Interview with PERC toy libary

Friday 18th November

Jordan and Lydia filmed an interview in Perc library in Liverpool. They had to phone up and e-mail the library to ensure that they could get an interview and once they had set a date they had to travel by train to Liverpool.

They set the camera up in the play centre and ensured the background suited the documentary. They had to make sure the interviewee was framed correctly before they could film. They then asked the interviewee several questions, once they had filmed they made sure that the sound quailty was good enough to use and went back to school to edit.

They captured their work on Adobie premiere pro and edited out the questions so that the interview ran smoother without questions interrupting.

Filming a video gamer

Thursday 17th November
Lydia and Jess went to film a video gamer, First they set up the camera to make sure that he was framed to the correct side, they then made sure that the background suited the documentary.

They asked him several questions about why he likes games, what his favourite are and what are the best consoles to play on.

Next they came back to school to edit out the questions so just the answers can be heard, making it run smoother. They also added in footage of games, and xboxes to put inbetween each answer which made it run better than having cuts between each answer.

Filming the title sequence

Tuesday 1st November


Lydia, Jess and Jordan filmed the opening title for the documentary 'Batteries not included' by using children's building blocks. The set out the blocks first to ensure that they had enough to spell out the title, they then made a background, and made sure that the lighting was right.


They then filmed it as a stop start, so moved the blocks and recorded, stopped, moved the block more and pressed record again. They did this to every block until it spelt out their title.


They then sped up the footage to make it look as if the blocks are moving by themselves into place.

Filming two children

Friday 4th November


Lydia and Jordan filmed Rebecca and Ella for their children's interview. Firstly they had to create forms for their parents to sign to ensure it was fine for them to film their children.
Once they had permission they recorded the girls playing with their various toys, dolls and teddy bears they had.


Once they had stock footage they then filmed the two girls separately and asked them several questions about their toys; what they like about them, dislike, what they would like to get for Christmas and which toy was their ultimate favourite. They had to make sure that they had the background correct and that the girls stayed in the frame.


Next they came back to school to edit out the questions, cut up the stock footage into separate clips so they could then put them in between their answers and placed them all together to make two interviews.

Filming the next door neighbours

Sunday 6th November


Jess and Jordan filmed Jess's two next door neighbours, they asked them the same two questions as their grandparent.


They set the cameras so that they framed the interviewees properly and ensured that they had enough light on them to be seen on the camera. Because they couldn't get toys around the interviewees they had to zoom in on their face to make it fill most of the shot but still framed them to one side to stick to the codes and conventions of recording an interview.


Once they had finished, they came into school and edited out the questions so just the answers could be heard. they also added cutaways in and over the questions to make them run smoother.

Filming a grandparent

Thursday 3rd November


Jordan and Lydia went to film an interview with Lydia's Granddad. They travelled to Birkenhead and interviewed him in his living room, They set the camera up and did sound checks to ensure the microphone was working, they then sat two teddy bears on the couch with Lydia's Granddad; one old and one new.


They then ensured that he was framed to the left properly and asked him several questions about toys and games he used to play when he was younger.


When they had finished with the interview they logged the counter numbers and started to edit it. They edited out the questions they asked to make the interview run smoother, they also added cutaways and stock footage in between/over answers.

Questions for a video gamer

What do you like about video games?


What is your favourite video game and why?


What consoles do you play video games on?


What is the best type of console and why?


Is there a console you don't like? why?


Are there any games you want? why?


What features do you like about these games?


What kind of games do you want to make?


List some games which feature the same ideas you want to include in your games?

Filming the stock footage of toys

Lydia and Jessica working the talking puppets

Watching back the footage of the Buzz toy

Jessica zooming in on toy

Jordan and Lydia filming Buzz lightyear

Lydia filing the stop/start clip of Buzz lightyear

Jordan and lydia adjusting the camera to film toy

Jordan and lydia filming Buzz lightyear toy

Filming the voxpop

Tuesday 1st November
Jess and Jordan filmed a vox pop in liscard cherry tree centre outside game station. They asked 19 people the same question: 'What was your ultimate favourite toy as a child?'.

After filming everybodys answers they then came back to edit them on Adobe Premiere pro, they then decided that two of the answers they filmed were not framed well enough to go into the vox pop so cut them out.

Next they cut out Jess asking the questions to every person and put all of the filmed answers together so it cut into each others answers instead of having the question interrupting the flow of the answers in the vox pop

Pictures from filming toys for our stock footage

Filming a bouncy ball with our made background.

Adjusting the light to make sure its bright enough for filming.

Filming a stop start of blocks building up.

Checking the lighting and making sure the blocks are in shot.

The buidling of the blocks.

Filming another two sets of building blocks aswell as the first.

Jess recording the stop start footage of a barbie doll.

Jess and Jordan adjusting the camera to film the barbie.

Some of the toys that we used to film for our stock footage.

Re-filming the stop start of barbie because we didn't like the lighting or angle.

Jess and Jordan filming our barbie stop start.

Interview questions for children

Tell me what your favourite toy is, tell me about it?

Tell me about toys you don’t like? What do you dislike about them?

Tell me do you like video games? Yes/No why?

Tell me what do you prefer videogames or toys?

Are there any toys you want right now?

Interview for grandparents and parents

Tell me how play has changed since you were a child?

What types of toys did you have as a child?

Tell me about your favourite toy as a child?

Are there any toys you used to have on sale now? If so what?

Tell me how have toys changed since you were a child?

What do you like about toys that you had when you were young?

Tell me is there anything you dislike about toys these days?

Interview for a toy shop manager

Tell me what is your most popular selling toy?
Tell me why is it so popular?

Tell me how have toys changed over the years?

Tell me are there any toys on sale now that you used to have as a kid?

Tell me what do you enjoy about your job?

Tell me what toys are popular with girls?

Tell me what toys are popular with boys?

Tell me what toys are popular with both sexes?

Tell me what do you think the future for toys is?

Tell me what has the impact of video games had on the sales of conventional toys?

Codes and conventions of a documentary interview

• Interviewee framed to the left or right of screen to the frame.
• They are mostly filmed in close up or medium close up.
• They don't look in to the camera, usually they look in to the space the opposite side of which they are framed.
• The interviewee looks at the interviewer.
• Eyeline of interviewee is approximately a third of the way down the screen.
• Interviewer must be at the same level as the interviewee e.g one sits down so does the other.
• When sat down they must be on a stationary chair.

Lighting:

• Interviewees are never filmed with light behind them.
• Lightsource must always be in front.

Mise en scene:

• Background reinforces the content of the interview or is relevant to the interviewee e.g. anchoring their occupation provides more information about their occupation or personal circumstances.

Editing:

• Simple cut
• Questions are edited out - cutaways are used where a question would be to avoid jump cuts.
• Sometimes archive can be cut in over an interview so you can be cut in over an interview so you can just hear interviewees voice.
• Cut interviewees together.
• Archive between interviews related to what they are talking about.
• Sometimes you can set up another camera and film some interviews in big close up to catch reactions and add instead of archive material.

Graphics:

• Usually two line - first line their name bigger font size
  - second line relevance smaller font size.

Running order

Documentary: Batteries not included
Channel: Channel 4
Scheduling: Tuesday November 22^nd 9.00pm – 9.30pm
Duration: 27 minutes including advert breaks.

Images of some of the toys our interviewees had

Ella's favourite dolls house.

The inside of Ella's dolls house

The latest princess barbie, Horse and Carridge.

A collection of Brats, Barbies, Disney princesses and other dolls Ella had.

Another dolls house.

New board games they have to offer to children.

Ellas's teddy bears.

Beckka's teddy bear collection.

Sylvanian family set up at a dinner table (nintendo DS) with the plastic food you can buy for the toys.

Sylvanian Family sat at another dining table (jewellary box) with more plastic food.

Picnic mat and food especially made for Sylvanian family

Filming our opening title 'Batteries not included'

Lydia and Jordan placing the blocks in shot ready for stop start filming.

Jordan moving the title blocks.

Testing out filming with the lamp.

Adjusting the camera and light to get all of the blocks focused in the frame.

Changing the position of the lamp for better lighting.

Capturing the blocks for each shot.

Moving the blocks into place.

The angle of the camera so we could film the clocks for our opening title.

Second to last shot before the blocks had to be moved for the finished piece.

Filming our first interview

Jess interviewing our toy shop owner at Carousel.

Jess interviewing our toy shop owner with a hand held mic and the camera on a tripod.

Jess interviewing our toy shop owner.

The toy shop and Jess interviewing.

Lydia filming stock footage of toys in carousel.

Lydia filming toy shelves, and cutaways for the interview.

Task one: film our own interview

Research: List of popular toys

Hula Hoop Barbie
LEGO G.I. Joe
Mr. Potato Monopoly
Star Wars Figure Yo-Yo
Slinky Play Doh
Radio Flyer Match Box/Hot Wheels
Etch-A-Sketch Scrabble
Easy Bake Oven ATARI
Nintendo Teddy Bear
Water Guns Lite Brite
Silly Putty Crayola Crayons
Cabbage Patch Kids Battleship
Twister Ninja Turtles
Connect Four Tonka Toys
Strawberry Shortcake Pogo Stick
Transformers Raggedy Ann
Frisbee Hungry Hungry Hippos
Gameboy Speak & Spell
He-Man View Master
Mouse Trap Barrel O' Monkeys
Stretch Armstrong Simon
Operation Rubik's Cube
Roller Skates Jig Saw Puzzle
Slip & Slide Walkie Talkies
Erector Set Army Men
Trivial Pursuit My Little Pony
Dominos Care Bears
Model Sets Uno
Remote Control Cars Sea Monkeys
Laser Tag Chutes & Ladders
Pong Spirograph

Magic 8 Ball

Research: Questionnaires for our documentary

‘Batteries not included’
We would like appreciate if you would give us some of your time to complete this survey for target audience research into our documentary based on toys
Are you male or female? (Please circle)


Do you think toys are stereotypical to gender?


What toys did you used to have?


Are there any toys that you have now, that are still on sale?


What do you like about toys?


What do you dislike about toys?


Do you think toys set a bad example? If so what?


What was your favourite toy when you were younger?


How much do you roughly spend on toys a year?


How have toys changed since you were a kid?


Do you think children play with toys as much as they used to?


How has technology influenced the change in toys?


What is your favourite colour?


What is your favourite type of music?


When are you most likely to buy toys?