And we're done!

Today was our final shoot on the swimming doc we have been making over the last few weeks.

I have learned a great deal on the documentary, not only about sound, camera and producing but also about swimming and how it can be a life skill but more importantly the effects it can have on people in all walks of life.

The sound recording has been challenging, working in swimming pools with a lot of echo and reverberation to try to deal with was at times very hard. To try and overcome some of the sound issues I have used personal mic's where possible and EQ'd the sound in Pro Tools.
The production side has been equally challenging with the various permissions needed to be able to film this type of documentary.

As the shoot has progressed I have heard many different peoples opinions about swimming and it has made me more aware of why we are making a doc on this subject. This has only fueled me further to make this the best that we possible can and to look into editing into a longer piece that could be used by swimming authorities.

AVID

Week by week I have been doing the AVID tutorials to learn how to use the editing software correctly, Avid unlike Final cut pro or Premiere doesn't really have a compatible system that makes it easy to switch between so it has been a frustrating, at times, and steep learning curve!

Below is the last link to output settings which is a great help for exporting all your hard work....

http://www.avid.com/US/avid-tv/MC5BuildingtheFinalOutput?elq_mid=4064&elq_cid=6845073

The Hardest Interview Yet

The short documentary that we are making at the moment really hinged on a contributor that had first hand experience of what the repercussion of not being able to swim could be.

On Sunday we interviewed Julie Sammels who lost her brother and mother to drowning on a Cornish beach 27 years ago. We had a difficult task on our hands as we had very little experience of interviewing somebody who had been through such a traumatic time in their life.

Thankfully the interview went very well and full credit goes to Alice for being very patient and caring in the way she asked the questions.
The sound went well and was understandably easier than in the swimming pool environment but still challenging. Visually we didnt want to use personal mic's so rifle mic's were used, Julie's voice was very quiet and due to the emotion of recalling her experience it was just something I had to work with.
 I also had to concentrate on not getting the boom pole in shot!

Swimming pool shoot!

One of the key parts to our 3 minute wonder we are shooting is the starting sequence, it features a swimmer shooting of the blocks and swimming quickly down the pool with multiple shot angles.
Today was filming day but we only had one hour to film the entire scene, the pressure was on! To help the situation it was decided that I would take on some of the filming and do the crane/jib work whilst Michaela filmed underwater.

Below are some screen shots of the results.

The filming of this was an incredible learning curve and I had to react quickly to the situation, I had practised with the equipment within a studio but nothing prepares you for working in a humid pool side location and trying to follow a semi- professional swimmer.