Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Unit 62: (Client Communication)
On Wednesday the 12th of October I contact Christine Corbett in order to sort out some events that we can film for our River Tees Rediscover project which is part of our assignment. I contacted Christine to make sure that we could film the walk through the woods and get some filming done at the Tees Barrage. We sorted out dates and times for both events and she emailed me the necessary paper work including risk assessments.
Monday, 17 October 2016
Unit 27: Task 1
In factual film making there are many key issues and complications that a rise in regards to keeping the project unbiased and fair. As a documentary film maker one has a duty to fairly present their point and not manipulate their footage to show something that may not be true, its hard to be completely unbiased because everyone has an opinion but the documentary filmmaker should not try and use their footage to twist or warp what someone in the documentary has done or said. The truth should always be presented even if the documentary is performative and there is an emphasis of the filmmakers subjective opinion due to an emotional experience of the filmmaker.
Objectivity- Objective documentary filmmaking is where the filmmaker attempts to present in the issue in the most unbiased way possible in order to be non-judgemental and present a fair argument to both sides of what may be a controversial issue. Direct Cinema is a type of objective filmmaking, the idea behind it is that the documentary is made without the intention of manipulating the footage or having a specific direction or agenda to it. This is also sometimes referred to as cinema verite and the idea is that the camera records peoples lives as they unfold in real time, there is no interference from the filmmaker and the audience are suppose to forget the presence of the camera. There is no narration or questions coming from the filmmaker displayed on screen, there are also no interviews and nothing is set up. It is hard to create a truly objective documentary that is also entertaining as audiences prefer to drama and controversy. An example of a factual piece of content that is supposedly objective is BBC News. BBC News is trusted to be fair and unbiased presenting issues with no opinion on the matter in order to fairly give people a fair view of the world. however when things go through the editing or filming process the opinions of the filmmakers or editors may unknowingly slip into the piece as it is difficult when you have an opinion to not display it in your work. Due to this the news may not always be unbiased and sometimes leaves audience questioning weather they have been manipulated or not. People of sometimes accused BBC news of having an agenda on certain issues leaving us to question weather or not they are biased.
Subjectivity- This is the opposite of Objective filmmaking, this I where the filmmaker may have a certain agenda or opinion that they are trying to put across in their factual piece. They may use their documentary in order to try and change peoples opinions. They may do this by presenting footage in certain way, manipulating clips and interviews and using narration to push their opinion on to the audience. Most documentary's are subjective as it is near impossible to be fully objective. One of the most famously open subjective documentary filmmakers is Michael Moore who created Bowling for columbine and Fahrenheit 911 two controversial documentaries. In Fahrenheit 911 Moore turns his attention to George Bush and his connections to the Saudi government, not only very controversial but also subjective as he is choosing to focus on Bushes so-called inner circle and how they chose to rush into the Iraq war. This gives a message to the audience that Moore is very anti-Bush and he thinks we should be too. He imposes his message in bowling for columbine to, painting America as a fear country of so called gun nuts, referring to guns as Americas main problem when it comes to the cause of mass shootings.
Accuracy- If a documentary or factual piece displays inaccurate facts and figures that are not verified to be true or out of date in someway then this could effect the reputation of the filmmakers. Further more if information that is known to be inaccurate is being presented in order to sway an opinion then this is clearly unethical. Accuracy is so important to the credibility of factual programing such as the news that the BBC has whole guideline section to the concept of accuracy. Again using BBC news as an example without accuracy they wouldn't have the reputation that they do for presenting fair unbiased news. A lack of research may lead to inaccuracy as the facts you are presenting may be out of date or untrue, as a documentary filmmaker you have a duty to carry out as much relevant research as possible so that you do not present inaccurate facts as this would likely tarnish your reputation or unfairly present a situation. ''Accuracy is not simply a matter of getting facts right. If an issue is controversial, relevant opinions as well as facts may need to be considered. When necessary, all the relevant facts and information should also be weighed to get at the truth.'' This quote from the BBC guidelines highlights accuracy's importance within the industry.
Balance & Biased- The term balance is defined as 'an even distribution of weight' this relates to factual filmmaking as an even distribution of both sides of one argument should be displayed. This means that the audience gets to see the issue from both sides allowing them to make their own minds up and form their own opinions given the facts that are being presented to them. It is important to be balanced as an unbalanced argument will come across as being biased. Bias is when the film maker has a certain opinion on the subject at there for presents his side of the argument more than the other side of the argument. This relates to subjectivity however it is possible to use your opinion to guide a factual piece without being biased, you would just need to include the points that you disagree with and that go against your side of the argument but this may hard for an opinionated filmmaker. For example in Louis Theroux's latest scientology documentary he clearly has the opinion that scientology is a cult and maybe be dangerous. Despite that this is his opinion Louis tries to be Balanced and Unbiased by showing views from people who were once scientologists themselves and still believe in some of its practices, further more he also states all of the good things scientology claim to have done, giving the audience another view on them. As a documentary filmmaker you must stay as unbiased as possible in order to stay balanced and present all of the correct information to the audience.
Impartiality- This is about having no opinion at all, one can have an opinion and stay unbiased but being impartial means that you have no opinion on the matter at all and therefore cannot sneak any subjectivity into your piece. However it is hard to be totally impartial especially when you are working on what may be a controversial piece.
Representation- This is how a person, group of people and places are represented. In factual pieces it is important to represent contributors and locations in a fair manner. For example asking the contributor to say something that they would not normally say in order to make them look more or less intelligent is unethical as it is not an accurate representation of that person. Footage can also be manipulated to represent someone in a certain way for example interviews from contributors can be cut and taken out of context during the edit, this may make the contributor look like they are saying something that they didn't really say. In the short documentary 'the lift' the residents of the community reflected a poorer lower class type of people. The area itself was also shown as dirty and quite grimy although this may be an accurate representation of the area it does represent the community as maybe unfavourable members of society. During the lift we learn that the members of the community have more to them than just their appearance and representation, we learn about their life's through casual elevator conversation and some of the story's represent the residents in a way which makes the audience feel sorry for them. Therefor representation is important in order to get an audience to feel a certain way about a person or type of people but it should not be manipulated as this can lead to people stereotyping a group of people which poses a major ethical issue.
Privacy- When being a documentary filmmaker it is vital that peoples privacy is respected, harassing people or hounding them for interviews is immoral and unethical. It is important to have all the correct release forms for contributors in your documentary so that they cannot stop it from being aired. When filming on location it is important to respect the privacy of the people near by and the permission from the people that own the location otherwise legal issue may arise that could result in you losing money or having your documentary pulled. Sometimes contributors whom are giving revealing and intimate interviews about controversial subjects or events that they may have been a part of have the right to have their identity concealed if they want to. This may sometimes be for their own safety when talking about things that could leave them vulnerable to public ridicule or criminals seeking an easy target. For example in a documentary I recently viewed on Netflix about pedophiles where they interview a victim, the victim was just a silhouette on the screen in order to conceal their true identity. This helps the contributor feel more comfortable giving information that they may want to share but are embarrassed about being a part of . During the edit it is important to use the correct colour grading, contrasts or pixelation in order to hide someone's identity. If done wrong people may be able to up the contrast on a silhouetted individual and find out the true identity of the contributor.
When it comes to creating my own documentary I must stay aware of these key issues in order to make sure that my piece presents a fair and balanced messaged and upholds no bias. For me I don't think this will be difficult as my documentary is not very controversial and is not trying to put across a certain message. My documentary is more me and the audience learning about the subject rather than trying to find answers to topical questions or try and prove something. I will have to be careful with representation as if I represented my contributors unfairly then they wouldn't be very happy with me and may not want to work with me in the future. Asking the wrong questions may offend or upset them so I must pick these carefully. I will stay impartial to the subject (fishing) as I have no emotional link with the matter, my opinion shouldn't change the way the documentary turns out. If I presenting facts and statisitcs they will need to be fully researched as a huge pitfall of documentary filming is incorrect or out of date stats which may discount the credibility of the factual piece
Objectivity- Objective documentary filmmaking is where the filmmaker attempts to present in the issue in the most unbiased way possible in order to be non-judgemental and present a fair argument to both sides of what may be a controversial issue. Direct Cinema is a type of objective filmmaking, the idea behind it is that the documentary is made without the intention of manipulating the footage or having a specific direction or agenda to it. This is also sometimes referred to as cinema verite and the idea is that the camera records peoples lives as they unfold in real time, there is no interference from the filmmaker and the audience are suppose to forget the presence of the camera. There is no narration or questions coming from the filmmaker displayed on screen, there are also no interviews and nothing is set up. It is hard to create a truly objective documentary that is also entertaining as audiences prefer to drama and controversy. An example of a factual piece of content that is supposedly objective is BBC News. BBC News is trusted to be fair and unbiased presenting issues with no opinion on the matter in order to fairly give people a fair view of the world. however when things go through the editing or filming process the opinions of the filmmakers or editors may unknowingly slip into the piece as it is difficult when you have an opinion to not display it in your work. Due to this the news may not always be unbiased and sometimes leaves audience questioning weather they have been manipulated or not. People of sometimes accused BBC news of having an agenda on certain issues leaving us to question weather or not they are biased.
Subjectivity- This is the opposite of Objective filmmaking, this I where the filmmaker may have a certain agenda or opinion that they are trying to put across in their factual piece. They may use their documentary in order to try and change peoples opinions. They may do this by presenting footage in certain way, manipulating clips and interviews and using narration to push their opinion on to the audience. Most documentary's are subjective as it is near impossible to be fully objective. One of the most famously open subjective documentary filmmakers is Michael Moore who created Bowling for columbine and Fahrenheit 911 two controversial documentaries. In Fahrenheit 911 Moore turns his attention to George Bush and his connections to the Saudi government, not only very controversial but also subjective as he is choosing to focus on Bushes so-called inner circle and how they chose to rush into the Iraq war. This gives a message to the audience that Moore is very anti-Bush and he thinks we should be too. He imposes his message in bowling for columbine to, painting America as a fear country of so called gun nuts, referring to guns as Americas main problem when it comes to the cause of mass shootings.
Accuracy- If a documentary or factual piece displays inaccurate facts and figures that are not verified to be true or out of date in someway then this could effect the reputation of the filmmakers. Further more if information that is known to be inaccurate is being presented in order to sway an opinion then this is clearly unethical. Accuracy is so important to the credibility of factual programing such as the news that the BBC has whole guideline section to the concept of accuracy. Again using BBC news as an example without accuracy they wouldn't have the reputation that they do for presenting fair unbiased news. A lack of research may lead to inaccuracy as the facts you are presenting may be out of date or untrue, as a documentary filmmaker you have a duty to carry out as much relevant research as possible so that you do not present inaccurate facts as this would likely tarnish your reputation or unfairly present a situation. ''Accuracy is not simply a matter of getting facts right. If an issue is controversial, relevant opinions as well as facts may need to be considered. When necessary, all the relevant facts and information should also be weighed to get at the truth.'' This quote from the BBC guidelines highlights accuracy's importance within the industry.
Balance & Biased- The term balance is defined as 'an even distribution of weight' this relates to factual filmmaking as an even distribution of both sides of one argument should be displayed. This means that the audience gets to see the issue from both sides allowing them to make their own minds up and form their own opinions given the facts that are being presented to them. It is important to be balanced as an unbalanced argument will come across as being biased. Bias is when the film maker has a certain opinion on the subject at there for presents his side of the argument more than the other side of the argument. This relates to subjectivity however it is possible to use your opinion to guide a factual piece without being biased, you would just need to include the points that you disagree with and that go against your side of the argument but this may hard for an opinionated filmmaker. For example in Louis Theroux's latest scientology documentary he clearly has the opinion that scientology is a cult and maybe be dangerous. Despite that this is his opinion Louis tries to be Balanced and Unbiased by showing views from people who were once scientologists themselves and still believe in some of its practices, further more he also states all of the good things scientology claim to have done, giving the audience another view on them. As a documentary filmmaker you must stay as unbiased as possible in order to stay balanced and present all of the correct information to the audience.
Impartiality- This is about having no opinion at all, one can have an opinion and stay unbiased but being impartial means that you have no opinion on the matter at all and therefore cannot sneak any subjectivity into your piece. However it is hard to be totally impartial especially when you are working on what may be a controversial piece.
Representation- This is how a person, group of people and places are represented. In factual pieces it is important to represent contributors and locations in a fair manner. For example asking the contributor to say something that they would not normally say in order to make them look more or less intelligent is unethical as it is not an accurate representation of that person. Footage can also be manipulated to represent someone in a certain way for example interviews from contributors can be cut and taken out of context during the edit, this may make the contributor look like they are saying something that they didn't really say. In the short documentary 'the lift' the residents of the community reflected a poorer lower class type of people. The area itself was also shown as dirty and quite grimy although this may be an accurate representation of the area it does represent the community as maybe unfavourable members of society. During the lift we learn that the members of the community have more to them than just their appearance and representation, we learn about their life's through casual elevator conversation and some of the story's represent the residents in a way which makes the audience feel sorry for them. Therefor representation is important in order to get an audience to feel a certain way about a person or type of people but it should not be manipulated as this can lead to people stereotyping a group of people which poses a major ethical issue.
Privacy- When being a documentary filmmaker it is vital that peoples privacy is respected, harassing people or hounding them for interviews is immoral and unethical. It is important to have all the correct release forms for contributors in your documentary so that they cannot stop it from being aired. When filming on location it is important to respect the privacy of the people near by and the permission from the people that own the location otherwise legal issue may arise that could result in you losing money or having your documentary pulled. Sometimes contributors whom are giving revealing and intimate interviews about controversial subjects or events that they may have been a part of have the right to have their identity concealed if they want to. This may sometimes be for their own safety when talking about things that could leave them vulnerable to public ridicule or criminals seeking an easy target. For example in a documentary I recently viewed on Netflix about pedophiles where they interview a victim, the victim was just a silhouette on the screen in order to conceal their true identity. This helps the contributor feel more comfortable giving information that they may want to share but are embarrassed about being a part of . During the edit it is important to use the correct colour grading, contrasts or pixelation in order to hide someone's identity. If done wrong people may be able to up the contrast on a silhouetted individual and find out the true identity of the contributor.
When it comes to creating my own documentary I must stay aware of these key issues in order to make sure that my piece presents a fair and balanced messaged and upholds no bias. For me I don't think this will be difficult as my documentary is not very controversial and is not trying to put across a certain message. My documentary is more me and the audience learning about the subject rather than trying to find answers to topical questions or try and prove something. I will have to be careful with representation as if I represented my contributors unfairly then they wouldn't be very happy with me and may not want to work with me in the future. Asking the wrong questions may offend or upset them so I must pick these carefully. I will stay impartial to the subject (fishing) as I have no emotional link with the matter, my opinion shouldn't change the way the documentary turns out. If I presenting facts and statisitcs they will need to be fully researched as a huge pitfall of documentary filming is incorrect or out of date stats which may discount the credibility of the factual piece
Unit 27: Working Log (Location)
On Saturday the 15th of October I met again with my step brother Connor, he told me that he knows the owner of Welham lake, one of the lakes we were planning to film at, and that the owner is happy for us to film there. He will not charge me for entry onto the lake as long as we begin filming during this coming half term. He also told me that he is happy for me to stay over night with him as he has a two man 'bivy' which is like a little tent thing. When I researched the list of locations that Connor gave me I found that Welham was the best looking lake and therefor I am happy that we have gotten permission to film there, this means Welham will be my choice of location for this documentary.
Unit 27: Location Research
I have met with the subject and main contributor of the documentary (my stepbrother Connor) and have begun to discuss potential locations where we can shoot the fishing part of the documentary. As he is the subject expert I thought it would be best to go to a lake that he is familiarly with and comfortable fishing at, this will ensure that we have the best chance of catching something on the day. So far he has given me 3 potential locations but has said that we may not be able to film at some of them as the lakes are exclusive to members only, despite this I will have to acquire permission at where ever we chose to film for legal reasons. I will now look into the locations conduct some research and meet with Connor again so we can review the research and decide where it is best to go.
Welham Lake
The first lake on Connors shortlist is Welham
Lake which is the flagship lake for the GH tackle and stands out to me as it is
particularly pretty. The lake is said to be stocked heavily and the
present carp way around 26lbs, as well as carp the lake hosts other fish,
rare eels and is surrounded by a multitude of wildlife from badgers to
foxes. The lake is a members only lake but I think that I may be able to
get permission to film there as on their website it mentions that fishing shows
have been filmed their before and it is also visited by sky sports as part of
their tackle coverage. Something I was worried about was how
the documentary would look visually if the lake was busy and surrounded by
people however this wont be an issue at this lake as it has 10 bookable
pegs which are spaced out enough so that you cannot see any other anglers.
The lake spans over 5.5 acres and is ranked as
one of the best ticket lakes in the country.
The lake is located in North Yorkshire just off
of the A19 near the Malton and Norton area and is around an 1 hour
and 20 minutes away from base by car.
Address: Welham Lake, Malton and Norton Golf
Club, Malton, North Yorkshire YO17 9QE
Telephone Number: 07817 175516
Research sourced from website: http://www.ghfisheries.com/
Raker Lakes
Another area that Connor mentioned was the
group of lakes known as the Raker Lakes which is a 28 acre area which
contains 5 main lakes know as Acorn, Heron, Highbank, Horseshoe and
Kingfisher lake. This gives us a wide variety of areas to choose from if we use
this as our location however the website is a lot more vague and doesn't
contain as much information about the fish found in the lakes therefor it may
not yield as much catch as the Welham Lake.
Address: Greengales Lane, Wheldrake, York YO19
6BW. 01904 448793
Telephone Number: 01904 448793
Rising Sun Lake
The Rising sun fishery has been established since 1999. The main lake is the specimen lake, with mirror carp to 36lb 7oz; there are over 20, 20lb carp in the lake as well as 350 other carp from 6lb to 19lb. This was originally set up as a mixed fishery, but now has a good name for quality carp and silver fishing in summer, with perch fishing becoming very popular in the winter months. It is much smaller than the other two lakes and not as popular, the website is small and doesn't have a lot of information about the lake which makes me sceptical.
Rising sun lake is closer than Welham and Raker but is much smaller and doesn't look like the best choice.
Address: YO61 1TY Adlwark Alne, York
Contact: 01347 838134 or 07971 877280
Tuesday, 27 September 2016
Sunday, 18 September 2016
Catfish
Synopsis: Catfish is a documentary about a filmmaker named Nev Schulman who starts receiving art work from a little girl named Abby, his relationship with the little girl grows over time and his brothers whom are also filmmakers start to document his unique friendship with Abby. Nev spends months talking to Abby and her family and gets to know them well even forming an online relationship with Abbys older sister Megan. The filmmakers decide to see if they can meet up with the family but soon discover that the family has some secrets.
Review: Catfish was at times creepy, uncomfortable and shocking but at the same time extremely entertaining. It was full of twists and turns and as an audience member I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation for what direction the events would take the filmmakers in next. The use of music really helped make some parts of the documentary feel creepy all most like a horror movie, I was half expecting a jump scare at times. It felt real too as the viewer was learning more about the family at the same time that Nev and his brothers were, it was journey that the filmmakers and the audience went on together as the filmmakers did not know what was going to happen next, it had an out come that must have surprised both parties. As Nev and his brothers grew more suspicious of the family the documentary became more and more tense.
Style: It was a journey style documentary as the filmmakers and Nev went on a journey and learnt more about the family as the documentary was going on.
Opening Quote: 'If this is your documentary your doing a bad job' Nev says this to the camera at the start of the documentary as he grows frustrated at the fact that the documentary is not set up and organised how he wants it. He tells his brother behind the camera to set up meetings with him but as the documentary go's on the lack of planning helps make the documentary better because the viewer discovers everything at the same time that Nev and his brothers do making it feel very real and that the viewer is taking the same journey as Nev.
Review: Catfish was at times creepy, uncomfortable and shocking but at the same time extremely entertaining. It was full of twists and turns and as an audience member I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation for what direction the events would take the filmmakers in next. The use of music really helped make some parts of the documentary feel creepy all most like a horror movie, I was half expecting a jump scare at times. It felt real too as the viewer was learning more about the family at the same time that Nev and his brothers were, it was journey that the filmmakers and the audience went on together as the filmmakers did not know what was going to happen next, it had an out come that must have surprised both parties. As Nev and his brothers grew more suspicious of the family the documentary became more and more tense.
Style: It was a journey style documentary as the filmmakers and Nev went on a journey and learnt more about the family as the documentary was going on.
Opening Quote: 'If this is your documentary your doing a bad job' Nev says this to the camera at the start of the documentary as he grows frustrated at the fact that the documentary is not set up and organised how he wants it. He tells his brother behind the camera to set up meetings with him but as the documentary go's on the lack of planning helps make the documentary better because the viewer discovers everything at the same time that Nev and his brothers do making it feel very real and that the viewer is taking the same journey as Nev.
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Lift
Synopsis: Lift is a short documentary style film in which director Marc Isaacs sits patiently in a lift in a old block of flats for days on end casually filming the people whom enter. Over the film he gets to know the people of the apartment block by questioning them once they are in the lift, it is a very intimate look into a small part of the residents lives.
Review: I enjoyed the film as it was an unusual piece that gave the viewer a different look into the lives of apartment block residents, at times you feel sorry for some of the residents as their quality of life seems poor, some of them mention how mundane and boring their lives are making the audience think about the quality of life living in the block allows them to achieve. Over the piece lots of mini story's are told directly to the camera in the lift, we see people of numerous days and watch their lives unfold. The film was simple and didn't seem to be trying to put across any message, I think its open for interpretation really what the point of the film is, which I like. I think it was filmed in a very clever way in order to portray the stories of the people of the lift, for example one man mentions to the camera that he is going out with his friends for a drink, we see him later that night in the lift drunk bemoaning the fact that he hasn't pulled. We later learn he was drinking to celebrate his new job.
Style: I'd say that this documentary's style is torn between interactive and reflective. Interactive as the director is sometimes asking the people in the lift questions and almost interviewing them to find out more about their life but also reflective as over the piece the director gets to know the members of the block because of his time in the lift and we see him a go on a journey as he gets more friendly with the residents on the block.
Awkwardness: I feel that the proximity of the camera to the people in the lift is awkward but helps with the story, the situation may seem awkward at first but helps break down social norms and gets the members of the lift to open and talk more to each other and the camera. The story feels natural as we see the residents in what is seemingly their own habitat.
Would it be better done differently?: No I don't think so necessary obviously a lot of planning went into it but not as much as would have went into a typical piece from the factual genre, a lot of the content was up to chance. Their was a big reliance on the people of the block to provide the content and it was obviously a gamble that paid of as they were very unique and had lots to offer to the film.
Review: I enjoyed the film as it was an unusual piece that gave the viewer a different look into the lives of apartment block residents, at times you feel sorry for some of the residents as their quality of life seems poor, some of them mention how mundane and boring their lives are making the audience think about the quality of life living in the block allows them to achieve. Over the piece lots of mini story's are told directly to the camera in the lift, we see people of numerous days and watch their lives unfold. The film was simple and didn't seem to be trying to put across any message, I think its open for interpretation really what the point of the film is, which I like. I think it was filmed in a very clever way in order to portray the stories of the people of the lift, for example one man mentions to the camera that he is going out with his friends for a drink, we see him later that night in the lift drunk bemoaning the fact that he hasn't pulled. We later learn he was drinking to celebrate his new job.
Style: I'd say that this documentary's style is torn between interactive and reflective. Interactive as the director is sometimes asking the people in the lift questions and almost interviewing them to find out more about their life but also reflective as over the piece the director gets to know the members of the block because of his time in the lift and we see him a go on a journey as he gets more friendly with the residents on the block.
Awkwardness: I feel that the proximity of the camera to the people in the lift is awkward but helps with the story, the situation may seem awkward at first but helps break down social norms and gets the members of the lift to open and talk more to each other and the camera. The story feels natural as we see the residents in what is seemingly their own habitat.
Would it be better done differently?: No I don't think so necessary obviously a lot of planning went into it but not as much as would have went into a typical piece from the factual genre, a lot of the content was up to chance. Their was a big reliance on the people of the block to provide the content and it was obviously a gamble that paid of as they were very unique and had lots to offer to the film.
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