Final Major Project Unit: Research

“visions are abstract; scripts are concrete”

I may have mentioned before, but I am taking on the role of documentary director for this project. Working with Lauren, who is concentrating on the Producer role, almost like an investigator, looking for the stories and sourcing the contributors. I'm working alongside her, finding out as much as I can about the people, and how to create shot sequences with them and how to work with the locations we have. A key thing that we have, is a good and diverse mix of stories and locations to shoot. Which can have its challenges, such as less amount of preparation can be done. And shooting on various locations will offer all sorts of lighting conditions and spaces to work in. So as a shooting director, I have to make decisions as to what lenses to use and where I can get the best angles. I also have to coordinate and plan sequences to shoot with the contributors, by finding out from Lauren what their hobbies are, their background story, their daily routines, and favourite places. 

Here is some more research about my role from the book: 

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos, Fourth Edition

By Alan Rosenthal

Responsibilities & Requirements:

• Story shots, sequences and style
• Camera movements & angles
• Lighting & composition
• Content and background of each shot
• Mise-en-scene to add meaning
• Filming to edit (cutaways, pulling essence out of scene) 
• Editing “look” of film
• Research into shooting styles
• Locations for nature shots
• Scripting shots
• Shooting test pieces
• Equipment for filming
• Creative & technical
• Maintaining style throughout
• Takes risks and is willing to jump outside boundaries 
• Establishes what is important and focuses camera

The Director’s Eye

“we see interview after interview, all filmed in the most boring way and interspersed with meaningless visuals that seems to have been put in merely to pass the time. It seems to me at such times that the director has forgotten the very basics of the medium.”

The director must have a capacity for hard work and a good visual eye. A good sense of what is visually important is just as essential in documentary.
Shooting Style

You first determine what you want the film to do and say, and these decisions will then determine the visual style. Don’t work the other way and determine the visual style regardless of subject matter!

Shooting on a tripod, appears more calm, third-person observation of the events. In contrast, shooting from the shoulder and moving with the action enhances the first-person, participatory quality of the scenes. Have to decide which one. (third)

Also decide on degree of intensity, to go for close-ups or extreme close-ups or maintaining a greater distance from the subject.

1. good sense of framing and composition and should be able to see the best angle from which the story can be told.
   
2. a sense for telling detail. Most telling sequences without any warning, but can see the significance and get the camera to film them. Almost accidentally creating shots which symbolise something. Shots happening naturally. 

Pre-production

There maybe no script at all to use, so you can’t plan in advance. With luck, you begin a film with a series of notes and a rough idea of where you want to go and how you want to proceed; you plunge in and hope for the best. Things will happen unexpectedly. Characters will reveal themselves in different ways. Sudden conflicts will emerge. New story lines will become apparent. You discover the film as you proceed. And discover the important details.

What is required?

Documentary directors tend to plunge into their films without much pre-thought. They are sure of their talents, have a sense that the chosen material can lead into all sorts of interesting directions, and just jump in. Know what you want the film the say. Be sure of your focus.

The style should be consistent. Otherwise this confuses the viewer. Consider at length what style you want before you begin filming then stick with it. If you want to break or change your style, think through the pros and cons very carefully. What you should avoid at all costs is shifting styles without reason.



Filming

In terms of the non-interview footage, in addition to the usual rules of composition, your key considerations are around the effectiveness of each shot. So, as a Director, working alongside your Camera Operator (myself), you need to think about the following:

• The subject and general composition of every shot
• The overall content and background of each shot. Failing to think about this could
  mean that you have inadvertently failed to consider something that could either undermine the shot you require or, in extreme circumstances, land you in trouble. For example, if your documentary is about shops selling out-of-date food and you have a supermarket in the background, the audience could infer that this is one of the shops. If it is not, you could open yourself up to potentially costly legal action.
  
• The mise-en-scène: that is, what you could add to the shot to help support the shot or to create additional meaning. As with any production, you have the power to construct what the audience see. As we saw above, though, unlike other productions, you have to give consideration to how far you can ‘creatively treat actuality’ before it cease to be reality.

Filming to Edit

Whatever they are filming, a good Director and crew should always be consciously planning for the edit while they film. This is where having even a rudimentary storyboard will help. So, an interview with a war veteran will be much enhanced through the use of cutaways and inserts which will help to tell the story. Some may be able to be shot at the location, especially if this is his or her house - a close up of their medals, a photograph on the mantelpiece of them in uniform, a close up of their hands as they turn their wedding ring, a faded newspaper cutting retained by them – while other may be obtained after the interview; for example, archive footage or a shot of the local war memorial. Cutting to such footage during an interview will afford you the opportunity to cut around a poor edit or jump cut.

Post–Production

• Ensure all recorded material and associated paperwork is passed from the PA onto
  the Editor
  
• Watch all the recorded material with the Editor and discuss and explore the new
  directions and possibilities that this material now proposes for your documentary
  
• Agree on which material to continue to work with in the edit
  
• Let the Editor do their thing supported by you
  
• Periodically or when called for assist and support the editing process
  
• Initiate and arrange viewings at key points in the edit
  
• Ensure that as far as possible you and the Editor are working to the same plan in
  terms of content and style throughout the editing process
  
• Give the Editor room to develop narrative or threads within the emerging
  documentary
  
• Work with the PA to tie up any loose ends from production such as payments or
  thank yous
  
  

Final Major Project Unit: Production

Filming with Dan

Now we're getting to the stage of really getting to know our contributors, we're finding out some really good contrasts between their lifestyles and personalities. So it's becoming more important to show these people as the individuals that they are. For me, I need to think carefully how to show this through the use of shots, the subject within them and what kind of tone this will portray. 

Whilst being at the stage of phone interviewing with Lauren, I can really create more of a picture of how to show these people, the way that they live and how they cope with the disorder, and their background. 

One of the challenges was shooting with our first contributor, Dan, was showing how organised and tidy he lives. However, in the edit, and by contrast with the other houses, this should come across. There are a few extra shots I need to get of the house and surrounding area. There are a number of reasons why: we'd like to get a sense of how everyone lives, and to help the documentary flow. And it can also be more relatable for the audiences, or to get a sense of diversion, to see the kind of neighbourhoods we film in and how they find similarities or differences to their own. 

My approach to filming is to use as much natural and available light as possible. This is how The Imposter was shot, and there are various directors which choose to shoot this way. It is also less intimidating for the interviewee, and I quite like the darkness on people's faces, I personally think it adds to the character and the whole mood of the film. 

I made sure we had the kit we needed to shoot. Unfortunately my own camera was in the workshop, so I was relying on a camera which only had 16GB of memory and no extra cards, which meant we were shooting more than an hour of interview and I had to keep stopping to upload the footage. Not ideal. But luckily I have my own camera back, with a ton of memory. 

Final Major Project Unit: Research

Whilst I'm on the subject of documentaries.

A more acclaimed one than from the previous post, is called 'Oxyana' (Dir. Sean Dunne, 78 minutes). I can only view the trailer for now, but it looks like a really interesting documentary. It focuses on a small town in South West Virginia called Oceana.

Oxyana has become the nickname for the town since it has become home to the black market trade of prescription painkiller Oxycontin. It looks at the lives of it's residents, caught up with abuse, addiction, theft, prostitution and overdoses. And is told by the voices of addicts, the dealers and those affected. It looks like another example of a documentary style where it really lets the voices of the people speak in relaxed environments which relate to their characters and the story. I hope when we come to film with out contributors that they do feel relaxed, and if their sit-down interview doesn't open them up, then by getting them to do an activity and ask them questions about it should make them feel more at ease, whilst making the documentary more interesting to watch.

Oxyana won Best New Documentary Director, Tribeca Film Festival 2013.

Final Major Project Unit: Research

I watch a lot of shorts, especially on Vimeo, and I'm coming across more documentaries. From watching them, I'm finding more and more things I like and don't like. I think these videos are much closer to our field, rather than trying to compare with something made on BBC. You find that on these platforms the style is more experimental as they have more freedom, and I'm always amazed at what talent is out there.

I watched this one recently, it's called 'Between Days' (from Nizar Pasalic). The whole tone is quite powerful, especially with the story being told. I like the pacing throughout, the grading and general shooting style. 

It's told through the voice of the main character, an older man. He sets himself up by telling us where he was born, where his family were born, when and where he met his wife and when they got married. So everything in the opening before the titles is the bare basics, to set the individual up and give us all the information we need. All whilst we see the inside of his house and watch him get ready to go out. Fade to black. Music fades out. 

Titles, are fairly simple, it gives us shots of the location to establish where we are with location sounds. The text on-screen helps to set-up the story and tell us what the focus of the documentary is. 

We then move back into the city as we follow the main character, everything is handheld and gritty (there has been some stabilisation work done in post). This has been edited down by a jump-cut. And we are now just an observer, following his life as it is just his normal routine. This style I really like, and for Finding Serenity, we have been finding out about our contributor's routines in the hope of telling their stories and how and where they find their serenity and peace. 

At around 4 minutes, he finally addresses the camera, but the filmmaker decides not to include this sound, but to use soundtrack. Now, it has almost become a 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary, but with a soundtrack and no diegetic sound. 

It's not the strongest of stories, but it aims to give an insight into another human's world. We then watch him write in his diary, which he talks about not in situation but in voiceover. And find out what else he does at his home, which he has been filmed doing. 

For our documentary, I think we're going to find that the stories are going to be very heavy. From past experience, you tend to get all the details and a lot of talking when you interview someone, and when it comes to the edit you only use about (what seems like) 10% of that. As you may cut an hours worth of talking with each person (4-5) into a half hour (or full hour) film. Plus adding the time you allow for dramatic silences. 

Extra Work

Other than preparing to shoot the documentary, I've photographed and shot a festival to create a highlights video to promote the Hops 'n' Harvest festival at the Museum of Kent Life next year. I work close with the festival and I'm hoping it will continue to grow. I've heard that it got a very positive write-up from the Kent Messenger. 

I would like to make more of these short promotional videos, especially if the final edit goes down well.  I also feel it relates to wedding and events videography, which relates back to documentary style filming. Which is another reason why making a documentary will help me in my career and test my skills so far. 

By making these videos I always find out something new, by problem-solving and using my past experiences. As on the main day I was the only shooter (plus my camera broke on the morning in the same day), I had to completely change my tactics and use my single-camera skills. Which actually turned out to be better. On the rainy Sunday, was much quieter and I had Dan helping me so I focused on getting some good photos and any footage which I didn't have time to get the day before, such as people walking up to the stage. 

There were a few issues, especially with the stage and finding the right angles. But sometimes you have to work with what you have and just keep shooting because you never know what's going to happen (the rain even made us move up the field and into the beer tent with the music). I couldn't of storyboarded or created a shot list for a festival. I shot 1-2 songs of each artist only showing what would be in sync, i.e. the instrument and the vocal. In the rest of the set I got shots of the crowd listening, CU's which I can add in anywhere.. and this helped to build in the whole atmosphere of the festival. There were also various things going on around the festival, I didn't capture it all, and I always get some more ideas coming once I've finished shooting, but the main thing was the hops picking, the beer tent, and there was a second stage and lots of farm animals. 

Regarding sound, this was easy. A USB plugged into a very fancy sound desk, took care of everything. 

As I wasn't using my camera, I also had the issue of not having enough memory, so I had to keep uploading footage onto the laptop, totalling around 40GB by the end. Luckily, I always come prepared and brought the USB cable to do this. Thank god I'm organised! 

All in all, was a weekend full of problems, but I just kept shooting and got so many shots I'm happy with, it all turned out alright in the end. 

Here's a few still, without the final grading on. 

set-up shots

time-lapse still

on-stage angle

waiting for the action on the symbol

setting up the stage for the last act

setting up a beer glass for a pull focus

I did about 5 time-lapses over the weekend. But when the sun was going down, there were loads of children playing with the haybales, I thought it looked cool as silhouettes so I exposed to the sky and got various shots from a very low angle. 

Final Major Project Unit: Research

Cinematic style

An amazing documentary of a very different style is The Imposter (dir. Bart Layton). It's very much narrative driven, and investigative with a cinematic style. It tells the story through interviews, archive film and photos, and a film-like reconstruction which cleverly ties in with the interview of the main character by using an actor within the reconstruction mimicking his expressions and the way he talks. 

Here are some stills of the interview set-ups, they aimed to shoot in their houses to better reflect them. In the behind the scenes, they tell how they interviewed the private investigator in a car driving because they felt it would be more fitting as he was always on the move. I've studied the lighting and grading in the film because I always feel it's such a subtle but often forgotten process, yet it can really make a film. In The Imposter the grading is very fitting with the narrative, as the dark look and the blue undertones in the reconstructions conform to the crime genre. Each look was created to show the different timeframe, the mood and the location. 

varying shot sizes

whole different look for main character

extreme close-up

Here is a really good write-up on the technicalities behind the film: website
It even mentions that they used a Canon 5d, and some issues they had in post with focus and using grading techniques to highlight the mood in the scene. They shot on various cameras and in the end made the film 16:9 to get that 16mm film look. They even added grain tests, as it was all shot digitally, to make it look more filmic.

before

after

The website also talks about light and shadow, and how the DP Erik would work to a subtractive rather than additive approach. Whereby he would aim to use any existing light rather than designing an artificial set-up and try to take away light. From previous research in my own interest in photography, I've read this countless times and I completely agree with it. My new camera is built especially for this and can capture more information in lower light, so there's more flexibility in post to manipulate looks. 

I've also noticed that all the above shots light one side of the face more strongly than the other, as if they all have a dark side. 

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

Sadly, my camera is in repair. So hopefully by next week I'll be ready to go out and shoot again. I'm getting all the information from Lauren on the contributors, finding out all the possible locations we'll be shooting in with them and more information on shooting material. I've noted all of this and plan on visiting as many locations as possible before shooting and creating a rough idea of some shots to do with each person. This includes creating sequences showing what is involved in their lives, their passions and creative pursuits. From reading the stories so far, we're getting a good variety of people with interests in art, music, and there are people from different cultures, and age groups. 

One young man used to just take random cab rides, and even the cabbies started to know him well, so we could even try and film him in a cab sitting quietly with all sorts of interesting angles (perhaps with a GoPro) with his voice-over interview telling his story, and film him talking in the cab which we could layer over the "silent shots". We'd like for the voices to be able to flow freely and create almost contrasting layers with the voices and the images. 

Another likes to walk in St. James' Park or in the British Library. We may need to look for permissions if we'd like to shoot in some of these places. Another is a musician who enjoys going to gigs and listening to music, she's even offered to perform for us. Another has spent time in art therapy and enjoys making cards and scrapbooking. And then John, who we have met, plays guitar and makes and sells his own cleaning products. 

For me there seems to be this message about creativity and self-motivated projects which link these individuals. 

Lauren has been working on a rough script using the stories she's received so far, so once I can look through this it will really help me to build the visuals in my mind. We're hoping to make this documentary stand out as being a bit unconventional and challenging the typical techniques. Every documentary has their own individual way of telling the story, as long as it works and keeps to the message we're trying to portray. I also plan on getting all the coverage we need using my own shooting style, so we have options in the edit. 

Tomorrow we have our first telephone interviews with the contributors, which we'll be recording. 

So, Lauren will be liaising with the contributors, working out when to shoot, helping to decide what to shoot, and finalising locations so I can do visits beforehand. Then I'll create a shot list using the shooting script, and make directorial decisions on the shooting days. 

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

Here is a small edit of some footage I've shot to test some looks and shooting styles, we shot on two locations in one day. The music was composed by Fred Clark. I've written my findings below. 

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

Here's some rough shot ideas I'm working from:


Shooting with contributors:

CU’s of objects to establish location
W with subject - carefully composed shot
CU of subject

Set up objects in CU’s, with contributor blurred in background 

Pan across objects, pan and then finish in CU sharp 

EG. with John’s guitar sequence, set up all the tuning and getting ready shots, all choreographed. 
Set up shots in CU’s of objects
WS corner of room
WS moving into the room

WS from behind 
CU face from side
CU face from front, focus on background first, then on face
ECU side of face eyes and features

John mending something
CU object
CU eyes
From behind
From above
WS

John at show
WS standing (vulnerable wide)
POV looking out
CU objects
Walk around the show and film to get sense of atmosphere
Film journey in car (set-up shots)
Film every aspect - setting up on his own

In Nature:

DEPRESSIVE 

waves crashing 
cliff edge (Beachy Head)
intense rainfall: droplets crashing in water, leaves battered
isolation: Beachy Head, empty shot, just cliff at bottom of frame

SERENITY

sunsets 
plants swaying CU (like Burning of the Leaves)
animals, birds, bees, nature (go to a lake - reserves)
seasonal, ‘earthy’ shots
timelapse in a field sunset
sun shining through leaves
water droplets

BALLERINA SEQUENCE(S)

WS
MS skirt spinning
MS body (all soft focus)
reverse shots and change speed
Improvised, jumping
running through street at night (London)(flash from cars to the street)
standing on edge at Beachy Head/Bearsted 
running through maze 

TIMELAPSES

Traffic on motorway at night
Shopping centers
Train stations
(frame blend and motion blur)
long exposures

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

Bipolar UK have been contacting Lauren and sending them many names and details of people with bipolar who have got in touch and want their story heard. She has showed me a list of people from all walks of life. We’d like to hear from as many as we can so we’d like to test recording phone conversations and using their voice and layer it with others to build all these voices up. I think we were both surprised with the reaction from all these people wanting to be a part of our work. We just need to give their stories justice now. 

Lauren has been getting the information from the contributors, finding out more about them and who has the stories and who lives near to us. We’d like to find out their favourite spot or hobby so I can start to picture what to shoot. As it’s more of a human-interest documentary rather than an informative one, we want to get to know these people’s stories as much as we can.  After all, these stories mainly exist because of the person having bipolar. 

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

Ballet Sequence

First test shoot with ballet sequence. The purpose of the sequence is to show the serenity side of the documentary, in this case, dancing is the escape from the disorder. We've found from our contributor feedback so far is that they find their own techniques, other than drugs, to cope with the disorder, whether it's music, exercise or a hobby. At the moment we're testing this concept to see how it could work within the documentary. We like the idea of this sequence as it shows our experimental side, it's also a chance to develop my shooting style. 

With a rough list of shots in mind, I took my dancer to some woods, which I have used on previous shoots, when the sun was high in sky to get flare through trees. This worked well. Location-wise, we would prefer a pine wood, which isn't as common in Kent. But I plan on going out to shoot in various places. 

An idea with the ballet sequence is to create atmosphere with coloured smoke bombs, in which case the Apocalypse Airsoft ground would be good because we could gain permission and it's used for pyrotechnics often. Otherwise, we'd be looking at private land and scout camps. 

We also shot in a field 1 hour before sunset where the light is at its best, the golden hour. Location-wise, I need to find a field which is grassy but clear sunset in background and no trees to get the shots I need. 

From this test shoot I found that: 

• Need to choreograph a dance and figure length and timings
• Need to link better with bipolar disorder, i.e. make the dancer more “actor-y” so she can express the moods better, try and relate to the questions and subject (if talking about loneliness show at Beachy Head standing still, skirt flowing in wind, bleak) and the dance is the release (finding serenity) but we need to show the other side and almost act out a ‘reconstruction’, such as when talking about trouble with police or wanting to run, shoot running down a high street at night and in maze
• Time of day and location are important (need flattish land to be able to dance)
• Costume ideas: wrap feet and hands in lace type material, long skirts may work depending on routine
• Camera is working excellently! Need to test more movements and wide shots.

Here's some stills, film is to follow:

Our next step is finalising the contributors, getting their stories, which Lauren has a step-by-step plan in place. Then I can start to build an idea of how we're going to create sequences with these people. I've got some image ideas which I'd like to go out and test, a few timelapse pieces to show the fast-paced mind-set of someone in a manic phase. And some bleak, depressive imagery, which I'd like to perhaps visit the coast on a foggy day. With this project, I'm relying on the changing seasons and the weather. 

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

In terms of equipment so far, I’ll be shooting on a Canon 6D with a full frame sensor, so it will perform well when shooting indoors and wide shots. I have a zoom recorder which we can use to record the interviews and we’ll need radio microphones for when we film actuality sequences with the contributors. 

At first we have our main contributor, John, who is a hoarder, so we went to film in his home, I’m thinking some wides of the room, where he sits and thinks, or if he’s busy working on something. He also has connections with the sea, as the night of his diagnosis before he was brought to hospital he wanted to fly to Cornwall and walk into the sea. As Lauren as done a pre-interview with him, she can guess what kind of things he will talk about. We’ll need to do pre-interviews, which we can record, with our other contributors, or just email them some more basic questions. It helps to paint a picture as to what to shoot, and where we can shoot them. 


We filmed at John’s house, and set up the interview shot just to test the water. See what worked. Filmed it in a wide and a mid and CU so we have a variety of shots. Even though the plan was not to use them, they’re there as a back-up. We then got some talking outside about his car which was more natural. We might try this again and actually follow him out somewhere. Also need to get some shots where he doesn’t talk but is just in his own world like we’re not there getting up to the things he might do alone. 

So that was successful, we went back to edit what we found at my house the next day, I went through and edited out all the questions and replaced them with subject markers. I also tried to take out any waffle. We worked on structuring the questions into groups so there’s no repetition or going back and forth from subject matters. 

We then went out in the pouring rain looking for locations, up near Bearsted is a high point which would be nice to film. I would have loved to film in the rain but I wasn’t prepared to do so, I’d need someone to hold an umbrella for the camera. But I’d like to get some rain shots to contrast with the sunset shots (the weather is a metaphor for the mood swings). 

I think testing with John initially has helped and give us both much needed confidence in going out and interviewing others. At first I was concerned because John is such a fast talker and started with very long joining sentences which is difficult to edit. But when watching back, I’m not sure if I just got used to the way he speaks, but he didn’t come across as too fast. We just have to make sure they give shorter and to the point answers with the things we need, but then perhaps have open questions where they might find deeper answers. Lauren has been working on the questions to improve them and put them in groups relating to topic and she's also colour coded them. Even though we can't write a proper script yet without the stories, we're starting to think about the style and how we'd like the documentary to flow. 

We have launched our website so we can start with promotion and blogging. Just need to remember to post a lot as films which I've seen always keep a blog of the making-of.

We'd also like to think about where to show this film afterwards, it will reach an audience on the bipolar UK website, but we might consider festivals and film websites. For example, I found this website www.filmsforaction.org, good place to post independent documentaries, especially one like ours, Just found one on there called ‘Feel for Poppies’ made entirely on images and voiceover. 

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

We went to London to meet with the Chief Executive of Bipolar UK. Lauren has done a lot of research into the company, what they’ve worked on in the past, what they’re doing now, so we can see what they can do for us and what we might be about to do for them. She prepared the content for the proposal with some questions, and more, and I’ve added the style part on how we’d like it to be shot. Our main aim with meeting Bipolar UK was about the possibility of using their contacts with their service users to find participants for our documentary. After a well-informed pitch by Lauren, we were able to secure a deal whereby they advertise for our documentary, as long as we provide them with copies of consent forms etc. At the moment it sounds like a commissioned piece to aid their 30 year anniversary, which is happening in the right time-frame which we’re looking to shoot so, by happy coincidence, they interlink. If it wasn’t for this, and Lauren’s quick answers to the Chief’s questions, I don’t think they would of helped us. 

Final Major Project Unit: Project Update

Our second meeting at Lauren’s to catch up and make sure we’re on the right track. We got some amazing news back from Bipolar UK and will be heading to London next week to meet with the Chief Executive. We’re keeping an open mind in case they would like to have an input or if it turns out we offer them a shorter version of the film or whether the whole thing turns into a commissioned piece for their campaigns. Nevertheless, we’ve hopefully now agreed on our desired style and format for the programme, from what I gather visually, the doc will include a mix of the ‘nature’ style shots, the shots of the participants in a silent state, interweaved with their interview as a voiceover linking each person’s journey which we also follow and record them talking. The problem I have at the moment is these links as we can’t exactly direct people what to say, but it reminds me of the Bjork documentary (as they use her voice as a disembodied voice sometimes, instead of showing her speak) so hopefully we won’t find too many problems. If in the edit, or whilst scripting, it needs a voiceover, I’m sure we can do our best to source one. 

Also, as we’re looking at a few participants, the doc might end up being longer than we expect, so we’ll be prepared for that to change. 

I suppose the next steps, if all goes well next week, is to find the participants and find the stories to begin shaping the questions and the structure. I have a handy recorder ready to meet with people to record initial interviews. We also need to find locations for the nature shots, i.e. the pine forest (Bedgebury PInetum) and coastal area, I think Reculver or Beachy Head (suicide spot - for people driven to the brink of despair).

We plan on drawing up a proposal with everything we’ve researched and our ideas to show in our meeting next week with the Chief Executive. Before then, we’re both going to research the company. 

Lauren also mentioned having text on screen, it’s not something that’s common to see in broadcasted documentaries, so I’ll have to research that to see if there’s an ideal way of doing that without it looking tacky. Although, I understand the power of having the words appear on screen with someone talking, faded in and out in the same time of them speaking. All things I find joy in experimenting with to make it work.

Video on Beachy Head:

Really love the subtle movements of the shots, I love the simplicity of this one in particular of the edge of the cliff. It’s so bleak, and it moves forward. This short film is told purely voiceover of the story with these shots. Taken on a very foggy dark day although, so would perhaps at first film a version at sundown, which will look dramatic and possible sun rays, so maybe too hopeful. But could re-shoot if we like the location later in September on a bleaker day. Reminds me of something from the musician Ben Howard, like Burgh Island. 

The music in this sounds a little like Poppy at first, but I think the end and piano parts would work for emotional parts of the film: 

Final Major Project Unit: Research

I watched a documentary on Channel 4 about how Bjork met David Attenborough and they talk about how sound relates to nature. The opening of the documentary was similar to how I had imagine ours to look the whole way through, it begins with shots of nature and shows figures close up, and Bjork’s voice is over the top from an interview, but we don’t see her. 

The footage was shot in Iceland, Bjork’s homeland, with time-lapses of clouds over mountains, lighting, volcanoes, stars, desert, but this all relates back to the music. They also have a voice which introduces the documentary, I think we need to think about our structure and how we’re going to open and close. However, the approach is different in this documentary as they’re investigating something. 

I think it’s vital to find the link between what we know and expect to hear from people about the disorder to what we choose to see visually. How does it relate to nature? And how are we showing it through the shots? To find out, I’m going to find and view as many interviews on the subject I can and note the visuals and the descriptions they make and try to build a shot list from that. There is a slight existing link between depression and nature, they saying being more tuned into the surroundings and appreciating the simplest things helps the person to live better. 

To makes things easier, I’ve split the shots into categories, the location and nature shots, and instead of the conventional interview shot, I imagine we’d need something to replace that to build a stronger relationship between what they are saying and what they’re story is with the shots. I wouldn’t say these are reconstructions, but they are nature or location shots which have more relevance.  

Shot ideas (nature/location shots) SHOW UP AND DOWN, how they feel:

Anger, highs, lows, paranoid, anxious, chemical imbalance, alone, depressed, you’re different, suicidal, heavy drinking, misunderstood, unpredictable, crazy, hyperactive, racing thoughts, you want to do so many things, delusions and hallucinations, scared, frantic, like living in a dream, mood is like the weather inside you

Field

Pan up - sunset in a field with the grass silhouette. 

Beach

Follow - birds souring high as dusk

Sea crashing - calm lapping, and at rocky parts 

Boat, anchor and kite

Woods

Ballerina “serenity” sequence

Other

Rollercoaster

Rain

Lights flashing and moving (bokeh)

Cars going by

Shots to do heavy editing with for the “manic” stage

“Story” shots:

When they talk personally about their lives, where they grew up (wides, sense of atmosphere), what they did - recreate their experiences with actors if need be (but not faces, just outlines of bodies and extreme close-ups)

FIND THE STORIES AND THEN FIND WHAT TO SHOOT 

Usually, gets to a certain point in their life where they have a manic episode, they get diagnosed, then put on medication. 

Whether to have an expert... when combined with people’s stories can seem as if they don’t have the credibility because they haven’t had the experience themselves. Could replace the information with a voice-over artist. 

Stephen Fry: 

“The mood is your own personal weather, if you go outside and it’s raining, it’s not you that’s making it rain, it has rained and it is real, you can’t un-think the rain. You can’t say “gah I’ll walk it off and then it’ll be sunny”. The weather makes up its mind. And the two mistakes are either to deny that it’s raining when it clearly is, it’s raining let’s face it! And the other thing is to say “therefore my life is over, it’s raining, the sun will now never come out, that’s it.” 

It’s raining but the sun will come out. 

Life is black.

For bipolar, it will become incredibly sunny, you plan a hundred futures. 

You’re so excited with your creative power and what you can do, your ideas