to get the footage I am hoping to help out when it comes to editing. I trust my group to have got some really good quality filming and am looking forward to start the editing process and getting more footage from around Heathside School that I can join in with.

Practice Interview

Meg and Nick practising the interview techniques.

Here is a still shot from a video our group took a few weeks back in order to get good experience on the type of questions and compositions that we can use for the final thing. The positioning of both interviewees works well as it created a good two shot allowing the audience to see clearly what is going on / being said. Hopefully we will all gain more experience as we film the interviews for the final documentary and all of us will develop further skills in filming and editing.

Adam and myself did the filming for this while Meg and Nick volunteered to be in the footage.

Decided Location

We have managed to find a place to replace St. Georges and as a group we ae happy with the change. We are going to be filming at Reeds School in Cobham.

As you can see the school grounds are extremely spread out. We will only have the oppurtunity to focus on the sixth form area however we will be making sure we gain as much footage and information about the school itself when we go there to take location shots and film for the final documentary.

The school isnt as local as St.Georges so this will make it more difficult for us to arrange dates to film however we will make sure we get it done in time leaving vital time for editing and producing.



Listing Magazine Research

Before creating my own double page magazine spread i created a powerpoint on previous existing listing magazines that are still popular among society. Looking at what magazines there are available, what they look like and how they are all set out inside, using this research will help me when i come to create my own for the ancillary task.

Listing magazines

My group decided we will create the double page magazine spread together and do the advertising posters as an individual task, these means we can use eachothers research and start creating templates. In lesson i created a template for the task and noticed there was alot missing here is an image of what i had created.

Location Change

After planning for and asking numerous times for permission to film around St.Georges College they declined permission due to safety reasons, this means as a group we will need to quickly find elsewhere to film and make sure this does not effect our final documentary.

Due to all of the planning we have already done this may cause some trouble, we can keep it all the same however making sure we transform the plans to a different school yet still creating the same effect and to a high standard.

There are other local private schools around our area that would also be appropriate, these include:
- Halliford
- Reeds
- Sir William Perkins
- Gordon's
The only issue with many of these schools is that they are either all boys or all girl schools apart from Gordon's but they would not let us film on their grounds anyway.

Story Boards and Beginning To Film

Storyboard

I drew out a quick plan using basic imagery to help the group sort out a possible order for the footage when it comes to filming and editing.

The first thing we did was film a short journey going into each school from the car. This creates a nice point of view shot that the students will experience every day they go to school. We did this because we thought it would be a nice way for the viewers to feel more involved and is a different way of showing the location.

Documentary Process So Far

Planning the Interviews

As a group we have written down a huge amount of questions that we felt were appropriate to ask. Many will be irrelevant in the end and may not be used and some we may film and cut out when we come to edit the interviews.

Some of these questions include:

- For Teachers 

• Do you enjoy teaching to the students in your school?
• Would it make a difference if you worked at a private or public school?
• Do you find that students are better behaved when in uniform?
• Do you think the teachers make the most of the facilities available?
• Are there any parts of the school that you think need improving?
• Does paying for education actually make a difference to how students learn?
• Is it unfair that private school is so expensive when students that cannot afford it would benefit from a better education?
• Is the location around the school suitable?
• Are there enough things for students to do as extra curricular?
• Does the school support every student equally?
• What does a normal school day consist of?

- For the Students

• Do you enjoy the school day?
• Is it easy to get on with everyone in your classes?
• Do you think money can buy better education?
• Do you enjoy wearing a uniform?
• Are the teachers strict enough or too strict?
• What is the general atmosphere at school?
• Do you find the breaks long enough?
• Are your lessons used to full potential?
• Do you think there are enough facilities?

There will be other questions we come up with during group discussions and filming periods. Adjustments will be made every day.

Location Shots

HEATHSIDE

It was obvious to us that taking location shots would help us plan where and what we are going to film for the final piece, by taking and examining the images we can therefore go into further detail and make observational comparisons. Being students at Heathside School we took these images from around the school grounds and plan on doing the same thing around St Georges College as the next step in our preparation.

Here we have: 

The entrance sign to the school.

Quiet Playground - surrounded by the Design Technology classrooms.

 The benches and bins in the quiet playground. (Ramp facility in the top left corner for the disabled)

 The long jump and sand pits.

 The outside area of the combined and concreted tennis/netball/hockey court.

 Inside of the courts.

Sports field with students using it.

 Students doing cross country training around the field.

ST GEORGES

Developing and Planning into the Final Idea

We have all the ideas written down in basic form and today we had a large discussion about ways in which we can make the documentary stand out and be interesting for our audience.
Agreeing and disagreeing are what helped us figure out ways in which we would carry out the project.
It became immediately apparent that we would need to go around each location and make a few discoveries and discuss how we could create footage on certain aspects of the subject.
We took a walk around Heathside and took photographs and are going to decide what parts we will include in the final documentary.
The next thing we want to do is practice filming interviews as this is an important thing to get right for the whole documentary to work and come together properly. We will take it in turns to film and ask questions so we can each get some experience before beginning the final production.
Creating well worded questions will be important because it is vital that we get interesting answers out of our interviews that will help support our topic and keep the documentary interesting.