Permission to film in Tesco...

We wanted to film our next sequence at a supermarket and there is a large Tesco in Brooklands, Surrey. I popped in to ask who I need to speak with in order to gain permission to film. I was told to contact the store manager via e-mail and I sent him the following e-mail

Dear Chris,

We are a group of two A-Level students, currently studying Media Studies at Heathside Sixth Form College. As part of the majority of our A2 grade, we are required to construct a short documentary of our choice. Our documentary is about the success of entrepreneur, Levi Roots and after being given the chance to interview him, we are hoping to film a short sequence at Brooklands Tesco next to his sauces. With your approval it would increase our Media Studies A2 Portfolio grade and give us an overall, higher grade to aim for.

There is no budget for this filming sequence, as it is just a coursework project. The footage taken will solely be used for educational purposes and may also be featured on our media studies blogs, which you may feel free to visit at www.achoudhurydocumentary.blogspot.com or alternatively, you may ask our media teacher to find out more, via e-mail at the following the e-mail address, amichael@heathside.surrey.sch.uk.

Please let us know if it would be possible to film this sequence and we look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Amir Choudhury and Lauren Berridge

(A-Level Students)

Unfortunately we received no reply so I decided to pop in again and see if I could talk to him in person. I was very anxious to film in Tesco and Tesco is a two minute walk away from my house so I was very flexible in terms of popping in and asking for the manager. I popped in to find the head of security (Darren) who said he is able to give me permission to film after phoning and confirming it with the store manager. He said we were more than welcome to film at any time before 10pm. We decided to film our sequence a few days after gaining permission so we were able to execute a plan and create a storyboard. Here are some shots from Tesco...

Editing the footage..

To edit our footage from the interview, we had decided to use Microsoft Windows Movie Maker and VideoPad Video Editor which is a product of NCH Software. Both of these programs are designed to be used with Windows and as Myself and Lauren both own windows laptops, it made it more east and convenient for us to use these video editing programs. As well as being quick, easy and convenient to use, these programs are helping us achieve fantastic results.

Here are some screen shots of us using the software for our documentary:

Shots of the restaurant and the interview...

Here are some snapshots of the restaurant and the interview process...

Interview with Levi...

We arrived at the restaurant early by an hour and Levi had not yet arrived. As we waited anxiously for his arrival, we decided to start setting up our equipment. Everything seemed to be going as planned however when we came to testing out the Yeti Microphone, which was very problematic for us. Thankfully however, I had a tie-microphone which plugged into one of the camera's we were using and picked up all of the sound. We left the Yeti on the middle of the table to make the scene more engaging and add professionalism.

Here is what we used for the interview:

• 3 Tripods
• 3 Sony Handycam Cameras
• 1 Yeti Microphone
• 1 Creative Tie-Mic