Research and planning for preliminary task

What do I want to do and why?

At first, I wanted my preliminary to be something like a vlog or something like a day in a life. That idea came from various TikTok trends at that time. For example, a GRWM (get ready with me) is done in the style of a vlog, documenting the process of getting ready to do something like going out or going to the gym.

Another idea I had was documenting a day in the life of my dog ( Cookie,) which again was a TikTok trend. I had some drafts made, but nothing that I started to do seemed right for me to develop an experience that would help me with the final project. Therefore, after careful consideration, I decided to do something in the direction of the final project ( the documentary ) to be able to start experiencing the process of film production and video editing and to gain experience that will help me in the documentary.

I started by talking to my teachers about my situation and asking for any advice that they might have. One of them suggested doing an interview, which will have a direct connection with the final project and will be a great experience to learn from. Then I came up with an idea of doing an Interview with a gym trainer, who will answer a few questions that people usually have about the whole process of getting fit. This will satisfy my need of learning and will also give me pleasure as I like going to the gym and I know all about this activity since I have been going for 3 years consistently already.

How will it help me?

I think that this experience will help me a lot, mostly in editing but also in video production, as it is a completely new experience for me, which means that I will have to learn everything I do. I find setting up the interview easy as I only need a static shot with the character speaking to the camera or the interviewer. In the rest, I want to do some B-rolls of gym equipment that I will use during the interview, as I've seen on the internet

Examples

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81ZRnIMb71U

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuE5VHQYZoo

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFk-L7Wcg0g&t=99s

Here are two examples of interviews from which I have taken inspiration. The first video is an interview with Alan Ritchson, who is a famous American actor and producer. The interview is about his diet and training methods to stay in shape.

The other video is made by an influencer who asks common people from public gyms if they have taken steroids (drugs to increase muscle mass). I like the production method of both the interviews, even though they are very different, as one is static and a conversation takes place for a long period of time, and the other one is dynamic and asks a bunch of people for small periods. The second one is also made to captivate the viewer's attention and takes advantage of the quick dopamine that people are looking for these days. The third video is an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is a 7x Mr. Olympia Champion ( the number 1 Bodybuilding show in the world ) and also a very renowned actor and politician. All the interviews use multiple conventions, like graphics. For example, both the first and the third video use an introduction graphic ( at 0.1 min into the video ) that shows the viewer who the interviewee is. In the second one, we can see the use of graphics to highlight the main topic of using Steroids or not ( 15:29 min into the video ).

Another convention used in the interviews is the camera setup and angle, as we can see in the first and second videos, both the interviewee and the interviewer are in frame for a certain period. We can also observe that when one of them is speaking, a focus on their face is made to draw attention to what they are saying. Another observation I made is that none of them use subtitles as they are talking in English, which is known to most audiences.

For the editing part, most of the cuts are straight in all the videos, and a simple but professional style is used. In the second video, there are more effects such as green screen usage and pictures with voice-overs to make the viewer more involved.

All these will help me get a better understanding of producing an interview and the challenges that come with it.

Questions

These are the questions that I am going to ask the trainer in English.

-What are the most common mistakes people make in the gym?

-How should someone choose the right workout?

-What exercises do you recommend for someone who wants to lose weight? But for someone who wants to gain muscle mass?

-What are the weights to work with?

-How long should an effective workout last?

I had a dilemma whether or not to speak in English with the trainer, but I came to the conclusion that I want him to be comfortable and to be able to express himself freely. Therefore, I translated the questions into Romanian and printed them so I can have them with me during the interview. I first wanted to keep everything digital, but then I realized that my Phone will be filming and another phone that my mom gave me will act as a microphone.