Evaluation

For the Documentary our group consisted as Myself as the editor, Shelton as Camera, Luke Hall sound editor, Reece Saunderson as Producer, Alice Wybrant as director and Jay Burgoyne as Sound Recorder. We began researching initial ideas by reading through local new stories. One that mainly stood out was Liverpool becoming the capital of culture. So we researched further into this, as it was quite an interesting subject that we thought could be developed and refined. We then had the idea of Scouse food. However the idea we settled on was the Liverpool China Town, which was the oldest in Europe. We thought this would be perfect for the documentary as it could be presented by colorfully and interestingly.

The process of creating the work was very well organized which I believe was pivotal in creating a strong piece of work. Reece as the Producer worked really well to organize the shoots and gain access to the contributor. Before the first shoot in Liverpool, some member of the group traveled to Liverpool for a recce. This was a great idea and proved worthwhile in the planning stages to get an idea of the surrounding area and ideas for subjects/contributors etc. During the shoot I worked closely with Shelton on camera so I could get an in-depth feel of the image before I went away to edit. I think the choice of using DLSR and low aperture lenses really aided the pieces aesthetics especially in the close-ups objects in Chinatown and the supermarkets. However one problem that arose during the project was the loss of significant footage. This was due to my backup and mac being stolen. I had to return to Liverpool on my own to regain some of the footage that was lost, however this proved well as I managed to get more than we initially had as I knew what we exactly needed and what improvements we needed. I learnt from this that I need to create more than one backup and keep one off site, so if something does get stolen, it is safe elsewhere.

The edit was relatively simple as I worked closely with Alice who had strong ideas of the structure. The interview was used as a base and a structure for the edit. The main problem was choosing where to have cut aways of Liverpool and where to show Simon the contributor. However I refined this many times and was careful with the edit and I think it worked really well. During this project ire ally tried to keep an organized workflow to maintain optimum editing efficiency.

The main learning outcome for the documentary project was definitely the need for organization in a production. The whole team worked really well as a whole and no one slacked. Communication with regular meetings and contact with the contributors proved to be key in creating a smooth shoot. It is also clear that background research of both topics and documentary style was key in creating a great piece of work. I believe the piece we created was a strong piece of work that we are all happy with. However I believe it has its flaws also, I would have liked more interview material from Simon, more depth to his stories. I think my edit could have been slightly tighter as it seemed to loose pace in the middle of piece. Also he sound cold be greatly improved with more sound from cut aways, less volumes on the music as it was too loud over the voice over and also for the voice over to be better quality/clearer. I believe the strongest parts of the work were the voice over and the Simons character, which made it really gentle, and sentimental Also the colorful cut away shots and the way they were framed looks great in the final piece. As part of a team I think we all worked really well, efficiently and equally. Every member pulled their weight for their particular role and we helped each other with our roles. Everyone took to their roles equally and worked to they’re fullest which I think is evident in the final piece of work.

As we worked so well during the Documentary we decided to work together again in Drama project. I was producer this time; Alice was director, Reece on camera, Jay as editor, and Shelton as sound editor and James as sound recorder. At first I was unsure about the role as I am not great at organizing or taking leadership roles, but I also thought this would be a great challenge for me especially taking a less creative role that I wasn’t used to. Alice provided a great script for the initial idea, which was greatly influenced by such films as Submarine and Moonrise Kingdom. I think he script is possibly the strongest aspect of the film and really gives it a humorous edge.

As producer I don’t think I had as much to do in this project as I would have liked but I think this was largely due to the efficiency, organization and communication of everyone in the group being so great. We were always in constant contact of any updates and plans. When I received the script I began looking for ways I could gain contact of a child actor, however Alice proved her cousins for the role, which made not only my job easier but also the whole arranging process of the project. I then began looking for locations, which I had talked about with Alice, as I knew she had specific ideas in mind. I took this very seriously as I wanted to make sure they were perfect for the project. I took it upon myself to do numerous location scouts of the local area, which I know well. I presented numerous locations for each act to the group, which we refined into 3. With this I then began organizing shoot days for the Sheffield shoots looking closely at weather and availability of the crew. Unfortunately Reece was not available for the Sheffield shoots so I filled in on camera. He showed me his inspirations and ideas he had in mind for the style of shots he required. I believed I captured his requirements successfully. Max proved to be a fantastic actor who fitted the role perfectly and it was great to work with him. It was interesting working with a child actor and on an organized shoot in public, I found the experience really enjoyable and I think the whole group did. The shoot went very smoothly and we finished early than my estimated wrap time.

I think the final piece is a good piece of work, which shows all our effort. However I do believe the edit could have been slightly tighter with more shots of the reactions of the girl. Also more time spent on the sound and picture quality/ couloir etc. In the end I believe the work still shows everybody’s best effort in his or her individual role. The team worked well and I think more efficiently than the documentary shoot, as we knew the process better this time round. Everybody again worked equally, however I believe I could have taken more responsibility on the producer role as Alice organized a lot of what I could have done, but I think this was due to her working with a family member as it was easier for her to keep in contact and organize them.

Shoot 1

We met at 10am on April 28th for the first shoot of the production. The shoot went completely to the organized plan and the weather was as forecast and provided great light. Me and Shelton provided transport for the crew. The locations proved to be great for the production and were excellent for shooting as we didn't get in the way of the public so we got the shoot done early than the estimated wrap time. On the day I had to fill in for Reece on camera. It was great to get a creative role on set, we got really hands on during the shoot and used the boot of the car to capture some tracking shots which came out really great. Max proved to be a great actor and worked really well with us, I was really wary as the producer having a young child under supervision, but i ensured he was always safe during the shoot.

Reece informed me of the style of shots he was looking for, based on this music video he had seen by Keaton Henson- Lying to You. I followed these types of shots as a guide and i think i pulled it off well in getting the shots he wanted, particularly using the car for track shots.

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Actual Temp

12° Lo 0°

Hist. Avg.

14° Lo 6°

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Production Documents

Organisation, Shoots, Actors, Locations

I believe the strong aspect of our group is communication and organization, no one is left in the dark about any ideas, preparations or plans. We have set up a Facebook group to keep everyone in constant contact and up to date with the plans for the production. 

Following the feedback on the scripts we met to discus further preparations and plans. Fortunately Alice has gained permission from her young cousins to fill the roles of the children very early on which gives us more time to plan the other aspects of the production. During the meeting we discussed locations for the shoot. After analyzing the script and talking with alice i had a good idea of what was needed for the locations. Due ot my knowledge of the area i had many places in mind for the locations.

We had already established the part of it was going to be filmed in Selby, North Yorkshire where the actors live, which makes transport easy and also the aesthetics are really good for the film there. I knew we needed at least 3 more locations as we had an urban setting, i wanted to get one country side setting, one slightly more urban with large\grand houses near the city and one which fitted in between. I had to choose one that were easy accessible to guarantee as much filming time as possible. Also ones where the production wouldn't affect the general public too much, for the safety of the children and so we could really spend a lot of time shooting.

I went out on my own location scout soon after the meeting and feedback my finds via the Facebook group and google maps. 

These were the 3 locations we used-

Location 1- Hilltop Road, Dronfield

 

Location 2- Dore Road- Dore-Sheffield

Loaction 3 - Furnace Lane, Barlow, Dronfield

Submarine - Richard Ayoade - 2010

I was advised by the group to watch Submarine as it was set in the particular style that we were wanting to aproach, similar to moonrise kingdom. Mainly because it is similar to our script that it is a coming of age film about young love. Again like moonrise kingdom its dry witty humour is gives it a nice gerntle mood which we want to make are film special. I am also looking at the loactions which oftern are very british looking, countrey side and slightly picturesc, as producer I have taken it upon my self to choose the loactions based on Alice's script.

Pitched Script Ideas

Working Title: 

Jay Burgoyne

Length: 5 minutes Format: DSLR Digital film.

Hook line:

Short Synopsis.

Following the story of 3 individuals talking about a significant past relationship, and the break up that followed, as the dialogue moves on the audience are given clues and it becomes apparent that these 4 characters are speaking possibly about the same person this is shown through similarities in their stories. Its a bit of a different take on a portrait drama, as you learn about the subject only through others and never see her.

Mid Length synopsis:

Follows the story of 3 different individuals after a break up from their partners, they narrate key parts of the relationship that worked and that didn't work, the journey is coming through the other side of a break up as pretty much everyone can relate to this journey as it is a pretty universal subject matter. The film will use many different locations in order to visually build a picture of the relationship and in a sense journey through the past of the characters life, or memory, I will do this by having the main characters acting as if they are journalists doing a report on the relationship with focus on good composition and using a sort of documentary style drama. I will be giving all the characters individual personalities to contrast from each other, for example one being quite dumb but good hearted, one being a bit of a joker etc to gain a wider variation of viewing for the audience. The twist in the story is that through the dialogue it becomes apparent that they are all talking about the same person. The themes I would like to explore are firstly people having different opinions on the same thing, for example there may have been things that one character liked about the girl and things that another character hated. Secondly I wanted to explore something that nearly everyone can relate to which is relationships, but not in the conventional loved up way that they are normally portrayed.

Key points :

• emphasis on transitions between characters, keeps the film interesting
• emphasis on dialogue and linking together certain similarities with the character they are talking about
• emphasis on composition, want to devise a colour scheme for each character where possible, to fit with their personalities.

Idea Two

Alice Wybrant

Crew: Chris Aitkenhead, Alice Wybrant, Jay Burgoyne, Reece Saunderson & Shelton Sitima.
Working title: The Letter

Length: 05.00

Short synopsis:

On the surface this short film is about a young boy delivering a very important letter. The story unfolds with his voice narrating his thoughts and actions. The key characters are the young boy and the young girl who is in the last 30 seconds of the film. The young boy's character is somewhat serious and 'deep' thinking but in a 'too old for your age' kind of way. This then makes his character slightly comedic to an audience. There is a journey present in this film, both physically and mentally. The action of delivering the letter is a journey the boy has to take but in the narration we hear how he feels about what's inside the letter (although the audience don't find out until the very end). We hear how much courage it took him to write the letter let alone deliver it. As the young boy acts 'old' for his age and is generally deluded by his own intelligence the themes of age crop up a lot. These can be seen in the mise en scene of the film. The boys costume, hair etc. It's also in his actions. For example turning his nose up at things people do his age.

This film is about a young boy delivering a very important letter. The young boy is 'old for his age' and feels he is somewhat 'trapped' in a younger persons body. If he were to write a profile for himself on a dating website he would probably sound like a dog. “Enjoys long walks in the park and sitting by the fire”. The content of the letter itself does not get revealed until the last 30 seconds or so of the film. He builds up the prestige and importance of the letter throughout the film saying how it's one of the most important letters he's ever written in his life so far. In the last few seconds of the film we see a young girl opening a letter. Revealing a really badly made valentines day card and a shot of her very unimpressed face. The set up of this is hinted at near the start of the film when he states what date it is (12^th february).

We pitched both these ideas in class, but both us and the class undoubtably agree that the second idea is the strongest. This i believe could make a very interesting and gently humored film that I am very excited to shoot.