My documentary is about the differences between country life and city life,this including things from employment rates to social attractions based around locations of Essex and London. I came up with my idea through thinking about passions and interests I already hold, this being the idea of travel and different locations. I chose this idea (with the help of teachers and peers) as I felt I held a genuine interest in the theme, a main element behind participatory / expository documentaries that the filmmaker is knowledgeable and passionate about their chosen topic. My choice also gave me the ability to inform myself about areas around me in the planning and pre production stage of my work when finding out facts about Essex and London. Facts included populations of areas to accompany graphics and a voice over whilst informing my audience in an expository manner. The target audience for my expository / participatory documentary ranges, from older audiences e.g 40-50+ enjoying the countryside aspect compared to other audiences from young teens and adults feeling as though they can relate more to the London life element of the documentary.
As part of finalising the unit, I have applied techniques learnt throughout the year. Being able to independently apply what I have learnt has been insightful, and has allowed clarity in the story of my documentary. For example, the voice over including voiced facts about populations of both areas and places of attractions such as Piccadilly circus in London and Sugar Hut in Brentwood, Essex, overlapping with some visuals. The cinematography of the documentary is another reason I chose this idea, as I had the opportunity to practice and present cinematic still shots, in parallel to what's being said. I had decided to film a variety amount of still shots to focus the audience's attention on the shot whilst hearing the voice over, as constant moving shots may have distracted the audience from the voice over.
One aspect in which I attempted to present in a more complex manner was the order of shots in post production editing. At the beginning and some times throughout, the idea of whether to sequence the same location shots together e.g put cinematic shots of London's Oxford Circus together then the other location of Hainault Forest Country park, or to mix the sequence with both location shots together. This was challenging however I had decided to mix the shots, to fully represent the contrast between the city and country. Shots contrasted with each other here and overall made my message of a busy life and more relaxed surrounding visually clearer, e.g a shot of the train then contrasting with a car, shots of wide amounts of people contrasting with wide fields.
Further techniques I used included interviews in both locations of London and Essex. I attempted to use the rule of thirds in all interviews for cinematically pleasing shots, and the people interviewed were not planned out beforehand. Some ethical issues I faced during the interviews was the fact that I had a few people who were not originally from the U.K therefore not as familiar about the area as hoped. However to overcome this when filming I had asked more generic questions about the city and country overall. I had faced further issues when interviewing (included in overview of filming & editing) and have learnt from these through given feedback for future projects.
Practical tasks - documentaries
Throughout the year I have been undertaking and learning elements of film and documentary. Tasks within the film and sound category such as learning focus pull & visual effects with Adobe Audition practice, and practically three different styles of documentaries. These being Observational, Participatory and Expository. Each in which were insightful but challenging in various ways, for example, observational documentary film making in which I found the most intriguing due to the fact that the filmmaker has the desire to tell a story but has no input in the actual footage. When filming, there were advantages such as the shots, as there was a variety of camera techniques in terms of composition and shallow depth of field. Learning and practising this, I had applied the same skills within my final documentary, with the still shots focusing in and out and developed knowledge on composition, through using the rule of thirds for some focused subjects in cinematic shots and the rule of thirds in interviews. I had also learnt to do this from the expository documentary, where our participant interviews were shot using the thirds rule. However, aspects that were challenging included editing in post for observational, there were issues with time management within the group and the order of the sequence. Reflecting back, I had learnt and concluded technically to cut and edit the sequence in the way the story makes most sense, and soft skills wise to ensure there's clarity in communication when team working. Unlike the cinematography in both expository and observational, My participatory documentary had issues with the rule of thirds as my participant was placed too far off the grid. Further problems included ethical issues - as the style of documentary was an interview, when filming the answers to my questions there were a few retakes to allow the participant to search up a fact about an artist, along with the participant being a friend of mine as the filmmaker, meaning the answers were not entirely from my participants memory or entirely serious. To solve / avoid this in my final documentary, I did not know the participants used allowing more professional results and asked easier, more understandable questions. My expository documentary, filmed and edited in a group, included advantages such as voiced over facts in parallel to the footage and an interview with a few participants within our college. Cinematography wise, the framing of the shots and use of the rule of thirds made the final footage visually pleasing and successful. However, aspects that could be improved include the sound at times. As the music in the background may be distracting at times for audiences. Linking to sound and moving image, where I had practised sound editing in Adobe Audition.(overview of editing)
Practical tasks -Filming
Learning about the 180 degree rule as part of another practical filming task was insightful and made me more aware when watching films and spotting the rule, along with spotting filmmakers who perhaps break the rule, a famous film example being Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu. -http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/ogaycken/clips/tokyostoryexample.mp4/view
Our practical task was successful in fulfilling the rule however the pre production stage of planning could have been improved, through researching filmmakers that practice or break the rule or watching short films with dialogue and characters, viewing if they've used the rule and how, along with what effect it may have had on the scene.This would allow us to fully understand the rule, contributing to our overall film knowledge in a wider context.
Focus pull, my example (documentary)
Focus pull, my example (practical task)
Furthermore, we had also learnt the role of focus pulling. This typically used in film making to add dramaticness or effect within a scene, practising depth/shallow depth of field. There were challenges within our group in terms of filming the footage, as we struggled with time management. To overcome this challenge independently, I filmed and practised how to focus pull using a Canon camera. Though the shots I used were not in story context, they are an example of a way in which I practised and allowed me to apply my understanding of the technique. Throughout the year as there was a time management issue, I focused more on reaching deadlines and had managed to do so for my final documentary, along with using the technique in a few shots in Oxford Circus.(example) along with in other practical tasks, such as focus pulling shots in the observational documentary. A similar style I have explored for these shots, focusing on a plain subject, focusing out to a more interesting background. Further improvements include further research for focus pull, examples of films that have used the effect for dramaticness when focusing from one subject to the other, an example being Call Me By Your Name directed by Luca Guadagnino with cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom where the focus goes from one actor to the other, expressing what they're saying to each other with their facial expressions. This being the most important element as both characters are not facing each other, whilst metaphorically speaking about each other. All these subtle elements making the scene important in the story line.
Call me by your name example -
Another filming technique we had learnt and practised being a tracking /panning shot.
Panning shots, possibly linking to editing to make a shot look as though its been filmed throughout, is a cinematography technique that particularly intrigues me, however still requires time for me to perfect and practice more. Examples I visually enjoy and would like to take inspiration from include music videos such as The 1975's ' Sincerity Is Scary ' and Bird-man with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. We chose the idea of a group of people running with a scary figure following them, as the camera had the ability to follow them whilst they partook the running action and looked constant overall. An important issue/ challenge I had learnt from included looking ahead when filming a tracking shot, as there may be people or other elements to consider in a 360 degree manner as the camera pans. Planning this for locations, accounting people around at the time of day, possible background noise affecting editing in post, etc. Cinematography skills have developed through the practical tasks, with challenges including time management and planning beforehand, an overall conclusion personally being to apply and experiment more with panning shots, and research further films that use or break 180 and 360 degree rules.
Overview of filming -
The filming aspect within my documentary allowed me to apply techniques I had built up within the year from the practical tasks and personal work, such as filming for cinematic videos in practise for bigger projects.Within my documentary, there are elements that professionally represent a documentary, however some issues. Challenges include the interviews filmed in Soho, London. The people interviewed are not visually clear along with background noise from the busy city life, due to no microphone used. In comparison to the interviews filmed in Hainualt, Essex, where the people are visible with good lighting, though also distracting sound, including seagull noises. One interview is successful, filmed in Hainault, making the comparison between this and the other interviews odd in the final edit. To improve and develop this for future projects, I will plan more carefully beforehand in terms of time of day filming and what day, as locations such as the city may be even busier, along with bringing sound equipment for better end product quality. The time of day also accounting for viewing participants in a clearer way due to the lighting. Though I did not face issues with the battery or technical aspects of the camera, I will also ensure that the camera works before going on location and be sure to have extra equipment when going on location. Further challenges I faced included the footage of myself. Though the rule of thirds was used and now improved for my final documentary as learnt to use from practising in my participatory documentary (example,) some parts of the footage is out of focus. To improve this for future projects, I could be extra careful in terms of focusing, being sure that myself as the main subject is in focus continuously as I am speaking. Though not major, this is a cinematography element I will consider for more future projects.
Advantages and aspects that I have learnt whilst filming includes visually aesthetic shots, from both locations with ranging of lighting, symbolising my message and intentions further. Filming London's lights in the evening symbolises the night life the city has, especially catering for younger generations, in comparison to the sunrise and sunset of wider fields and houses, with cinematic shots of a cafe in comparison to shots of a concert and the cinematic lighting of a sunset. The message of city vs country is expressed and visually understandable at these points of the documentary. These shots are consistent throughout, accompanying music and the documentary voice over technique. Keeping a clear message and consistency is an aspect I would like to carry out for future projects, whilst being more aware of using equipment to improve sound quality.
Footage of myself (flipped in edit)
Participatory documentary - improved rule of thirds in final documentary
Practical tasks - editing
As part of the sound element of the units, I had initially learnt to use Adobe Audition and Foley sounds. After learning and practising more with Foley sounds for practical film and documentary tasks as the year progressed, I had started noticing scenes in which may have Foley sound rather than dietetic sounds, further expanding contextual knowledge around film-making.
Overview of editing -
For my final documentary, this had been the first time (within the course) editing in Adobe Premiere Pro independently. This had been intriguing to start after filming, initially with the rough cut as learnt from an editing mentor, Kate Burke, learnt that getting all footage onto the timeline initially is important. Crucial aspects included in my edit includes the layering of graphics at the beginning, edited through layering in effects controls and changing the opacity blend mode to screen to make the graphics visible, along with adding text graphics throughout to accompany the voice-over. I also flipped the footage of myself using an effect called horizontal flip to make the footage look more natural and make it seem as though I am not reading. The pace of the sequence is cut on beat to the music used, however for future projects as an improvement I should use royalty free music and further improve on the sound aspect, making my work overall more professional. Cinematography wise, a visual effect called Warp stabiliser was used, to reduce shakiness of shots such as driving through fields and scenes from a concert to accompany the London element. Feedback I received from the edit included improving sound levels for the interviews, from the participants voice clashing with background noise. Another aspect learnt about sound in post from an editing mentor Ben Mallaby, always attempt to reach -12 on sound for all audios as the guideline for what doesn't sound too loud or quiet. Personally, an issue I faced towards the end was the clash between the train voice and slight noise the video naturally had, compared to no audio besides the clean audio of music therefore sounding odd. To fix this, I added the sound effect of smoothed background noise and audio transitions titled Constant gain / Constant power, to make the transition smooth. These same audio transitions applied at the beginning and end of clips when transitioning between songs.
Overall skill development -
As part of exploring the art form of film, working together in a team is an important aspect and prepares us for future crew situations, along with further soft skills such as time management. These skills have been challenged over the course of the year, with challenges in ideas clashing together in planning stages and going out to film/ gather footage. However, they have been insightful in preparation for future projects, along with working independently especially in times of editing.
