Semester 2 evaluation

Drama And Documentary Evaluation

Our initial concept for our 'Liverpool Stories' documentary was to create a film exploring the effects that a legislation, clamping down on buskers' rights, would have had on a range of different street artists. We were relatively successful in gathering the contacts and contributors needed to actualise this idea and as such, managed to line up enough interviews to propel the documentary. However due to camera faults and an absurdly large array of technical issues whilst editing (two hard drives packed up, the tape chewed itself up and we lost our sound) we were forced to jettison this initial concept and head in a new direction. The weekend before the deadline we had no option but to plan a reshoot; a difficult task with such little time. Due to the last minute nature of this undertaking we were unable to meet up with any of our original contacts save one (Vanessa Murray). We therefore decided to adjust our idea in order to make the most of a bad situation. We managed to secure a day filming with Vanessa and as such decided to focus the film solely on the singer song writer with the intention of telling her story. This second shoot was far more successful and we managed to obtain enough footage to make a coherent piece of work (despite some sound issues of which I will cover later) in a miniscule time period.

Thankfully the drama film ran far more smoothly than my documentary; our idea was to create a short film exploring the theme of identity and the lengths our character will go to discover it. Brock (our director) therefore crafted a script to embody this theme that involved our adopted protagonist (Sammy) tracking down her real parents only to realise her life is fine the way it is. The shoot and edit for this project went far more smoothly than the documentary with very few issues or problems to overcome.

I feel that one of the more successful areas for our documentary was the amount of planning that we carried out prior to the Liverpool shoot. We were able to secure with relative ease, interviews and contributors to carry the film and we had a very clear plan of how we were going to spend our time. We managed to stick to this plan until the camera we were filming on died and we were left struggling to find a solution. This meant that we lost out on a day of filming and were forced to borrow a course mates DSLR (which, unfortunately none of us had experience using). To avoid this problem on future shoots I intend to make sure that we bring a second camera as back up. I feel that more time and thought however, was needed for our questions; we had not thought out our script thoroughly enough and as such, struggled to get the answers and responses we were looking for from our contributors (many questions yielded closed answers or dead ends). We did however address this issue for our re shoot and collectively came up with and organised more than forty questions to ask Vanessa, resulting in a much better exploration of her story and influences. Whilst our reshoot ran far smoother than our initial attempt, it was not without flaws, due to the short time period we had to film in we struggled to find quiet locations to conduct our interview in. We settled for a shoot at the docks which, although produced aesthetically pleasing footage, was slightly too busy a location and as such we frequently had to stop the interview to let the public pass. We also only managed to film Vanessa in one location which was not an ideal arrangement. I do however, feel we managed to obtain some great footage, given the short notice of the re-shoot.

Once again the drama shoot ran far more smoothly, with very few issues to speak of. I am proud of all the footage taken outside of the house and feel that it looks very professional. I also feel that the transition between static and handheld camera work, was pulled off successfully. I did however struggle whilst filming the interior shots, as thin clouds on the day meant constantly changing light levels. This presented me with a problem as, mid way through a take the sun would come out and overexpose the footage forcing us to undergo multiple takes. I spent the first day of filming battling with the light to obtain the right level of exposure and unfortunately some of the footage came out slightly under exposed. However whilst this was a problem it was a relatively minor issue and was easily fixed in the edit.

As aforementioned, we encountered an unbelievable array of problems whilst filming the Liverpool documentary. First of all being our faulty sony Z1; whilst filming the battery would suddenly die despite claiming to have full charge. We managed to work with the issue for the best part of the first day, eventually however, the camera packed up altogether in the middle of an interview forcing us to prematurely cancel the day's shoot. Not only did this mean we lost out on one of our main interviews, we were also left without a camera for the remaining two days. We were debating returning to Sheffield in order to procure a second camera; an endeavor that would have meant forfeiting a second days filming. Luckily we were giving a group's spare DSLR and we managed to film the rest of the shoot on that. This was not without problems however, our inexperience with the camera meant we struggled to obtain some of the wide angle establishing shots we were hoping to get and we collectively spent a fortune on memory cards as we were filming on an incredibly memory intensive setting without realising. Other issues arose when we returned to do the edit; we realised that not only had our Z1 died it had also chewed the tape up so that it would repeatedly jump when we attempted to capture the footage from it. This meant that large chunks of our interviews had been lost and we would have to edit around the problem. Despite this issue, we managed to put together a rough cut that we were all pleased with, enter our next problem; the hard drive with our marantz recordings on inexplicably stopped working and was unfixable. This meant that we had the remainder of our rushes, but no sound to accompany them, rendering them useless (we attempted to use camera sound but the quality was far too poor and at times incomprehensible). This build up of technical issues left us without any kind of presentable film at the time of the deadline, luckily we were granted an extension meaning we could attempt to salvage the situation. After racking our brains for a solution we were unable to produce anything from the footage of our first shoot. This lead us to the decision of organising a reshoot. We carefully planned the second shoot and gained all the footage we needed in one day leaving us a couple of days for the edit. Unfortunately another issue with sound arose as our recordings had been compressed into mp3 format, meaning they sounded tinny and, ultimately unusable. This time however we learned from our mistakes and set the levels on the internal mic of the Z1 as a backup. Whilst the sound quality is not perfect as a result of this, it is a vast improvement on our original shoot. On an additional note, I feel that perhaps our greatest problem was the shortage of personnel in our group; we were two people short, forcing an increased work load upon us. Whilst we all attempted to put in equal amounts of work I feel that myself and Nathan carried the project as we did almost all of the camera work and the entirety of the edit between us. This hefty work load put a great strain on the two of us, however I feel we overcame the problem and put in an extraordinary amount of effort to salvage the project. As such the documentary provided me with an invaluable learning experience and I feel far better equipped to overcome future challenges.

We were faced with far fewer issues whilst filming our drama thankfully, however, a couple of issues with planning acted as a small hindrance. We were unable to procure a second female actress to play the part of Sammy's mother and as such were forced to shoot from the character's point of view out of the door. This was not a huge problem however as the initial plan was to show the character from an over the shoulder shot and never show her face. Other small issues in terms of planning meant that we had to record voice-overs for both Sammi's real mother and her foster parent at a later date. We were very well equipped for the shoot as well, bringing a spare camera, a shoulder mount and dolly tracks in order to produce smooth footage. Another small issue came from a fault on my behalf (as cinematographer), I was unaware whilst filming that my reflection was visible in the opening reverse tracking shot, thankfully Matt was able to blur this out in the edit however.

It is my opinion that our documentary is a mixed bag in terms of strengths and weaknesses due to the rushed nature of the final cut. I feel that we managed to capture some very aesthetically pleasing footage on the day, despite the adverse weather conditions and as such came back with a nice array of establishing shots and cut always that really aid the film. The edit however, was slightly choppy and noticeably rushed at times; we had a couple of false finishes and perhaps some of the images did not match the verbal content (this was mainly due to the lack of time). Other issues with the edit arose when we realised that some of our footage was very slightly under exposed due to the poor lighting on the day, I feel that we managed to colour correct and saturate the footage so that it was more pleasing on the eye, however, some of the interview footage clearly looks over colour corrected which detracts from the interview slightly. I do however, feel that we managed to tell Vanessa's story in a fairly coherent and succinct manner and the changes in composition during the interview work effectively in combination with some smooth L and J cuts that we had learned about in a seminar. The films biggest issue comes in the form of sound; we realised after returning from the second shoot, that the marantz had not been set up correctly and as such all of our recordings from the day had been compressed into a tinny mp3 format. We were forced to use camara sound (which we cleaned up in soundtrack pro) as a result of this, but the quality is noticeably poor.

I feel that the drama film is a fairly strong piece of work; we explored our key theme successfully and I am pleased with the camera work. I do think we should have found an actress to play Sammy's real mother in order to play up the fact that she is an inferior option to her adopted parents (this may have helped contribute to the theme of identity). Other smaller issues can be found in the films lighting; we brought dedo lights with us in order to obtain control over brightness, however we were completely at the mercy of ever changing weather conditions and as such, some of the footage is slightly under-exposed and grainy or a little too bright. I do not feel this detracts from the narrative however.

I think we worked very well as a group as we were all friends prior to the shoot. This provided a warm chemistry that I feel made our actress comfortable in turn. I enjoyed working with this group and think that we performed in a very professional manor; all evenly contributing and working as a team. We all attended preliminary meetings and performed well on set and I feel that is is reflected in our finished film. 

We are very happy with the way in which the film was received when we presented it yesterday. I feel that all the hard work the group has put into the project has paid off and the film is a brilliant note to end the year on. We have taken on board the criticism that Sammy's mum and foster mum don't sound connected to the film and it is worth re-recording their voices. It also became clear that we should have done more with the scene in which Sammy meets her real mum as the voice-over slightly detracts from the pivotal moment. Overall I am extremely pleased with the way in which the film has turned out and really enjoyed working with this group.

The Shoot

Overall the shoot ran incredibly smoothly, having storyboarded and planned out the day very carefully as a group, I had a very clear idea of what I needed to do and how to film each scene. Everyone was incredibly helpful on set and helped me quickly learn how to properly use a DSLR (this was the first time I had used on to film with) and everyone pulled their weight on the day. The only issue I faced as camera man was the constantly chancing light levels, which unfortunately meant that some of the interior shots are grainy and underexposed (an error on my part).

The above three photos depict the process of capturing one of our dolly shots. These were the most logistically difficult shots to obtain as they meant blocking off a road to capture. We therefore stationed someone at either side of the road to usher cars away whilst we quickly set up the tracks and took the shots. Whilst this process was very difficult and hurried it produced a really smooth, visually pleasing shot that I am very proud of. 

Storyboard

Because of the complexity of making a drama film, we decided it would be beneficial if we met and created a detailed storyboard and shot list prior to filming. We spent a long time deliberating over the best way to capture each of the films motions; a process that has made my role as cameraman a much easier task, I have time to prepare and practice some of the more complex shots prior to the shoot. This process should also make the day's filming run far more smoothly and should maximise our efficiency on set.

Inspiration

To prepare myself for the shoot, Brock has asked me to watch La Haine and in order to gain a better understanding of the feel and aesthetic style he wishes to achieve.

La Haine is a powerful example of French cinema shot in its entirety in black and white. The story follows three young men and the time they spent in a French 'ghetto'. I personally found this film a great source of inspiration and intend to emulate some of the fluid camera work that Kassovitz demonstrates. There are frequent examples of 'dutch tilts' and unconventional camera angles, couple with smooth dolly and crane shots that give the film a dynamic and energetic feel; a style that should suit our film perfectly.

The script

As director Brock wrote a script which we all read through in one of the Library meetings, we began discussing any changes the script needed and were overall, very happy with Brock's work. We then read the script to our seminar group and received feedback and cues as to how to improve it. The final result is as follows:

Signed, Sealed and Undelivered
By 
Brock Neal-Roberts

Scene 1

Sammi is sitting on the curb opposite the house staring at an envelope in her hand, Sammi stares at the envelope for a few seconds and then suddenly looks up directly at the house.

Scene 2

The scene opens with Sammi asleep face down on her bed. Her room is slightly messy but nothing extreme. Next to her bed is a bedside table with a packet of fags and her mobile phone. She is sleeping in a white t shirt that is too big for her. Sammi has been out last night and is hungover when she wakes up. In the background there is the sound of her mum shouting at her to wake up.

Mum: Sammi, get up

No movement from Sammi

Mum: Sammi can you hear me?

Mums voice is louder this time, still no movement from sammi, Mum is shouting now

Mum: Samantha, will you PLEASE wake up?

Sammi now begins to wake up, with a disgruntled look like she does not know what has happened or where she is

Sammi: I’m up mum

Mum (shouting at her loudest): Sammi will you please…

Sammi (shouts back): Yes im up I heard you

Sammi now sits up in bed, hair messy and breathes out a big bit of air. She sits up in bed expressionless for a few seconds, then looks around the room until her gaze meets her phone. She reaches over and grabs her phone and begins to look at it for a few seconds before getting out of bed and making her way to the toilet. Once in the bathroom Sammi stares at herself in the mirror with a plain expression and a very gaunt stare. Sammis phone then rings. She answers and sits down on the toilet.

Sammi: Hello…yeah im alright…no I just got up…I wasn’t that drunk last night…I don’t know I just felt like having a couple of drinks…no, I remember everything about yesterday…I can’t today ive got something to do…no you cant come…alright speak to you later

Sammi hangs up then gets up off the toilet and leaves the bathroom and goes back into her room. She gets dressed and puts on some make up, she does all this in a very ceremonial fashion. Sammi looks under her bed as soon as she gets back into her room then looks away again. After she has got dressed and is halfway through putting on some mascara she looks under her bed again and then goes and reaches under her bed and pulls out a plain white envelope and holds it in her hand for a few seconds then stands up and puts it on her desk. She then carries on putting her make up on. Sammi then grabs her jacket and then slowly takes the envelope off the desk walks out of her room and the front door. Once outside of the front door she lights up a fag and walks away from the house and towards the bus stop.

Scene 3

The scene opens with Sammi just about to get on a bus. After she has got onto the bus she goes and sits on the back by the window and stares out of the window for a few seconds before pulling the white envelope out of her pocket, she opens the unsealed envelope and slowly and very carefully opens the paper from inside. After looking over the contents of the piece of paper she then puts it back into the envelope and her phone rings. She then pulls out her phone and answers whilst holding the envelope in the other hand and staring at it.

Sammi (quiet, muffled tone): hello…what do you want...I’m out…no im not doing that for you…just get mum to do it…of course she would do it…yeah but shes your real mum not mine that’s why...look I haven’t got time for this…yeah ill see you later

Sammi now tucks the envelope back into her pocket and puts her phone away and then begins to nervously play with her lighter, sparking it on and off. She then takes a deep breath and lets out a big exhale of air and looks out the window, watching what is going on outside.

Scene 4

The scene opens with Sammi sat on the pavement out side a house. She is staring at the house blankly with her hands tucked between her legs. She then pulls the envelope out of her pocket and looks at the paper from inside the envelope. She then looks at the house number and back at the piece of paper. Sammi now tucks the envelope away into her pocket and gets up slowly and walks to the front door of the house opposite her. When she gets to the front door she looks up at it, almost as if it is looming over her. She then knocks on the door and takes a step back and crosses her arms. A woman opens the door. There is a brief silence that last for a few seconds before Sammi says something.

Sammi (nervously): hi…is Cathy in?

Cathy: yes im Cathy what do you want?

Sammi is now giving a look of subdued shock and has fallen silent again

Cathy: look are you selling something?

Sammi:…erm no…no im not

Cathy (slightly annoyed): well what do you want…I cant stand here all day ive got my kids to look after you know?

Sammi: oh…im really sorry I think I have the wrong house

Cathy closes the door and Sammi turns and walks away at a slowish pace. She then goes and sits on the pavement round the corner of the house an pulls out the envelope. She then licks and seal the previously unsealed envelope and pulls out her lighter and begins to burn the envelope from the corner, she waits until half the envelope is burnt before chucking it down by her feet and then standing up and walking off.

Scene 5

The scene opens with Sammi lying on her bed looking up to the ceiling. She is still fully clothed and sat on top of the duvet. In the backround you can hear the sound of her mum shouting to her.

Mum: Sammi are you hungry?

Sammi: No mum Im fine

Mum: okay, well give me a shout if you need anything okay?

Sammi now turns on her side on the bed and lets out a small smile

Sammi(quietly) : Thanks mum

ideas pitch

Initial Ideas

We met up in the library in order to discuss initial ideas for our film and to begin to develop and flesh them out. From this meet two strong ideas emerged which are as follows:

idea 1: the first idea revolves around a character (most likely in their late teens or early twenties) who, on their everyday routine, passes a house and slowly tries to build up the courage to knock on the door. as the film unfolds the viewer will realise that the character is in fact adopted and the house she approaches belongs to her real parents.

idea 2: This idea revolves around the relationship between good and evil. The film will follow a character who throughout the projects duration will seem unlike able until a revelation in the final act that changes the viewers perception of the protagonist.

The making of Le Miroir

The Making of Le Miroir 

After posting about Le Miroir I was interested as to how they achieved the mirror affect that works so succinctly throughout the film. I therefore began searching for some answers and found this making of video that documents the process of the films construction. Through this I discovered that doubles were in fact used, which explains why the hands in the foreground of the image don't always match the reflections movements. The film also showed footage of floor plans and the pre-production planning process which I found particularly interesting. I intend to use this level of preparation and professionalism in my own drama film. 

Le Miroir

Le Miroir

Le Miroir  is a French short film by directors Ramon and Pedro. The film cleverly documents the progression of a man's life from childhood to adult hood through pov glances in his bathroom mirror. A clever concept, Le Miroir tells its narrative purely through visuals with little to no dialogue at all; we watch as the character picks spots, shaves for the first time and separates from his wife, all through his bathroom mirror.

It is hard to tell how the logistics of the concept work; perhaps the directors used doubles behind a pane of glass, guised as a mirror, or maybe they used cgi to enhance the visual. The edit is so smooth and seamless that it is hard to tell. What is obvious however is that the story is progressed through clever use of ambient sound effects and performance, subtle faces twitches speak more for Le Miroir than any dialogue could.

There is a lot to learn from this film and a lot that I can apply to my own drama piece. For example the film acts as a demonstration that dialogue is not essentially and that a story can be just as powerful when told through performance and visuals alone. This may be beneficial for our film as we do not intend to include a huge amount of dialogue. 

Sign Language

Sign Language

Sign language is a warming short film by director Oscar Sharp that follows Ben, who's living out his last day working in 'urban semiotics' (sign holding to you and me). We witness as Oscar displays subtle social nuances through low-key performances, as Ben explains his relationship with each of his co-workers and cast awkward glances at Anya who spurs Ben to contemplate the 'beauty right under our noses'.

This feel good short relies upon our relationship with Ben and as such dedicates a large amount of screen time and close-ups to the endearing sign holder. Ben talks directly into the camera, almost mimicking documentary and as such creates an intimate bond between himself and the viewer, making it all the more up-lifting when, spurred on by his co-workers, he builds up the courage to speak to Anya. Sharp's decision to shoot guerilla style with free hand camera work only aides the building intimacy, and further contributes to the documentary feel of the film, whilst providing an engaging energy that makes the film feel lively and fun. I intend to bear in mind how effective free hand camera work can be, if done correctly, for my drama film.

I feel the film's sound is a particularly strong asset to this short as great care has been put into getting the levels of atmos and street sounds perfect so that they compliment (and do not detract) from Ben's monologuing. Great attention to this area was clearly needed as the film is very dialogue based (any cutaways are designed to match Ben's speech) and a mistake in sound design could potentially negate the film's meaning.

Whilst the film explores a very clear story in a coherent manor it could be deduced that Oscar's short in fact implies the importance of semiotics in film (Ben actively encourages us to look deeper at life after all), with a constantly reoccurring motif of signs (both physical and social). This implied meaning is crafted through the implementation of carefully designed mise-en-scene, an area we will have to think carefully about in our short film.

In all this is a very likeable, warming piece of work that is extremely well produced; there is a lot that our group can take from this piece to benefit our own. 

Roles

We recently decided on our roles which are as follows:

Director: Brock Neal-Roberts

Producer: Dillan Dattani

Camera: Chris Kenward 

Sound Recordist: James Dolan

Editor: Matt Browne 

Sound Editor: Matt Brunton

I chose to undertake the role of camera because I wanted a less stressful task after the Liverpool documentary which was riddled with problems from the beginning. I feel I learned a lot about directing from the documentary project and would like to further develop my camera skills on a creative task.

Drama Film

Drama Film

Our latest project is to create a five minute drama film; a task which I am greatly looking forward to as I am relatively inexperienced in this genre and am viewing this as a chance to further develop my film making skills. We will be expanding on the brief 'journey' which I am excited about as I feel this task gives us far more creative freedom than our previous projects. 

I feel this project will present a few difficulties that may provide the group with various challenges to overcome. For example casting our actor/actress may be a difficult process. On top of this our film will require a much more in depth level of planning than the documentary and as such we will have to meet regularly to plan and storyboard.

Over all I am excited to begin working on this project and feel that if we work well as a team we can produce a successful piece of work that we can all be proud of. 

The Edit

The Edit 

In order to maximize the efficiency of the edit Nathan and I worked closely together, providing creative input in organising answers and fillers. We quickly completed an assembly because we had a very clear idea of where to take the film. We had learnt from previous projects that carefully planning out the edit before beginning is the best way to create a coherent film.

After assembling the footage we moved on to the rough cut, in which we finalised the order of our footage and started to trim clips down to the appropriate size.

rough cut:

In order to meet the quickly approaching deadline Nathan and I shared the work load evenly between us, we decided that he should do the sound and I should start the fine cut.

I trimmed all of the clips into the exact length and placed any fades that were required onto the footage. Due to the poor weather conditions the majority of our rushes looked very dull or under exposed, to rectify this I used the colour correction tool to raise the whites and mids, as well as to adjust the saturation in order to give the film a much more vibrant and lively look.

The only post production issue we faced is that we had made the simple error of recording with incorrect settings on the marantz, this meant that our marantz recordings sounded tinny and unpleasant which meant, as a last resort we were forced to use camera sound. This is an issue that can easily be avoided in future shoots by carefully checking all of the settings before recording. Unfortunately the sound quality is fairly poor as a result of this (although Nathan did to a fantastic job touching up the camera sound to a usable quality). This I feel is the biggest problem with our film. I am pleased with the quality of shots and general feel of the film however and am very proud that we managed to film and edit such a daunting project in such a small period of time. This has been an invaluable leaning experience for me as it has taught me a great deal about how to deal with any issues that I may encounter as this project has been riddled with frustrating problems from beginning to end.

The Re-Shoot

The Re-Shoot

We decided in a group meeting that myself, Edgar and Nathan would return to Liverpool to shoot our new idea: a study of an aspiring singer songwriter. We arrived early in the morning to begin our filming, unfortunately the weather was incredibly poor; it did not stop raining all day. This was the first time any of us had filmed in adverse weather conditions but I feel that we managed to cope with this issue very professionally. We bought an umbrella to cover the camera whilst setting up and recording and rapped the Z1 in a plastic carrier bag to prevent the rain from damaging it. However, on occasion the rain became so heavy that we could not keep it off the lens, meaning we had to stop filming frequently and wipe the camera down. I do feel however we used the rain to our advantage, by creating some moody compositions to match any deep or personal answers we obtained from Vanessa. We also managed to focus pull off the heavy rain onto a statue in one of our finer compositions.

Luckily the weather was the only major issue we faced on our re-shoot; we had carefully planned out or time and managed to obtain all of the shots we needed. We spent the morning filming establishers and fillers around church street and the docks, then met Vanessa at three and used the remainder of the day capturing an in depth interview with her. Our interviewee gave some interesting answers and provided two impressive musical performances so we left confidant that we had done a good job.

Due to our careful planning and successful execution we managed to come away from Liverpool with over 50 minutes of good quality footage, 30 of which being the interview. 

The Re-think

The Re-Think

After coming to terms with loosing all of our work we met as a group to discuss the best plan of action. We were luckily granted an extension which meant that we may still be able to salvage the project. It was the general consensus that we would not be able to re shoot our first idea in time due to the high amount of contributors it would require. We therefore decided to change our idea and focus entirely on Vanessa Murray who said she would be willing to let us interview her in greater depth than before. As such we formulated a new shot list and plan for the day and I wrote up a large list of questions to ask that would give us an in depth insight into the world of an aspiring artist.

email re-establishing contact with Vanessa

Treatment:

The Treatment:

Our 5 minute documentary will be on the life and story of Vanessa Murray, who is a young, aspiring musician in Liverpool, and her slow rising into the Liverpool music scene. We will be focusing on her past and how she fell in love with music, as well as how and what she is currently doing to live her dream and fulfil her passion to be a professional musician. We will also reference past achievements, her opinions on her career in relation to the city itself, and the pubic/worlds opinion on it as a way of life.
We will be doing this by doing an extensive interview with her asking her pre planned questions which will hopefully allow her to open up and give a passionate, honest, and interesting response to each of them and we will also inviting her to give us a few live performances of original songs that she has written and performed herself before to many people, and get the background on the making of them.


Planning:

We only had one day to re shoot our film due to the high cost of accommodation and train tickets and as such carefully planned out where and when we would be shooting using our knowledge of Liverpool from the previous shoot. We also decided that we would take out two cameras, a sony Z1 and a DSLR and made sure that we had spare equipment in case we were unfortunate enough to suffer from another faulty camera. We checked the weather forecast and discovered that it would be raining solidly throughout the day. This factor spurred us to make the decision to bring a DSLR as the sony Z1 tends to struggle in poor light conditions. However, once again we were unlucky in that the were no cannons available meaning we had to film solely with the Z1. 

The new shot list:

New questions to ask Vanessa: 

Post Production

Post Production Issues

Despite all of the technical issues we faced during our shoot in Liverpool I still felt confidant that we could produce an impressive film. We transcribed our interviews so that we could find any patterns on our interviewee's answers and match them together in the edit.

Short hand transcription of the Spanish band's interview

Short hand transcription of Vanessa's interview

However we soon realised as we attempted to capture the footage with a tape deck, that not only had the camera packed in, it had also chewed up the tape. This meant that we had essentially lost our interview with the faces of disco and most of our establishing shots. This meant that we were forced to reconsider the edit to get around our lack of footage. Despite this glitch we still managed to create a rough cut that we were all very pleased with. This, however was also short lived as the hard drive we were editing from soon broke, leaving us with footage but no sound, leaving it unusable.  

Filming Issues

Issues whilst filming (first shoot)

Due to the amount of planning, prior to our shoot, everything should have run smoothly. However, we encountered multiple issues that meant that this was not the case. On the first day of filming we discovered that our Sony Z1was faulty; it would allow us to film for a few minutes at a time before a battery error message appeared and the camera would shut down. We returned to the hostel to charge the batteries the first time we encountered this issue, however the problem persisted as we continued to film. Eventually we realised it was potentially due to a faulty connection between the battery and the camera, however there was nothing we could do to resolve the issue, save from returning to Sheffield and collecting another camera (an undertaking that would consume far too much time). Due to this issue we were forced to finish filming early on the first day and as such missed out on obtaining some establishing shots and an interview we had planned to obtain on that day. We did however, manage to film some of our interview with 'the faces of disco' before the problem arose.

To solve the faulty camera issue we managed to obtain a course mates cannon DSLR, which meant that we didn't have to abandon the project as a result of loosing the Z1. Whilst this allowed us to continue filming, it was not without its own problems. Firstly none of us had used a DSLR before and as such were unfamiliar with its settings. We began filming and promptly realised that it was not storing the footage we were collecting. Being inexperienced with this camera it took us a while to work out that we were using the wrong type of memory card. As such were forced to buy a new card and started our shoot again properly. I feel I adapted well to the camera and quickly learned how to make the most of the DSLR's capabilities and limitations. For example we used the camera's excellent depth of focus to great affect and produced some very striking compositions. We did however struggle to obtain the establishing shots were hoping for due to the new camera's poor zoom. I feel we managed to obtain some high quality footage however, despite our inexperience. Another issue we faced due to our inexperience was the problem of memory; throughout the day we were forced multiple times, to stop shooting and buy new memory cards (a problem we had not encountered before because we had only ever filmed using tape). We then realised this problem was occurring because we were filming in a incredibly high, memory intensive frame rate, this is an issue I now have the skill set to avoid on future shoots.

Another issue we faced as a result of loosing the Z1 affected the film's sound. We had originally planned to attach a rifle mic to the camera when recording our interviews, however we did not have an adaptor for the cannon and as such were forced to use the marantz as we had the appropriate xlr lead. Whilst this was not a massive problem it did give us an extra job whilst editing, as we had to synch the sound to the video at a later stage.

Perhaps the biggest mistake made on this shoot was the decision to not always shoot using a tripod; our multiple set backs meant that we were behind schedule and as such we often rushed to set up the camera without using the tripod. On reflection this was a very poor decision on my behalf as it meant that a lot of our shots at the docks were very shaky. I have taken this as a learning process though and will take extra care to set up the tripod properly on future shoots, especially when using the zoom.  

Preparation

Preparation

As preparation for our documentary myself and the group are meeting frequently to establish contacts to meet with through out our stay in Liverpool. We have managed to secure an interview with a local singer song writer called Vanessa Murray via her Facebook page. George also managed to get an interview with a pair of street performers called 'the faces of disco' by calling a number we found on their website. Another interviewee we have found comes in the form of a member of 'the hope street band' who have managed to become successful through their music after starting off as buskers. Hopefully these contacts will provide rich and interesting answers that will allow us to paint a broad picture of the many back stories of Liverpool's street performers.

Vanessa's facebook fan page:
www.facebook.com/vanessamurraymusic

Faces of disco act:

We also decided in one of our meetings that we will devote the first day of filming to finding more buskers on the streets and interviewing them impromptu, as well as hopefully establishing more contacts. We have checked the weather forecast which promises to be sunny and I have been assured by many people who reside in Liverpool that there are an incredibly large amount of buskers in Liverpool city centre. As such I am confidant that we will be able to obtain enough usable footage from our shoot.

A problem we all face however, is that none of the group have been to Liverpool before and as such may encounter difficulties in finding areas with a high amount of buskers. This is a problem we solved by using google streetview; through which we discovered that church street is the most busy location, and thus the most likely to contain buskers in Liverpool. We also used street view to find architecturally interesting locations to film at.  

Schedule:

All of this preparation should ensure that we will make the most of our short amount of time and that filming will run smoothly.  

Role As Director

My Role As Director 

I put myself forward for the role of director because I felt I could take the film in an interesting direction and explore the lives of buskers in an interesting way. As director it will be my job to meet frequently with Goerge (the producer) to find and create contacts to interview prior to filming. I will also provide a large amount of creative in put into the film's camera work and general aesthetic. During the editing process I intend to work closely with Nathan and pass notes with him to make sure the film is heading in the right direction. I'm looking forward to this process as I am yet to direct a project this large and am hoping to gain a lot of experience from it.  

Roles

Roles

In order to make the production process easier we are all taking designated roles for our film. I wanted to be the director because I felt I had a clear idea of where to take the film and I aspire to be one in later life so I need all the practice I can get.

Director: Chris Kenward

Producer: George Hundu

Camera: Edgar Kyebanakalonga

editor: Nathan Harkin

We do however, face an issue due to the size of our group; we have two few crew members. This problem will mean that we will have to share the role of sound recordist and sound editor between us in order to maximize efficiency throughout the project. This lack of crew will also mean that we will have to work as hard as possible in Liverpool and help each other out in our respective roles, hopefully by distributing the work load we will be able to create a successful piece of work.

Pitch

Pitch

After formulating my own ideas, I met up with the group to collaborate. We all brought our individual thoughts to the table and decided to pitch the radio presenters and busking ideas as we felt they were the most original. During this meeting we honed the details of these ideas and began  shaping them into a pitch to present to the class.

here are a few slides from the pitch:

Initial ideas

Initial Ideas

Having very little prior knowledge of Liverpool, I decided to carry out a large amount of research into its history. Naturally this research lead me to the Beatles and the Hillsborough disaster. I felt, however that both of these topics already have an extensive body of work dedicated to them, and that I would not be able to produce any new or interesting insights into them. I therefore decided to alter my approach to researching Liverpool and called a friend who is currently living there in order to obtain a first hand insight into the city. This unearthed multiple ideas, one of the best being a 'fly on the wall' style documentary, following the daily routines of two local radio presenters and their passion for their job. Another idea this call produced was to create a film about buskers; my friend mentioned that there are many of them in Liverpool. I therefore decided to look into the topic further, this lead to me discovering that in august 2012 Liverpool city council attempted to pass a legislation that would severely restrict street performers' creative rights. I felt that this would provide an original and creative idea for a film and as such started to write up a pitch.  

The Archive

The Archive Analysis

In this short documentary director Saun Dunne provides the viewer with an intimate insight into the weird and wonderful world of Paul Mawhinney; owner of the worlds largest record collection. At over one million records experts estimate the collection's worth to be of more than 50 million dollars.

The film provides a touching depiction of a man's struggle to maintain his business in an era that's relentlessly forcing its way into the new technological age. Dunne uses intimate interviews, captured in a range of close to medium shots, with the films focal character to tug on our heart strings. He confides the highs and lows of his collection from start to finish, first presenting himself as an eccentric, then as a troubled enthusiast, genuinely upset by the potential loss of his beloved archive. Near the films final act we discover that the collection, worth 50 million dollars is up for sale for a meagre three million. The film therefore transgresses from an in depth look into the life of Paul Mawhinney, to an allegory of the changing times and the massive detrimental effect that the electronic age has on the record industry.

Particularly effective is the director's decision to never leave the archive and thus never distract the viewer from the films touching message. This combined with the choice to situate every interview within Mawhinney's office, ensure that the archive is a coherent, intelligent work of non-fiction. I intend to take inspiration from Dunne's compositions during the film's interviews as I feel the use of mid-shots with minimal empty space provide a pleasing aesthetic that suits the documentary's mood.    

Gypsy Blood

Gypsy Blood Analysis

'Fred, he'll come to you in your dreams, he's a raving lunatic and he's not a man to mess with'.

Its a bright and sunny day in rural England, the ocean blue sky interspersed only with the occasional cloud as the sun beams down on a shambolic camp site; 'its a perfect day for a fight'. The camera shakes frantically as it tries to keep up with a congregation of sportswear clad locals as they power through the litter strewn site into a hard concrete drive. Above the chaos we hear a non diegetic voice over, taken from an interview with one of the titular gypsies; 'its a lovely thing to see, that there is still men out there who'll have a fair fight'. A brief gap in speech ensues, giving the oxymoron time to linger and then hell breaks loose; two men begin swinging frantically at one another, with a scary precision. There's a sickly crunch as clenched fist meets cheek and one of the men drops to the floor, the tone has been set for Leo Maguire's observational documentary: Gypsy Blood.

The film follows two families, The Doherty's (who are Irish traveller royalty) and the Buthchers who's children fear for their fathers life as they are torn between two worlds. Throughout its one hour twelve minute run time, the documentary provides the viewer with a harrowing study of masculinity, violence and the lengths to which people will go to protect their family name. The film doesn't glamorises the traveller's visceral lifestyle, nor does it provide a damning indictment of their way of life, it remains impartial and shadows the two families giving us an intricate portrait of the turmoil that their actions create. The graphic and shocking on screen violence is punctuated by cut aways to rich, warm nature shots, often scattered with lense flare, almost making the violence more guttural when compared to scenes of such overbearing beauty and purity.

Throughout the film's run time we are provided with a very intimate relationship with the two families through frequent interviews captured in medium shots, it is through these moments that we are provided with a close, almost voyeuristic insight into the their worlds. We are told by a child of only seven that he is terrified that his father will one day be killed as a result of their culture; an admition that is starkly juxta posed by a similar interview with a child of another family who can't wait to grow up and fight for his family name. Its a concept that is hard to understand and leaves the viewer feeling incredibly uneasy as we witness first hand the innocence of a small child being drained away by his overpowering culture and reckless need to fight for his family name. One particularly disturbing scene shows the child in a fist fight with another youngster as they mercilessly beat one another in a battle we are told raged on for almost three quarters of an hour. Combine this with frequent scenes of cruelty towards animals and drunken brawls and you're dealing with a very challenging film that holds no punches with its approach to portraying the gypsy culture.

The film culminates in an excruciatingly painful scene to watch as Fred Butcher graphically bottles a man in the street and is mown down by a group of rivals wielding machetes as a result. A scene made even more gut-wrenching as the film has forced us to empathise with his son who is constantly admitting to his fears of such an event happening. Its not long after that the film ends and the credits roll, leaving the viewer stunned as the images and opinions slowly sink in. Gypsy Blood is a documentary that has been masterfully pieced together; beautiful wide shots of scenery intersperse graphic violence, captured up close with shaky camera work, whilst all the while we are provided with contrasting opinions from interviews with the family's children and adults.

There is a lot to be taken away from this documentary aside from its powerful moral message, its style and form have provided a great deal of inspiration for my documentary. For example the film has taught me that cleverly crafted questions are essential, and that mixing sections of interviews together creates a powerful impact and coherence.