Shooting Script

This is my shooting script which I would use to plan out how I film the interviews and cut aways. It includes the type of shots and locations.

Idea Outline

These are my ideas for the documentary I am going to film. I planned them out in a spider diagram to keep it clear on how the film will work out and how the film will look. For example I put Futura as the main font in the documentary. This font will be used in the titles scenes. Having this diagram makes sure I have continuity between my work.

It's also a great referring point when I am in the post production period of my documentary when I am editing. I will know what the length has to be and how it should be set out.

Pitch Feedback

We got given pitch feedback for our ideas this is some of the things I got.

• Make sure all the content fit's into a short film

This is something I took in. I feel the feedback to makes sure everything fits is good because the longer the film becomes the more mistakes show and the less of a short film it becomes.

• Think about where your going to place the person you're interviewing

I took this in when I started drawing my storyboard. I made sure the place is related to the topic that the documentary is about which is music producing so I made sure it's in the music studio.

• Make sure wind doesn't get in the way of the sound

This isn't really a problem for me because I'm filming my documentary inside. However if any plans change and the documentary is shot outside especially the interview I need to makes sure wind doesn't interrupt the sound of the voice. 

• Make sure camera stays on the subject

Because my documentary is like an interview the camera will be on the tripod with the person sitting on a chair. Only cutaways shots will have camera movement. 

Rushes log & Editing desicions

This is a capture of the shots. I label them with names so it's easier to know which is what when I am editing it makes the process of editing much faster and more efficient. Because I'm the only one editing I use shortcut language and don't colour label my clips however if this was a group project I would colour label and put every single detail to make sure other editors know which clips are the ones they need.


Shots that I will not use in my final cut

The shot is nice however as I had to re-shoot and re-edit the narrative of the documentary I decided this clip does not fit in anywhere and would be random and unneeded in the final cut therefore I will not use it.

Another shot that I will not use because the lighting does not match. I like this shot the lighting problem can be seen and noticed by the spectator.

This is another clip that I won't use because of content it has. The birds were meant to represent freedom of making music however as editing went on it just didn't seem to fit in with the whole concept of this documentary it seemed a little out of place.

BBFC Letter

BBFC Letter from Modestas Mankus

BBFC Research

British Board of Film Classification 

British board of film classification is a non-govornomental organisation which is funded by the film industry and has a job of classifying films with which certificate they come under.

BBFC use few different certificates to separate films that are based on violence , sexual use or , drugs from more easier going films.

At the moment there is 7 different certificates going from 'Suitable for all' to very serious 'Adults works for licensed premises only' as also known as R18. 

The certificate gets decided by an examiner who watches the film and decides what certificate a film deserves depending in what it has included into it and what impact it would have on the spectator.

- Suitable for all ages

- Parental Guidance

- Cinema release suitable for 12 years and over

- Video release suitable for 12 years and over

- Suitable for 15 years and over

- Suitable for adults only

- Adult works for licensed premises only

Caroline (2009) is a children fantasy animation film directed by Henry Selick. The film was given a certificate of PG (Parental Guidance). This raised many concerns as the film had many horror scenes which may scare the kids that watch it however BBFC say it's also about how long the scenes last all and how detailed they are.
Normally a film with a PG is known for being suitable to watch for all ages but may include some unpleasant scenes.

Post Production Evidence

The software I was using for my video was Adobe Premiere I cut up all the audio and video together with all effects were all done on this software. To keep everything tidy made sure clips aren't on the same track so incase I need to expand them or cut them it doesn't mess up another clip.

On the left you can see I applied Mojo plugin which let me add colour filters and colour correct my video how I wanted. 

For the question titles I blurred one of the cutaways and added text which was in white futura font which thought suits the topic of the documentary which is about a electronic music producer. I think the font looks modern and music technology is modern so I think the font is suitable for it.

This is the timeline of the project the main soundtrack was made in Fruity Loops which was synced up with the clip I did some automation to change the audios volume at parts of speeches so everything is equal and doesn't jump to give the film smooth look.

Genre and target audience research task

Set Design

 This is my set design for the interview that I will be shooting. I included the lights where the lights come from so I know when I shoot the interview. I will use natural sunlight which should look good on the right side of the person however it might create a big shadow on the left side on the screen and I want the video to be more balanced therefore I will add direct light by using a standing light.

I want the interview to be in the bedroom because that's what the documentary focuses on and I want the viewer to have an insight of where the music is getting made and it also relates to the topic. I will be including music equipment in the shot as well so the spectator knows what is being talked about in the documentary.

These are the shots I can get from the set design that I made just by looking at it. I could also include more closeups of the equipment for cutaways.

Film Treatment

My film will be about the music producer 'Moz5a' he will be interviewed during talking about how he started music and what type of music he makes and why. The interview will be around 5 minutes long and will have some archive photos showcasing his influences.

I want to shoot the interview in the bedroom where he produces the music so keep it tight and clearly tell the spectator where the magic happens. The influences for the documentary are two short documentaries that I watched before hand the first one is November Morning which is about a techno/minimal track called November Morning by Stimming a German producer. He talks about his song and how he got offered to make it into a real live orchestral version. The interview is shot in the bedroom/studio of the producer and cut aways in the club, train and the orchestra hall. This interview has nice titles and the rhythm of the documentary flows well and is easy to watch.

The second influence is MyStyle by Subscape it's a documentary where the artist talks about how he started music. The documentary is 12 minutes long and takes in few locations from festivals,record shops and his home. I like this documentary because the style of it is refreshing and is very informative.
The documentary also has nice colour grading which I will try to recreate in mine.

If I had to make the film I would only need myself and a cameraman because I am the producer I will be talking in front of the camera. I will need a person to record me so I think my brother can do that. I will need to try and film everything in one day and make sure the lighting is similar to everything. If I film everything on different days and time the quality might change and therefore affect the continuity of the film.

The budget for the film if it was made would be quite minimal because we would really only need a camera and a microphone. If we did have to pay for all the equipment the cost would be around £700 because the cost of the DSLR camera would be around £600 and the microphone would be around £100.

The target audience would be music producers and music fans because of the topic that the film covers. I think the age of the viewers would be probably 16-20 because of the age of the person that the documentary is about is similar.

Peer Feedback on Rough Cut

During the showing of my rough cut to the class I was given some feedback later. This is some of the feedback I got :

- Add more information on how I made music

I think I will need to re shoot my interview which may cause bit of an issue in the continuity of the lighting.However I don't think it's a major problem. I must make sure the interview is long enough for at least 5 minute documentary.

- Cut down on some of the cutaways

This links in with the issue of interview length. If I can get more interview the cutaways will automatically trim down.

- Good contrast between sound and visuals

This is something I done well I am going to keep the same colour correction throughout.

- Equalise audio to balance it out

I will take out 4 to 8 decibels from the music to make sure the vocals are dominant in the sound category.

- Add archive footage

I will add archive photos of DJ's and events to show what the spectator what it looked like and maybe even archive footage of the producer if there is any. I might take also shots of YouTube videos and websites that showcase his work.

Rough Cut

Crew/Cast

Moz5a

Role : Himself

Location : Bassingbourn , Herts - Bedroom

Crew

Camera man

Klaudijus Mankus

Sound

Modestas Mankus 

Editing

Modestas Mankus

Draft Script

This is my first draft script.

Some of the feedback that I got for my script draft was to include further range of shots and also to expand on the length of the documentary to give more info.

One of the other improvements is to maybe tell the viewers how I actually make music to give more detail to the spectator. I could include more visual direction in the script and include the titles that will be used.

Recce Report

This is my main location where I am going to film I am thinking of choosing this location because it suits the topic of the film the most. Because the film is about a music producer I think filming it in his bedroom studio would be the most suitable and would work the best.

This is the view from the Google maps that I captured of the location. The house is in a village which means the best transport to get there would be the bus. The only bus that goes to the location is the 27  which is once a day and the 127 which goes from Royston every 2 hours.

Pros
- Goes with the topic
- Good space
- No wind

Cons
- Hard to get to
- Not enough time to film everything

Risk Assessment

This is my risk assessment for the filming process. I will use it so that I will know some of the hazards that may occur during the process of filming.

Some or hopefully all hazards will be avoided because of this risk assessment sheet. The only problem is not all hazards may of been taking into consideration but I think I covered the main ones. 

To makes it's safe on the set I would need to check all the risks before filming and make sure they are kept out.

Shooting Schedule

This is my draft shooting schedule I'm using to plan when I can film and what I will need to make sure the filming is successful.

This is an important piece of paper for the filming because this tells me clearly what I will need on the day of filming. It's also important as it tells me in enough detail to understand what I need to shoot in order to make the planned documentary.

The Archers Recording

The archers recording with Caleb. In this little exercise we do a radio show where we speak as the characters on the script.

Story & Narrative

Difference between Story and Narrative

Story

The story is what is being told for example ' A man walks into a bar ' and a narrative is how the story is told. For example a narrative can tell it from the end to the start or from the middle to the start. It can also be used to not show every aspect of the story.

3 Act Narrative Structure 

• Balance (First Act)

Balance is when the story starts and everything seems okay to the spectator.

• Unbalance (Second Act)

Unbalance is when something goes wrong in the story and the story is tilted to be unbalanced.

• New Balance (Third Act)

New Balance is the final of the story when everything is resolved and is back to normal.


5 Act Narrative Structure

• Exposition

Exposition is the part where normally the characters and location are introduced. The story can be told by voice over (narrator), flashbacks or just dialogues.

• Development

In the development part of the story the characters get shown more and we might even find out what might be a complication later on in the film.

• Complication

Complication part is when something goes wrong in the story. For example someone get's shot and no one knows who done it.

• Climax

This is probably the most intense part of the film when everything comes together. For example in a fighting film it would be the final fight.

• Resolution

This is the end where the spectators find out if everything is okay or not.

Linear and Non-Linear Narrative

Linear narrative is when everything goes in the order it should go so it's easy to understand what is happening. For example Rocky (1976)

Non-Linear when the story is told in a way that doesn't go in order for example in Pulp Fiction (1994) the story is told in different times. This makes the film more interesting and doesn't tell the spectator what will happen.

Classic Hollywood Narrative Structure

The classic Hollywood narrative structure has a clear beginning,middle and the end. Also all the characters are very goal orientated.
There is the setup, development and the resolution.

Narrative Structure of Pulp Fiction

In Pulp Fiction the narrative is non-linear which makes the film more interesting for the spectator.

I came up with the conclusion that the film is ordered in 7 Parts and that the story is based around in two different days.

The ending of the film is actually The Gold Watch however it is shown before the end.

Pitch and Final Idea

During the pitch I came up with another idea for a documentary which is about why people cut there hair as they do. I got some important information from the interview which made me think on how the documentary would for example if I am going to interview people on the street will sound be a problem.

Even though the idea seemed good it would mean I would at least need another person for the camera or a person that would interview the people because on my own to record sound and video whilst doing the interview would be too much.

On the other hand I also learned some vital lessons about making a documentary for example that it has to be short, clever and have good sound quality.

Final Idea

Title : My Frequency

This documentary will be a autobiographical  documentary based on my music. I want this documentary to have an artistic rhythm but also be informative about me.

I will probably edited the clips to make it black and white and have an atmospheric soundtrack playing in the background whilst the voice over of the interview is playing alongside it.

I chose this idea because I thought it would be the most convent but also I could express the feelings easier because I know what I am feeling and how I feel towards life and music.

Short Documentary Viewing - Colin Furze

6 Ideas For A Documentary

Idea 1

The first idea idea that I thought was an interesting idea was to make a documentary about my Brother who is an artist.

I thought it would be good to start the documentary from when he got into art and develop the story to how his skills and style changed over time.

To shoot the documentary it would be interesting to have shots of him drawing and sketching. But also to interview him about his favorite artists and how he goes around to make his artwork.

Idea 2

The second idea for a documentary is to make an autobiographical documentary about myself. The documentary would be about my music and how I make it but also my thoughts on the music industry as it is for upcoming young producers.

Idea 3

The third idea for my documentary is about a local football club 'Bassingbourn Youth Football Club'. The documentary would include interviews and footage of football played by the youths to tell the story of how the club started up and how it is run.

Idea 4

Something unusual but I thought it would be interesting to tell a story of an animal most likely my female dog 'Bella' who is a Springer Spaniel. I would want to have the film edited and made into a black and white film.

Idea 5

A documentary about young upcoming music producers/DJ's and film makers and how they feel about the film and music industry.

For this documentary I would be aiming to interview around 3 young upcoming producers.
I would take some archive footage as well from DJ competitions and include that in as well.

Idea 6

My 6th idea for a documentary is about my local village Bassingbourn. I would interview local people about how long they been living in the village and show the history of the village.

I would include archive footage and old photos as well to show the difference in how the village looked some time ago and how it looks now.

Stories We Tell (Documentary Film)

Name of Film : Stories We Tell
Director : Sarah Polley
Year : 2012

The film Stories We Tell is a documentary about a family that tells there story about there family mystery that changed there life.

At the beginning the film looks at the relationship between Sarah the director of the film and her parents when she was a child.

I thought the film had an interesting structure as it didn't reveal the whole story from the start which made me surprised at certain points of the film when something unexpected happened. For example the film didn't tell us till later on that the Mother had actually been married before and that the marriage was a total disaster which I thought shows that stories are told differently by everyone else. Therefore I though the narrative was well set out because it keeps the spectator interested in the film and also bolds out the point that not all stories told by people will included every key point of the event.

Another interesting tool that they used was reconstructions in the film which were recorded and edited like they were archive footage which made me I thought were real until the end of the film where they show footage of them shooting the reconstruction parts.

Even though most of the 'Archive footage' was reconstructed there was some real footage which I thought let the story flow well and made it more real.

The main tool that the director used was the interviews of the family which was the thing that told the story and there memories of what happened.



The key character that keeps the whole story together is the Director Sarah Polly who is the story told about. I think it's done well because everyones story is connected back to her and it keeps the film understandable to the spectator.

The Other Dream Team (Documentary Film)

Name of Film : The Other Dream Team
Director : Marius Markevicius
Year : 2012

'The Other Dream Team' is based on the Lithuanian Basketball Team in the late 1980's and the nations fight for independence against the Soviet Union.

The start of the documentary shows the life in the Soviet Union for the Lithuanian players as they are interviewed. It also shows how Basketball became a national sport in Lithuania and why it is a such a big deal in the small country.

I thought the documentary was very honest and showed the truth of how the Lithuanians lived in the 1990's and before that. The documentary seemed to not just show the Basketball but also the lives of the Lithuanians which I thought gave the film another dimension and showed the spectators the reality of life in the 1980's for Lithuanians.

The film had quite a simple but strong structure as the way it was showed the build up from the story behind the players to the final game in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as Lithuania beat the broken up Soviet Union to win a bronze in there first Olympics as being an independent country.

The tools the film makers used where Archive Footage and Interviews which they had to go quite a big distance to get as they said in there interview at the Sundance Film Festival.

Interviews included not just from Lithuanians but also from the NBA comissionar and other big people in the Basketball history such as Golden State Warriors legend and team mate of Sarunas Marciulonis Chris Mullin.

The main people that were included were the main four players which played in the 5 players starting line up for the Soviet Union before the independence who were Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marculionis, Rimas Kurtinaitis and Valdemaras Chomicius.