Evaluation: Documentary & Drama

Documentary Evaluation

For the documentary I believe my group started off well. Oliver, Nick and I met up and discussed our ideas and what was to be pitched in the seminar group. We had two good ideas, one being similar to the Skateistan documentary, however it would be in a well known skate park in Liverpool and we would be interviewing employees of the skate park and asking for stories or asking regular members of the skate park. The aim for this idea was to make it different to other skate documentaries by talking about personal experience within the park rather than just advertising it in a way. I tended to gravitate towards the second idea as it was an interesting and different subject to the usual ideas. Oliver found a website which had an archive of images of Liverpool during the Second World War. And finding the source of the archive, we wanted to interview the owner and ask about his inspiration towards the images and then connect the World War II images with images of Liverpool in 2015. The pitch in the seminar group went well as we provided a power point presentation unlike any other group and provided some visuals. We finalised that we would proceed with the World War II archive idea and proceeded to develop it into a narrative and construct an interview whilst contacting the owner to make sure we could interview him. When it came to the day of travelling to Liverpool, we received an email to say we could not interview the owner of the archive due to more than reasonable circumstances and therefore, we had no idea. Also, two members of our group had not been able to come, one of them I did not expect any contribution from them whatsoever but the other had good reasons not to come. Leaving Oliver and I alone on the trip. Luckily, this happened to another group in Liverpool as well so we could join to make a group and they had a good idea when pitched to us and we took over the roles that were free. The idea was very interesting as it is of a boat called the Ellan Vannin, that had sunk in the Liverpool River a few years before The Titanic had gone down, therefore, no one really knew about it as The Titanic overlooked it. There was also a poem that went with the boat which we would use in our final piece. One thing was lacking though which was an interview. The first day after resolving our problems, we went to the marina and museum in Liverpool as a new group to scout the location and finalise what was to be filmed the next day and what we could use. My role being the sound recordist with Oliver, we began searching for sounds we could record around the marina as well as in the museum and noting them down. The second day we took our equipment to the marina and we split into two groups for the first half of the shoot. Oliver and I stayed around the marina capturing sounds of the river crashing on the walls, seagulls flying by and footsteps across the bridges. Also, getting some footage using the second camera to use as cutaways and general footage around the area that could be used. When in the museum I wanted sounds of the people talking and walking around and also a guide talking about one of the boats in the museum. Plus, sounds within the library such as book pages being turned over. The third day was planned to interview a member of the museum that knew information about the boat we was documenting but it turned out that we had missed them or they did not have time so the group was worried but Kelly mentioned how she came up with the idea of the Ellan Vannin from a family friend and that we could interview him after the Liverpool trip. Therefore, we left Liverpool and Kelly went to visit the family friend and interviewed him herself as he lived away from Sheffield. An original group member was supposed to edit the footage we had taken from Liverpool, however they decided not to for some reason and then Tom began to edit. I began doing some sound design and as it was my first time using the software I learnt some new techniques such as using noise reduction and EQ. Oliver then took over the edit as we all stayed to chip in and help with the post-production. The edit was getting so close to being done when someone noticed that most of the footage had disappeared from Avid and most of it had to be started all over again within only a day or two to go before it was to be presented. Oliver and I then stayed till late hours in the edit suite to make sure we had a documentary to present and we also ordered pizza to the University to maximise our work ethic. All in all, the Liverpool trip was a very enjoyable experience as was making a documentary. However, improvements could have been made to our final piece such as getting a lot more footage that relates to the story in order for it to be more enjoyable to watch. Interchanging the poem and information from the interview with live footage of the marina and sounds to engage the viewers a lot more as the end piece needed to have a bit more pace or some change in pace. However, it was full of information about the Ellan Vannin and the footage and sounds and final edit still had a good flow.

Drama Evaluation

For the drama I believe my group started off well again, we met up to discuss ideas and we had more than enough to choose from. My idea for the drama was to have a main character that would be heavily invested in keeping his desk area clean and organised and when it was not to their satisfaction, it would make them very uncomfortable and would be constantly trying to perfect it. There would also be a second character that would be a counter part to the main character. This character would come into the desk space and make mess or tamper with it unintentionally, leaving crumbs or cutlery on the desk for example, leaving the main character always cleaning up after them and re-organising their desk space in order to feel comfortable with it again. This idea would use extreme close ups and slows in order to show the opposite emotion between the two characters. My idea was chosen a long with another in which would contain a relationship between two characters that use post it notes as communication. And using the post it notes specifically to show the journey between their relationship and use one defying shot of a room filled with post it notes. The two ideas were presented in the seminar group and it was decided that we should combine the two ideas together. Roles were then chosen in our group, Oliver director, Kelly producer, Nick on sound and cinematography for me and so Oliver and I began writing the script with Oliver eventually taking over the full script as he was director. Dan then joined our group as we had a session in the studio in which we would have actors read over our scripts and re-enact a scene so we could get a visual of how it would look. It was a great opportunity for us and it gave me an insight of what camera shots Oliver wanted to use. Although the actors were great during the session, we did not have any actors to use on the actual shoot. Leaving us to use Kelly as the female character and George, Nick’s friend, as the male. We also had issues with our location, the original use of a house did not come through and we had to use a student house which was not as bad as I had thought. The day of the shoot we gathered at University to grab equipment and then transport it to the location. A clamp was missing from our slider unfortunately so when it came to an outside scene it was hard to use the slider as it would not move as freely and smoothly as we wanted. Therefore, the shots were not as good as hoped. Dan and I had been swapping over camera through the first half of the day due to us having the same role, except for the scenes where we used two cameras. And, later in the day Dan would shift over to lighting and I took over cinematography altogether. I think the shoot went well throughout as we got a lot of footage and most of what Oliver wanted to capture. However, we had overestimated five minutes of film time and if all of the footage was to be used it would have ended at around eight minutes of film. Therefore, a lot of footage was taken out in post-production and that is when the film began to lose its sense and there became a lot of holes in the narrative. The film tends to jump from scene to scene with some continuity issues. A few times this happens in when April changes clothes between scenes when she should not have. And others where Dillon goes into the kitchen and does not find a post it note on the wall where they usually should. Plus, a bedroom scene where Dillon walks in on April lounging around and all of a sudden, they just start arguing with no real ignition due to certain clip or sound not being added to save time. However, I think the film is still relatively understandable and it still has a flow to it and changes in pace to show the tension building and when it is calm between the relationship. And, there is a clear journey and development between the two characters. I say we did a good job for a tiring thirteen hour shoot. Throughout post-production Oliver was in control of the final edit, with Nick doing a lot of sound design. With Dan and I always there and involved with the edit to chip in. As there was two days to edit, Dan and I became runners for Oliver, getting food and drink here and there. When presented Oliver explained the holes and issues we had in our film very clearly for Dom and the rest of the group to understand, which helped us out a lot. Overall, it was a great experience and enjoyable for me as I had a group I liked to work with and we all had a similar vision we wanted. Even though there was a lot to improve such as time to prevent holes in the narrative. Specifically for me, I enjoyed my role of cinematography and using the techniques I wanted to use such as handheld shots and getting crisp footage. And, I have taken the cinematography module for the second year so it really helped me to experiment with the cameras and prepare me for the second year. 

Drama: Post It Notes and Arguments

Drama: Cinematography

My Role

My role in the drama was cinematography. There was not many specific approaches or techniques I wanted to implement into the drama as I wanted to work with the director, Oliver, and work around what he wanted from my role. So, throughout the shoot Oliver and I would look at the script and through each scene to see which shots he wanted and we went with a few standard shots of and did not experiment too much with it. Using shot reverse shot with close ups and mid shots depending on how intense the scene was and using pull focuses between objects and characters to really show their focuses and emotion throughout. However, when Oliver was moving on to setting up the next scenes or figuring out what is next, I would get some more cutaway shots that did not involve others from the group. For example, a shot where Dillon wipes away the crumbs from the kitchen counter and a low angled shot of Dillon walking towards the camera. For these specific shots I wanted to implement a similar approach to that of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul where it would be a long shaky shot using handheld instead of a tripod. One thing I really wanted to be used in the drama was a technique learnt in the seminar. The technique of having characters come in from the left and right side of the frame to show which character was the protagonist and antagonist. However, with time issues and lack of space to use this we could not use this very well. 

As Dan and I shared this role we swapped frequently between scenes at who would operate the camera within the first half of the day and then Dan moved onto doing a lot of the lighting within the second half of the day as it got darker. One issue we had with the equipment came when the slider was used and a clamp was missing so the slider had to be balanced on the tripods without security. Plus, the slider did not move as freely as wanted. There was a scene in the bedroom where the two characters are lay on the bed, and in order to get the shot reverse shot I had to go handheld and lean on George and balance whilst getting the shot of Kelly. I am rather proud of this as I managed to get it relatively still and balanced carefully. 

Research & Analysis

Analysing Sign Language, I really enjoyed the crisp and clean focus used on the characters with the extremely blurred backgrounds in order for the audience to really feel the characters and for us to really notice these sign holders in the street. In reality, the public tend to ignore the signs being held in streets and the cinematography in this piece allowed us to notice them. The wide shots of the secondary characters as it was a perspective of the main character and it allowed us to have the same insight and opinions of them as he has.

Analysing Pudding Bowl, I think the use of cinematography towards the girl is used well in order to create this vulnerable state for her using the high angled shots and maintaining eye level with her whilst she is on the floor to show the powers within the household. This also adds to the comedic value of the piece and how the girl just seems clumsy even though it was not her fault she had glue in her hair.

Audiotour uses establishing shots throughout when the audio describes the things the character is looking at. Also, close ups of the character to show how she reacts to what the audio is saying and shows the audience how intrigued she is to find the information of whatever she is looking at. Until the end when the shots get closer to the character whilst she is looking into the reflection due to the tension rising as she reveals information to herself she did not like. 

Drama: The Shoot & Location

The Shoot

Before the shoot we already had problems with our drama. The location we originally planned could not be used and a new one was to be found within a week and we had to resort to a student house. The second problem we had was our actors, a few days before the shoot the actors backed out and when finding a second actor to step in they also backed out last minute. Leaving Kelly to step in as the female actor and George, (Nick's friend) stepping in as the male actor. However, both the actors had a very good performance with the little experience they had. 

Straight away I went around taking pictures and getting some GoPro footage of the location whilst the actors went through the scripts. During the shoot we got straight into the first scenes Oliver wanted to film, however we had to adapt straight away to the size of the rooms we were to use as they were smaller than expected. Through the first half of the day we had a great work rate and got a lot of footage using both cameras to make it more efficient. The second half of the shoot went just as well as the first, getting most of the footage we wanted with selected scenes not filmed due to time. With the shoot all being in one day going from 12pm - 1am, the group got a bit tired and just wanted the essential footage needed for post.

Location

Drama: The Final Script

Drama: Initial Idea & Group Discussion

My Idea & Inspiration

Before meeting up with my group to discuss ideas I had already been thinking of ideas to pitch. My idea was to have two characters. The main character being a person that must have a clean desk at all times and that would be constantly uncomfortable and fidgeting around if it wasn't. The second character would be someone that comes into the desk space and makes a mess or tampers with the area unintentionally, leaving the main character always cleaning or re-organising the area. I would use extreme close ups to show the emotion of the main character when his space is tampered with and slows to show the different methods of mess used. And, counter the emotion of the main character with a shocked second character that just thinks they are overreacting. 

My inspiration for this idea came from a personal view. Being someone that spends a lot of time on the computer, I like my desk area to be clean and I always find myself asking people to move their stuff off the desk of they come in my room or wiping crumbs clean of the table. 

Group Discussion

When meeting with my group we had several ideas we like and could work with, but we narrowed it down to two main ideas. One idea being mine and the other Kelly's. Her idea was to have a typical relationship that would communicate through post it notes. Specifically using one defying shot of a room filled with post it notes all over the walls. When presenting these two ideas to the seminar group, it was decided that we would mesh the two ideas together with the main character and their traits from my idea, in a relationship that is communicated through post it notes.