First Day of Filming

Yesterday we went to London to film some shots for our opening sequence. We planned to go to:

-Oxford/Regents Street (for some crowd shots)

-Abbey Road (to experiment with some shots

of the live webcam, and maybe try and capture us being filmed by the webcam)

In Oxford Street we wanted some shots of the crowds. We put the tripod

on a flat pillar on the pavement so that we could get a shot which was above the crowds heads, looking down the street.

As it is very close to Christmas, the busy crowds made it harder to set up etc, but helped us to

acheieve the right shot as there were so many people to create a busy street scene. We took shots from several different angles.

As we were walking down Oxford Street we saw a mobile CCTV van, and asked the police officers inside if we could film it. They agreed, and then they asked if we wanted to see inside the van. It was interesting to see all monitors etc, and asked the police officers some questions about it. Unfortuntely we weren't allowed to film inside and the policemen couldn't do an interview as they were busy, but we were glad to get the shots of the outside of the van.

Filming Schedule

Today we decided that we had planned a sufficient amount for us to start filming. We made a filming schedule which we will try to stick to, but we will have to be quite flexiable with the dates because of other commitments over the Christmas holidays.

Planning

Today we thought about what we wanted to include in the main section of the documentary. We made a storyboard of our ideas.

We want to include a section about 'talking' CCTV cameras and we did some research to find out if these types of cameras are currently in use in the UK. We discovered that Hounslow (a town near us) trialed the cameras in January 2010 but we weren't sure if they were still in use so we decided to contact Hounslow Council. We went onto the council website and used the online enquirey form to send them a message asking about the cameras (if the trial period was successful and if they were still in use).

Presenting Our Ideas

We presented our initial ideas to the class, and received some feedback. After we showed the presentation, we did a Q&A session where our class members could ask us any questions they had about our project and to give us any criticism and feedback. It was useful as it gave us some ideas about how we could improve and what we need to work on.

This is the powerpoint we presented to the class:

Story Boarding our opening sequence

We made a story board of our opening sequence which I then made into a powerpoint using pictures I found from Google images which represent the kind of shot we would like to use.

Openings

Another idea we talked about today was to have different shots of CCTV cameras with a voice over explaining a bit about CCTV in Britian. We discussed whether we should use music over the voice over or just use the noise of the street.
We started to plan what would actually be in our documentary, and wrote a list of people we would want to interview, issues we wanted to discuss and shots we could use.

Experimenting with openings

We thought about different openings we could use, and I came up with the idea of making a 'Big Brother' (channel 4) style opening. This would include short shots of CCTV angles, cameras and CCTV screens. The original Big Brother opening features shots of people in the Big Brother house, and I thought we could instead include shots of the general public on the highstreet, zoom into our bedroom windows from the outside to show the real world under surveillance.

I experimented with different ways we could include our title into the opening shots, and made a short example video which we could use at the end of our opening sequence, just before we go into the actual documentary.

If we did use this idea we would have to write to the person who wrote the Big Brother theme tune to ask if we could use it in our opening sequence.

Researching

I started to do some research into the topic of CCTV cameras in Britain. I found that there was lots of information to look at, as it's a very controversial topic at the moment.

Here are some of the websites/articles that I think we could find beneficial:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6108496.stm

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23391081-george-orwell-big-brother-is-watching-your-house.do

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/06/ukcrime1

Interview Technique Practice

We decided to experiment with different interview techniques:
-Anonymous
-Participatory
- Formal

We found that each of these techniques had a different effect, and made a big difference to the way the audience would recieve the information. The anonymous style was very personal, and makes the interviewee's reponse seem more honest and trustworthy than some of the other styles. The formal interview gave the impression that the interviewee has had time to maybe practise what they are going to say, so it seems a little more contrived. The participatory style makes it seem like the interview is on the spur of the moment, and it doesnt look like the interviewee has had time to prepare their answers so their response seems quite honest.

Documentary Ideas

Today we brainstormed some ideas for our documentary. We came up with a couple of ideas:

-'Big Brother' Britain (exploring the issue of CCTV cameras around Britain and their pros/cons)

- A documentary looking into how much teenagers are influenced by celebrities (airbrushing etc)

We made spider diagrams for both ideas:

Eventually we decided to use the CCTV idea as we thought this would be the most interesting and entertaining for the audience as it is a controversial and relevant issue.

Amish: The World's Squarest Teenagers

Recently, I watched a series of documentaries on Channel 4 called 'Amish: The World's Squarest Teenagers'. It followed a group of Amish Teenagers from America travelling to the UK to experience England's culture, and socialise with typical English teenagers. Some of the teenagers were on Rumspringa, which a period of time where 18 year old Amish teenagers are allowed to go out and experience life outside the Amish community and can then decide whether or not they still want to be Amish.

I particularly liked the different styles of filming that were used throughout the series. Lots of different techniques were used to show the situations from as many different angles and view points as possible...

Formal Sit-Down Reflective Interviews

Each episode included sit-down interviews with the Amish people, which were all recorded when they arrived home from their trip and filmed in front of a backdrop with the interviewer behind the camera. These showed them reflect on the experience featured in that episode and allowed them to express their opinions in detail. These interviews are more in depth than the ones taken at the time in England, as they have had more time to prepare answers and think about the positive and negative parts of their trip.

Video Blogs

Some shots of the Amish teenagers speaking directly to a personal camcorder are used. These were recorded in England and showed the teenagers immediate response to the day they'd just had. They feel more personal, informal and honest than the sit-down interviews as the person is by themselves whilst talking directly into the camera, which makes it feel like they are speaking directly to the viewers at home.

Stand-up interviews

There were some stand-up interviews which were filmed at the time and show their immediate response to the situation, and usually took place on location, during or straight after an activity.

Michael Moore

Basic Facts

* Born in 23rd April 1954

* He is an American filmmaker, author and political commentator.

* He is the director of 4 of the top ten highest grossing movies of all time.

What makes his documentaries unique?

* In his documentaries he critizied globalization, large corporations, the Iraq War, George Bush and the U.S Government and healthcare sytems.

* He narrates in first person.

* He always puts his own opinions and views into his documentaries.

* His documentaries always shock as he often voices his views on subjects that nobody else would dare.

Some of his biggest hits include:

-Fahrenheit 9/11 - This focuses on America after the 9/11 terroist attacks, and explores the alleged links between the families of George Bush and Osama Bin Laden.

-Sicko - A controversial film exposing the American Health System. It is ranked the 3rd highest grossing documentary of all time.

This is a trailer for Fahrenheit 9/11

Louis Theroux

Basic Facts

* Born on 20th May 1970 in Singapore

* He is a British-American broadcaster

*He once worked on Michael Moores' 'Tv Nation'

What makes his documentaries unique?

* He is most famous for his daring documentaries on controversial topics - for example prostitution and paedophilia.

* He often puts people on the spot, often making them uncomfortable while he asked them very honest and personal questions.

* He is known for asking the questions that the viewers are thinking.

* His style is usually reflexive as he takes part in the documentary, and is seen on screen.

One of his most famous documentary series is:

'Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends'

This is a television documentary series which gives audiences a look into societies and situations they would never usually come in contact with. They explore very controversial topics, and usually feature taboo topics, and people with extreme beliefs who are frowned upon by the public.

There are 3 series, each with 4-6 episodes. Some examples are:

- 'Porn Stars' (S1E3) - Louis looks at the different sides of the porn industry.

- 'Black Nationalism' (S2E3) - Louis goes to New York to meet American Black Nationalist groups, who are branded by the media as misogynist, homophobic, anti-semitic and racist.

- 'Gangsta Rap' (S3E6) - Louis goes to the Southern states of American, known as the 'Dirty South'. He explores the world of gangsters and the rap scene, and he attempts to record his own rap lyrics and learns what it takes to brand yourself as a rap artist.

A clip from 'Gangsta Rap' :

Nick Broomfield

I have begun some research into influential documentary makers who I think would be beneficial to study.

Basic Facts

* Born 1948
* He is an English documentary film-maker
* He has been awarded the BAFTA Life Time Acheievement Award


What makes his documentaries unique?

* He is best known for his reflexive style of documentary making.
* He films with minimum crew - often just himself and a camera man
* Occasionally he can even be seen holding the sound boom

*He has has a great influence on the documentary world, inspiring other documentary makers such as Michael Moore and Louis Theroux who both use a similar style to Nick Broomfield.
*Some of his most famous documentaries include:
"Kurt and Courtney" (a documentary focusing on the death of Kurt Cobain)
"Biggie and Tupac" (a documentary exploring the mystery surrounding their deaths) and
"Aileen - Life and Death of a Serial Killer" (a documentary following the life of Aileen Wuornos on death row after being sentenced to death. Broomfields documentary was shown in court as part of her defence)

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/AWLD_trailer.html

Link to the trailer for "Aileen - The Life and Death of A Serial Killer"

The Rise of the Documentary Timeline

[Please click the double arrow button at the top of the timeline if you can't see all the posts.]

I wanted to create a timeline to show to history of the documentary. I looked at lots of different websites and to find the best one to make my timeline on.

- Time Toast (www.timetoast.com). I decided not to use this website as I didn't like the layout and found it difficult to use.

- http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/. I decided not to use this as I thought the timelines looked too plain and boring and I wanted to make one which was more interactive, with pictures.

- I finally decided to use www.timerime.com as I found this the easiest to use, and I liked the layout. I also liked how I could put pictures with each event.

Word Cloud

I created a word cloud of all the words I could think of relating to documentaries. This helped me to begin my research and helped me remember what I already knew about the subject.

Word cloud made with WordItOut

Research

For my advanced portfolio I will be creating a 5 minute extract from a documentary.

What is the purpose of a documentary?

Documentaries are created for many different reasons:

-They can record, reveal or preserve events and situations
- Some are made to pursuade or promote
- Some analyse situations or interrogate particular people or situations
- They can also express the documentary makers' own personal views or opinions

What are the different types of documentary?

Reflexive

In a reflexive documenaty, the film maker would acknoledge their presence in front of the camera and give some sort of narrative guidance. Nick Broomfield is a good example of a film maker who makes reflexive documentaries. He is known for his controvercial method of film making, as he is in front of the camera and is a casual interviewer. Sometimes he takes part in the activities he is documenting, so he can get a real inside look but still remainins detatched and impartial.

This is the trailer for Nick Broomfield's documentary 'Biggie and Tupac' which investigates the conspiricy surrounding the deaths of the two famous rappers.

I created a powerpoint explaining a bit about reflexive documentaries.

Poetic

This is style which focuses more on a story, and are usually human interest stories rather than current affairs. They aren't usually in a typical documentary narrative style and are sometimes seen as 'avant-garde' - sometimes pushing boundaries and experimental. They usually try to create a particular mood by using music to provoke the audiences feelings. Channel 5 is known for it's poetic documentaries. At the moment Channel 5 is showing a series of documentaries called "Extrodinary People".
Below is a link to the Extrodinary People website, which allows users to watch all the documentaries in the series online.

http://demand.five.tv/Series.aspx?seriesBaseName=ExtraordinaryPeople

This is a clip from YouTube about a blind boy who sees through sound and smell, from the Extraordinary People Series:

Expository

This is consodored the classic form of documentary. They usually include a voice over which addressed the audience directly (often in the form of a 'voice of God', where the filmmaker can express their views and commentary without being seen or a hidden voice of authority - usually an expert in the subject who is seen and heard). As the name suggests, most aim to expose a situation or person so the viewer sees it/them in a new light and has their opinions swayed.

An example of an expository documentary is 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Al Gore. This is a classic expository documentary because Al Gore is the 'voice of authority' and uses a verbal commintary, supported with images and video clips to argue his views on global warming.

Observational

Observational documentaries are characterised by having a 'fly-on-the-wall' presentation. They usually include very long takes, which are intended to imply that it is uncut and true to life with very little editing. Often a hand-held camera is used to follow the action which make the documentaries seem more 'real'. The filmmaker doesn't intervine with the action - instead they just record what is going on. Interviews are not common in observational documentaries as subjects generally pretend they are not being filmed. This mode of documentary relies on the audience understanding implied meaning and suggestions and usually viewers are left to make their own decisions and form their own opinions about the footage they have seen.

An example of an observational documentary is 'What Katie Did Next' - a documentary following Katie Price.