A meeting was set up with Donnie, our illustrator. The team met before hand to discuss what we wanted to ask Donnie to do. We drew up plans and even discussed how to woo him into doing it for a minimum charge such as a pint!
When Donnie arrived I realised that this was not just a meeting of friends in a cafe, this was more like a professionals meeting to discuss the possibility of a contract to feature in the documentary. I was not properly prepared and was a little taken aback when Donnie came to shake my hand and sat before us like a job interview. I quickly regained my composire (I think), I realised that this was proably the best way to go about it as this is what it would be like in the "real world"!
Donnie talked us through his previous experience and qualifications. Then we painted a idea of what we wanted. As a team we felt that we had been very clear but in the following weeks it was apparent that we should have outlined a detailed and specific brief for our illustrator.
For example there was a lack of communication at points and ideas that we wanted in the pictures was missed out. Further to this we should have been clearer on the format that we wished the pictures to be in. As it turned out many of them were drawn portrait and were difficult to manipulate on FCP so that they would look good in the documentary.
So some important lessons were learnt:
1) Outline a specific brief including what feeling we want from the picture right through to the format they should be presented in
2) Don't depend on free work. I feel that maybe if there was a little more incentive that we could have had a better working relationship with Donnie. He is a busy man and I felt that after then initial meeting his interest wained, and it was hard to reel him back in. Infact we only recieved the pictures right before the finaliseation of the last edit.
3) Always be professional! Hand shakes are vital!
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
The other contributor.....
Due to the fact that our contributor with the bad story didn't want to appear on film we were left with a story without a picture. We had a lengthy discussion as to how we could possibly make this a little bit more interesting. Here are some of the ideas:
1) Actress/reconstruction:
In many documentaries where the subject is unabtainable (such as drama and history documentaries) an actor is often used to transport the viewer back to that situation. When I worked on the filming of the Crippen documentary last year I was amazed at what length they went to so that the reconstruction was as realistic and as historically correct as possible. We need not have recontructed her surgery but have shots of an actess so that we could over dub the story and allow the audience something to watch and connect the story with.
This could me that we would simply shoot shots such as these:
Woman walking in a park, several shots for cutaways like the beginning of our news piece edits.
Woman looking at herself in the mirror or a sequene where she wakes up like Chris' opening sequence in the documentary.
Woman sat for interview with a shaded face (Holly suggested that we could use this to our advantage, for an audience the idea that the contributor is too horrified to even appear on camera would feed the idea that this is really quite a horrific story)
Our attention then turned towards other options. There were discussions in the group that suggested that shots likes the ones above could look tacky and they are also a very widely used format. Especially on programmes such as crimewatch, there was a general concensous that we didn't want out documentary looking like crimewatch. I'm glad as a team we were able to bond on that fact!
So what other options are there, I am a fan of the use of graphics in documentaries. It could be especially effective because our documentary is very person oriantated, by this I mean that we have Interviews and reconstructions and cutaways that all involve people and real footage. We discussed the idea that having a section of graphics 3/4 way though the film would break it up a bit and allow the audience to have something else to stimulate their minds other than just an interview.
Over a muffin and several coffees our team frantically discussed the possibilities. One idea that came up and was imediatly above the others was to draw up a comic strip to illustrate the story. This idea seemed perfect, it broke up the documentary from real footage, added more interest and allowed us to explore our artist sides a little bit more.
We all had contacts for artist who would be able to do this for a minimum charge, if not free. The most promising suggestion came from Chris, his friend Donnie was a recent graphics graduate and after a small explanation Donnie agreed to come on board.
Fantastic!
1) Actress/reconstruction:
In many documentaries where the subject is unabtainable (such as drama and history documentaries) an actor is often used to transport the viewer back to that situation. When I worked on the filming of the Crippen documentary last year I was amazed at what length they went to so that the reconstruction was as realistic and as historically correct as possible. We need not have recontructed her surgery but have shots of an actess so that we could over dub the story and allow the audience something to watch and connect the story with.
This could me that we would simply shoot shots such as these:
Woman walking in a park, several shots for cutaways like the beginning of our news piece edits.
Woman looking at herself in the mirror or a sequene where she wakes up like Chris' opening sequence in the documentary.
Woman sat for interview with a shaded face (Holly suggested that we could use this to our advantage, for an audience the idea that the contributor is too horrified to even appear on camera would feed the idea that this is really quite a horrific story)
Our attention then turned towards other options. There were discussions in the group that suggested that shots likes the ones above could look tacky and they are also a very widely used format. Especially on programmes such as crimewatch, there was a general concensous that we didn't want out documentary looking like crimewatch. I'm glad as a team we were able to bond on that fact!
So what other options are there, I am a fan of the use of graphics in documentaries. It could be especially effective because our documentary is very person oriantated, by this I mean that we have Interviews and reconstructions and cutaways that all involve people and real footage. We discussed the idea that having a section of graphics 3/4 way though the film would break it up a bit and allow the audience to have something else to stimulate their minds other than just an interview.
Over a muffin and several coffees our team frantically discussed the possibilities. One idea that came up and was imediatly above the others was to draw up a comic strip to illustrate the story. This idea seemed perfect, it broke up the documentary from real footage, added more interest and allowed us to explore our artist sides a little bit more.
We all had contacts for artist who would be able to do this for a minimum charge, if not free. The most promising suggestion came from Chris, his friend Donnie was a recent graphics graduate and after a small explanation Donnie agreed to come on board.
Fantastic!
Friday, 24 April 2009
Filming Days (2)
We arranged to meet Eleanor in Cardiff just before her appointment with Ultralase. We had hoped to film her in the practice but after several hopeful conversations our ambitions were greeted with a resounding no. We felt it was a nice angle to finish the documentary on, Eleanor expected nothing but good news from this check up.
We filmed with the clinic in the background, there were certain restrictions in the area that our fabulous PA had researched before hand. Some of the buildings along the street owned the area of pavement directly in front of them, so we had to maneuver a little. We also managed to avoid a parking fine which was about to be slapped onto my poor little car but asking the traffic warden to contribute. Good times!
Eleanor was in a bright and happy mood when we met her. We set about filming immediately as I wanted a shot of her entering the clinic after a short chat with us. Because Ultralase didn't know we were filming we only had the one attempt to get her walking through the door!
We recorded the short interview several times. I had originally hoped to have this as a piece at the end of the project but it was suggested to us during class feedback that we lose the questions. Due to the set up this made editing a little harder but I shall talk about that in the edit blog (oh the suspense!)
While Eleanor was in her check up we used the time to film some vox pops. This was just incase some of our footage wasn't as we had wanted it when we finally got back to Bath, a back up. On Eleanors return we filmed her straight after the check up. I was keen not to talk to her off camera first so that we actually captured her excitement as she reeled off facts about the success of her procedure.
Our final shot was Eleanor walking away, the street that Ultralase is on in Cardiff was perfect. I had thought to change location to the Castle, I wanted it to be a little scenic, after all she can see it all in perfect clarity now and having a nice landscape would help the viewer get a nice impression of the success of her procedure.
Once again the journey home was full of excitement! Its a wrap, where is the party?
We filmed with the clinic in the background, there were certain restrictions in the area that our fabulous PA had researched before hand. Some of the buildings along the street owned the area of pavement directly in front of them, so we had to maneuver a little. We also managed to avoid a parking fine which was about to be slapped onto my poor little car but asking the traffic warden to contribute. Good times!
Eleanor was in a bright and happy mood when we met her. We set about filming immediately as I wanted a shot of her entering the clinic after a short chat with us. Because Ultralase didn't know we were filming we only had the one attempt to get her walking through the door!
We recorded the short interview several times. I had originally hoped to have this as a piece at the end of the project but it was suggested to us during class feedback that we lose the questions. Due to the set up this made editing a little harder but I shall talk about that in the edit blog (oh the suspense!)
While Eleanor was in her check up we used the time to film some vox pops. This was just incase some of our footage wasn't as we had wanted it when we finally got back to Bath, a back up. On Eleanors return we filmed her straight after the check up. I was keen not to talk to her off camera first so that we actually captured her excitement as she reeled off facts about the success of her procedure.
Our final shot was Eleanor walking away, the street that Ultralase is on in Cardiff was perfect. I had thought to change location to the Castle, I wanted it to be a little scenic, after all she can see it all in perfect clarity now and having a nice landscape would help the viewer get a nice impression of the success of her procedure.
Once again the journey home was full of excitement! Its a wrap, where is the party?
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Filming Days (1)
We successfully managed to plan every aspect of our production before we set off to meet our contributor, Eleanor, in Llanelli.
Yes, Llanelli is further along the M4 than I had presumed! We had planned to be there an hour early so that we could sip coffee in some greasy spoon in Llanelli and calm our nerves before acting the professionals in front of our contributor. This hour was quickly swallowed up as the M4 seemed never ending! Luckily we arrived there just in time and therefore came across prompt and perfectly professional! Phew!
Eleanor greeted us with a lovely smile and a cup of tea. She was clearly nervous and excited. We had a look through the rooms of her house to find the most suitable for the interview. Her front room had a lovely big bay window and so the light was beautiful and natural. Chris and Nathan set about setting up while I talked Eleanor through what we were going to do, how interviews were done and the fact that we would have to stock up on cutaways. She started to relax a lot and by the time we settled into the interview she was very natural.
We talked for a while and made sure that our questions were throughly covered. She was energetic and I really liked the way she answered. Particularly when she spoke about technical details. We had the optician interview where he was calm and used the correct terms and then in contrast you have Eleanor who talks about "zapping" the eye and "prodding"! This was something that I wanted to use to our full advantage in the edit as it make her seem very human, very like the audience.
During the interview Eleanor's son woke up and started to create small whirlwinds of noise around the house. He was quicly distracted with cartoons but there was a shift in Eleanors concentration as soon as he came downstairs. Luckily we had gathered the bulk of our interview and felt that the final points could be covered in the 2nd day of filming in Cardiff.
We then filmed some cutaways. I was keen to show that Eleanor led a life that paralled with so many others. A full time mum, part time teacher, comfortable lifestyle but not flash. Busy but not hectic. As I did some research in the early stages that showed that so many people thought tha laser surgery was only for the very rich still, as it is expensive and usually only for cosmetic reasons. I paralleled this with the amount of people who own excessivly large and beautifully highly defined televisions.
I always feel that it is important that the audience feels some kind of connection with the contributor, otherwise their words are simply that, just words. We need to feel some kind of interest in that person, some kind of connection so that we are absorbed in their story. I feel that this was achived in Eleanors interview and the following bout of cutaways.
In hindsight this was a very steep learning curve for us and although we had covered many issues in the lectures it was only when we were able to experice a shoot that we saw the importance of things.
A great example of this is cutaways. Holly had said again and again how important a full and weighty bank of cutaways was. We spent about half an hour collecting shots of Eleanor such as in the playroom with her son, infront of the telly, noddies and so on. Yet this was not enough, in the editing stages it would have been great to have a little more variation.
In discussion after the filming we realised that maybe some of these shots would have been useful:
Eleanor opening the door and greeting us
More angles when she was playing with her son
More angles when she was watching television
The classic making tea
Setting off to pick up the kids from school
So for next time we shall be much more aware of this. We worked really well as a team on the filming day, we knew our roles and were able to impact as little as possible on Eleanors day. I feel that this made her relax hugely as she didn't feel that we were imposing.
On the long drive home, yes I reitterate that the journey was longer than expected, we talked in length about how the day had gone. I think we were all very excited that we managed to pull it off!
Yes, Llanelli is further along the M4 than I had presumed! We had planned to be there an hour early so that we could sip coffee in some greasy spoon in Llanelli and calm our nerves before acting the professionals in front of our contributor. This hour was quickly swallowed up as the M4 seemed never ending! Luckily we arrived there just in time and therefore came across prompt and perfectly professional! Phew!
Eleanor greeted us with a lovely smile and a cup of tea. She was clearly nervous and excited. We had a look through the rooms of her house to find the most suitable for the interview. Her front room had a lovely big bay window and so the light was beautiful and natural. Chris and Nathan set about setting up while I talked Eleanor through what we were going to do, how interviews were done and the fact that we would have to stock up on cutaways. She started to relax a lot and by the time we settled into the interview she was very natural.
We talked for a while and made sure that our questions were throughly covered. She was energetic and I really liked the way she answered. Particularly when she spoke about technical details. We had the optician interview where he was calm and used the correct terms and then in contrast you have Eleanor who talks about "zapping" the eye and "prodding"! This was something that I wanted to use to our full advantage in the edit as it make her seem very human, very like the audience.
During the interview Eleanor's son woke up and started to create small whirlwinds of noise around the house. He was quicly distracted with cartoons but there was a shift in Eleanors concentration as soon as he came downstairs. Luckily we had gathered the bulk of our interview and felt that the final points could be covered in the 2nd day of filming in Cardiff.
We then filmed some cutaways. I was keen to show that Eleanor led a life that paralled with so many others. A full time mum, part time teacher, comfortable lifestyle but not flash. Busy but not hectic. As I did some research in the early stages that showed that so many people thought tha laser surgery was only for the very rich still, as it is expensive and usually only for cosmetic reasons. I paralleled this with the amount of people who own excessivly large and beautifully highly defined televisions.
I always feel that it is important that the audience feels some kind of connection with the contributor, otherwise their words are simply that, just words. We need to feel some kind of interest in that person, some kind of connection so that we are absorbed in their story. I feel that this was achived in Eleanors interview and the following bout of cutaways.
In hindsight this was a very steep learning curve for us and although we had covered many issues in the lectures it was only when we were able to experice a shoot that we saw the importance of things.
A great example of this is cutaways. Holly had said again and again how important a full and weighty bank of cutaways was. We spent about half an hour collecting shots of Eleanor such as in the playroom with her son, infront of the telly, noddies and so on. Yet this was not enough, in the editing stages it would have been great to have a little more variation.
In discussion after the filming we realised that maybe some of these shots would have been useful:
Eleanor opening the door and greeting us
More angles when she was playing with her son
More angles when she was watching television
The classic making tea
Setting off to pick up the kids from school
So for next time we shall be much more aware of this. We worked really well as a team on the filming day, we knew our roles and were able to impact as little as possible on Eleanors day. I feel that this made her relax hugely as she didn't feel that we were imposing.
On the long drive home, yes I reitterate that the journey was longer than expected, we talked in length about how the day had gone. I think we were all very excited that we managed to pull it off!
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Finding the right taling head and seeing eyes
As we were looking to trace the human aspect of laser eye surgery our search for contributors was incredibly important. We did not want to just settle for someone who had the procedure and was simply satisfied as this would not allow us to explore the idea that it is a life changing procedure (whether for good or bad).
After contacting several clinics all around the southwest and south Wales we started to realise that due to the nature of the procedure and our lack of status in the broadcasting world the chance to swindle and interview directly from a client of a clinic was remarkably small.
We therefore turned our attention to the Internet to find a contributor. We found a this site a forum run by Ultralase who are one of the worlds leading private Laser eye clinics. The forum allows people to air their worries, document their progress, tell their horror stories or even just discuss last night’s episode of Eastenders. This online community was something that we simply couldn’t pass by.
We asked for contributors in various different sections of the site. I also directly contacted over 50 members who had been vocal about their experience on the site. This unfortunately yielded no replies. Each of the posts received over 100 views but yet again these were not replied to. I felt this was very surprising as people were so keen to talk about their experiences, how they felt, what it was like but clearly not to capture this emotion on camera.
I then directly contacted a member who had been posting daily updates in the “diary” section of the forum. I received a reply but it in short it revealed that she was not really that keen and was incredibly camera shy. I proceeded to calm her nerves and use my charm and for days there was no reply.
In the meantime we felt it was important to get this vital issue sorted so we started to ask about in desperation. A relation of mine had received the treatment a few years ago and so I emailed him to try and secure an interview. He was more than happy to help out and it was great to be off the ground. Yet, as much as we were grateful we were still keen to find someone who had received the treatment recently. We felt that this would allow them to speak with a little more passion and excitement about it.
After several emails I managed to persuade the only respondent we had found off the forum. She seemed bright and cheerful and when I spoke to her later that week I couldn’t have been happier with our find!
What a mission!
Since the filming we have also managed to prove the existence of “sod’s law”
1) I have had 3 replies off the forum all with fascinating stories and one with a bad story that he would be willing to talk about on camera
2) Ultralase have actually been in touch with me offering to provide contributors
3) It turned out in conversation two days ago that a close friend of mine’s uncle is the top Laser Eye Surgeon in the country
4) I have another tenuous link to another top surgeon that could have been tapped!
So good things come to those who wait, unfortunately waiting was not an option. Fortunately though our found contributor could not have been better! I shall explain why in a later blog.
After contacting several clinics all around the southwest and south Wales we started to realise that due to the nature of the procedure and our lack of status in the broadcasting world the chance to swindle and interview directly from a client of a clinic was remarkably small.
We therefore turned our attention to the Internet to find a contributor. We found a this site a forum run by Ultralase who are one of the worlds leading private Laser eye clinics. The forum allows people to air their worries, document their progress, tell their horror stories or even just discuss last night’s episode of Eastenders. This online community was something that we simply couldn’t pass by.
We asked for contributors in various different sections of the site. I also directly contacted over 50 members who had been vocal about their experience on the site. This unfortunately yielded no replies. Each of the posts received over 100 views but yet again these were not replied to. I felt this was very surprising as people were so keen to talk about their experiences, how they felt, what it was like but clearly not to capture this emotion on camera.
I then directly contacted a member who had been posting daily updates in the “diary” section of the forum. I received a reply but it in short it revealed that she was not really that keen and was incredibly camera shy. I proceeded to calm her nerves and use my charm and for days there was no reply.
In the meantime we felt it was important to get this vital issue sorted so we started to ask about in desperation. A relation of mine had received the treatment a few years ago and so I emailed him to try and secure an interview. He was more than happy to help out and it was great to be off the ground. Yet, as much as we were grateful we were still keen to find someone who had received the treatment recently. We felt that this would allow them to speak with a little more passion and excitement about it.
After several emails I managed to persuade the only respondent we had found off the forum. She seemed bright and cheerful and when I spoke to her later that week I couldn’t have been happier with our find!
What a mission!
Since the filming we have also managed to prove the existence of “sod’s law”
1) I have had 3 replies off the forum all with fascinating stories and one with a bad story that he would be willing to talk about on camera
2) Ultralase have actually been in touch with me offering to provide contributors
3) It turned out in conversation two days ago that a close friend of mine’s uncle is the top Laser Eye Surgeon in the country
4) I have another tenuous link to another top surgeon that could have been tapped!
So good things come to those who wait, unfortunately waiting was not an option. Fortunately though our found contributor could not have been better! I shall explain why in a later blog.
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