Category Archives: 261 MC

Filming has now been completed now for the editing process. This is where we can string together the narrative with the visuals and the voice over we captured. We edited the piece together and found it to be quite straight forward. We had no preliminary problems but with a more critical eye we found a problem with the visuals over powering the voiceover. We had to make the decision to use some footage that was not up to par as some of the other footage we had. We thought the video started to run smoothly and allowed voice over to power through. We also used some slower transitions than the initial edit to allow the visuals to flow with the tone and pacing of our characters voice.

The piece we have finalised for submission is not entirely what we had planned in the treatment. We had to make a lot of last minute changes that we had no capacity to overcome. One of our main problems was the location problem. Our room was a little smaller than anticipated which meant that we could not frame in the manor initially planned. We also had to change the initial jigsaw idea as Darren’s niece could not complete a jigsaw without help. This made us change our whole take on the documentary visuals and go for a more actuality style of filming including Darren in the shot to add a more personal touch to the documentary and to show that the film maker has experienced 1^st hand what he is making his film about.  The things that were not altered from the initial plan was the use of a black and white filter and the use of the voiceover. Black and white was used to ensure that colours did not over power the voice over and to keep it in a 2(B&W)/3(Sound) tone documentary. The use of voiceover is something Darren has used before as well as myself in my personal work, this is a style we can both relate to.

Over the period of the module I have been actively involved in the production of the final piece. Even though I have not attended many lectures I believe I have gained a lot of personal production skills and experience. Trips such as the documentary festival in Sheffield and others such as The Russell Tribunal on Palestine helped me develop my own voice both politically and personally. This documentary was a very interesting time as creativity was not restricted.

If I had the chance to do it all over again I would have developed the story more and used more experimental styles to allow the narrative to unfold in a new style. I would have employed the use of the Cannon 5D DSLR if I was able to get hold of one this would have made the piece feel more cinematic. I would have also employed grading to make the shot more visually aesthetic. Overall I am happy with this piece and feel like I have exhausted all the possible avenues in the time I had, being unwell for majority of this term did not help me in any way shape or form. I would like to thank Ken Fero for being the Wisdom and drive that I needed to motivate me. Last but by no means least I would also like to thank Darren Moore for being allowing me to joining his Vision.

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Today we discussed how to keep actuality the main focus of or filming style. We decided that we should keep the camera static and use as few cut away’s as possible. Or location was a little problematic at first but we managed to overcome problems by slightly rearranging furniture and with trial and error of frames to get the shot we needed.

Our footage was slightly different from that planed, for example the framing was changed at a quick decision as we didn’t have enough space to work with. Even with the changes I believe that the shots where what we were looking for,

The filming and sound was captured separately. This was done as we needed to get clear sound. We employed an Beyerdynamic reporters microphone and a Marantz solid state recorder. We could have used a more sophisticated microphone to capture sound as some of the sound clips differentiated from certain clips. Next time we plan a shoot sound will be taken more into measure and we will make sure we take sound just as serious as the picture. As film makers we learn from mistakes in shoots.

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After joining Daren’s documentary venture I have come to the conclusion that he has a strong character that we can mould around the documentary. Darren discussed with me how we could experiment with techniques from films such as Citizen Kane and manipulate the ‘Deep Focus’ technique to our own documentary. This Technique allows the fore, middle and background to all appear in focus. Using this technique will allow both our character and her relevant surroundings stay in focus. The surrounding are important as our character feels safe at home, she has confidence issues. This technique also subverts the usual documentary feel where the subject is usually in focus and his/her surroundings are out of focus.
We have also discussed the use of narration with over the visuals, Darren uses this technique from stage drama and short films he has previously made, this is a technique we wish to experiment with and we believe it will work well with our story. We also wish to employ a black and white filter, this will make the view focus more on the story rather than the colours on screen. We wish to employ all the mentioned techniques to steer away from the more traditional documentaries conventions we have seen and to develop a new style of documentary filming. We believe this will be a more personal feel and our narrative will reinforce this.

Martin Scorcese is a living legend in my eyes a film like GoodFellas (1990) shows his unique style and creativity. MICHAEL BALLHAUS was the cinematographer assigned to the film, he used techniques like a static camera, keeping the canvas of his film fluid. Long pans and stylistic sequences, all designed to heighten the mood and involve the viewer in the action. The coffee shop scene shows the camera as we are presented with the disorienting shot of Henry and Jimmy facing each other across a table. They appear to remain in the same position relative to us while the background slowly recedes.

Goodfellas is defiantly one of the most fascinating and subvertive of all gangster films. Music and dark comedy is combined to show the story of the rise and fall of unforgiving gangsters. This film combines the use of  hesitant view on violence, displaying it in all its glory and darkness, the visualls  cleverly allows the mass viewers ideology of violence being a negative thing and just for the duration of the film change their perception of it and allow the viewer to identify with it through all the uses of quick cut editing and the use of eye level shots.

Today I have spoken to my fellow comrade and friend Darren Moore, we both came to to the concussion that I would work with him on his vision. I felt working alongside Darren would benefit us both as we could put both our like minded heads together. From working with Darren in the past i know we can both work well and produce a piece where we can both be proud and show our style and vision. We picked hi story to go ahead with as it was a very personal one. we also knew we could get our character to work around our time table as our character is Darren’s older sister. From the research point of view Darren has been lived and seen first hand the story of his sister. This is a plus point and should allow us to produce a very good piece of work.