Documentary
In the second semester, I was given a brief to create a
five minute documentary on a subject that related to Liverpool, England. Myself and three fellow peers joined forces
to come up with a few ideas of what to do. The group members were Connor
Fieldsend, Oliver MacLellan, Nick Gosling & Tom Woods.
Concept one was interviewing hotels/hostels receptionist
to see if we can get any unusual but stories about previous guests. This
concept was built on purely the humour factor as our target audience was aimed
at 16-24 year olds as this is the age group to book out hotels, but mostly
hostels which brings the theme of the documentary in place. We thought that as
Liverpool is known for its ever increasing nightlife, it would be a great place
to base our documentary on. The idea was going to be based around the guests
also, mostly the younger ones who has booked out a room for exploring the
nightlife. As a group we thought that there will be a contrast between the day
guests to the night but we ruled it out as the age group for the documentary
will probably not be around in the daytime to talk to us.
Group member Connor Fieldsend was going to direct this
short documentary as it was his idea. I was going to produce as I have
substantial amount of experience in contacting the responsible individuals
regarding shooting permission etc.
Concept two was based around the history of the Eric’s Club which was an infamous live
music venue back in the 60/70s. The idea was to interview individuals that used
to attend or work at the club to get an insight of what the scene was like
around that era. Liverpool is known for its music scene and we wanted to show
how the club helped many artists and bands to get their heard locally and
nationally. In Liverpool, you can see that The
Beatles has left a mark on the city but our idea was trying to move away
from that as you can see by looking at Liverpool the story is being retold with
the amount of shops, stalls, and museums. We saw that Eric’s was sort of an underdog so we tried to tell the story of the
place.
Surprisingly, I was billed to be the producer of this
project but as Tom already gained the relevant contacts, we became the producer
which left me as the director of the project; even though it was initially
Tom’s idea for the film. At first I found carrying this project difficult
because I felt that I was out of my comfort zone as I was not into the genre of
music that the documentary was based on.
At first, my vision for this project was lost but I did
watch a few documentaries to see how I can angle the project. The only downfall
I had in the project was not watching many music documentaries; I made myself
watching other documentaries including The
Imposter (2012) and Bowling for
Columbine (2002) as the subject matter interested me. I only got the idea
of watching similar films to the film concept because my lecturer Debbie told
me I should’ve. In my recent visits to the cinema, I came across Cobain: Montage of Heck directed by
Brett Morgen. The film focused on Nirvana’s lead Kurt Cobain life and his music
until up to his death. The film was amazing and I wish it was released sooner
for inspiration.
Tom got some excellent contributors for the film but some
dropped out days before filming. There was going to be an audio interview but
unfortunately did not happen. In the end we got two solid contributors, one
that worked at Eric’s and one who was a former band member who plays regularly
at Eric’s.
The shooting of the project ran like clockwork. We had
suitable locations for the subject matter and everything seem to fit. Our first
Contributor Doren was interviewed in a bar that had low lighting, we as a group
felt that this was a location we could work in our favour. Our idea was to show
that Doren is being shown in low lighting to show the audience that she is in a
nightclub environment, something similar to what she used to work in.
With former band member Keith, he was interviewed in a
space where it had many images of artists including John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix
and Blondie located in the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. As Keith is
no longer in a band, we wanted to do it somewhere appropriate to the
documentary. As the filming process went on, the structure of the film built
and I finally got the hang in my role. I worked closely with Oliver, who was
the cameraman to capture the correct shots and the B-roll for the project. I
and Oliver created a shot list loosely because we did not reece Liverpool prior
to the shoot. I believe that this was our downfall as I feel that if we did, we
could’ve got some better footage.
Overall the production went smoothly even though there
were problems with contributors last minute. Everyone did a marvellous job of
maintain their role and acting professionally in front of contributors. There
is nothing that I would do differently in this project but I would’ve added
shots of night clubbers around Liverpool. Unfortunately as production was in
the weekdays, there was not many people around the pubs and clubs to film.
Tom was the editor of the project and I did sit in many
editing sessions with him to make sure if he needed my assistance for any of
the edit. As the director, it was my duty to overlook the edit to see where
there were faults or something that did not work. The edit ran smoothly with
minor setbacks but all and all we submitted the film in time for the
presentation. Nick was absent for the entire production but worked on the sound
design for the film. In the post-production stage, we finally came down in a
name for the production The Other Side of
Mathew Street – the reason for this title was because of the famous Carven
Club which was on the same street as Eric’s
Club.
Overall I have learnt some interesting aspect of
documentary filmmaking and I will apply them to my future work.
Drama
In the drama brief, we were given the task to create a
five minute film which had the theme of ‘journey’. For preparation for the
project, the seminar watched many short films that dealt with the theme and how
each differs when it came down to narrative and structure. Again the group members
for the project were same except Nick Gosling who had to join another group.
After working a few short films, in the seminars and our
independent time, he came up with a concept what we felt was very strong. The
concept was Connor Fieldsend idea and I’m sure that everyone in the group
thought he had a strong idea and it could be well executed. I was slightly
worried that some viewers would dislike the film has it is dialogue driven and
one and less in one location but Connor script was so strong that people should
be hooked and wanting to know the conclusion. The script got praised by many
including our module lecturer.
For the project, I took the role of the sound recorder,
Oliver was again on camera, Connor was the director and Tom was the editor and
sound designer. The reason why I took on the role was because we got criticized
for the sound volumes in our last project and as I have had experience in
recording sound in the past, I took on the role with confident.
Connor produced the project as he had the actors he
wanted to use in mind when the project got green-lighted. Tom and Connor
scouted the location of the shoot, somewhere far from Sheffield centre which
overlooked the city. I must say the location was beautiful but thoughts came
into my head as why they chosen that location; it could’ve been that there
would not be any disturbances of the shoot from the public. There were many
problems that occurred with the possibly actors days before the production but
Connor managed to cast the two lead actors at the last minute.
We began production for the project starting with the
carpark flashback scene. The shoot was easy and straight forward for me as
there was not any dialogue that needed recording but I did get some ambient
sound of the location and Foley recordings. A week later we filmed on the hill
which I can say that we ran into some problems with crew members not knowing
some set rules. As we had actors in place, Oliver began recording, I was on the
sound and Connor was directing. Unfortunately Tom could not make it to the
shoot so we were only a person down. Connor did the clapperboard but he did not
do it in front of the camera but behind the camera and said “action”. I
immediately said cut and said to Connor and Oliver that it is not how you use
the clapperboard as the editor and logger of the footage needs to see the scene
no, the shot no and the take no. I understand that Connor has a disadvantage
with his disability but I knew that Tom will have a difficult time editing the
film. As we only had the actors for a limited time, Connor said that he would
sit with the Tom with the edit to help him sync up the audio and video
together.
This is my only criticism about the shoot that the
clapperboard was used incorrectly. I believe that I recorded sound
professionally and the sound volumes were perfect. I revised the script before
the shoot so I knew where to put the microphone at what time. Sound is very
important, and without it could ruin the chances of the video to be at a high
quality. Each of the actors did a brilliant job of portraying two brothers, I
could feel the connection with them when they were acting and it made the
script very believable. We had minor disturbances in the shoot but nothing
major.
A few days later, the post-production began and what I
was afraid about with the audio I recorded came true. Tom had a difficult time
matching the audio with the image as he had troubling hearing Connor say what
scene, what shot and what take it was for. I am unsure that anyone did a
logging sheet for the footage, again difficult time edit without this. I
decided to record ADR (automated dialogue replacement) to help Tom with the
edit but I don’t think this was used. Connor and Tom decided to use the sound
from the camera as it was easier. Other than that I believe the edit went
smoothly and we got to present on time.
This shoot has been an experience for me as I know what
it’s important to know before you go on set. I have gained experience of
filmmaking over the years but I do understand that some people may need some
extra help when it comes down to filming. Everyone was professionally on set of
this drama short film and I feel that Connor’s script and direction of the
piece was brilliant despite the audio problems. I will be honest it did
dishearten me that little to none of the audio got used as I felt I recorded
some clear audio but it’s a learning curve for people to take the right actions
in production.
