Location Checking and Trial Filming

We decided to check out the location before the actual film day to make sure it was suitable, as there are a lot of elements we had to consider.

Whilst as the location (The Boardroom) we has to check feature that would affect the quality of the video, such as lighting and sound. We also looked at how busy the space got as too many people would obstruct the video and may cause problems when filming.  Fortunately the area had ample light and space, and barely anyone else around. However, sound was a little bit of an issue as being an inner-city location there was a fair amount of background noise. Yet, this could be a nice touch to the video add an atmospheric element. Another minor issue was that the area is used for parking, however the video was not meant to be squeaky clean. This just adds to the street and urban feel of the video that we were originally going for anyway.

As well as checking the location for the quality of filming we also had to make sure it was suitable for the break dancer. As the breakdancer will be using a lot of the floor space for spins and flares, all parts of his body comes into contact with the floor. Some of the floor will be useable for smaller moves, however he may not feel comfortable doing other moves as the ground was rough and dirty. For the more complex moves we shall be using The Boardroom Skate Park, which has the perfect flat and smooth surfaces for the dancer to perform.

  {image of release}

Treatment adjustment.

Unfortunately due to other commitments Chi our house dancer is unable to be apart of out documentary video. Though this is disappointing as we were looking forward to showing the two forms of dance together, we have been proactive and adjusted our video plan to focus on Toni the breakdancer.

Treatment for Project Two

Wa-Chi VS Tony

The video will be based around a break-dancer and a house dancer and will revolve around their involvement in dance and what dance means to them.  The video will showcase their dance abilities, with the two interviewees (dancers) layered over the top talking about the dance experiences. 

LENGTH

The video will be five minutes long. 

STRUCTURE

The five minute documentary video will be filmed in two locations, an outside location called the Boardroom, which is similar to a skate park with graffiti walls. The second location will be inside, and will be a dance studio in either CODE or DMU. 

Our interviewees are; 

Chi – house dancer 

Tony – a break-dancer 

Access

One of our dancers works in the week therefore we would have to take this in consideration when planning filming schedules. Both dancers have confirmed that they are happy to take part in the documentary.

We feel this idea will make a good documentary because it will be visually interesting our group is particularly interested in making a dance documentary as two of our members are part of dance groups but we all have an interest in dance.

Direction/ Film techniques 

Split screen 

Camera pan / usage of different camera angles

Video filters

We want to show new forms or dance that people don’t know much about and might not normally watch. We will explore how dance influences style.

Music: We will be using house music, and other urban music (break-beat). We will either create this ourselves using music editing software, or it will be sourced via Soundcloud with the artists permission.  

Storyboard.

STORYBOARD !!!

Call Sheet

CALL SHEET!

PROJECT TWO !

Today we have started the second project of Video Production. This is a three to five minute video, still based around the documentary theme, and still strongly reliant on a soundscape that includes a range of different sounds that adds to the visual and audio elements of the video.

The group I am working in has not changed much, I am still working with Jason Champanieri and Shannon Jinks. But we have added Agne to the group and we are all looking forward to working together on this project.

As for ideas for the three to five minute video we all immediately agreed to focus the documentary on dance. Jason has great links to a number of dancers and we plan to focus the documentary on the similarities and union dance has, as well as other features of dance. At the moment we are considering having a break-dancer and a house-dancer. But we need to narrow down our ideas and put together a treatment, this will be the next stage.

Punk Is My Calling - Evaluation

Now that the interview is completed I feel very pleased with the outcome, I was concerned that being only a minute is would lose some of the character of Alastair we were able to capture in the full 18 minute interview. However it is with great pleasure that I can say that as a group we were about to encapsulate his personality and character in a bite size minute interview.

Editing

Editing the interview took a couple of sessions to do. The most difficult thing was reducing the recording to just one minute, all three of us felt that the interview with Alastair went so well that it could all be used. Nonetheless we managed to edit it down to a minute in the end.

To begin with we decided just to edit the audio down to a minute before adding any addition sounds or stills to the piece. We all took turns at editing sharing the role, as we had done throughout the process.

Once the piece was edited down to a minute we added the atmospheric sound and the images we had sourced. Although following our original plan to show stills of Alastair, to begin with we detoured of this slightly by including images that related directly to what was being said. However, after referring back to the module handbook felt this was a too literal display of what was being said. We decided to go back to the original idea and use the images of Alastair in his bands, Geriatric Unit and Endless Grinning Skulls. We would of liked to include some samples of punk music, including some of Alastair's bands music, to allowing listeners who are not familiar with the genre to hear it. However, this would not be music/sound that we have recorded ourselves. It was also not possible to arrange Alastair's band together for a live recording, this would have been a way round having music in the video. As it proved too difficult to include music we decided to focus more closely on making sure the interview itself was clear and the focus point of the project. That being said we did include an atmospheric track from the interview location and also a recording of the atmosphere in Highcross, this was layered underneath the main interview audio, and just gives a sense of depth for when there are quiet or silent section of the interview.