Feedback: Zoe & Helen

Feedback Session

So we had our final feedback session with Zoe & Helen today and it went as well as it could of went. I felt going into it that there were definitely certain parts of our documentary narrative that needed further inspection and dissecting, as to what points and leads to follow and what ones to forget about. 

- Speaking with Zoe & Helen we were told to look more into the crash and claim schemes that was seemingly on the rise. 

- Find a strong narrative, what that would be would soon arise to us later on.

- Scrap the 'challenge' concept of taking away Alex's car, as it was a slightly weak and not very thought provoking idea to push forward our documentary. 

- Find stats proving our correlation to be correct and go from there. 

Overall the session was key in shaping our ideas once again and as this was pretty much just before we were about to get further into our ideas in terms of shooting it, there was indeed a significance to the words that were discussed. 

Pre-production: Discussing concept with Zoe & Helen

Further Development

So after our initial talks about the conceived concept we then decided how to approach the key parts to our narrative and what it would actually be about. 

We had some starting ideas to share with Zoe & Helen to get the ball rolling, speaking about the narratives structure and what it would follow. 

- Delve into the statistic side of things, see if it is all relative.

- Go after the insurance companies. 

- Looking at the potential challenges that would be created from stripping one of our group members car away from them for a set time. 

- Seeing if the statistics correlate with the prices in terms of higher premiums for younger drivers = higher cases of crashes/likelihood of crashing. 

The feedback given by Zoe & Helen was great, and extremely useful in guiding us on to the appropriate steps of forwarding our documentary. 

Documentary Review: Hoop Dreams

Hoop Dreams

Synopsis: A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional. 

Dir. Steve James

Release Date: 1994

Review - 

Personally I found this documentary engaging, intimate and thought provoking, it left me questioning a lot of things, mostly negative, about the sport and the wider implications it has on young black adolescent boys. Is it fair that the system is to cherry pick and disregard the rest when necessary? Is it fair that some deemed talented enough get 'passes' all the way through their education life (education literally paid for entirely) whereas others don't as they're not deemed gifted enough (not worthy of the investment)? 

(Hoop Dreams - 1994)

What I found the beauty to be with this documentary was its narrative, the way in which it followed so intimately the lives of the two main protagonists, (William Gates, Arthur Agee) we began to feel a connection an when knock-backs were conceived by one or both, genuine fear would sink in for the viewer and the cruel realities rapidly began to appear. The director clearly wanted to show the distinct cruelties and pain that come with wanting to be an all star basketball player, the harshness of reality, as what can be inflicted psychologically on some of these extremely young kids is daunting, and possibly bringing into question whether this way of trying to raise potential 'superstars' is actually wrong? 

- What I found to be useful from watching this documentary was its narrative and structure, it was coherent, clever and wonderfully executed. It was effective and simple, like beautifully assembled building blocks unified creating a solid rock wall, in the sense that there were clear steps the story took and there was no confusion as to where we were in the timeline, we followed them growing up, year by year, consistently as well. 

- As well as this it gave me food for thought on a number of ideas to apply to my own work, e.g gathering statistics, trying to think more about our own narrative and what story to follow etc, what is the most interesting story and why? 

Overall, having viewed and thoroughly enjoyed this documentary, I can say that I have absorbed more than just the typical viewer, as it was engaging on another level due clearly to the reason of being in the midst of creating our own. 

Pre-production: Development of Concept

Development Process - 
The brief gave us an outline and a target audience for our documentary, so as a group we went off and began discussing several concepts.

- Women in the underground music industry, how they're underrepresented yet how there is a growing number of women within the specific scene.

- Boy racers

- Drugs and consequences in adolescents.

there were a few more but generally speaking we couldn't come to agree on terms with one solid concept due to there being at least one person disagreeing with it. 

Eventually after speaking to Zoe & Helen, they gave us a loose idea which we capitalised on and began to work straight away with, the concept obviously being about young drivers. 

Critical Evaluation

Critical Evaluation

Having almost complete this unit and nearly finished my edit, there have been many variables within this term that have came to be serious obstacles. I have faced these straight on at times an unfortunately came out the loser, losing out on actors and locations. However out of the negatives come plenty of positives, to have experienced this hardship it makes me appreciate the times of when everything goes smoothly, but encourages me to engage more and focus on keeping those lines of communication strong and clear. 

 What worked?

What I felt went very to script and storyboards was my hotel sequence, I knew what I was doing throughout that scene and the approach to it was clinical. It did not take long to shoot and my actor was fantastic to work with. The edit also came along nicely after deciphering which sounds best suit my work for capturing tension an evoking an emotional response of anxiousness. 

What Didn't Work?

I personally believe a lot of things on this unit could of gone better, personally I feel i've let myself down, but knowing that I can only move forward now from this and to prove to myself and others that there is much more to give. As certain things didn't come together I had to make do with a kitchen for a shop sequence which really doesn't work whatsoever. It was immensely frustrating directing it and at times I felt like giving up as it was not at all what I had wanted, however I kept going and got it all shot. As well I didn't keep clear communication with one of the actors, and the location correspondent who I was talking to about confirmation of shooting in his shop. Also the sound on my edit, I need to give myself more time to find appropriate and quality sounding effects that really evoke what i'm trying to achieve.  

What could of been improved on?

Honestly, a lot of things in this production, the preproduction, not putting all my eggs in one basket, considering other actors just in case. Trying harder to find the right location, having a plan B, C, D, F etc. Sound design now to me is something that I need to focus on heavily, I'm finally understanding why there are so many sound guys, it takes a lot of time to find the right sound you're looking for, but when you do find it, it's extremely satisfying. Also sound recording on this shoot was a slight pain when it came to post-production, there was a wobble with the mic on the camera, so I know for the next time to keep it still and be more gentle with the camera.

What have I learnt?

I've learnt that I don't want to ever be a director... Haa haa! I wish I was joking but in all seriousness, I don't think I'm cut out to do it, It has definitely made me appreciate the directors job, the competence and strategy of someone an their skill set must be vast an to be turned on constantly on and off the set. It has made me think though about working in a team, being apart of something and looking at the finer details, especially with sound, this unit again just like the last unit has reinforced how pivotal it is. 

What will I apply next time?

If ever something comes up not too dissimilar to this then I'll be thinking about the preproduction more, putting in the graft of my location and actor hunting. Thinking as well way into the future of what possible edits I want to use, so when I'm on set shooting I can shoot things that can be later manipulated into match cuts, jump cuts, eye line match cuts etc. I want to begin to further my editing skills and focus on that. An also the post-production, working on the sound design, spending more focused time to play around with different sounds, not feeling rushed! 

Overall general thoughts

I can't believe it's genuinely gone this fast but it has, and there are things that i'm looking back at which I wish I could possibly go back and change and spend further time on, but I can't and this is what i'm left with. I can't truthfully say i'm as proud as I was last term this time round, but some things have came out as planned so I can be happy with that. I just know for next time I need to be more committed to certain aspects of the production. 

Directors Statement

Directors Statement

The scenes I chose were specific to me and what I felt I could potentially give in terms of depth and a disparate perspective to that of the Coen Bros. Obviously, I didn't realistically want to change much but I felt I could certainly add and tweak parts of the scene ever so slightly to add to the tension and atmosphere of it.  

Casting

With casting for this production I unfortunately fell into a pit of despair as my actors dropped out. However I was able to, in the end recruit a member of the class and a fellow actor which coincidentally was his friend! They definitely didn't fit the part for the first scene however in the second part of the sequence I definitely felt the appropriation was nearly there and his aesthetic also. 

(Alex Miguel)

Location

As spoken about in one of my previous posts, my prime location had unfortunately not allowed me to shoot in so I had to make do with a kitchen and try to attempt to transform it aesthetically like a shop. My initial target though was to have the shop sequence filmed in a shop across the counter/till area, and if this would have been possible I believe the quality and authenticity of the whole scene would of gave the whole sequence much more life. 

However, being dealt that blow made me think how to approach the kitchen with it's difficulties of resembling nothing of the sort of a shop, I tried everything in my power to make it as authentic as possible. 

Costume Design

My costume design was specific for my main protagonist, the character Lleweyn, played by my friend and actor, Alex Miguel. I wanted to replicate the same sort of aesthetic as was captured in the original film. I felt I did that. 

Sound Design

Sound was one of the technicalities in where the thought process was much deeper and meaningful, I wanted to try an make the audience feel as if they were behind the counter in the shop scene, and with Lleweyn in the hotel suite. As in the original there is purposefully a lack of sound which is extremely effective, so I just wanted to experiment and see if I could create just as much atmosphere with sound, than without. 

I chose to use dog sounds and police sirens in the hotel suite scene to add to the undertone of the scene and give it more fear and intensity, as I did not want at any time throughout the sequence for there to be some sort of let up from the tension. I wanted constant, relentless tension being built up for the dramatic finale. 

Camera Operation

With the camera I wanted certain shots extremely close up as these specific scenes at times are awkward and immensely tense. For example I wanted CUs of Anton Chigurh eating the nuts, as it creates an uncomfortable watch for the audience as the entire sequence is evoking such a response, it compliments the scenes nature

. 

This is where I wanted to really to add my own perspective, by using the close ups, going further into the action and involving the audience more to emerge them in the scene. 

Mood/tone/visual style

What I wanted to portray was nothing to disimilar to the original piece, stark contrasting characters with vast amounts of tension and suspense created through all four of the key elements. Colour wise, especially in the hotel scene I wanted to keep it dark, low lit lighting, very isolated and confide. This was all again to add to that hostile tension build up, to make it all seem very authentic.

Editing

With my first scene, I chose specifically to build from slow steady pacing, gradually speeding up with the context of the scene and it's tension rising dialogue. This choice was to reinforce the scenes tension an uneasy atmosphere within the space. I again chose to do this in the second scene of the hotel, going from slow to fast paced. There was a specific edit I decided to use to entwine the scenes with which was a match cut, I'm not fully convinced it work nor am I too sure on the exact reasoning behind it other than my aspiration to use it ever since watching 2001: A Space Odyssey an how successful that was. 

Location Drop

Location Drop Out

So two days before my shoot was about to commence, I decided to go and just make sure that it would still be okay to go and shoot in my confirmed location. The location that was firstly confirmed about a week and a half before the shoot was Cafe Moroc on Rochester High Street. 

(Cafe Moroc)

Unfortunately, when I went in to confirm the shoot dates etc, I was told that he had forgot and that he had a large booking in that night. He said if lines of communication were kept going throughout, obviously he would of remembered and would have spared me time inbetween his work to allow me to film. This is all food for thought and definitely something to take into account in the future. 

However this then left me in a relatively tight spot, with hardly any time left to shoot, and having asked the majority of stores/places realistic to shoot my footage, I had to think fast, in the end choosing my own kitchen. 

Overall this whole experience has made me think more about communication and how vital it is, keeping on top of it and being clear with your commands and questions.