Reflective report

When I was first given the brief for the documentary my first idea which was boxing stuck and luckily I only had to make slight adjustments to the subject although my theme stayed the same. I am very happy with the finished product and I believe I achieved what I set out to do.
The first subject I decided to focus on was a friend of mine who has recently turned professional and trains with Ricky Hatton. Throughout the process we came up with various problems that we overcame. The main problem was the fact that our initial subject Ryan agreed to shoot and we had planned a week and booked equipment and so on and at the last minute Ryan couldn't make it due to personal issues. This was a very stressful time as I had planned everything and set dates and I was left feeling let down and anxious about how I would find someone else.

Luckily enough I asked around and found out about a Boxing trainer called Billy Laverty. Billy holds various different boxing training classes and boxing aerobics classes for all different types of people, from the elderly to people who are just trying to get fit and loose the weight. Billy also teaches people to use Boxing as a therapeutic aid. I wanted to portray a personal portrait of Billy and how Boxing shaped his life and made him the person he is today. I think I was successful in doing this mainly by asking the right questions and probing the answers that I needed to tell story I had in mind. For example I asked Billy personal questions in relation to Boxing and I asked him to explain how he got introduced to boxing and what it was about Boxing in particular that he loves. I also think I got the right tone and mood across with the use of cut aways and in particular the pull focus of the boxing ropes. The editing also helped portray the personal aspect to the documentary with the use of Billy's voice narrating.

I had a lot of fun making this documentary as I mentioned before I take great pleasure in watching documentaries and they are my preference when it comes to watching television. The fact that I was given a chance to make one of my own was daunting but also very exciting. Overall I really enjoyed this experience as I am essentially documenting reality and making this documentary has given me a lot of confidence and enforced my passion for Documentary and I look forward to making more in the future.