For the first project of semester 2, we were set the brief
of creating a 5 minute documentary based on Liverpool stories; the location of
our 3 day residential trip. I was excited to create a documentary piece and I
went in a group with Sarah Cooper, Jake Thompson, Olivier Chevalley, Elliot
Carroll-Dunn and Ryan Goff. My role in this group was the editor and I was
looking forward to being this position as it is an area in film that I would
like to explore in various projects.
When we had our first meeting we came up with a number of
different ideas for the documentary, such as the Police force, derelict buildings
and street artists. We were aware of the art scene in Liverpool and that many
groups would be documenting fairly ‘arty’ themed films and we wanted to stray
away from this stereotype of the city. We all had an interest in making a
documentary that was based on a niche topic and eventually we decided to choose
the ideas of a Bike Restoration Company and Free runners for the pitch. We also
created a Facebook page in order to keep in touch with each other and discuss
meeting arrangements.
For the pitch to Lee and Debbie, we were more in favour of
the Bike Restoration Company, known as Re-Cycles and Ryan had managed to get in
contact with Chris; a man who represented the company and was more than happy
to let us film them. In the end,
everyone in the pitch seemed to be in favour of ReCycles too and we were happy
with the agreement. For the
residential trip, we travelled to Liverpool for 3 days and on the first evening
that we were there; we went straight to Chris’ house to meet him and the others
in ReCycles. Olivier and I went to the company’s yard where we would be filming
the next day while everyone else in the group filmed the interviews. The next
day we filmed at the yard and managed to get all of the footage in a day and
were able to talk to each person in the company; getting to know them over the
course of the day.
In terms of filming and editing, there were no major problems
that faced us as a group. However, I feel personally that a problem that
affected my enjoyment of the project was the lack of input I was able to give
and felt that I was not a big part of the team. I was excited to work with the
others as I had seen their previous work and thought it was amazing and was
looking forward to learning from their past knowledge on film. However, Sarah
and I felt that the rest of the group had created such a strong bond between
each other that made us feel a little left out. We are aware that we may have
seemed reserved, which we aren’t when we get to know people, but due to this strong
connection the others had we felt our input wasn’t as helpful as we hoped. I
understand that this won’t have been deliberate at all, but it made me feel as
though I didn’t enjoy the project as I was looking forward to editing but I
didn’t get to fulfil this role as much as I would have liked. While on set I
felt slightly unhelpful being editor and I didn’t have much to do apart from
take photos for the blog. With the editing I wish I had some more input and
when I occasionally asked Olivier or Jake for a chance to help them with the edit,
they did give me jobs to do for it which made me feel happier about my previous
worries. However, I felt as though there were many edit sessions where the
majority of the group apart from myself were sat deciding on different edit
decisions and I was quite unhappy with my lack of input. I am aware that I
should have been more outspoken but at the time I had already asked a number of
times to help with the edit and this would work until a while later when it
would be edited by others as they had more experience; especially times when I
had to go to work on an evening. I was happy that the others had a lot of
experience with film editing but I was desperate to get a bigger involvement
with the editing side as it is an area of film I am interested in. When we had began editing I went through the
interview scenes and deleted any that were not needed, as well as trimming the
clips to fit in the edit. I wish I had been more outspoken and demanding but
didn’t want to cause any tension in the group.
In the presentation, Lee and Debbie gave us many positive comments
and seemed to enjoy the documentary. However, they commented on the fact that the
film seemed more focussed on the images and editing effects than the storyline.
As much as these comments disheartened me as I had wanted to have a bigger
input with the editing, I still feel that the editing was done very well by the
others. There were many effects that I had no idea how to recreate, such as the
transition from one scene to another when a bicycle wheel crossed the screen;
an effect put on by Olivier. I was amazed by these effects and wished I could
have sat down in the edit with them to learn how to edit in this way but I was
at work on the night he was creating this.
Overall, I enjoyed the concept of creating a documentary and
the people that were involved in the film were very charismatic and I loved
meeting them. I like the idea of creating a film to express someone’s story as
it was a topic that I would not purposely go out of my way to explore but
enjoyed learning about ReCycles. I would have loved to have more input in the
project but I am glad I got to experience creating a documentary piece and
meeting those involved. I also thought that the role as Cinematographer seemed
interesting as the shots created by Jake and Ryan were amazing and I wanted to
attempt this role in the next group project. Everyone in the group was very
nice and I enjoyed seeing the different experiences people had from previous
backgrounds but I decided for the next project to be more outspoken with ideas.
Our next project for the semester was to create a Drama
piece and the brief we were set was to make a 5 minutes film focussed on the
theme of a journey. Personally I was worried about this project as I felt that
creating a drama would be difficult in comparison to documentary; as many
student drama pieces have been known to be too dramatic and stereotypical. However,
I kept an open mind and we were not allowed to work with people from previous
groups. Therefore, I went into a group with Heather Kelland, Tom Noonan, Alex
Kentfield, Luke McKnight and Billy Jackson. I was excited to work with these
people as I had spoken quite a lot to a few of them and when we met up to
decide on roles, I put forward my desire to be cinematographer; which everyone
agreed to.
We decided to meet up over a few days to come up with an
initial idea for the pitch and although this seemed quite difficult at first,
after a while we began to put down some ideas. Heather and Tom seemed in favour
of basing a Drama loosely relating to political issues in current news stories,
such as Russia and Ukraine; with Russian forces taking over Ukraine. We all
found this an interesting perspective and began to create a theme where one of
the characters would be taking a lead role over the other. As we were deciding
on character traits, I suggested we call the characters ‘Lola’ and ‘Larry’ to
make it easier talking about them as we created their personas. In the end, our
idea features Lola; a strong-willed character who is friends with Larry;
someone who has just lost their job and is told by his friend to stand up for
himself as it wasn’t his fault. Our final character was the boss that would be
seen firing Larry in a silent scene during the film. In comparison with the
Documentary, I immediately felt comfortable with the group and was often giving
input and ideas for the film.
I also went to film with Alex at Park Hill in order to get
more experience before we started filming for the Drama. I was worried about my
lack of experience but everyone was aware of this and I felt at ease that they
still were happy for me to be cinematographer; with the filming at Park Hill
helping a lot. In the pitch, Dom and the other groups seemed to be in favour of
our idea which encouraged us to get on with finishing the final touches to our
idea.
In one of our seminars we met 3 actors for a ‘Blocking
Session’ so that we could have parts of our scripts read out in order to create
a visual before finding actors to film. This was very helpful as it meant that
we could make any changes to the script and decide what the mise-en-scene would
look like. We struggled to find actors for quite a while but I managed to get
in touch with someone on the course in 4th year, Helena Beeson; a
family friend, who had contacts and I messaged the actors; eventually finding 2
actors to feature in our film (the actor playing the boss had to drop out so
Heather took his place).This made me feel very happy as everyone was pleased I
had arranged actors and I felt my actions had a big impact in progressing the
film.
When we began filming I could not be present for the Park
Hill or Boss scenes, due to being at work, but when we filmed the next day I
was excited to get hands on. I was very nervous about taking a long time to set
up but Alex was always on hand to help me as it was his camera and he has a lot
of experience with filming. I enjoyed being a major role on the set, filming
from a tripod as well as handheld shots to connote an actor’s point of view and
I began to get used to the role, enjoying the whole day. Heather informed me of
any shots she desired and I was happy when I was able to create these identical
to her visions. The actors, Ryan and Coral, were also so charismatic and easy
to work with and I enjoyed filming on set with them.
Overall, I have never enjoyed a project more than this one
as I have greatly enjoyed working with everyone in my group and felt that being
cinematographer has given me the chance to expand my filming experience. Heather
has been a great director, ensuring everyone is happy with decisions and Alex
was always at my side to help with any camera issues. I also enjoyed working
with Billy, Tom and Luke as they are so easy to get on with and were always
enthusiastic. In comparison to Documentary, I felt I have learnt a lot
technically and about being more outspoken in group projects. I would love to
work with any of the people in my Drama group again and enjoyed creating our
initial idea into a film.
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