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.