Investigative Journalism Project Diary
- 3523410
- Jan 7
- 19 min read
Updated: Feb 13
Week 1- Informing Ideas
Arthur – Interview productor
Leo – Editor [Post-Productor]
Ruby – Designer / Art Director
Farron – Editor-in-Chief
Miley – Sound and Podcast Producer
Gracie-Mai – Lead Researcher
Fardeen- Film Director/Camera + Studio Operator (??)
Summer – Lead Writer
My role in the investigative journalism project is being the designer and art director. This means I get to design everything for the project, including logos for our podcast episode, thumbnails for TV videos etc.
It means I'm also in charge of the whole aesthetic of the project, and make sure everything isn't mis-matched and works nicely altogether.
Week 1- Project Diary
This week we began to work in teams for our investigative journalism project. We assigned the roles to everyone, so people were clear on what they were doing for the project.
After we'd done this, we spent the afternoon deciding what we wanted our project to be about. We decided we wanted to focus on the impact of the Motorpoint Arena for Nottingham as a whole, analysing its significance as well as its future within the city.
Next we began all of our relative research, including who we could contact for interviews, mind map of what to focus on for elements such as interviews, vox pops and podcast recording, also deciding the order in which to do these things. Thankfully as a group we have completed the majority of this meaning we are ahead on our research and planning overall for the six weeks. We have also majorly completed our pitch to present in a few days' time, so thankfully we are well prepared for that too. There is a small amount of research which still needs to happen from others in the group but it should be completed by the end of this week, which won't set us back.
For my own contribution, in the group I have been allocated the role of designer and art director, meaning I am in charge of how the whole project looks and the aesthetic of it, making sure it all stays organised throughout the six weeks. For the elements we have to create, such as the TV film and podcast, there is artwork/logo designs which need to be made for that too. I have brainstormed some ideas for those as well as a mood board for the whole overall project, such as colours that are formal but also casual and appealing to an audience.
From now on, I believe we need to focus on slightly better organisation and communication as with us only just starting this project it is a bit rocky at the moment. I think as we progress in this project and get more into the flow of it, this will all improve.
Week 2- Developing content
This week:
Planning for our filming (e.g. locations to film, who was going out)
Beginning to properly navigate graphics
Going out and filming our content (vox pops and b-roll around the Motorpoint Arena)
Week 2- Project Diary
On Monday, we started by planning for our filming and having a mini meeting in our group to finalise delegating the roles due to communication issues in the previous week. For our filming, we planned whereabouts where we were going to film and what we were going to film. We decided we were going to start with filming the vox pops and b-roll for our documentary, based on the history/anniversary of the Motorpoint Arena, with a specific focus on the sporting side of it. Thankfully for us on Wednesday there was an ice hockey match happening during our college hours which meant we could go and interview some people and get footage of fans outside the arena.
On Monday also, myself and Leo began to start planning for graphics for filming. For example when we filmed our pieces in the TV studio (interviews + podcast episode), we need logos and graphics for the screens behind so we started to collect those. Below is an example I made for the podcast episode.
On this first day as well we also had a small role change so everyone was more comfortable with their roles. This was the original role list we had delegated:
Arthur – Interview productor
Leo – Editor [Post-Productor]
Ruby – Designer / Art Director
Farron – Editor-in-Chief
Miley – Sound and Podcast Producer
Gracie-Mai – Lead Researcher
Fardeen- Film Director/Camera + Studio Operator (??)
Summer – Lead Writer
This is the updated list:
Arthur – Interview productor
Leo – Editor [Post-Productor]
Ruby – Designer / Art Director/Deputy editor-in-chief
Farron – Editor-in-Chief
Miley – Sound and Podcast Producer
Gracie-Mai – General helper
Fardeen- Film Director/Camera + Studio Operator
Summer – Lead Writer
We have delegated the research element across all of us to spread the workload out a little more evenly between us.
On Wednesday, my group found it a bit tricky to start off the day as there was only half of our group in and it was complicated to re-delegate some of the roles for the day, but we eventually worked it out.
We finalised the questions for the vox pops we were doing on that day so we knew what was going to be asked. I also assisted in a podcast plan for when we got around to film that as I didn't have anything to do at that moment. Later on in that morning I finished the mood board I began making the week before, detailing the colour schemes/elements I thought would work best for the project, based on the colours of the college and Motorpoint Arena. I also began to work on a Panthers focused mood board but I haven't had time to properly finish that yet.
On Wednesday afternoon, my group finished our final preparations to go out and do our relative filming. We delegated who was going to do the vox pops and b-roll, and then completed a risk assessment before going to properly outline our plans for our trip out.
We managed to get a good amount of footage and transferred into my OneDrive and shared to everyone else in my group, and began editing some of the footage together too. We did run into some issues with transferring and editing at first, such as moving the footage to the right places, but we managed to fix those.
The final day of the week went a bit slower than intended and we didn't get to do any extra filming that day, but my group are trying to get this done by the end of next week. So far next week consists of filming our first interviews/podcast episode and editing those together on Wednesday, and progressing with everything else, such as the graphics and TV script for the documentary.
Week 3- Interview/podcast filming
Finishing B-Roll around market (Wednesday)
Interview/podcast filming (Wednesday)
Finishing of podcast scripts (Monday)
Finishing of questions for interview/podcasts (Monday)
Start of film editing (Wednesday)
Working out magazine/article layout (Monday)
Week 3- Project Diary
Above is the basic plan that me and my group have set out for this week. Due to our editor-in-chief being ill for the moment, I have stepped in the role of deputy and taken over control for now. Our plan for the first day followed like this:
Finishing podcast script
Working out magazine/article layout
Finishing of questions for interview/podcasts
Thankfully we managed to reach our target for the day and complete all of these tasks. I helped the lead writer check over the podcast script, making sure it was up to the standard it needed to be, helping her edit it a little too. Whilst that was happening our editor drafted up a magazine layout on InDesign, which is where our main article for the project is going to go.
Our lead writer also finished the draft of the questions for our first interview and the podcast, so she did a lot of work yesterday which is something that needs to still be worked out in our group. At times it feels like some people are doing more than others, and the tasks need to be spread more evenly between everyone. We discussed this in an editorial meeting that we had with Matt on the same day, where we worked out what had been done and what needed to be done as a group and individually. We as a group also worked out a SWOT analysis to help us better with our planning, identifying our strengths, weaknesses, and potential opportunities and threats we could come across.
Myself, I finished off and selected the graphics for the first TV studio and interview which we should hopefully both be completing this week in the studio time that we have. I also went around my group and helped everyone else, making sure everyone had something to do and we were all on track. My new role as deputy editor-in-chief is a bit unusual at the moment as I haven't really had any experience leading a group in a project like this before, but I should get used to it soon enough.
On our second day, this is what we aimed to complete on the day:
Finishing B-Roll around market
Interview/podcast filming
Start of film editing
We managed to complete all we wanted to do for the day. In the morning, me, Summer and Arthur went out to finish the b-roll filming around Sneinton Market and ask around a couple of businesses if we could use them for our final interview. We managed to get all of the footage for that but due to the weather conditions we may need to reshoot a couple of shots next week when we go back for the interviews. We got back and transferred the footage into the master tape, which will be edited by our lead editor in the coming weeks once we have finalised and collected all the footage from our other interviews around the market next week.
In the afternoon, we managed to get a big portion of our work done, including one interview and filming the podcast. We went into the TV studio and arranged the cameras and set accordingly. These were the roles that my group took on for the interview, which was with a Panthers fan about the Motorpoint Arena:
Presenters- Arthur and Farron
Camera operators- Gracie-Mai and Fardeen
Floor manager- Leo
Gallery- Ruby (Me), Summer and Miley
I was mainly the director of this interview. Thankfully the interview went smoothly and then shortly after we recorded the podcast with the same guest which went great too. Fardeen and Arthur presented this and Miley observed from the same room as she is the head of the podcast, whilst the rest of us surveyed from the other room.
After we had done this, we returned and got our footage from the interview and sent it over to our lead editor, and he made a lot of progress with editing it, meaning at the moment we seem to be on track with the project.
We haven't exactly got a full plan for Friday yet, but we will work it out when we get there.
The final day of the week happened to be a slow and slightly unorganised day again, but I managed to get a little bit of work done in preparation for our final interviews, which was finishing the Nottingham Panthers mood board which I had started a couple of weeks ago. I decided to change my idea slightly and make it purely into an interview-based mood board to help better inform the ideas for our final interviews around Sneinton Market.
Week 4- End of production
Completing graphics
Completing interviews
Final TV film footage
Podcast editing
Week 4- Project Diary This week, me and my group are focused on the final elements of production, completing more film editing and beginning the podcast editing.
On the first day, my group and I had another editorial meeting with Matt to clarify where we were with the project going into the 4th week, and thankfully we are on track with everything so far. At the end of every day of our production, our editor-in-chief Farron is going to send our progress chart so we know where we are. This is the chart as it stands at the beginning of the week:
Thankfully by the middle/end of last week, we managed to complete all of Phase 1 and we are making good progress with Phase 2. By the end of this week when the TV script is fully completed and edited, I will be able to finish the TV graphics which will get another element completed.
We have also outlined that by the end of this week we will hopefully have the interviews completed and the TV and audio scripts fully written. After this we will hopefully have the majority of Phase 2 done which means we can focus a lot on Phase 3, which is post-production.
We haven't made a start on all the post production elements yet, but we have a good portion of the TV editing already completed (by our lead editor Leo), and the audio podcast editing is being started today between our podcast producer (Miley) and Gracie.
Today myself, I have made more progress on the TV graphics we are putting on the film, such as statistics based on the revenue success of the Motorpoint Arena right from when it first started up to present day.
On Wednesday we are hoping to get a big portion of Phase 2 done, including the final interviews so the TV editing can be finished editing, collect the final TV film footage around Sneinton Market and continue with the podcast editing. We are also looking to film the TV intros and outros as well with the aesthetic that we have finalised.
Due to the rich history of the arena we want to start the film off in black and white, in a Victorian style and then move it to colour to represent present day and the future. We will have our progress chart fully updated by the end of the day which will give us a more outlined and clear idea of what we need to do for the rest of the week and project.
On Wednesday, the day started off a bit slow but we finalised a Q+A that we are going to hand out to some businesses in Sneinton Market this afternoon.
In the afternoon, me, Summer and Arthur went out to the market to hand out the Q+A's and hopefully get a couple of interviews actually recorded too. We went to the two places we had planned first, the Sherwood Phoenix music shop and Luisa's Vegan Chocolates. We filmed the first interview at the music shop, but then realised that it hadn't recorded at all as I didn't really know how to use that type of camera but thankfully we still have the audio from it.
We managed to record the audio from the chocolate shop, and hand out Q+A's to 6 other businesses some of which we collected today, and the rest of them we will get on Friday.
We got back and transferred some of our footage into the group folder we have, but haven't continued with the editing just yet. Whilst we were out, Miley and Gracie continued working on the podcast and they managed to finish it and add some music to the intro and outro, which means that we have got that pretty much finished.
On Friday once we have collected the other Q+A's, I will finish off the graphics for the TV film, and we will also properly work out a plan of what we are doing as it is a bit foggy still of what we're going to do.
We managed to make a lot of progress on Friday, which is very good. We collected our final parts of B-Roll for the TV film, and Arthur and Summer went out and collected the rest of the Q+A's so I could make some more graphics for the documentary. Below is an example of one of them I made.
Week 5- Post-production
This week:
Flimed green screen
Filmed interview with Panthers commentator (expert)
Finishing podcast
Finishing article
Editing TV film
Finishing/editing graphics for green screen
Potential other interview
Week 5- Project Diary
Monday started off with a lot of changes and challenges, as we as a group felt a bit under pressure from the deadline, but we had another meeting and were able to sort things out. Throughout the project we have had issues with communication, as before this project we'd never worked as a group before which had brought some problems, that still hadn't been fully resolved. I have now been promoted to editor-in-chief, so I am in control of what everyone does now for the rest of this project. Thankfully we still managed to get a lot done on the day.
We had Matt check over the podcast that Miley and Gracie have edited and gave them some feedback on that, which they will go back to on Wednesday and make the improvements on. He also went through the draft magazine article that Summer has written, which she will also continue to work on on Wednesday.
For the last hour on Monday, we went back into the TV studio so our presenter Arthur could film some of his narration and links with the green screen for the TV film. We had a few hiccups along the way with it but just managed to record all 7 scenes that we needed to do for it in time.
The next day (Tuesday) we weren't supposed to be in, but me, Summer and Arthur came in to film our final interview in the studio as it was the only day we could do it as our guest came in on very short notice. We interviewed a Nottingham Panthers commentator, and the interview went very smoothly. Summer was in the gallery and had some assistance as we were short on numbers. Arthur took the presenting role again and I was floor manager, which was something I'd never done before so I had a good learning experience from that, for example I learnt about how to control some of the cameras into the positions I was told. Doing the interview felt like it took a weight off our shoulders as we did previously feel under pressure, but we felt like getting that done put us back on track.
We made some good progress on Wednesday but it did start off a little bit slow. Summer had begun to finish off the article, and I wrote out some questions for another interview that I had planned, but didn't end up going through as I didn't get a response from that business. We learnt later on in the afternoon that not doing that interview was probably a good idea as we are already struggling at the moment to shorten down the film.
In the afternoon I edited a couple of the TV graphics to better fit the TV film for the green screen as if they were put on there as they were, they would be covered up and couldn't be seen. This was one of the original graphics I'd made:
This was the edited version I did so it fit better for the green screen:
Overall too we made more progress on the podcast and TV film. There is only one small section that needs to be added onto the podcast, then that is finished. Regarding the TV film, we have got the majority of our footage and audio onto the project. For the remaining audio we needed which were links for between the interviews, he recorded them this afternoon and they are soon going to be uploaded onto the project for Leo to edit in the correct places. We do need to work out the order of the TV film still though, and I'm sure that will be done by the end of this week.
Once we have everything in the right order, it means we can go through everything over again and work out what else we can cut to get it down to the right time. Currently I believe we are at about 15 minutes, and the maximum we can have is 10mins so quite a large chunk needs to be lost.
At the end of the day I updated the Gantt chart, just so I could see and set out what we had to do in the final stretch of the project.
On Friday we got quite a bit done again. Our main podcast editor Miley wasn't in, so we couldn't add the final section onto the podcast but it is easy enough to do and I will make sure it is added in on Monday.
We realised that we hadn't selected any music for TV film too, so I let Farron and Arthur work on finding some and they managed to find one that we all agreed on. We haven't decided where we want it in the film at the moment due to us not working out the exact order yet and the editing not being quite finalised.
Leo asked me to supervise over his editing for a portion of the afternoon, and I helped him out with deciding what green screen sections we wanted to keep in the film, and a rough order too before we had the links that Arthur had recorded.
We have made more progress than we thought we would this week, and I'm very confident that we can finish this, especially with how deep we are now in the post-production stage.
Week 6- Final week of project
To do (group):
Add final intro clip into podcast (Gracie + Miley)
Reformat the article to match aesthetic (Summer + Farron)
Me:
Transfer audio files for TV film into group file
Order everything in the TV film ready for Leo to edit on Wednesday
Add extra green screen images
Sort out vox pop audio
Week 6- Project Diary
We're in the final week of the project, and on the first day a little short on numbers. Our editor Leo isn't in, and neither is Arthur but he has done a lot this project so that's alright.
Leo not being in today means that someone else would briefly have to take over the editing, and I've volunteered myself for doing that considering I have done all my work for the project as the graphic and art designer.
On Monday we had our final editorial meeting to finalise what we needed to do to finish the project. Gracie and Miley were very close to finishing the podcast, but had revealed that they had a problem and some of the audio had cut out, but later on Matt helped them out to fix it. That thankfully now means that we have the podcast fully completed.
Matt also said to us that he wasn't happy with the layout of the magazine article, with elements such as the alignment (not all words reached the end of the line/text box) and also the colours. We had tried to match the colours to the Nottingham Panthers, but realised that it didn't work with the overall aesthetic of the project so had to change it. I put Summer and Farron working on that and they managed to complete it by the end of the day. This means that when it comes to Wednesday we will immediately be able to share the links for these elements for everyone to have.
Due to Leo not being in on Monday, I took over the reigns with editing just for that day. I was able to insert the links that Arthur had sent into it, and finalise the order of the film, so we then officially knew the length of the film and could better work out what we needed to cut down. It was still around 15 minutes, so with the help of Luiza and Matt, they helped me to cut out some of the unnecessary elements and we managed to get it down to around 11 minutes.
Unfortunately we did end up running into a big problem. The audio from our vox pop section had disappeared, and no one had any idea how and why it had done that. It didn't seem to be anywhere in the folder after lots of searching, so we decided to leave it for the moment and see if we could work it out on Wednesday.
I made a few small changes to the film, such as removing the images with the statistics from the surveys we did as we realised that they didn't quite fit in with the section they were originally intended for, so we decided to scrap them and will add some images or b-roll in when we get a chance to on Wednesday.
This is where we were by the end of Monday, so I am confident that we will get everything done by Wednesday:
On Wednesday that means all we have to do is complete the final editing elements, including shortening down the film slightly and adding the music into the correct places.
Even though the project is due on Friday, our last day is officially today (Wednesday). In the morning thankfully we were able to sort out the vox pop audio in the project, so that was back in the right place. That morning we also managed to export the podcast and get it into our joint folder which was great.
In the afternoon we decided that we wanted to make some slight changes to the layout of the magazine. That was because we realised that some of the boxes weren't added around the text, but that task only took a small portion of time. We were able to put this new edited version into the joint folder. The main focus for the afternoon was finishing the editing as there were still a few things that needed to be changed or added, and then exporting the project. Admittedly that took longer than we were expecting.
We had run into a few small challenges, such as finding images that were good enough for the green screen and weren't too blurry. After we exported the film the first time, we realised that some of the images were too blurry and pixelated, and that we missed out on a couple of green screen images too. It was tricky to check in the film itself whether they were good enough, because the amount of content in the film made it lag behind when we tried to check things, so we were basically just relying on it being good enough after we had exported it which wasn't ideal.
It took some time as well to find another track that was suitable to put in the film, as we didn't want the same one all throughout as we didn't want it to make the film seem too monotonous. I took on that task of finding another one, and sent it to Leo. Together we then worked out where in the film to put the music. We also had to rerecord one of the links into an interview but that didn't take too long either.
After the 3rd time of trying and doing our best to triple check through the whole film, we managed to export it and get it into the folder, which was something we were all very grateful to get done. I still need to upload the film onto my YouTube channel, but otherwise as far as I'm aware, that is everything done.
Evaluation
It's been safe to say that this project has had its ups and downs, as I've never done anything like this before, but it has taught me many skills. It's taught me how to work better in a team, and improved my confidence skills with communication, as before I always found it tricky to find my own voice with group projects and contribute my own ideas, but I feel like I've been able to do that a lot with this project.
We did struggle a lot with communication as a group at the start of the project, and it did improve but we still had our rocky moments and slight disagreements which was expected, but I'm glad we managed to push through them as a group and complete this project by the deadline.
What went well:
We were able to complete everything we needed to do for the project
We always tried to do our best to keep our heads up when we faced challenges
What could have been better:
Our communication skills since the start of the project were rocky, so they could be improved
There were moments where it was unclear what everyone had to do (task delegation was a problem at times)
Coping with pressure, when some people weren't in we all felt a bit under pressure to get certain tasks done by certain deadlines
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