Drama: Reflective Evaluation and Final Cuts

Watching our film in the presentation highlighted a few factors that I personally would change and what I was and wasn’t happy about during the pre-production and production. The film itself is not what we initially intended to produce; due to a lack of scheduling and unavailability of actresses, the film had to be changed dramatically. The original idea was for the main protagonist, Emily, to have lost her hearing, see the doctor several times and meet the deaf girl Sam. With the complications that occurred, the film had to be stripped to the basic backbone of the narrative, which in my opinion worked in the final edit but was not what we had originally wanted to do.

The strengths of our film is that we managed to show the use of emotion via visual aspects; with sharp focus, shallow depth of field, accurate and visually pleasing locations we managed to highlight the emotions of the main protagonist with clean professional style footage. I feel this helps hold the interest of the audience by being visually pleasing to control the audience perspective of what we want to show, the emotion.

The weaknesses I feel that is present in this film is the lack of a strong flowing narrative. Although each shot and scene reveals key information, the film tends to jump through time without really flowing or connecting these factors to the point it gets a little confusing. As well as some key factors was not shown such as how Emily met Sam.

The group came up with several strong narratives for this project but we decided to go with Ellie’s idea of a young girl that suddenly loses her hearing and is left completely deaf and how he copes with it. We felt this was a strong and interesting idea. We started working on the paperwork dividing the pre-production work between us fairly based on who had what role in the group.

When we first started filming for the 2 minute only half the production work was done as the member of our team that was the producer was meant to have our schedules for filming sorted but it wasn’t. The rest of us took the initiative to contact and work with the actresses ourselves. This resulting in a rushed production for the two minute but that resulted in a strong film although the producer did not show up for the shoot.

We then moved on to do the 5-10 minute film and found out the same situation had occurred with the producer not provided the work they was meant to. When we contacted the actresses for their schedule we found out that they had no clue about the days we was meant to film and had to back out due to them having their own deadlines. We were forced to act in our own due to of the lack of scheduling and communication. We had to rewrite the narrative for this film as we did not have the time, actors/actresses or locations to create the original narrative. Instead we had to strip the narrative to its bare fundamentals, which turned out to be a collection of scenes with key points that in my personal opinion did not flow as good as it could have done. With less than half a week to film and edit myself, Ellie and Brendan worked extremely hard long days to film and edit the production with a disturbing amount of lack of sleep. This resulted in me having shakes due to lack of energy. I am proud of the final edit although I am also disheartened that it wasn’t what we initially strived to achieve.

As the producer was also our sound editor we trusted them to get the work done and they didn’t show up for any shooting apart from one night which was scrapped due to her private schedule. Sadly with little effort and excuses they did little work and Brendan had to deal with the problem himself.  We managed to get the film edited in time but had issues with the export, which left us exporting in the presentation and was forced to present last.

This project has allowed me to work under extreme pressure in terms of reasonability and time management by myself and within my team. I feel that I have improved my skills to work in a team as well as my putting into practice my editing and cinematography skills to produce a clean, professional looking film.  I believe this has help my employability as it has provided me with a visually strong film to add to my portfolio and is evidence of everything going wrong every step of the way through production yet with hard work and dedication from amazing team members you can create something really good.

Final Cuts

Aid. (2 Minute Short)



Aid. (2 Minute Short) from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.


Aid. (5-10 Minute Short)


Aid. (5-10 Minute Short) from Eleanor Hague on Vimeo.

Drama: Aid. - Pre-Production and Post-Production Documents

Pre-Production (2 Minute Short)

• Treatment
  Myself and Ellie co-wrote the treatment for the 2 Minute Short.
• Outline
  Myself and Ellie wrote the outline together for this 2 Minute short based off the treatment.
• Notes on Style
  Me and Ellie co-wrote the notes and ideas of the cinematography and editing style as well as notes on the style of the sound in collaboration with Brendan.

Pre-Production (5-10 Minute Short)

• Treatment
  Ellie wrote the majority of the treatment for the 5-10 Minute Short and I write the last section titled 'Analysis of Approach'.
• Aid. - Script
  Myself, Ellie and Brendan co-wrote the script for the 5-10 Minute short film 'Aid.'.
• Notes on Style
  Me and Ellie co-wrote the notes and ideas of the cinematography and editing style as well as notes on the style of the sound in collaboration with Brendan.

Production and Post-Production

Production Props

• Doctor's Letter - Prop

Technical Details

• Production and Post-Production Equipment List for the 2 Minute Short 
  After discussing the equipment needed for this production, I made a list of the equipment needed for the shoot. I booked out the camera and lighting equipment and Brendan booked out the sound equipment.
• Production and Post-Production Equipment List for the 5-10 Minute Short
  After discussing the equipment needed for this production, I made a list of the equipment needed for the shoot. I booked out the camera and lighting equipment and Brendan booked out the sound equipment.

Drama: Text Analysis - Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics (Book)

I am using ‘Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetic’ written by Michael Rabiger and Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, to analyse for preparation for our short film because the chapter on Post production could greatly benefit me as an editor.  This book explains the different roles in the post production team and what each one does. 

“Postproduction is the phase in which the sound and picture gathered in production are transformed into the film seen by the audience.” (Hurbis-Cherrier & Rabiger, 2013, p. 417)

As an editor I will work with the director to construct a director’s cut of a film by building the film from raw footage shot during the production stage. The book talks about how a ‘good editor is patient, highly organized, willing to experiment endlessly...’  (Hurbis-Cherrier & Rabiger, 2013, p. 418) and to be diplomatic when it comes to getting his or hers way in the editing process. The problem that most editors face is trying to edit the footage to match what the screenplay and the director wants but can struggle to achieve this goal if the raw footage itself doesn’t support the events in the screenplay itself. This is when an editor must use his or hers best judgement to edit the film to the best of their abilities to get the film as close as they can to the desired cut.

The book also states ‘Editors can be private and uncommunicative while at work, obsessed with detail, and unable to leave well enough alone. The film industry saying, “Never trust an editor with a tan,” implies that good editors seldom leave their work.’ (Hurbis-Cherrier & Rabiger, 2013, p. 418) This means that a good editor will not leave his or hers work till the film in finished to perfection / the directors choice. Editors are obsessed with the fine details of the edit and will be so into their work they will end up cutting off the outside work till the film is done. On one hand this shows dedication and focus in working style, which I find I do myself. Although good communication is needed between the editor and the director to achieve the look, temp and structure that is desired for the film.

The communication between directors and editors is so important that good editors will get preferred by directors and will accompany them from film to film. Between these two roles will come forth a unique style to a film that will burn their essence in to the audiences mind. For example, Tim Burton and Christopher John  Lebenzon work together on almost every film together and has a strong working relationship. Sometimes during smaller productions, roles have to be doubled up and having to not only direct the production but to also edit during the post-production stage when you are worn out and even depressed after the grilling hour and effort of shooting the film can be very stressful.

This book has a lot of information that I find personally interesting about the role of editor and even several roles in the pre-production and post-production roles. This book will help me via my next projects as it will help me to clearly understand the roles on the teams and what is needed to become a great worker within these roles no matter the production I am working on.

Bibliography

• Hurbis-Cherrier, M., & Rabiger, M. (2013). Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics. Taylor and Francis.

Drama: Film Analysis - Feature and Short Film

Feature Film - Hush (2016)

‘Hush’ (2016) directed by Mike Flanagan, is a Horror/Thriller feature film about a deaf writer that lives in a small house in the woods to live a quite life and possibly write her next book. Late one night a masked killer finds his way to her house and she must survive by fighting him in silence. I personally feel that this film is must watch for 2016 as it has some great aspects which current and future filmmakers can learn from. For example, the soundscape used for this film is unique as it uses the aspect of deafness to make an interesting perspective of the main protagonist (Maddie, played by Kate Siegel). It feels like there is an extra layer to the sound of this film; obviously as filmmaker we want super crisp clean sound for our films but ‘Hush’ as this deeper world of sound, which highlights every factor of the mise-en-scene. This seems clever when placed next to the sound design used for the main protagonist’s perspective as everything seems muffled with a low-pass filter to create nothing but bass tones with a deep humming noise.

This noise in my opinion, creates this effect on my ears that in my mind makes me feel like I am in a bubble that is blocking the sounds around me. It feels like I can feel the vibrations of the sounds that my mind is trying to decode but I am not actually hearing it. This is an interesting effect that adds real sense of perspective that will integrate the audience in to the story on a much deeper level.

The use of the voice in her head gives a good way for us to not only hear the main protagonist but to help build her character profile and get a sense of her mind set. The many voices overlapping in her mind could represent the struggles she faces with sound and how she was able to hear before (hence the voice sounding like her mother) and how she now lives in a world of pure silence. This helps her further on in the film when she faces the masked killer but helping her figure out the best course of action to take; we see each possible scenarios which she conjures up in her of what might happen.

I feel this film has inspired me greatly for my own projects; the soundscape creates another level of storytelling which I feel is needed in a narrative that involves the main protagonist to be a hearing disability. I will definitely try to recreate these effects in my own work as well as adding my own twist on them. I also like the use of colour grading in ‘Hush’; the use of blue, orange and green in cold flat tones really created a natural soft look to the footage but still keeping the mood and narrative of the film in the essence of the colour tones. I will like to create the same effect within my own work.

Short Film - This Is Normal (2013)

‘This Is Normal’ (2013) directed by Justin Giddings and Ryan Welsh is a 20 minute short drama based on a young woman named Gwen (Ryann Turner). Gwen is deaf and has decided to have a medical procedure called ‘Cochlear Regeneration’ to regain her hearing. This short film follows Gwen’s journey from deafness to medical procedure to hearing again. The film also highlights the strain and benefits of her relationships with friends, family and her partner before, during and after the procedure. She then has to come to terms with the result as it isn’t what she was expecting and how she gets to hear her sister sing for the first time in her life. We see how people can be ignorant with the understanding of being deaf via her mother and an interesting twist with how her boyfriend feels about her getting the procedure. He himself is deaf and we learn he went to a deaf school, when Gwen went to a normal school. This creates a strain on their relationship as she feels along as she hasn’t had the right support with her deafness when he grew up in a school that is built around supporting him. He feels angry and cheated that she went behind his back to get tested and feels like she is leaving him behind by getting the procedure. This is interesting as we see someone with the same disability feel negative about someone he loves improving her life for the better as he feels that they are normal and do not need changing.

This film uses some good techniques to get the audience emotionally involved in the narrative and the main protagonist’s (Gwen) feelings. With heavy use of American Sign Language (ASL) at the beginning of the film, this is shown with subtitles to allow the audience to be involved in the conversations of the deaf characters. Also unique use of blurring words in the subtitles in the language the main protagonist is reading herself shows an interesting perspective. As the main protagonist is deaf and uses hearing aids to amplify her hearing ability as well as using the skill of lip reading, the blurring Subtitles on key words help us understand and learn with the main protagonist herself. As she is guessing what words mean and what is being said, we as the audience feel the same as we cannot see the word but assume due to the context what it is.

This film influenced my ideas as I love the use of subtitles within this film via speed, delivery and event the use of font to create emotion via the subtitles. Also, the way the narrative progresses is very soft and fluent with time jumps. This creates a nice flow for the audience to process the aspects and techniques used to communicate the emotions and situations. This film has a narrative relating to the narrative of our own film and will be the key inspiration to our final product as it shows a real and truthful perspective on this situation.

Bibliography

• Flanagan, M. (Director). (2016). Hush [Motion Picture].

• Giddings, J., & Welsh, R. (Directors). (2013). This Is Normal [Motion Picture].

Drama Evaluation and Final Cut

Evaluation (Drama)

Before this module, I have worked on several of my own films but with a small production crew of two to three people. I knew how to frame a shot and how to use editors but this project put all my knowledge to the test. Working in a group of seven with specific roles was a good experience for me to work with a large group of people on the same projects. Delegating work depended on key roles, which helped me focus on my role and to get the best performance from myself, my crew and actors. This module gave me the chance to try directing, which I found difficult. During the middle of this production, me and phil decided that because he wrote the script and I have more knowledge on editing that we would divide the roles of director and editor between us when needed. Phil would brief the actors and I would direct them on their performance, in regards to editing I would focus my time on colour correction, colour grading, re-framing and visual effects for titles and credits. This make workflow twice as fast and effective on set and in post. The first shoot on 13th April 2016 went well and we got some good shots. We edited the footage and after we created a rough cut and got feedback from our lecture, we did not get positive feedback so we discussed re-shooting. This disheartened the group but also gave us the mindset to make this film to the best of our abilities. We filmed the missing scenes on 27th April 2016 and we got some really good shots and performances from the actors and actresses. We then became ahead of schedule so we decided to redress the room and re-shoot the first two scenes we shot with better set design and lighting. After we got the footage in post, it was clear that re-shooting was the best idea we could have done as the footage came out perfect compared to the first shoot. The film was a challenged to edit as we filmed the entire film and finished the basic structure and colour correction and colour grade in less than 16 hours. After Phil finished the final rough cut, Brody got to work on the sound design that included clean dialogue, background noise, sound effects and music which really blend all the elements of the film together and gave a professional feel to the film. The film does have a few minor audio hiccups and the colour grade doesn't fully match in places due to the camera not being white balanced accurately in some shots, but overall the film came out better then we expected. Everyone worked extremely well together, the actors and actresses was amazing and done exactly what we wanted and this created a fast and smooth workflow. As stressful as this task has been, I have really enjoyed myself and I am extremely proud to what I would say is our best work yet.

Evaluation (Creative Development Project Realisation Module)

At the beginning of this module I had a basic understanding of Documentary and Drama film, but minuscule knowledge of experimental film. With Experimental film task I have learnt what a sound-scape is and the many approaches available for experimental film. I feel that the idea of mental health and the mental space of people with mental health was a very good subject to base the experimental on. I also feel that the technical approaches to my film was initially a good idea, although I feel that the execution of the technical approaches was slightly off the mark and decreased the quality of the overall product. This is also applied to the sound-scape for the film and has taught me to test ideas and research intensely before starting the main production.

In regards to the documentary task of this module, I feel I have learnt how to frame and light an interview accurately to create a well lit and composed mid shot. I also have learnt how to structure a documentary in terms of its narrative arch and how to deal with contributors on and off camera to a professional standard which will stay with me for the rest of my career. This task has also shown me the important to pay attention to sound; this is referring to the external non-synced sound and the backup of internal synced camera sound. The most important thing I have learnt from this task is to work with my group as professionally and fairly by sticking to roles and delegating the work accordingly to the roles of the crew. I have also personally learnt to take a step back and let my group grow via peer and self development on learning new skills.

For the final task, the drama, I have learnt the importance of time management. With an extremely short period of time to write, shoot and edit this production, I now know the impact team work, time management and dedication has on a production. We struggled to get actors at first but through expanding our connections to external casting agencies, we managed to find two actors that have been extremely flexible with the minimal time to shoot. This also creates further connections via word of mouth to other actors and actresses and has produced contacts for future projects. This project has been the biggest project of the module and year but the scale of the crew and sourcing external actors, alongside external locations separate to the university. I have also learnt to work with my group on a bigger scale; as my role was director, I had to co-ordinate the cast and crew through every shot and every line for the film to get the best shots and performance for the production. I found this particularly hard as I have never directed to this scale before, let alone properly. I now feel confident that I direct future projects with a wider understanding of the role and how it interacts with the other roles of the production team.

The Final Cut - The Stage [Short Drama]


The Stage [Short Drama] from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.

Feedback Reflection and Progress Update

Feedback Reflection

After our one to one meeting with our lecture in regards to the rough cut for our drama. We found that the background for the shots was to plain and needed better set design to create a realistic set for the mise-en-scene. This also counts for the lighting; the lighting differs from shot to shot and even though this problem is correctable in post, re-shooting would be a better solution in regards to the other problems.The actor and actress's performance was slightly stiff and very theatre styled. 


The conclusion to this one to one was to re-shoot these scenes with better set design, lighting and a more colourful performance from the actors.

Progress Update

After a group discussion, we decided to film the remaining scenes to finish the drama. We plan to shoot on 27th April 2016 at Francesca's house. We also plan to record the film non-sync and Brody will design ambient sound, sound effects, sound transitions and music to fit the scene and give the film a level of depth and emotion. If we become a head of schedule we will re-shoot scenes 2 and 4 with better lighting, set design and a better performance from actors and actresses.

Drama Progress Update / Planning Documentation

Drama Progress

On 13th April 2016, our production crew filmed scenes 2 and 4 at our first location (Francesca's House) and partly filmed scenes 1 and 5 for the theatre shots at the Marvin Theatre. The shoot took around 6 hours starting at 10:30 am  and finishing around 4:30 pm. Here are some photos from behind the scenes.

Current Footage

After filming on the 13th April, we create a rough cut of the footage to show in our progress one to one meeting with out lecturer. The rough cut was a simple edit to show the order of the footage. The rough cut for this drama can be seen below.


The Stage Rough Cut from Phillip Cullen on Vimeo.

I also created a quick mock-up of the Letterbox Framing (Ratio 1.85:1), Colour Correction and Colour Grade. This is an example edit for the potential post-production factors for the final edit. This example can be seen below.


The Stages [CC & Frame TEST] from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.

Production Documentation

(Each document was delegate to the crew member in the relevant production role.)

• Casting Pro-forma - Liam/Phil
• Shooting Schedual (13/04/16) - Joe
• Crew & Cast Contact List - Joe
• Location Release Form (Marvin Theatre) - Joe
• Performers Release Form (Ethan) - Joe
• Performers Release Form (Dr.Yates) - Joe
• Shot List - Dave
• Sound List - Josh
• Equipment list - Liam
• Scene Blocking - Scene 2 & 4 (Therapy Room Location) - Liam
• Script - Phil

Techinal Approaches for the Drama and Production Documentations

The technical approaches we plan to take towards this film will be shown through camera work and post- production. We aim to use intricate transitions via intense lens flares, over exposure sound design and using composition to make an actor seem still and the scene, time and location change. We will also plan to execute advance shots including tracking shots via the operation of a slider rig to create smooth tracking shots. Additionally we plan to film in 50fps (frames per second) to allow us to slow the footage to half speed and keep a smooth shot instead of a jumpy one.

In the terms of post-production, we will use the aspect ratio 1.85:1. This will make the matte suitable to fill a widescreen ratio screen. so when the film is played on a 16:9 screen, black lines will appear which is known as Letterbox ratio and makes the film seem more cinematic as most films are projected to a widescreen in the cinema. Initially we planned to set the aspect ratio as anamorphic, which is a super wide ratio of 2.35:1 but we decided to go wider with a 1.85:1 ratio as it shows more of the mise-en-scene with a wider yet tighter shot. In addition to this we will focus on colour correction and colour grading to correct the exposure of the footage and give a general tone via the semiotics of colouring within film. 

A screenshot taken from vashivisuals.com which talks
about the importance of Colour Correction and Colour Grading.

Drama Pitch Ideas

During this module we was asked to create pitches for two different short drama ideas.

Graffiti

The first idea we came up focuses round a piece of graffiti which intertwines three different narratives over three different timelines of three different people. This drama is a multi-narrative connection through time.

View Pitch Here

Memory loss

The second Idea we came up with was a drama that focuses around a professional actor that has memory loss due to a car crash. In this short we see the main protagonist struggle with internal issues such as, the death of his sister in the car crash and the struggle of trying to remember his lines for a big performance that will be a crucial point in his career.

View Pitch Here

Drama, Film Analysis - About a Girl (2001)

The themes that run through 'About a Girl' (2001) directed by Brian Percival, are themes of neglect, child innocence and Independences. These themes are based around the main focus of the film, a young teen female and the struggles explained within her story and how she is confident she will make something of herself one day. The approach of this film is a simple one shot of a girl walking down a canal and selling the story to the audience as if we are walking with her down the canal. The one shot is broken up however with cutaways to back up her points. This gives the film a fictional documentary style approach to the narrative. The actress for the main protagonist is very believable in her performance, especially with the costume, dialect, accent and location. I really felt connected to the character and her story, which captured and held my attention from start to finish. 

I liked this film a lot due to the as I feel it portrayed the character extremely will in reflecting the themes in a believable and relatable way. The way the film is shot with a monologue to camera with relevant cutaways in a contemporary documentary style, which I would like to adopt for my future films.

Bibliography

• About a Girl. (2001). [film] Directed by Brian Percival. UK: Silver Films

Final Cut and Evalation

Under The Gun Documentary Final Cut


Under The Gun [Short Documentary] from Liam Atkinson on Vimeo.

Evaluation

Under The Gun is a 5 minute documentary about tattoos and the discrimination that comes with tattoos. The Documentary is shot well in terms of camera angles and lighting, edited well with good transitions between interviews and cutaways with good clear audio. The feedback we received and what I would give for this documentary would be to add some breathing space between audio to allow the audience to digest the information as well as create smoother transitions between audio by not speaking over the interviewee and allowing some space before and after the interviewee speaks to give room to edit smooth transitions between audio.

The process we took to this production was to research what idea we wanted to base the documentary on. Then we discussed the narrative options we wanted to take and scouted interviewees that could be in our production. Once we had our interviewees we planned interviews around the contributor’s schedules and then I shot the interviews as I was the cinematographer. The footage was then passed to Natalie that edited the footage with little help from the rest of the group to create the final cut of our production.

The issues we faced was simply technical such as; not turning the sound on the camera for a reference when syncing the non-synced sound, Avid crashing and not saving half the work Natalie produced twice and issues creating smooth transitions between audio as we did not leave enough space before and after the interviewee talking.

My usual role in a production would be the editor, but for this production I was allocated the role cinematographer. I feel that this was a good choice for me as it gives me a break from editing and to try something  I didn't feel was my norm role and practice my skills as a cinematographer. I took on this role with a strong professional idea of what I wanted to do; I wanted to create shots to professional standard with full lighting, the correct camera angles and use of tripods and sliders. I wanted to get a strong mod shot for interviews, tight close ups for cutaways and a smooth track shot with the use of a slider to give a more artistic and advance look to the production.

During this production I have learnt how to set the bit rate/resolution to 1920px x 1080px, 50mbp, 25fps, I also set the shutter speed to 1/50 as allows the right amount of light into the camera in regards of the frame rate with is a ratio of 1:2 (this would be 25fps to 1/50).

The group worked equally and fairly throughout the production. Harry was director, Carly was producer, Natalie was editor and Francesca was sound recordist/editor. Everyone worked to their best efforts and produced strong work within their roles. This made the production run smoothly and effective in reflection of the quality of the documentary. The strengths of the production is that we worked extremely well together and the documentary had a nice visual style with the credits and colour correction that gave the documentary as professional look. The weakness’ of the production was the problems with the sound and how it does not flow as cleanly as we planned.

Feedback and progress of the Edit

For our first feedback meeting, we did not have a rough cut to present due to the group and individual schedules of the group. Although from the footage we got from the raw footage and test shot edits was very helpful for our final cut. The feedback given was to use enough cutaways to break up the shot of the interviewee talking but to make sure the cutaways are relevant to the subject the interviewee is talking about. We also had feedback stating we should follow the a narrative path on introducing each interviewees with a story to a soft subject to introduce the speaker to the audience then to push the narrative to the main subject of the documentary, Lack of and discrimination of female artists in the tattoo industry. 

In regards to the editing process, The editing started late into production and was edited over a week with a collective time of 28 hours. Natalie Clarke did all the editing with little help of the rest of the group other then technical help and fresh eyes on the direction of the narrative. All of the feedback was taken into account and during the editing process Natalie catered the documentary as best she could with the feedback, transcript and initial ideas for the production.

Please see Natalie’s Blog HERE. 

CLARKE,Natalie(2016)Editing [online] Last updated 1st march.
http://www.natclarkecpdr1516.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/editing.html

Pre-Production Documents and Planning

The role of producer was given to Carly Curwen (Click here for her blog). Due to this role, Carly has taken the time to write up the pre-production documents needed for this production. The idea that we have collectively agreed to follow (with the help of our fellow students) is the tattoo idea. This is due to the idea being a stronger and more interesting subject, in-terms of the narrative and the amount of contributors that have for this subject in contrast to the drugs idea.

Here is the list of pre-production documents created for this project:

• Call Sheet for 1st Shoot
• Call Sheet for 2nd Shoot
• Call Sheet for 3rd Shoot
• Location, Weather and Transport Information for the on location shoot
• Shot List
• Equipment List

We have also done further research into the subject of tattoos for our documentary idea by looking into similar styles of tattoo productions. Click Here to view this research.

We plan to travel to Barnsley to interview Sarah who is a tattooist at 'Ink'd Tattoos & Piercings Studio' on the 15th February 2016 with Jodie Foster, a client of Sarah's and a contributor for our documentary. We also plan to film several contributors to give us a range between age, style and personal meanings to help drive our narrative.

Curwen, Carly (2016). Pre-production [online]. Last updated 9th February. http://carlycurwencreativeproject.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/pre-production.html

What is Synced Sound and Why Will I Use it?

Shot gun mic on a boom pole for a
Synced Sound Setup

Synced sound is the practise of recording sound via a microphone (either it be a shot gun mic, clip mic etc) that records straight to camera and ‘in-sync’ with my footage. This technique is used to record crisper and cleaner sound for your footage with a better quality mic then you standard build in mic. This is a more affective way as it allows the boom operator to get the mic closer to the subject to pick up the sound waves at the optimal distance to record super crisp sound. Although, I would prefer the use of a shot gun microphone as it records direct sound when pointed at the sound source.

Diagram of a shot gun microphone's
polar pattern

To get the mic closer to the subject, the best technique is to have the mic on a boom pole and positioned above/slightly in front of the subject pointed directly at the sternum for maximum clarity to capture the most sound waves/frequencies. This is because the way the directional mic records sound is by being pointed directly at the source of sound, and vocals are clearer from the sternum.

I will be using this technique in my production as it will allow me to record the vocals of my interviewee in sync with my footage and saves the editor to sync up sound in post. This creates a faster and simpler work flow for time efficiency and to get the best quality for our production.

Two Documentary Pitch Ideas

After receiving the brief for this module, we were asked to come up with two ideas for a short documentary. As a production team we had an in depth meeting discussing different subjects we could based our documentary on and be interesting for views. After many different subjects we decided on two ideas.

Tattoo

This idea follows questions such as; why people get them? Do they affect your career? Is it worth it? etc. These questions will be answered by Sarah a tattoo artist at Ink'd Tattoo & Piercing Studio and Jodie Foster a client of Sarah's. The narrative and purpose for this documentary can be seen in the treatment below.

Click Here for the documentary pitch for Tattoos

Tattoo - Treatment

The narrative is going to be based around a middle twenty year old female tattooist called Sarah who works at Ink'd tattoo at Barnsley studio since 2013, she is going to discuss with us what she finds appealing about tattoos and what significance certain ones can mean for her or her clients. We will also be introduced to Jodie who is a 19 year old student but has been getting tattoos since the age of 16 and will also discuss the personal stories behind some of her favourites as well as discussing her relationship with Sarah who has been doing her tattoos for over a year.

Other contributors will consist of 20 year old Jakob Trott, 18 year old Jack Done and Victoria Knaggs who is also 18. All three of them who are studying various subjects at Sheffield Hallam University. They will be discussing their body ink, telling us stories about their first tattoos, what inspires and motivates them to get the permanent body modification and what their families and friends thought once they first made the leap. We will be going to the tattoo studio Ink'd in Barnsley to do the interview with Sarah, our main interviewee in the documentary, to discuss with her what its like to be a female tattooist in the mainly male industry. She will also be discussing with us as well as our contributors about any significance around her tattoos and what appeals her to them. We will shoot our small contributors such as Jodie in different locations but with the same background by using a mandala wall hanging to keep a continuity going throughout the documentary.

We are wanting to keep a dark/gothic theme throughout the documentary and really concentrate on the traditional tattoo style. We also aim to have close up of our contributors and Sarah's tattoos to put around the documentary and also had visuals for the audience when they are discussing their art.  We will also get cut away shots of around Sarah's tattoo studio such as her artwork on the walls, all her gear and equipment that she uses and photos on her wall of friends and family. This will give the viewers a more intimate feeling towards her, and give a personal insight of what her life is really like and her personality whereas the other contributors won't have this kind of background as they aren't our main characters in the documentary.

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Drugs

This idea follows the questions, why do people use drugs? How do people get them? Are drugs easily accessible What drugs are most commonly used in the Sheffield area? etc. we will look into these questions by asked them to the people who deal the drugs and the people that buy the drugs. For more information please see the treatment below.

Click Here for the documentary pitch for Drugs

Drugs - Treatment

This documentary approaching use and affects of drugs will take a realistic approach and highlight the dangers of drug taking and how they can affect your health and your career. One thing in particular that we looked it as where you can get drugs and how accessible they are, and one thing that we've found out is that in some places in Sheffield you’re never more than stone’s throw away from someone either abusing or dealing drugs; especially when it comes to clubbing. From our point of view looking at how accessible drugs are in Sheffield is more common knowledge than anything else and would be an easy thing to incorporate into the documentary. There’s also been a case recently where a footballer that plays for Sheffield United has received a six-month ban because of an illegal substance found when he was taking a drugs test.

Another point we’d be looking at in the documentary s the different types of drug consumption. As a group it’s likely that we would all know someone who’s taken recreational drugs at least once in their life and as a result of this, we would be able to talk to those people and gain their knowledge. However we understand that this would be a difficult hurdle to get over as a lot of people might not be willing to share their experiences.

This result is something that could potentially harm our approach to the documentary. We realise that drug use is a controversial and very disputed subject and we need to be very careful with the content that we produce and not everyone we approach will be keen to tell us their story or their experiences with drugs. Obviously there are ways to avoid this person being shown (i.e. interview as a silhouette and/or change voice tone) however if the contributor doesn't trust us as film-makers then there’s nothing we can do to change that. However whilst looking at contributors, we feel that it would be a crucial part of our documentary to have a quick interview with a GP, health advisor or someone who can give advice when it comes to the treatment of drugs. By having someone of this calibre, it shows another dimension of the documentary and could potentially reach out to the audience. 

The documentary will have to be presented or at least have a voice-over as there’s lots of facts and pieces of information to be taken in by the viewer and it wouldn't have as much as in impact if we were just trying to tell a story through interviews. If we were to look at drug abuse from a different approach then we could just show stories of how people are affected, some of their most shocking experiences etc. However because we’re trying to come across with a more informational approach it needs to be broadcast in a way that the information can be easily transmitted to the audience.

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As a team we was all more passionate about the Tattoo idea over the Drug ideas as we felt it took our interest as individual people, and as a collective group with different point of views on the subject. 

Documentary Film Analysis: The Apology Line - Dir: James Lees

(Still) Title graphic from
 'The Apology Line' - Directed by James Lees

‘The Apology Line’ is a short documentary directed by James Lees. This short documentary tells the individual stories/apologies of anonymous members of the public that ring into the help like, The Apology Line. 

The Audio is a completion of contrasting apologies from a range of different people. The visual footage is a completion of people doing different actives in their everyday life in the evening/night. This is shot as an artistic fly on the wall style shot, showing people in underwear, getting dressed for bed, cleaning their home etc. This is also mixed with establishing shots of flats to give the scene a sense of an urban environment; this can be seen to give a lower class theme to the people talking on The Apology Line. The Documentary is also shot at night, which gives the apologies a connotation of dirty secrets that people would never say when people are around to hear.

 ‘The Apology line’ to me feels like a documentary on a modern take of the catholic practice of confession to gain forgiveness or to get a personal hypothetical weight off their chest. This documentary connected with me on an emotional level as I could feel the angry, regret and shame in the apologies. I really liked the tones, themes and how the film conveys these anonymous people’s stories. 

Watch 'The Apology Line' Here