Semester 2 Evaluation

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.