Documentaries

Below are a list of different factual programmes/films and documentaries ;

• Supersize Me
• The Elephant Man
• Africa
• Rick Steins India
• The Firemans Story 9/11
• Blackfish
• Countryfile
• March of the Penguins
• An Idiot Abroad
• Catfish
• The Armstrong Lie
• This Is It
• Outfoxed
• Planet Earth
• Frozen Planet

The purpose of factual films and documentaries is that they entertain by providing valuable information which people can use for research or just for their personal value. 

Another purpose could be that the subject of the factual program/film might want to tell their side of the story or reveal something which they want to get off their chest. 

The purpose could also be to help remember a particular time or celebrate a worldwide event. For example the Diamond Jubilee or to remember 9/11. So the purpose would generally be awareness.

Types of documentaries

Documentaries come in different types of modes. The first  is expository, the purpose of this type of mode is to inform and educate the audience about a subject. All the material is also filmed or its archived footage and the camera crew cannot be seen. A expository documentary is voiced by what is known as a 'voice of God'. This is where the narrator cannot be seen however he/she voices the whole documentary and they are usually an expert of the topic.  A key example would be a David Attenborough documentary.

Another mode would be observational. This type of documentary enables filmmakers to record people in their natural habitat with a minimum amount of fuss. This type of documentary aims to to get a natural feel to it. A good example of an observational documentary would be the likes of Big Brother and Educating Essex. Both these types of factual reality based programmes count as documentaries and these types film constantly. In the case of Big Brother all day everyday for three months and Educating Essex five days a week for a whole year. So a lot of footage is filmed however it is up to the production team to condense the footage into an hour per episode. A Fly-on-the-wall style documentary is very similar to a observational in which the filmmaker intends to blend into the background and film the subject as their normal life goes on making it seem like there is no crew. Filming for these styles of documentaries often goes on for a longer period of time. A couple of examples of these would be 7 And Up in which a family is filmed over every seven years and it is aired once every seven years. Another example would be a documentary filming a celebrity over a period of time, for example Michael Jacksons This Is It.

Interactive/Reflexive is a mode of documentary in which the filmmakers presence is fully acknowledged and often highly emphasised. The filmmaker is often author and character in their movie. A good example of a interactive mode documentary would a Louis Theroux documentary. He is the filmmaker and star of all of his documentaries and he often makes himself look stupid so he can get all the answers he wants. An interactive/reflexive mode of documentary is also similar to a personal style.

A drama documentary is where in absence of any archive material or footage from the time or eye witness accounts the filmmaker will stage dramatic reconstruction so the modern day audience can get a feel for what it would have been like at the time. A good example of this would be Nazi Hunters. A documentary which focuses on Nazis during World War 2. The final  style mode of documentary would be poetic/avant garde. This style emphasises the creativity and what the filmmaker explores. For example very much the beauty in everyday life. 

During our lesson with Sam we also watched a Michael Moore documentary called Bowling For Columbine. While watching this I filled in some sections of a table in which we looked at purpose and effect. This can be seen below.

Documentary mode	Sequence/scene	Purpose and effect
Expository	One	The purpose is to establish the film and lay out little bits of information to warm the audience up. This gives an easy going effect feel.
Interactive	One	The purpose  is that it shows Moore as being the filmmaker who is investigating the issue. It also  males you feel more close to the documentary hence being the effect.
Observational	36 Minutes in	There are various archive footage which has been added in. The purpose of this is to show different opposing video so the story is two sided. It also allows the audience to engages with the issue. The effect is that it is powerful and moving.

Censorship issues in Gremlins

During one of our sessions with Pat we watched Gremlins while taking into consideration the rating which the British Board of Film Classification gave it (BBFC). When it had its debut release in America in 1984 Warner Brothers insisted it was given a Parental Guidance rating (PG) which it was granted. This caused a lot of controversy at the time and hence a lot of complaints. The reason for this was because many parents were disgusted at how it was a PG and that it should be a higher rating because they found it far too disturbing and adult for their children . However after it was released in the UK the BBFC gave it a 15 rating. The BBFC gave it a 15 rating because they felt the horror and violence in the film was too dark and disturbing for children and many of the violent events in the film took place in a child's environment. For example in a school and family home. As well as this they also said that it was a 15 because authority figures which children look up to were put under threat or killed and this was deemed too disturbing. For example a mother is attacked by many Gremlins, she even has to protect herself with various large knives. A  male teacher is also killed by a Gremlin attacking him.

After watching it myself having never done so before I would say that a 15 rating is the right rating for the film. This is because, like what the BBFC stated in which the themes were too dark and horrific and they could potentially disturb a child way past just "toughening them up" which was a reason Warner Brothers gave. I also think that some children's stories about Christmas are just wrong to show, especially the when one of the female characters discusses that Father Christmas isn't real.

Review of live studio shows

Over the past month in Paul's sessions we have been learning about how to run a live television show in the TV studio. This is all in preperation for our factual programming/news assignment which we will be given in the new year (2014).

During our sessions in the TV studio we have filmed a talk show, various quiz shows and we have set up a news show with a weather section. My first role which I took on for our talk show 'The Ollie Potter show' was producer. This was a very challenging role for our first ever set up show because we had not done it before so we was all strangers to it, however I wanted to throw myself in and give myself a challenge and being a producer certaintly was challenging. I had overall control of the production and I had to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. I also had to make sure that everything was organised and that it would run smoothly. Being a producer also meant I had to organise a sound check. This involved me working with the sound operators in which they had to set up the microphones on set so they would pick up the casts voices while making sure the mics weren't in shot. Once all the sound equipment was set up and the sound department in the vision mixing room had leveled out all the sound I then had to get all the crew to be silent and then I shouted sound check and signalled the sound mixers. The cast then had to talk until the sound mixers were happy that everyones mics worked properly and that they were talking at the right pitch. The role I took on as a producer I felt I was more effective at because I like to have an overall look of all the roles and the role of producer gave me the chnace to do just that.

 

 

 

As well being a producer I also toook on the role of camera operator in our group quiz show 'Obvious'. Being a camera operator meant  I had to set up the camera in the correct position which the director wanted it and then once he/she was satisfied I kept the camera still and if I was briefed to I would move it and zoom in and out. I also had to focus on what was in the foreground , which was a cast member and then make sure the white balance was correct and the background also focussed in with them.

 



 

 

Codes and conventions

 

When we made all of the quiz shows in the live television studio lessons we made sure to adhere to certain codes and conventions which we regularly associate as an audience with quiz shows. This is so that it is easy to work out what genre show it is and therefore so that if it really was aired then fans of quiz shows would know to tune in. The codes and conventions which we did adhere to in our quiz shows was having a table central of the camera in which a host presented tthe show, we also for every quiz show set up two sides of the set in which each team would sit on their seats clearly indicating who is in which team. This helped us to contract with the audience so that they had a clear understanding.

 

All of these live television shows which we did film should normally be shot multi-camera because it makes the show more engaging and without the use of multi-camera shots the audience would switch off and get bored. The other reason why they should always be shot multi-camera is because you need a variety of different angles show to show the whole perspective of the set as well as clearly indicating different cast roles, e.g. host, scorer and contestants. The shows could of course be filmed single camera however like I said this would be very tedious to watch.

 

All of the shows we filmed which were, quiz shows, a talk show and a news programme were all fictional and they were scripted so the cast members already knew what to say. If these shows were actually aired onto live television the audience would not know that they were staged. This is because we made them seem as authentic as possible without making it seem fictional. The contestants on the quiz shows we filmed were however answering from their own knowledge and this was not scripted whereas the host already knew what he had to say. When it comes to filming our live factual news programme in 2014 we will however have to get real research and all the information on the show will be factual and therefore not fictionally scripted.

 

  





Music Video Evaluation

Little Lion Man

Production team - MSK Productions

FULL MUSIC VIDEO HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWTQBG5uaj0

Myself (Sam Goodfellow) - Director , cameo actor, camera operator

Matt Flower - actor, camera operator

Karenza Wheatley - actress, camera operator

For our music video assignment in groups or singularly we had to produce a music video which was
of a professional standard as well as completing the necessary pre-production forms. In our groups we all had to assign ourselves with different roles within the production. As you can see above I have listed what roles we all took on. The production of the music video also involved the filming and editing. Below are some action shots of us all taking on our various roles while filming.

 

Myself directing

 

Karenza camera operating

 

 

Matt camera operating in the woods

The first stage of our project was to come up with some initial ideas which we would then discuss with each other and then decide which one we liked the best. After we came up with our initial ideas we then had to choose a song out of a short list of three which we came up with. Our favourite initial idea which we proposed to the class and was our favourite was the idea of regret and how a boy is riding a bike showing that he is sad and then it shows him dumping his bike and walking off into the woods. The main component of our initial idea which brought us to like that idea the most was that it incorporated flashbacks of all the bad things the boy has done to show why he is so sad. This coming together with the song we liked the most Little Lion Man by Mumford And Sons made for a great story which we felt would flow at a good pace and would make an exciting and moving music video.

Below is a schedule we put together after we discussed and chose our initial ideas. The schedule was to show who would do certain pieces of each pre-production paperwork. However before any of us even completed the paperwork we had a group discussion in which we spoke about the whole production and what each of us would put in the paperwork.

Before we started the project we all had individual skills in the area, Karenza especially as she had already made some of her own amateur music videos. So this gave us some great experience because she knew certain things which we could add in which made the video more exciting. Myself and Matt also had experience in filming and editing as we did GCSE Media Studies and already made some amateur short films on YouTube beforehand. However all of us only had a short amount of experience of Final Cut which was the program we used to edit the music video in the post-production. This meant that during the post-production we was a stranger to a lot of the tools. However we shortly picked up experience and some great techniques. For example we learnt how to specifically change the contrast and colour correction which made the flashbacks really look like flashbacks. Below is a mid shot still from the music video in which Matt is seen to be playing poker. This was meant to be a flashback so we changed the contrast.

BEFORE

AFTER

During the pre-production research we also went out and did some individual research on location and whereabouts we was going to film. During our initial ideas brainstorming we already had an idea of whereabouts we wanted the location to be and where we would film the present day and the flashbacks. For the present day we wanted to give it a slightly more grainy feel and make it look more rough and dirty because we wanted to show how the boys life has declined and got worse. Therefore we decided we wanted to film in a wooded area and make it seem really natural with all the scenery. We also as a group thought that the present day location should also be a place which he visits in which it reminds him of a good time with his girlfriend. So we decided that a secluded wooded area would be a fitting location. For the flashbacks we wanted an indoor location which the boy retreated to in the past and it altogether made him a worse person. We felt a house would be great so we decided to film at the house I live at. Below are a couple of location report images which we took on our research. 

We filmed our music video on the 26th of November 2013 at 9.30am and finished up at 4pm. During the first segment of the day we filmed from 9.30 to 1pm the present day scenes in the woods and by the countryside. The reason we filmed here first was because we wanted to make sure we got all the shots possible of daylight and while the weather was nice and sunny. It was just as well because after 1pm the clouds came out and if we had filmed during the second half we would have got little light in the forest which therefore would have caused problems for the visuals as it would have looked darker and not as effective. During the second half of the day we filmed the flashbacks at my house. This was a good idea because we had freedom to film where we wanted around the house giving us great improvisations which added on to our initial idea.

Our initial thoughts on the project was that the present day and flashback scenes would cut together nice and smoothly giving exciting visuals to fit together with the song. I foresaw that the project would give good opportunities for improvisation and to add a few extra scenes which were not already scripted or storyboarded in. I felt that the project was not as easy as I thought it would be. I thought that producing a music video would be quite straightforward and that it would not cause many problems and we would get on with it easily. However my judgement was quite wrong because producing it was not so straightforward. Producing what we felt was a strong storyboard was hard because it was difficult trying to re-create something which we had a great idea of what it looked like in our heads. We as a group were happy with what we produced during filming and during while filming it did take us quite a few takes to get what we really wanted. 

As seen in the image below I have improvised the opening establishing shot of the bike by placing the camera on the floor and placing a few leaves in front of it. This shot was done out of the spur of the moment and it made the shot look bigger than it was. This is tricking the audience and showing the depth of field. A technique which I have learnt from this project.

After all of our filming was done we then started editing on Final Cut Pro. The main chunk of editing for our music video took place over one whole day at college, however we needed a few extra sessions to perfect the video. This included all the colour correcting and making sure there weren't any continuity errors as well as changing some shots which did not fit well together. Below are some screenshots of the post-production process.

Below is a screenshot of a fast cutting technique which we learnt while producing the music video in the post-production stage. The way we did this was that we used the razor tool to cut loads of the clips together so to give it a fast feel accompanying the song.

This is when we dragged in the image control and added in brightness and contrast to all the flashback clips so to give it the look of a flashback. For every flashback clip we changed the contrast to -95.

We had many strengths which could be highlighted from the project however we also have points for development which can be pinpointed and can show what we need to do to improve. One problem which occurred during filming was when we were filming at a wooded entrance at the end of a road. This caused us difficulty because we had to keep stopping filming because there were quite a few dog walkers in the morning and there were rubbish trucks collecting all the green bins so therefore this caused us some trouble as they kept blocking our shot so we had to wait quite a while until we could continue filming. This was a big knock back which lost us valuable filming time. However we can learn from it because we know how to improve and what we can do to work around it. For example we can film another external scene at the time and come back when it is less busier. This would have been much better if we had proceeded into the woods and came back when the area was free.

 

One of our strengths as a group was during the post-production part of the music video in which we successfully managed to come up with great ideas which helped to make the music video much better. One particular problem which we found out quite quickly during editing was that we did not have enough footage because we didn't film enough to last three and a half minutes. However along with some suggestions from us all Karenza came up with a great idea to reuse some clips but instead of making them the full length just cut them so they are really short and then overwrite them into the fast paced bits of the song. This worked brilliantly and added tension and excitement to our narrative.

Another problem which occurred during our project was that the camera we lent out from college the Canon XHA1s was really quite old and the inside of the lens was all dirty and this made the visuals look less professional. However it did slightly help to adding to a more grainy feel for the present day scenes. To avoid this in the future we should book out a better camera and by doing this we should book quite a few weeks in advance. We should also check the lens is clean.

 

So in conclusion of our music video I would say that I am pleased with how it came out and that it is as true to the initial ideas and the pre-production notes as possible. I have definitely learnt a lot from the project and how in the future I can make a student film look even better without a budget. For example we could improve the visuals and make them look smoother. We can do this by testing the focus and depth of field more by focusing on a particular object and then zooming out and focusing on the background. 

 

I have also learnt a lot more advanced techniques on Final Cut Pro which I had never come across before. For instance how to use the 'snap' tool. The use of this is that when dragging clips to another clip they snap right next to each other instead of having to carefully put them in the right place. This helped the music video to stay in sync and to keep the lyrics in time with the visuals. Overall I feel that there are various aspects which could be changed with the video and shots which I did not like however these are elements which can not be changed whereas they will act as guidance for the future. For example the lighting was a bit off at times and so to change this we could change the white balance, the focus was also a little off at times however in the future I know how to focus the foreground and background so to make it look more aesthetically pleasing. As well as the negatives there are also many positives which I love about the video, for example some of our cutting techniques and our use of shots making it look like a multi-camera project. So in conclusion this was a worthwhile project which taught me professional skills while giving me lessons for the future which can help me make something even better.

Music Video Pre-Production - Second Actors Contract

ACTORS CONTRACT

Matthew Flower MSK Productions

26 Tyeland Billericay Essex                                                                   South Essex College

                 

Date 27/11/13

Dear Matthew Flower

This letter confirms agreement that you will take the part of the boy in the music video Little Lion Man. This is the working title and the final name of the film may change. As you know, this is a low budget production and we are keen to ensure that everyone understands the basis upon which the Film is being made. If there is anything about this letter that you do not understand or you wish us to clarify, please do not hesitate to contact us.

1)You agree to be available to work during the filming period (“the Shoot”)

from 9.00 am 26/11/13 to  5.00pm 26/11/13.   

2) You agree that the filming will take place in the following locations

   
   Great Bursted Woods and 31 Ganels Road.

3) You agree to give over any rights you may have in the finished music video to MSK Productions.  This will allow us to distribute the film in any and every way we can.

4)  We will pay a fee of £0.00 a day for your performance in this music video.  

5) We will aim to ensure that working days are not longer than 10 hours.

6) We will do our best to ensure your health, safety and welfare during the Shoot.

7) We will have public liability insurance to cover you during the Shoot.

8) We will provide you with food and refreshments throughout the Shoot.  We will liase with you over your travel arrangements to and from the Shoot and either provide transport or pay travel expenses which we need to agree in advance.

9) We will be provide you with a digital copy of the finished music video within 3 weeks of the completion of all post production.

Signed by the actor M.Flower , signed on behalf of the company MSK Productions

Music Video Pre-Production - First Actors contract

ACTORS CONTRACT

Karenza Wheatley MSK Productions

42 Chesswood Close South Essex College

                 

Date 27/11/13

Dear Karenza Wheatley

This letter confirms agreement that you will take the part of the boy in the film Little Lion Man. This is the working title and the final name of the film may change. As you know, this is a low budget production and we are keen to ensure that everyone understands the basis upon which the Film is being made. If there is anything about this letter that you do not understand or you wish us to clarify, please do not hesitate to contact us.

1)You agree to be available to work during the filming period (“the Shoot”)

from 9.00 am 30/11/13 to  5.00pm 30/11/13.   

2) You agree that the filming will take place in the following locations

   
   Great Bursted Woods and 31 Ganels Road.

3) You agree to give over any rights you may have in the finished film to MSK Productions.  This will allow us to distribute the film in any and every way we can.

4)  We will pay a fee of £0.00 a day for your performance in this music video.  

5) We will aim to ensure that working days are not longer than 10 hours.

6) We will do our best to ensure your health, safety and welfare during the Shoot.

7) We will have public liability insurance to cover you during the Shoot.

8) We will provide you with food and refreshments throughout the Shoot.  We will liase with you over your travel arrangements to and from the Shoot and either provide transport or pay travel expenses which we need to agree in advance.

9) We will be provide you with a digital copy of the finished music video within 3 weeks of the completion of all post production.

Music Video Pre-Production - Storyboard

Below are a seven storyboards consisting of the first fourteen shots of our music video. The purpose of us doing this in the pre-production stage was that it sets up for the day aiding us in giving an idea of what we are going to film and when a bouts chronologically we will film it.