Documentary Project - set backs

There were several set backs which deterred from the quality of the final film, mainly problems with the execution. Firstly the producer was absent the first day which meant we weren't fully organise. Secondly when we got to the edit we found that many of the shots weren't usable due to the camera man playing with white balance, exposure and filters getting fingers in shot, whilst we remember him getting out and putting away a tripod an awful lot there is quite a few handheld shaky images not in a good way, the pan that I was talking about earlier having he five main elements of our film in one pan wasn't level although this would have been an easy mistake as we were in the middle of a steep hill, which meant that the world tipped on to its side as the pan  progressed, only some of the edge lane tracking shots worked as we couldn't zoom out enough as the streets are quite tight, and the camera didn't cope with the motion very well leaving echos of the buildings, however we did get some good static and the demolished street worked well morning and night, If we were to do this again however I would consider fixing the camera to the car to minimise movement. A third Major problem was the sound man went AWOL having only gathered a few atmos's and a couple of guitar instrumentals from a band mate. He seemed to think that the sound design at edit stage was down to the editor. This was problematic because the sound was what was really going to bring the images to life captivating the viewer. I think if we had had a sound designer we could have had a more rhythmic piece that takes the viewer through rise and falls connecting the voice over keeping the rhythm going throughout, it was my plan and direction to get good rise and fall with high dynamic range, really drawing the viewer into the documentary. I think these technical setbacks meant that the initial project idea wasn't fully realised. The editor however was very good and committed spending several full days trying to work the usable footage we had, I was there throughout the entirety of the edit giving direction to ensure my creative realisation, we also did the sound design edit together, fitting in atmoses, voice overs, guitar tracks and creating a musical piece to go over edge lane in garage band. Overall I'm not fully happy with the final outcome due to the setbacks, its not what I set out to achieve, however it does still hold some interesting elements and explores different parts of the city and hidden elements that may not be seen by a visitor, I like the rushes of yellow and the fakery it entails, I like how we transition into daylight at edge lane which symbolises its an new day, there is hope for the city and a motivation to change. The stylistic choice of the grubby windscreen on the final shot creates a barrier between the viewer and the subject matter, showing that there are hurdles to overcome.

Documentary Project - shoot report

overall I think it was fairly successful we gained a large coverage of the city covering a diverse range of juxtapositions, shooting plenty of footage. The 6am edge lane had a great atmosphere with morning mist and a low sun peaking through the cloud. It was surreal on edge lane we were zigzagging between streets which got more and more deteriorated until one was just rubble, then there was a street with new builds on one side and edge lane boarded up houses on the other. I hope we managed to capture this oddity to share with the audience. It was  a bit weired that all the roads were still open despite demolition being in progress, during the day there was a hive of activity with workers and trucks, we got a matching tracking shot which had completely changed by the day, e.g large skips had been moved, trucks and flatbeds blocking the view workers moving etc. this will be nice to have a repeat match shot showing the development and transformation of a city motivated for change.

These were our two chosen stills for the production folder which I think sum up our project well, focusing on different light throughout the day, taking one from the edge lane section and one from the city section which takes in culture, heritage and maritime themes. I used a stills camera to capture better quality stills for print, I also used this to take a photo of the shot I wanted then showed the camera man how I wanted the shot composed through the image, except he setting up the tripod for a static shot.

 

Documentary project - RECCE

Having arrived in Liverpool and establishing our groundings we set out to explore the city, heading through and down to the docks, where we captured some great images with  the sun fairly low in the sky. Walking through the city you see everything we predicted, from crumbling buildings, boarded up shops and scaffolding everywhere, which is then transformed into brand new shopping centres, angular modern architecture, culture art and heritage. There were stark juxtapositions with renovated old architecture sitting slap bang in the middle of a brand new building, the new building are all fairly striking, some of which seem form over function as you would be left with a bunch of triangular rooms.

This image seemed particularly striking having an older building possibly part of the pump house with the date 1883 printed onto it, with a brand new Liverpool Museum poking out behind it, I used this building as an anchor point for the shots round the docks having it in shot as we travelled round capturing the different angles and sides. 

There were several things I noticed on the recce, at first I was surprised by the condition of Liverpool I thought it would be worse, but there was a real drive for change with most of the old buildings covered in scaffold alongside a brand new shopping centre. I also noticed that the city had allot of yellow, including signs, bus stops, posters etc Which I decoded as a city that's trying to sell this happy colour showing this is a nice jolly city, which leads you to see the fakery of it all, you can dress a city up all you like but the social and economic situation may not change, as our starting point article stated there are no skilled workers in Liverpool, therefore you have mass unemployment. This seemed particularly prevalent feature when there was a big shopping centre that was covered in a pink wrap, hiding the original rundown architecture. However, covering things up doesn't address the underlying problem. I wrote these ideas down that night and arranged the schedule due to an absent producer due to illness. Starting at 6am, was the original plan but only half the group made that unsurprised so Peter (camera man) and me (director) left them sleeping off the nigh before, this wasn't majorly problematic however due to their roles. After returning from edge lanes sunrise we planned to be back for breakfast, then go out again to capture these yellow motifs dotted through the city and the scaffolding, and buildings covered in wraps. We were then going to go back to Edge Lane capturing it during the day with a stronger light. We then returned for lunch and went back out to capture the trainstation, the park/memorial ground, the two juxtaposing cathedrals and went near china town, finding the further you walk out the more it deteriorates, getting some interesting shots, full of juxtapositions. There was a point where we got a pan going from a scaffold building, to a deteriorated building, to the cultural china gateway, to the heritage of the cathedral, to a brand new block of flats, Everything within this pan held our original ideas.    

Documentary Project - Poetry

The grey of a city is too much to bear,

But yellow splashes hide the despair.
Outwardly glad, secretly sad,
Repressing truths of vagrant youths

Buildings in wraps, hiding brutal facts,

A city destroyed with workers deployed,
is it enough for a city so tough.

I see people walking, scaffolding talking, clatter, clang, clatter, clang.

Liverpool is changing,

New verses old,
Heritage, art, culture.

Liverpool is new Liverpool is bold Liverpool is everything including the old.

Plenty of things to see and do

The cultural city delivers you through
Rich heritage walks the docks
Sailing clear of the rocks
 
A city founded with high aims, attracted many of the names,
Roaming a city of great inspiration, leads a mind to aspiration. 

Is it for you, is it for me,

Liverpool city the place to be?

Behind closed doors you will find, scars deep within the mind,

a raw history's of social deprivation, plagues a land of motivation

As the sun hits its peak perceptions are bleak, but a driving force of motivation delivers new hope for a land of transformation.

 

Is it for you, is it for me,

Liverpool City the place to be?

Documentary Project - Directing

Here is some evidence of my Directing;

Ed I'm gonna let you be as creative as you like with the sound primarily we'll have a poetic VoiceOver that will match the images done in post which I will write, but if you want atmos's, your own music, try and get sounds that match the scene for example the eerie night shots am I being followed am I safe a quickening of pace, moments of silence etc build a sound that really adds to the film making it what it is, add to those ideas you have full creative freedom from me. Peter as camera man I want you to get visually pleasing shots think hard about composition be considered as its poetic we can have a mix of smooth handheld and sticks.

Documentary Project - shot list

Shot List

This is a no exhaustive shot list, having not been to Liverpool, we will have to wait to see whats there before we are informed on what to shoot, this will be formed from the recce on day 1, look out for poetic elements of city, for example matching colours, juxtapositions between new and old etc.

Edge lane

Sunrise

no	Description
1	Static long shot of houses and morning sun
2	Pan Long shot taking in morning sun
3	Tracking flat onto houses Both 25fps and 50fps
4	Static on Street corner
5	Tracking Pointing forward with vanishing point

Edge Lane
Midday

no	Description
1	Tracking flat onto houses both 25fps and 50fps
2	Tracking forward down street with vanishing point
3	Tracking round corners
4	Static on corners
5	Establishing shot static long

Docks

no	Description
1	Establishing long shot docks
2	Tate Liverpool on vanishing point
3	Maritime symbolism
4	Light reflecting on water
5	Boats
6	Long take Liverpool Museum

   city

no	Description
1	Train station Internal establishing
2	Train station External Establishing
3	Scaffolding – Looking down through street level
4	Long shot scaffolding covered building
5	Closed shops mid
6	Buildings beyond repair
7	New builds investment rushes
8	People moving across shots within city centre
9	Stillness of city at sunrise Multiple shots
10	Police car/man Ambulance (Sound sirens)
11	Beetles wall of fame pull focus
12	Cavern club

Documentary Project - rough Storyboard

This was a basic rough storyboard that was created pre filming recce I'm leaving a lot of room for the city to dictate its own personality. However, there are certain elements that I want to capture, these included; the Tate and docks, showing investment and development; Scaffolding within the city, showing that in a way it is still under construction; police cars, ambulances and figures of authority, highlighting the problems with crime and violence; edge lane houses showing the run down rubbled houses in all their beauty, filming different times of day to see how different lights change the atmosphere of a place. I also wanted a city centre shot that goes from day to night seeing the transformation of a place from the hustle and bustle of the day, the feeling of unsafeness at night and the quiet clear and refreshing moments at sunrise.

Documentary project - street view

The producer gathered photos of the city through google street view whilst constructing background research into the area. These were helpful in developing my creative realisation, whilst having been to Liverpool before it was a while ago and only went to the tate so these were useful in visualising the city and setting up a loose storyboard.

Documentary Project - News article Starting Point

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/30/england.deprivation

'Liverpool remains the most deprived district in England despite an influx of regeneration cash and a government drive to reduce inequality, official figures show.
New investment spurred by its status as European City of Culture has failed to boost local income or employment, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
The city's deprivation score, using 2007 figures, has barely changed since the previous indices for multiple deprivation (IMD) showed it was bottom of the league in 2004.
Its population is poorly placed to benefit from investment and new jobs because skill levels are below average, according to consultants Local Futures, who analysed the figures for their deprivation barometer.
Liverpool council has initiated an outreach programme to point long-term unemployed people towards skills training, but a spokesman said it will be a while before that brings major benefits.
The city's lack of progress is mirrored across the country: 90% of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in 2004 remain so three years later.' (G, Sara. Liverpool is England's most deprived district government figures show. Society Guardian, Wednesday 30 April 2008 13.34 BST)

This news article was the main starting point for our documentary, fully detailing the problems faced by the city, we want to explore these meeting points between the deprave areas combined with the areas of investment seeking out how we as a developed country respond to poverty. This statement from one of the councillors which seemed particularly prominent; "Nobody wants to be labelled the most deprived. The capital of culture is about changing the perception of the city," If we can find this change of image we will want to challenge the audiences perception on the city. However, we will also be comparing this to the bad, showing that it still needs work and there is a real problem that needs to be solved. This statement seems to further express this want and need to change and that progress is being made, which links to the Edge Lane Boarded up social houses idea 'The new convention centre is expected to bring in £100m business spending a year, he said, and council houses have just been transferred to a tenant-led management company which will spend £1m a week over the next few years bringing houses up to the decent homes standard.' The picture i'm being painted from the background research is that it is definitely a city of juxtapositions, having new/old/dilapidated/culture/investment etc. I think this will form the interesting basis of our documentary.

Documentary Project - Alternate Treatment

Occupy movement

In this documentary we are going to dig deep into the occupy Liverpool movement one of several encampments left out of the original occupy movement that started in New York and quickly spread across the globe. Originally this started as a protest against corporate greed, in this documentary we will find the truth of how dedicated these people are to the original cause.
We will approach the Liverpool occupy group by saying we want to get your story told, getting a bite we will wriggle in deep, interviewing several of the members. We will ask sometimes challenging questions, uncovering the truth behind their motives. Are you protesting against corporate greed in general or specific to Liverpool? If so how will you make your voice heard by the large corporations? The biggest of which are based in London and New York. The direction of this documentary will be informed by the responses and general feeling within the camp. It will be set out with a mix of interviews and recording the everyday life of an occupy attendee.
The stylistic approach will take the form of a more laid back approach rather than formal interviews, so as to capture the natural time, place, and feeling within the campers. This informal approach will include hand held camera work to further the idea of creating a natural realistic image, as well as taking into account that the interviewees maybe less intimidated through this style of filming. We want to represent the real hard truths that are based as closely as possible to the real world.
The target audience will be those interested local issues that hold relevance to the world over. This short film will hopefully go deeper and uncover more than a standard news interview.

Documentary Project - Treatment 1

Poetic Exploration

The documentary will be approached as an informal device that will explore the city of Liverpool as a place to live. In life you want to explore and find out which place best suits you as a person, and it's a massive decision to make the move, we will aim to give people insight into the city Liverpool. What makes this startlingly different to the generic norm will be the way we convey these themes through a poeticism.

The narrative will be primarily driven by a poetic Voiceover recorded in post-production, with a presenter introducing the concept and summarising the findings, having a defined beginning, middle and end. The main element of the documentary will then take a holistic approach, taking into account the diverse range of things on offer in Liverpool. Including the rich areas of cultural heritage, juxtaposed with the raw edge of Liverpool, which having been labelled the most deprived city in England proves that there is a story to be told. Exploring the best and the worst, so that the audience can gain an unbiased insight and make their own decision on how they perceive such place. Therefore, we will be taking into account the scenes of music, art, culture and maritime history, as well as the problems with gun crime, poverty and mass unemployment. The way in which we do this is what is going to really bring this idea to life.

We will take a poetic approach, seeing how time of day can change the atmosphere of a place, be it a hustling crowd, a darkened street, or the silence of sunrise, interjected with the natural birdsong. The sound plays a major part in portraying these differing atmospheres, utilising dynamic range to engage the viewer combined with moments of silence. Bringing deep meaning and sensual feeling to the documentary, developing the genre away from flat faced facts, breaking from convention. This specific stylistic choice is utilised so as to match the rich cultural heritage of the city.

The target audience for this documentary is going to be fairly broad, though our main aim is to give insight into the city which may appeal to younger audiences who want to travel and find out where they want to live. Using the poetic approach we hope to make it more accessible to none documentary viewers. We envisage this as a short film available to view online figuratively speaking making money through advertising. Due to its unbiased nature it wouldn’t be utilised as advertising for the city of Liverpool.

Documentary project - 'Sea Change' (2005 D. K, Joe, P, Rosie)

http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/showcase/assets/showcase_items/sea_change

This film which we studied earlier in the year seemed to develop our idea of exploring how times of day change the atmosphere of a place, whilst dealing with similar subject matter an empty caravan sight is not a huge step to a boarded up estate. I like how the soundtrack keeps it all flowing despite its simplicity. It does make me want to get tracking shots of Edge Lane adopting a similar sort of style, with transitions between morning, day and night. This is an experimental documentary, with a style that also detaches you from the informative content.

Documentary project - influence/research 'Night Mail' (D. W, Basil, W, Harry. 1936)

This is a great old documentary that I want to utilise, forming the inspiration of the project. I like the classical music, that drives a very recieved pronunciation punchy rhythmical poem. The driving force of the narrative is the train, gaining snippets of information from each city it passes. Hopefully with our documentary we will continue this movement running through the film, added to with a poetic VoiceOver exploring different parts of the city.

Documentary Project - Initial ideas

We went away and researched Liverpool then came back and brainstormed the ideas we gained. The main thing that came through is the fact that it was labelled city of culture which Juxtaposed the label of most deprived city in England. I was slightly taken aback that Liverpool news websites like www.liverpoolecho.co.uk had shooting tabs and shooting maps, that depict over 50 shootings taken from 2011 alone.



Peter's idea was to have a film about the juxtaposition of the former city of culture being one of the most deprived cities in the UK, done in a poetic style, showing different areas of the town and asking residents what they think of their city in both regards, he had in mind a specific location was several streets of boarded up houses that are due to be demolished which seemed interesting.

Jacob's idea was to have a look at Occupy Liverpool at Liverpool 1, ask for opinions from different sides and ask the activists what they're fighting for. His other idea was something about the Titanic and it's connections to Liverpool, possibly a look into the Maritime museum (permission being given) with views of the people on the 100th anniversary. Which again could be covered, being an interesting yet not well known fact, though there seemed drawbacks finding knowledgeable interviewees who were willing.

 My idea which linked to Peter's was a poetic documentary about different areas of Liverpool during different times of day (perhaps with a voice over).
 Another idea was that I read there was an army style fitness training place that took place in the park when we would be filming, which could be a story we could cover, having interviews with the trainer and attendees and montages of the training.

Jordan's idea was to look at the skin cancer screening centres, having interviews with the nurses and patients with, sunbed images.

I decided to take role as Director, which was different to my previous role as camera edit, whilst Jacob took producer, Peter took camera, Jordan took editor, Ed took sound.
 

Documentary project - Brief

THIS IS A RESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING PROJECT TO BE SHOT DURING THE FIELDTRIP TO LIVERPOOL ON THE 5^TH & 6^TH MARCH 2012

For this project you will be working in groups of x 5

You will each have a specific role in the making and completion of the work and will need to undertake a different role to the role you had on the experimental project.

Think carefully about the role you will undertake – as a group try and play on your individual strengths and also take the opportunity to learn from each other.

It is important that all group members contribute equally to this project and this should be reflected in your self-evaluations.

The brief for this project is to create a 5 MINUTE DOCUMENTARY FILM ON THE THEME OF LIVERPOOL STORIES

For this project you will create a work inspired by research into documentary ideas based in Liverpool.

Your starting place for this will be articles or news items on Liverpool found within the national and local newspapers and by researching on the web.