As part of my documentary series the Story of Nonsuch I made a short parakeet film for the end of the Winter program. I would like to give credit to the BBC for there amazing archives that they put up online, that were one source of reliable and useful information. Below I have just put together a small article about the experience of making this film and the many troubles I came across. I've learnt to check weather forecasts and go on quieter days, but one thing you can't have control over is whether or not the subjects turn up. Many a time they didn't but they did help me get to grips with the importance of manual exposure and production work to a schedule.
| FilmingI filmed all the footage over three non-consecutive days... the first day was ok but slightly dull in the skies and this shows in some of the footage. The second day was the same day we filmed Nonsuch News with Duncan Woolford and we filmed the parakeet intro and a few shots. This was a more successful day as the warmth meant the parakeets were slightly more dosy and were easier to get close to without a hide. We did go once in-between the 2nd and 3rd day but we set up and then a non-stop downpour arrived, meaning we had to pack up and head home. The 3rd day was the day we got most of the footage, I had been given the afternoon off from school so I took the opportunity to go into the park and get the vital footage needed before Spring arrived. As well as filming mating behavior and the attack on the woodpecker nest seen near the end of the film I also found a greater spotted woodpecker and jackdaw nest which I may follow up on in the Spring program. Before I hadn't really looked for a difference in sexes but it was great to see that we must have some nesting pairs in Nonsuch as the females were around... as the film says the Males have a black ring and a red band across the neck area, where as the females and juveniles do not. <---- Watch the film in HDAs part of my wildlife filming presentations and interviews I pre-released the Parakeet film on my YouTube channel for a sneak peak at what was to come in the main Documentary. It proved popular but not as popular as the Main documentary that made the local newspapers and on the 25 May 2013 will allow me onto the BBC in Surrey as I have a 4-5 minute interview about the project. This Film tested me to the limits at times and has improved my all round skills from preparing, right through filming, editing and finally releasing a program and documentary you can call yours. |
Social Networking
Social networking plays a key role in lots of people's lives right now, by using my personal account instead of the Documentary account I put out several questions onto my followers news feed. Many of the people who I follow and who follow me our interested in Wildlife and that meant that many of my questions were answered quickly and reliably so I didn't have to search the web for a small piece of information.
In the example below I enticed people to help me by rightly putting their name in the credits of the film, not only did this make people reply but it also meant the credits were longer and not just my own name. For this question about the mating in the short film I got a reply from my Biology teacher who was happy to help me out.
In the example below I enticed people to help me by rightly putting their name in the credits of the film, not only did this make people reply but it also meant the credits were longer and not just my own name. For this question about the mating in the short film I got a reply from my Biology teacher who was happy to help me out.
The Library
The good old fashioned library can be your best friend, my local one is free to 'rent' books and has a pond and park full of wildlife attached. I found a book on all sorts of parakeets and it helped me acknowledge information generally and specifically about this species as shown below. Local Libraries often are a key source of Information and some of the park organisations discovered the archives of Nonsuch within the Library that will now provide important images and info for other parts of my Documentary.