I think the documentary and drama projects have been the
most enjoyable out of the others. Ive learnt new skills, worked with people I
wouldn’t have possible worked with and taken roles that that I might not have
chosen, pushing me out of my comfort zone. Most off all I think I've gained
confidence in expressing my ideas in a group of people where I don’t know
everyone.
For our documentary we had to work in groups of six and that
we had to film in Liverpool based on the theme of Liverpool stories. This was
great as the brief allowed us to have lots of creative freedom. I was in a
group with Alex Kentfield, Hannah Grencis, Saul Allerton, Alex Potter and Noah
Chebouli. Our first idea was to look to graffiti and how it is betrayed in the
media, is it art or is it vandalism. As Liverpool was the capital of culture we
thought that they opinions of the art form might have changed. As a group I
think we all preferred this idea but due to our lack of contact with any street
artist we found it hard to plan and organise. As a continuous plan we started
to develop our other idea, which focused around a music shop in the centre of
Liverpool that has closed down. We thought it would be interesting to find out
about the history of this shop and a great way to find out more about
Liverpool’s rich music history. Just as we where about to make our final
decision about what idea to chose, a street artist called Kerion got in contact about a organisation that he
runs in the centre of Liverpool. The organisation is called zapgraffiti, which
provides a work studio for artist to do they work. This was great as it was
really showing the art form in a positive way. We decided to focus our film
around this company and the other contacts our producer Hannah had managed to
get in contact with. Although we had loads of contacts I still wanted to get
hold of a street artist who does it for the thrill and the art form.
In Liverpool we where very well organised, and everything
went to plan as. When I Liverpool we decided to spilt up into two groups so we
could cover more ground. Alex Kentfield, Hannah Grencis, Alex Potter and Noah
Chebouli where the main group and the majority of the interviews while me Saul
Allerton headed to the outer parts of Liverpool as we where told the art would
be. As I was the sound editor I mainly just assisted people and helped out when
ever I could.
I was really looking forward to doing the sound design, as
sound is something I’m really interested in. I also loved the possibility of
creating my own sound track although the director wanted to use someone else
sound track. I was adamant that I could do it, as they where working on the
main edit I started the soundtrack taking inspiration from Dark Shadows I
wanted to create an upbeat sound track and use part of the interviews in the
opening minute to help set up the narrative. For the soundtrack I used a free
sample kit to start off with to get the core of the beat, when I had my next
rehearsal I then took a zoom and recoded the individual part of the kit and
played several different beats , but it wasn’t till the eidt I realised that
beats just didn’t work and was very overpowering. I want back to my original
idea of creating the beat from scarp but using the parts of the kit that I had
recorded. As well as the soundtrack I focused on lining up the audio to the
interviews in hindsight I should have done this before hand as the when I was
given the rough edit the clapperboard had been cut out so I had no marker to
line up the sound. I persevered and got the audio lined up and then began by
creating the sound design by adding the sounds of the spray can, people walking
and the other elements to give the film a rich and filled sound track.
The final edit was different to what I imagined, when we
where in Liverpool we found loads of different organisation and people we where
so passionate about street art we had to include everyone. In hindsight we
should have just kept the documentary around two or three people max. The
documentary just felt a but rushed as we had so much to say. However I think we had created a great
documentary, they are loads of films about street artist but I think we
approached it in a different way. The footage look great and I felt the
soundtrack really complemented the documentary.
Overall I think we worked very well in a group, I was given
the chance to work with people that I possible wouldn’t have got to work with
before which was great. I’m happy with the final piece even though some
improvements could have been made, especially in the sound design. I focused so
much on the sound track I had to rush the sound design part and I felt like I
did let the team down a little bit. I think we should be proud of what we have
produced as it was the first documentary me and some of the others had never
created a documentary before. I felt the feedback we received where fair,
although I felt a little let down when our director criticised the film as up
to this point he had never raised any concerns.
For the drama I was contacted by a couple of groups asking
if I could do the sound for they drama, I was privileged that I was asked but
as I had already done sound design for the documentary I wasn’t allowed to do
the same job role. Also Hannah and me had already came up with a great idea
which I really wanted to be part of. We
started to construct a team and really started to develop the idea, however
this was jeopardised as Hannah and me had already worked together and apparently
in the brief it said that we weren’t allowed. When we found out everyone had
already sorted groups and we decided to speak to Debbie about it, this was
quite reassuring and we decided that we would stick together, although Hannah
and i would lose marks on studentship.
Hannah and I pitched our idea to the rest of the team in our
first meeting. The film would be focused around one character who suffers from
agoraphobia. The character would have no dialogue and as the audience we are
never told why he sufferers from this phobia.
As it was partly my idea I really want to be director as I had clear
vision of how I want the film to look. Luckily the rest of group was happy for
me to be director, which was great.
Before writing the scrip I did some research about the
phobia and how it affects people, I was surprised to find out that the phobia
was much more then just the fear of the outside. People who suffer from the
phobia get very obsessive about certain items that remind them of the past, as
it is a way for them to connect with the outside world. I really like this idea
of having certain motifs that feature throughout the film. It wasn’t until I
started to write the script that the narrative became clear. The film would be
focuses on one character called George on what should be on of the happiest
days of the year his birthday. I really wanted to stay away from been cliché,
no flash backs or anything like that, I didn’t want the camera or the character
to leave the room. I wrote the scrip having an older actor to play the role,
but I knew it would be quite difficult to find. After not having much look with
on the facebook groups, me and the producer created a casting call on a website
called Star Now, I was little bit sceptical as we didn’t have a full scrip,
still undecided about location and we couldn’t pay actor for they time. Luckily
we had an actor contact us called Jonathan who used to suffer from panic
attacks we met up with him and gave him scrip. He told us about his acting
career and his experience with panic attacks. I was very happy with the actor
and felt like he would put his own personal twist on the scrip.
We managed to get an ideal location in Sheffield Wood Hill
Grange Flat. The room we had was a blank canvas and had very little furniture.
The room was quite small but it was much better idea then going to Halifax and
shooting. We had the room for 3 days, the first day we did the set design and
the other two days where for filming. The set design went pretty smoothly as we
created a props list of what we wanted and who was bringing which item. We started changing the layout, moving the
furniture and changing the bed sheets before we started add the miscellaneous
items, pictures, posters. As we where shooting the second half of the scrip
first we had to make the room messy although its looks a random it was actually
quite orgainsed. I was a little bit
nervous about our first day filming, as I had never directed a film of this
scale. We met Jonathan at the location and briefed him before we started
filming. As the room wasn’t quite ready I decided to shoot the shoots of the
outside first in a near by woods, this gave us time to get to know Jonathan and
his background which made it easier to direct as we where building up this
relationship. The first day of filming
went pretty smoothly to be honest, the only problem we had was the point of
view of shots, they just didn’t look right and as it was going dark we decide
to film them again on the second day. As
before we met Jonathan at the location, we told him to shave and bring his
suit, which he did. I felt that the second day of filming went quite went well
and us as a team where much more efficient. The scene where Jonathan breaks
down and has his panic attack I was especially pleased with. Once again we
tried to film the Point Of View shots although they where better then yesterday
I still thought they didn’t work.
Jonathan was great to work with he was a great actor
and was very easy to work with. I thought he really played the role well. The edit
was quite difficult as after the rough cut we had an 8 minute film, I found it
hard to cut scenes which wouldn’t affect the narrative of the film. The first
half of the film we set a pace with and it was a shame that couldn’t keep that
same pace throughout the film. I was very concerned that the more footage we
cut the more of the narrative we where loosing. I tried to show the film to as many
people as possible although not all of them understood the motif in the film
they understood the key concept of the film. This was very reassuring as I think
we were all worried about this. Overall I’m very pleased with our final piece,
the footage looks great and the sound really complements the film. As a team I think
we have all worked really well together, although I do think some members made
a little more effort. It was great directing and I really enjoyed it as got to
see my idea get turned into a film.
