I think that Emma found it hard to come up with some initial ideas as the director, as she did put across as we decided the roles. It was also at this point that we understood that Fiona would not be able to fulfil her role as the producer. This was because we felt she was not enough of an organised person to create the schedule and other documents in time for the trip, as well as not being able to be present for the trip to Liverpool. Because of this, I have now swapped roles with her, making me the Producer and herself the Editor.
Today, I helped Emma progress the idea of 'if' questions into something that fit with the brief more closely. She did not want a commercial piece and instead something more original that focused upon the people of Liverpool and their personal thoughts upon issues. Together, Myself and Emma went though potential ideas. Emma began writing a shot list whilst I wrote the following pitch for 02/03:
We recently got given a brief for the documentary project, where we must create a '5 minute Documentary film on the theme of 'Liverpool Stories''. It must be inspired by research on news stories of the place as well as other documentaries based in this area.
From this and the examples we had just watched, our initial idea formed. We wanted to ask a variety of members of the Liverpudlian community (from children to the elderly), questions that begin with 'if'. For example:
"If you had one day left to live, what would you do?"
This concept was then expanded into an idea of involving props. Here is an example of a mind map that Emma created as part of our idea development:
However, once viewing the brief again after todays seminar, we realised that this idea would need a lot of progress in order to fit the brief. This is because it would be difficult to find a news article that links with the idea.
We have decided to meet up within the next few days to discuss other ideas.
This was one of my favourite documentaries out of the ones shown. I really liked it's simple nature and the use of subtle music in the background.
The description of the linked video states: "Every object tells a story, revealing more than expected about its owner. From tiny treasures to the downright bizarre, the contents of Pockets provide quick and charming social insight."
Throughout, the question is asked to the public of London, 'what's in your pockets?' (though we do not hear the interviewer. There is a routine throughout the piece where we see two hands 'cupped' together, enclosing what was in their pockets. The use of short depth of field instantly draws the viewers attention to the contents of the subject's hands. I love this shot as it is simple yet effective with Lees' use of camera techniques, such as taking it from above.
There are numerous shots in which it is the interviewee just looking into the camera lens. These often close-ups (sometimes extreme) present us with looking directly at the subject as we learn about one story/piece of their life.
When speaking of what is in their pockets, a voice-over is usually layered on top of the image of hands, and this demonstrates a clear narrative as we view their talking point.
I would like to use the technique of viewing the person once they have already spoken in my own documentary as i feel that it adds a feeling of curiosity by the audience.
Skateistan - To Live and Skate Kabul
This Documentary is also short and simple and introduces a unique angle on which is to many people, and unknown environment. We get to know two people in particular as we view their every-day surroundings in Kabul and learn their thoughts and feelings on subjects such as war, family, home and the neighbourhood. The issue of war is put into greater context as we see see the boys sitting on its ruins as they sit on an abandoned tank.
There are numerous shots that are static and structured as we see the action come into the frame as apposed to the camera following the action. An example of this would be as a skateboard would roll into shot.
The sound in this piece is overly constructed as I feel that it would tend to target a specific audience.
The dynamic range of lighting in this short documentary is beautiful as much of it must have been shot in early morning or evening in order to capture that 'magic hour' of light. The clothing that the 'characters' wear demonstrates their cultural differences.
Erics Secrets by Lucia Ashmore
Erics Secrets demonstrates a series of simple compositions with a unique style that offers quite a laid- back approach. The film begins quite funny as we hear Eric state "I must always have gin". As the film evolves, we hear more and more of his life as he speaks to the viewer and looks directly into the camera's lens. We see the humorous and elderly man as he pours tea and sits in his arm chair.
A light and high pitched track is used quite discreetly in the background that adds to the simplicity of the piece. I like the use of archive photos throughout - some in which are displayed upon his mantlepiece. This makes the film more personal and drew me in as a viewer into Eric's life. The compositions of the subject are not typical of a documentary (usually known for the interviewee to be in mid close up off centre), yet are quite the opposite, some with him in the bottom third of the shot. I think that Ashmore chose this structure to allow the audience to view the homely atmospheric qualities of Eric's house and understand how he lives. We also begin to understand as the film progresses, that Eric's wife has passed away, through the connotations of the empty house.
Towards the end of the piece, despite the subject 'holding it together' it remains to become emotional. This is enforced as Eric states "she died in my arms".
I like the constant themes of family values that run throughout the film, depicted through the use of original photos, panning shots of his house and him looking comfortable. I also like the way in which Ashmore has achieved a unique style in this documentary, as despite only using few different varieties of shots, it flows well and displays the intended message, of what I think is reflection, to the audience and makes them wonder how their life will be as they grow to his age.
Lift by Marc Isaacs
The film begins with establishing shots of a lift as we see it from a variety of interesting angles, such as within the actual mechanics as well as the buildings outside exterior.
This piece is relatively comedic as it demonstrates different people as they make their way in and out of a simple lift. We see what is almost 'behind the scenes' footage as the people acknowledge to camera man. This becomes more and more prominent throughout the film as they get to know him and talk to him a lot more.
A shot of a fly on the wall is used. This could have been applied as a juxtaposition between what the directors take on the piece could have been, to the chosen style of incorporating the camera man into the piece. One woman even states "What motivates you to want to stand in a lift for 10 hours a day?". The camera man doesn't reply.
We see people smoking in the lift, drunk after a night out, with their child or simply stood in silence. It represents the varying society we have today.
The enclosed space is highlighted through also having the camera close to the 'action'. Dull tones are used to highlight the uninspiring location of a lift, yet the film's quirky style is accentuated with the camera man's witty dialogue. For example, he begins to ask the people completely irrelevant questions such as "what did you dream about last night" and "what's the best memory from your childhood". These often provide us with comedic answers that made me laugh.
I think that this documentary has been created with quite a raw approach, this being due to it being no secret that there is a man in the residents' lift. This is demonstrated through a single shot of the camera looking directly into the camera with nothing else surrounding it, reinforcing the idea to the viewer that it is in fact just a film. I like an element in the piece where we see a shot of a chair stood in the corner of the lift, then we see a woman say to the camera man "I see they gave you a chair". This adds to my previous point and adds to the films witty nature.
We see the same 'characters' returning throughout the film, piecing together their individual stories. The only sound used is diegetic and I like this simple aspect of the piece.
I would like to take away some aspects of each of these films. I like the compositions used within 'Skateistan - To Live and Skate Kabul', the humour in 'Lift', the story concept of 'Erics Secrets' and the simplistic idea behind 'Pockets'.
Overall, I am quite happy with the way our short experimental film has turned out. I think that we have used a variety of shots and an interesting style of editing to portray the desired following concept:
A man's unprovoked madness. A simple eye drives the man within 'A Heart's Tale' to become a deranged 'creature' as he creeps into an innocent old man's room each and every night. Our experimental film depicts the mans life through an artificial way, with the use of what could be interpreted as a 'make-believe' house or simply one that in his mind is extraordinary yet very simple. We have demonstrated this with the use of a floor plan that gives the feel of a theatrical performance from the characters. The use of dark tones in contrast to bright and over exposed shots links in with the man's changing personality as we almost feel sorry for him as he talks of how the old man's "vulture eye" increases his anger. The constant dull notes distorted from what was originally a simple plucking of strings from a guitar adds to the films sinister style.
Although I am happy with the film as a whole, I still feel that elements could be improved. These being:
The overall quality of the footage - Possibly because it was shot in such a dark space?
The dialogue recording - It took a lot of time to reduce the noise in the background, however I do like the almost echoed effect
The lack of shots - More footage would mean a better result, we would have had more to play with and a greater amount of versions to get the best bits from.
Today, we completed our Experimental Film Project. We altered sections that needed to be made better, such as the dialogue audio. I did this using Soundtrack Pro through the use of noise reduction, to create a more clear and clean cut vocal performance.
Once Ed arrived in the afternoon, we added a composition of music that he had made specifically for this piece. Although we already had one version that he had made, Me and Emma asked him to form another that could be layered on top of the original, that had more relevance to the individual shots, such as beats on footsteps...
Todays post production consisted of editing the final minute of our experimental film. When planning the film, we felt that our idea would easily fill five minutes, however, when it came to completion, four minutes used all of our footage. Because we were unable to film any more due to the performance studio being unavailable, I needed to think of something that could fill this time. I did not want to repeat any more of the existing footage in the same way as I believed that it would become boring and increasingly unoriginal. To solve this issue, I chose to copy and past the film into a new project, take out all dialogue parts and reverse the whole film and speed it up by 500%. This 'flashing' effect of images makes the audience step back and view the film as it goes back to the start - creating a recurring effect just as the man echoes his movements every night throughout the story of 'The Tell-Tale Heart'.
We also recorded some extra sounds using the Marantz 600 and a Dynamic Microphone to portray the sounds of the old man being dragged to the floor. I edited these sounds together using Soundtrack Pro. I added some reverb so that the room sounded bigger and also diminished the EQ towards the sounds of the old man 'screaming' and being taken from his bed.
Today, Emma made a new project with the film in order to give more variety of pieces to choose from for the final piece. This allows us to pick the best elements of each one. She used an "Edit Decision List" to complete this version of the film.
I met with Emma later in the day to go through the film once again and 'tweak' some aspects I was unhappy with.
Today we began a rough edit for the film. After already having uploaded the footage on friday,
Emma was able to complete a short sequence in a style that we had discussed. I then met with her later to go through what I liked and what I felt could have been improved to create something we were both happy with. I wanted to upload a copy of what we created for our first draft however blogger would not allow it after several attempts. Here is a series of screen shots instead:
I like the contrast between the light, overexposed shots of the eye to the dark and sinister pieces of film that include the man as he creeps into the old man's each night. I intend to use a lot of this throughout the editing process as I feel that it transforms the work into a more abstract piece.
Today we filmed the remaining elements of our experimental film that required the performance studio.
Because we needed two actors for the footage, we arranged to use Ed as the part of the old man, as he would only be visible in a couple of shots and would have no dialogue. As the producer, Emma organised an actor for us to use named George Webster and sent him the following Email:
"Hi,I am a 1st year student studying Film and Media Production and was given you contact details as you said you are interested in being part of our short films.Currently we are looking for someone to play the main role in our experimental piece which is based on the poem 'The Tell TaleHeart' by Edgar Allen Poe. We are hoping to be filming over the next week or two so if you are available and want to help then please let me know, either email me back or my number is 07757527796.Thanks Emma"
He was happy to take the part and we in turn used him as our lead actor in the film. Emma had already given him an idea of what the film was about and lines for him to learn and during the day of filming, whilst Ed and Emma set up the camera and lighting equipment, I briefed George on the way I wanted him to play the part. I explained that I wanted an over-exaggerated and abstract style as he walked and wanted him to speak in a manner reminiscent of Steven Berkoff's style - Very well pronounced and including some elongated words in order to highlight the films approach. Although he only faintly used this technique, he included a lot of pauses in his dialogue which increased the tension of the piece.
Because we wanted the film to have a 'play'-like feel as to make it look artificial and manufactured, we included the equipment such as the lights and formed a floor plan out of black masking tape. I wanted the characters to act as though the room was real and had working doors and beds... I feel that we have achieved this through the way in which George crept around the door frame just as I asked him to.
For the sections of the film where the man speaks the tale of the man with the eye of a vulture, we used a dim spotlight in order to give the shot this atmospheric quality. In some shots, I asked Ed to slowly zoom out from a close-up of the mans eye to reveal his face drenched in sweat as he speaks his line. We plan to enhance this further in post production.
Not only did we use the studio lighting for this piece, but also experimented with the use of torch light and that from lamps and the man's lantern. I wanted the only light that revealed the old man to come from the lamp beside his bed. This added a more intense ambience.
I have planned for tomorrows shoot by completing two shot lists - a brief bullet pointed account of the types of shots I would like to be displayed in the final film as it stands along with the script, as well as a more in depth table of each individual shot needed to produce the piece.
After discussing our experimental film numerous times it was time to film the different elements needed to create it. First however, Myself and Emma felt it necessary to practice some effects to see if we were able to produce result the as desired. We therefore filmed a quick stop motion sequence of a paper heart being formed. We found that this worked although to create a more seamless piece more photographs were needed, which can simply be achieved. We also practiced editing footage of Myself moving into various positions whilst sat in a chair, in order to attain a 'ghostly' effect as you see the trail of the remains from the previous shot. This also worked well and we are planning to use this style of editing within the final production.
Yesterday, we filmed sections that we did not need the studio or our actor for. This included shots of:
The old man's eye as it opens and closes - We filmed the eye for every eventuality of the short story. As he opens it suddenly when he hears a noise; it being closed as the old man sleeps; closing shut slowly and gradually opening. I'd like the emphasis of the film the be greatly put upon the old man's eye as I feel that it is an integral part of the style and feel of the film and it's eerie nature.
A stop motion of a paper heart as it forms from being a crumpled piece of paper.
The animated image of a heart with the changing frequency levels of the monitor moving from within it. We projected this upon the chest of a male figure as to emphasise the abstract approach to the piece.
The projection also casting upon a hand as it clenches into a fist.
A possible 'dream sequence' that we may include in the final film - This is simply of a park swing as it begins to rock and sway by itself. We plan to gain this effect by reversing the footage so that it appears to begin moving back and forth alone, with no human presence.
The same concept of the previous point yet from the angle of the swaying swing - This footage is planned to be viewed from the beginning within the eye of the old man if used.
I'm currently a student at Sheffield Hallam University studying Film and Media Production. I'd like to hopefully be a film writer/director one day and I'd love to travel the world.
