09/01/2017
Evaluation
Developing a video module was a great way to teach myself about things you can do within a video. Much like photography, you can captivate your audience in a video just as much as you can with a single photograph. You have to make fatal or winning decisions based on what you think will engage the audience more. I had a disasterous time with my colour correction because of how I set my camera up before both shoots. On the back of the camera, the white balance seemed okay set up in 'auto' but after placing the videos in to PremierPro, I found that they were very orange. While trying to edit the white balanced I finally gave in after not being able to 'perfect' the white balance on each clip. I changed to black and white very suddenly after editing one of the clips and really liking it. Black and white is the perfect edit for this video because it is quite a slow, emotional video and she talks about quite a lot of deep, meaningful things to her. I think that an orange hue would completely ruin the video because throughout, the audience would watch it with the warmth of the orange that looks rather sickly, compared to a nice black and white. Editing the video was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be because most of it is the interview with some add-in shots over the top of it. I had two cameras set up for this video, one to the left and one to the right. I think that mixing two different angles keeps the audience guessing. I shot a lot of different clips to add in to my video because I needed to keep the audience engaged so I put lots of different clips surrounding Michelle's life. I think that Michelle was an incredible subject to do a short documentary on because she is so interesting and has done a lot of diferent things in her life. I don't think that this would have been as interesting if the subject had only been a bouncer all of her life. The fact that she used to work in mental health and has travelled with Harley Davidson makes it a much more interesting. I really enjoyed making videos and editing them because it helps me as a photographer. In 2017, a photographer has to know how to do everything. I will continue shooting videos in my own time because I throughly enjoyed it and you can get a cross a message that you can't really with a photograph.
04/12/2016
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Me vs a professionalI have decided to critique my work alongside a professional videographer. Although I couldn't find somebody who has documented a bouncer at home, I did find a video who focused on bouncers outside of work. He interviews multiple bouncers and gets to know about their job and their social life. Although I think that the documentary is good, I don't think that the videography is the best it could be. A lot of the videos are under-exposed and the landscapes aren't very interesting. Comparing it to my final edit, I think that my video is more engaging with the audience, mainly because it is shorter. As a fifeteen minute video, it really has to add a lot of differnt shots and differnt audio to keep the audience engaded, whereas with my video I didn't need as many shots because it was shorter. because of this, I think that my video is more interesting and people are more likely to watch my video all the way through compared to this fifeteen minute video. The only thing I like about the other video is that it has a lot of different subjects and it is interesting to learn about them all in detail over a long period of time. But all in all I think that my video stands up strong against a professionally done video.
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30/12/2016
Final 3 minute video editThese are print screens from my final edit of my video. As you can see, I stuck to the black and white theme because of the connotations it has and also the help it provided with colour correction. The video flows really well and the story is captivating for the audience. Michelle talks about how she was the first on scene to the death of a young girl and I think that it is important for all focus to be on the words of Michelle. I have decided to not overlay anything over this part of the video because I wanted all focus to be on the words coming out of her mouth and the emotion she is showing. In other parts of the video where the subject matter is a little happier, I have over-layed a lot of different videos such as her cat, her making tea, talking to her family and so on. I think that the opening of the video is really good because it introduces the character really well without us actually seeing her beforehand. It also sets the tone for the entire video because it is quite slow and really quiet and this works well because the video and the interview flows really slowly.
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26/12/2016
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B&W vs ColourBlack and white or colour is the biggest debate amongst most photographers in the modern day and it is apparent in video too. The colour white is associated with mental clarity, neutrality and cleanliness whereas black is associated with mystery, power and emptiness. Combined, black and white is the perfect combination to gain emotional captivation of the audience because of its diferent connotations. Orange however connotes that of happiness, warmth and energy and these are not the emotions I want in this particular video because it is not a happy video by any means. I will maintain my thoughts on this decision and keep black and white throughout my video. Even with a flame that should definitely be orange, looks better in black and white. There is some sort of mysteriousness surrounding the top image because of it's colour, whereas the orange hue in the image makes it lok quite sickly in my opinion.
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23/12/2016
Black and whiteAfter playing with the colour balance and different other aspects of my video I came to the conclusion that editing a video is very similar to editing a photograph. Because my colour balance was way too difficult to perfect, I decided to try one of my frames in black and white and I really liked it. I think it adds a different dimension to the video, as it is quite gritty and emotional, just like the video itself. I origionally did this to save the colour of the video but now I think that I really like it in black and white. it really suits the video and the stories being told and also saves the colour balance, killing two birds with one stone as such. I will edit each slide differnetly and add contrast where needs be and also de-saturate each image, creating a black and white video. I am glad I thought about black and white after editing each white balance because I really didn't like the sickly yellow/orange of the edited colour images. Comparing the two videos now, black and white works so well and just like a photograph, it either looks better or worse in black and white and in this case I think every single frame looked better without any colour. There are also no distractions in the video now due to colour which is also a good thing because you focus more on what the subject is saying.
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20/12/2016
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Transitions and editsI think that the transitions for the video were pretty easy to choose and place in certain parts of the video. I only used two different transitions for my video. The first was 'dip to black' and I used this for the start and end of the video to introduce the video and end the video as such. The other transition I used was 'cross dissolve' which adds a smooth transition between different clips and it works really well to blend a clip into the other. I think that 'dip to black' is a perfect ending because it fades out slowly instead of abruptly. I over-layed a lot of 'add-in' videos on top of my interview so that the audience stay engaged and there is not too much of the subject just talking to the camera because this would be very boring. I'm happy with my edits and transitions so far and think I will keep them.
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17/12/2016
Colour correctionColour correcting this video was/ is one of the hardest things I've done during this module. No matter what I did I just couldn't perfect the white balance. I think that the mixture of the 'auto' white balance set on the camera and the strong tungsten light in her house made it exeptionally hard for a video. I think it would've been better to shoot outside or in the kitchen where there was nothing but natural light and reflective white walls. However, it would've been unnatural to do that and I think I have made the right choice. I will individually go through each clip and edit it's white balance, hoping to make it as natural as possible. This was the best I could get the white balance and I had to de-saturate the clip to the point that it looks grey with a mixture of yellow and I really don't like it. I will look in to different ways to edit this but for now, I really don't like the white balance and it ruins a good video in my opinion.
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14/12/2016
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3 minute second shootIn my second shoot for the three minute video I wanted to focus more on 'fill in' shots for the interview so that I could relate short videos with what she is saying in the video. I sat with Michelle for a few hours and took videos of her day. From making cups of tea to stubbing out cigarettes. I had her go in the loft and get out all of her harley davidson shirts and security badges from festivals and I videod all of them together to put over thep art where she talks about going abroad a lot with different festivals. One of the biggest issues I've had with this video is the colour balance. Pretty much every single video I shot is very orange and I think it is because I left my white balance on 'auto' for both shoots hoping that it would sort it out. Unfortunately, on my laptop the images are much more orange than they were on my camera. As I can't go back and re shoot everything, I will have to sort this out in post processing. I really like this shoot and think that I have some great fill in shots for the video. They are all captivating and also help tell the story of 'Mum'. The main focus for this video is having the interview as the base and then have a lot of things over the top of the interview as she talks about her life as a bouncer.
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11/12/2016
Evaluation
This project was such a learning curve in my photographic development. I learnt how to use video, how to use audio and also how to edit together short documentaries. Being able to video as a photojournlaist is absolutely pivitable in 2016 because you are expected to be able to everything from interviews, video and photography, as well as the writing and the processing of an article for example. At first, I was a little nervous about creating a video because I thought it would be so hard. I am now hoping to shoot many short documentaries of regulars at my pub and build a short portfolio of them, eventually sending them off to head office and hoping to carry it on for years to come. At first, I was so confused to what I wanted to do. Firstly, I wanted to document 'Sugar' who is a very interesting Wetherspoons regular who I look up to a lot because of the things he has gone through. However, he was really hard to contact and arrange things with, so I ended up going in to the pub and essentially making him come outside so I could shoot him. After this, I stopped shooting him because it was getting even harder to contact him. I thought about night life in Cheltenham, I thought about a brewery and all sorts of things but I eventually came to the realisation that I wanted to do a documentary on 'Mum', a female bouncer who also works 2 other jobs. She is one of the most interesting people I've ever met so I asked her if I could document her and she agreed. I also wanted to document the bouncers of my pub during the night because it shows two sides to them. In my 90 second video, I have 4 interviews with 4 different bouncers and In the video I include 2 more bouncers that I didn't interview. Overall, I think that the short video went really well, despite a lack of knowing how to edit properly. I also think that the images represent Wetherspoons in general, especially on a Saturday night. i really enojyed shooting video and learning about the pain of audio (I forgot to turn my first mic on) and I will hopefully continue shooting video out of University and develop my skills even more.
07/12/2016
Contact sheets 2
05/12/2016
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Photos shoot 2During this shoot I wanted to focus much more on the building and the different types of things that tell a story, other than the peopkle in Wetherspoons. I took the bottom right image while stood in the middle of the road in the dark. It was quite a long exposure, as long as I could really. I think it represents the pub on a saturday night quite well. It is very busy, the doors are open and people are chatting and drinking outside as well as inside. I wanted to take this photo as an opening shot to my story instead of just jumping straight in the deep end of people. The bottom left image is of the taps in the pub to show essentially where the alcohol is coming from and who it is going to. I like the fact that I managed to briefly capture a server behind the pump pouring the pint because I think it tells the story better than just having the taps there. I couldn't avoid taking photos of people, especially when I have people poking their heads at me in curiosity, I just had to take his photo.
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02/12/2016
Final 90 second editFinished! I did one edit of my video and neither I nor the people who critiqued it for me liked it very much. I completely scrapped the first edit and decided to start again. I now start the video relatively calm and ease into the night. I begin with one bouncer saying how he wants people to have a good night and he will help people do so. I then pan to the DJ booth where music is blaring and everyone is dancing. The next scene is a fight scene where some guy has his nose broken, the police turn up and the bouncers rush in to the pub. I thought it would be good to see them in action and also the bad side of the night. There are a few parts of the video where I play video over the bouncers talking and I think this works really well because you need narrative in a video just as much as you need to be introduced to each character. At the end, Michelle says that "it's like your own episode of Jeremy Kyle" and then it fades to black. I think that this is a perfect ending because it is so true and the video represents this.
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29/11/2016
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3 minute first shootMy three minute video was so different compared to my ninety second video shoot. I think the main difference was it was just me and Michelle in a room together and it was much more personal. With the ninety second video, I was surrounded by people, noise and alcohol so I could pretty much film anything I wanted. I set up two cameras on this particular shoot, one aimed at her face close up and one wide angle shot of her sat drinking her tea. I also managed to get a few take away shots of things like her cat, her smoking and the outside. I asked for her to get things out from previous outings but everything was in the loft. I will be going back to shoot more shots about her past but for now I think I have enough audio and footage of her face to make an interesting story. Next time, I will focus more on her daily routine and her family, as I didn't see much of them in this shoot. There is one part of the interview that she asked before she answered "this isn't going out to general public is it" and because she was so touchy about the subject, I think that it might be best left out of the final video.
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25/11/2016
Story boardAlthough my drawing is terrible, I think that my plan for the main video is actually quite a good idea. I am planning to start with a pan of the door badge on Mum's shoulder and then move to where I plan to interview her, all without any talking. I think that this will build suspense and then slowly fading in to the video with audio will create the perfect introduction. I will have two cameras set up; one wide-angle of the entire scenario and one close up of her face while she talks. I won't have her talking into any of the cameras because this would be unnatural. With my close up camera, I am planning on using rule of thirds to place the points of interests 'on the lines' as such. I will use lots of different take away shots such as family picture and her cat to fill in the pauses and also to play over the top of the audio. I am interested to see if anybody else will be in the house at the time and see if I will be able to film her speaking to them or them going about their day to day life without even realising I am here. At the end of the day, I want to capture the essence of what her and her family are like so it is best to go unnoticed and fit in with them. I will try my best to stick to the story board but sometimes planning for something like this can be the worst thing to do because you tend to go with what you are given on the day. For example, if she talks about something in the interview, I will want to film something that is relevant to that.
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22/11/2016
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Shooting an interviewShooting an interview is actually harder than most people think. You have to think about lighting, composition, distractions, sound, location and much more. In this video by 'the slanted lens' on YouTube, he talks about how to shoot a documentary style interview. "Before I started the shoot I created an outline", this is omportant because if you go to an interview not knowing why you're there, then it can be awkward for the both of you. This is why I am planning to story board my interview. "The location was the next most important thing (to the person)" and with this, I think that I will be shooting my interviewee at her home in Cheltenham because this will give the best sense of her personality. I will shoot throughout the day of her making tea, looking after her husband, watching TV and so on. "Have the subkect look right at you while you talk", I think that this is the most important thing mentioned because if they are speaking directly in to the camera, it doesn't feel like an interview at all nad instead, feels much more unnatural. This video has definitely helped me understand a professional's approach to an interview and I will implicate this in to my shoot.
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19/11/2016
Contact sheets
16/11/2016
Bouncer PhotographsSo after parading around Wetherspoons on saturday night can now confirm that it was like a broadcast of a David Attenborough show. Most people in the pub were aware of my presance despite how many people there were and the majority of them wanted their photograph taken instead of me forcing it upon them. I wanted to focus on interesting looking people drinking instead of the other kinds of people in the pub because I think that these best sum up what Wetherspoons is and the type of people come in. I didn't focus much on the bouncers at all because I think that the people of the pub were much more important in order to tell the stories. I think that I captured the essence of the night perfectl through some of my photographs and had fun while doing it. The only thing that I think I could improve on is maybe more shots to tell the story better instead of just people. For example, I took 1 photograph of the bar taps and a couple of the wetherspoons sign and the front of the pub. I think maybe next time I will need to photograph shot glasses, ID badges of doorman, the DJ, the DJ booth, peolpe dancing and so on.
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13/11/2016
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Bouncer video shootSo the second shoot happened and what a night to do it! There were 3 fights, 1 broken nose and 1 ambulance. It was also very busy. All the customers mistook me for the professional photographer and were asking for photographs and therefore allowed me to go about my night in disguise. For me, it was all about getting in with the crowd and close to the action and I think that this is exactly what I did. I grabbed a pint and went around the pub with my camera shooting video of everything. I went behind the DJ booth, the bar, stood outside with the bouncers and even dancded on the dance floor! I think that I chose the perfect night to go because it was the busiest night in the week and we had a DJ. I managed to capture the police turning up and also the bouncers cleaning up the guys nose that was broken and I think this footage sums up what it is like on the night. I also caught the best parts of the night. There were a few moments where people didnt want to be videod but all in all it was a successful night.
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11/11/2016
WetherspoonsWetherspoons is a weird and wonderul place where you see a wonderful array of people. David Attenborough wouldnt go amiss doing a documentary there... "here you see a male stag on his 12th pint of Stella of the day... and he's on the search for a mate". Wetherspoons is the place I work at and find that every day is weird and wonderful. Although it is quite rough, the people in there all have stories and have all been in there more than once. I would like to document the fact that the people who tend to come in are a little bit weird, especially on the nights when bouncers work; Friday and Saturday. For my 20 images I want to create the perfect scene of the people of Wetherspoons and use this to add to the story of the bouncers, as they have to deal with these customers. I will probbaly pose as the 'club photographer' while there and ask people if they would like their photograph taken, mainly focusing on the people that look quite interesting. I would also like a few cut off shots such as the DJ booth, the bar, a pint being poured, the taps, shot glasses and so on. Although this is a documentary on bouncers, I will not be focusing on them much throughout the night as I think the two videos will be enough to tell the story.
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08/11/2016
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Club photographyClub photography has always been something that has been offered to me but I have never taken it up because the money has never been good. I have been offered to photograph in both MooMoos which is Cheltenham best night club and also in Vodka revolution which is a bar. I am wanting to do club standard photography for my 20 image edit because I want to document the people that bouncers have to deal with on a daily basis. When I shot on a Friday the pub was so quiet so I thought it would be best to come back on a Saturday. I have booked the night off and will be returning to the pub and posing as a club photographer; little do people know, I am actually documenting bouncers. I will attempt to get people dancing, the DJ booth, the front of the pub, drunk people, group photos and everything else one would expect from a night club. Although this is at a Wetherspoons, the place gets just as busy as most clubs and therefore creates the atmosphere of being inside a club. Although I think the lighting will be harder in Wetherspoons as there is no DJ lighting as you would find in a club. I will be shooting with a 24-70mm lens and a flash gun pointing straight at my subject. I would use a slow shutter speed if the lighting was good enough but I just don't think that I will have the same effect as NicoPhoto has in his club photography.
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05/11/2016
Bouncers thikThis potential project has much more potential than my work with Sugar in my opinion. Because I have such great access to numerous bouncers, I can pretty much shoot this every weekend without anybody saying no to me. My first shoot went really well and I think I may have all the audio that I want for this project. I had 4 very different bouncers come for an interview with me while they were on shift. Shell, Ken, John and Dave. I asked them all the same questions and got back a very different array of answers. Shell is very professional and loves her job to pieces, Ken is the 'brute' of the group, John is the ladies man and Dave turns up to do his job and then goes home. I particularly like the lighting that I have set up for this shoot. I used one very small LED lighting set up to light the side of the face that was facing the camera and I think it works very well. On saturday night I will be going back and shadowing them for a few hours, hopefully catching footage of them potentially kicking people out, having arguments and just generally being bouncers. I think that this shoot went really well and I have all the audio ready to go back and shoot other things.I have my introduction ready and also my closing scene. All I need now is for the pub to be busier so that I can film people dancing, the bar busy, the DJ and everything else that a bouncer may occurr during a busy night.
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02/11/2016
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Sweet like SugarWhat an interesting guy sugar is! When I asked him if I could shoot a video on him, him and all of his peers asked why. I explained that I think he is an interesting person and would like to know more about him. I wasn't disappointed! During my interview with him I found out so much about him that I didn't know before and I can now act on this the next time I speak to him. His real name is Toby and not many people know this. His father died in front of him when he was just 14 years old. He has worked in oil rigs in the North Sea, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. He drinks every day and enjoys the social side of it, claiming that he doesn't need the drink. All in all, this shoot was very good. I liked the set up, I liked how natural he was and I liked the questions I asked. There was just one tiny problem with the shoot, nothing major. I FORGOT TO TURN THE MIC ON. What a disaster! I am reshooting the entire interview in the next few days and hopefully I have a similar outcome to this interview. Although it could possibly be a good thing so I can now delve in to more of his life because I know more about him. I also forgot to ask him the question that is literally the only reason I wanted to film him. Why do people call him Sugar?
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30/10/2016
BouncersGrub Smith narrates a series following nightclub bouncers, as they open their doors to reveal how they police badly behaved, boozed-up Brits. This particular documentary is a series of multiple episodes around the UK and shows different types of bouncers and clubs. This shows a different side of bouncers to what 'the millionaire bouncers of India' does, because it shows the violent side of the night instead of individual bouncers themselves. Most of the bouncers are also big, bald Northern men... which you'll class as your typical bouncer. What I like most about this documentary is the fact that they interview people coming into the clubs as well as the bouncers themselves. They also follow the bouncers through the night. Some of the footage that adds to the story is also brilliant. For example, the camera man filmed a girl showing off under her skirt to a couple of lads which is comical and also shows the good side of the night, not just the bad side.
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27/10/2016
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The millionaire bouncers of IndiaThe millionaire bouncers of India is one of the weirdest, most wonderful short documentaries I have seen for a while, it compares the social life of bouncers with the night life of bouncers. Bouncers in India are huge and work out every day but the majority of them do it for fun and not for money. After being a bouncer, they are all millionaires in this documentary which evidently offers a different dimension to the video than just millionaires or just bouncers could offer. The videography in this is really good in my opinion. The fill in scenes are really good as they show the bouncer at home, at the gym and many other things. The interviews are also great because you get no distractions in the background from the wide aperture. Subtitles were something that I thought about using in my documentary as it helps the reader follow the story better. Also, if you can't clearly understand somebody, you could miss something important. However, I am opting to not use subtitles for my video because I think that they can distract from important imagery because you will be too indulged in reading the writing, you forget there is actually something to look at. This video is evidently done by a professional and you can tell by the good lighting and good videography. However, I don't think there is much of their job in the documentary and therefore focuses more on the fact that they area millionaire and not the fact that they are bouncers.
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25/10/2016
On the doorI have recently had a massive change of mind in the project that I want to do. I have gone from documenting an alcoholic to wanting to document the life/ night of a bouncer/s. Because I work at a busy pub, I have great access to numerous bouncers in Cheltenham and something interesting happens every night where I work. I find it interesting how people see bouncers in such a bad light and I wish to look into this. My plan is to document one female bouncer in her home and make it quite personal. I will then document a few bouncers on the night to make my 90 second video. For my 20 image, I will focus predominantly on the female bouncer at home because although she is a bouncer, she also lives quite an interesting life. I really liked this video about 'on the door' which documents bouncers and also customers and what they think about the bouncers. I particularly like the introduction to this video as it shows a lot of panning shots and also a time lapse of the night which shows the build up of people and how bouncers deal with it.
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23/10/2016
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Inking of the titanicThis video was quite interesting because i t was so different to all of the other videos I have watched. This video had a mans voice talking over everything that was happening, which is different to the interview videos I have been watching. I did enjoy this video, however I think that the narrative of the commentator ruins it slightly. I much prefer it when the tattoo artist and the person being tattooed are both talking, as it is more engaging. The videography in this was really good and also I found that the story was really good too, I was interested in it and there were no boring scenes, as it was ever-changing. When I come to shoot my video, I will aim to have noise from either what my subject is doing in his life at that point (making tea, watching tv etc) or just his voice over the top of the video, as it is much more personal than somebody else commentating his life. There is quite e a confusing cut scene in this video at about 1:20 where there is a man on the screen talking and I literally had no idea who he was. This needs to be addressed as I do not want my audience to be confused or thinking about anything but the subject in my video. All in all, a good video but nowhere near as good as some videos I have viewed up to now and also nowhere near as bad as some I have watched either.
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21/10/2016
Cheltenham race courseCheltenham race course is again a student on my course at university. This video, although follows some conventions and rules... in my opinion wasn't that engaging nor that interesting. The videography in this video really let the video down, it seems as though everything she did was hand-held and it gave the video a jittery, natural feel to it. Her subjects, her opening and closing shots were all very good and the audio wasn't too bad, but I feel as though the video would be 50% better if the videography was better. She did well to get access and seemingly approach each person she spoke to, but all I could think when she was interviewing people is "tripod, tripod, tripod". Watching this video helped me realise that using a sturdy surface or a tripod is as vital as the camera itself. All that aside, I did really like to follow the story and it does give a nice glimpse to what race day at Cheltenham is like. She obviously went there earlier than most people so that she could video the development of the races and in some sense it is actually quite exciting to see the build up of the day and also the thrill in peoples faces who might be winning a lot of money that day. I am going to try and avoid filming in crowded places while shooting my video because I don't think that it helped the cause of this video; there was too much background noise.
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19/10/2016
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SumbaHigh on a mountain, three shamans sit cross-legged on a great burial stone, gazing out across a moonlit valley. They are singing, a slow ululation that fades into the predawn silence. This is the annual summons for the nyale, ancient spirits that manifest as sea worms, briefly swarming the shores of Sumba, a tiny island in eastern Indonesia. This video has been my outright favourite of any I have seen up to now, it is truly stunning. from the waves of the sea that we hear, to the song and dancing of drums that we hear, the audio is as beautiful as the videography itself. I think I like this video so much beacause it follows standard movie techniques in order to develop a story. First we see the establishing shot of the ocean, which is incredible... and then we are introduced to an amazing subject, and the story continues by delving into the culture of this amazing island. The audio really makes the video for me, there is so much high intensity music and banging going on, you can't take your eyes off of it in case you miss something. I it.wouldn't be surprised if this was done by a movie director because it seriously is of that kind of quality. I love it.
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17/10/2016
Oxfam water projectThe Oxfam water project is a short video on Ipaishe, a Zimbabwean woman who is one of very little women in Africa who owns land. She uses the land that her family have been farming on for years to help her live her life and feed herself. She talks about Oxfam and how the government and her farm helped to clear land and lay pipes in order for Oxfam to help clean water get to her farm and other areas. After the water was able to flow through her farm, she then had crops and clean water, helping her to develop a business by selling grains, which in turn helped her pay for medical bills. This video was evidently done by a professional as almost an advertisement for Oxfam, as they are seemingly saying 'look at us, we help'. The video again follows the same route many videos I have seen follow; interview the person, play the audio over the top of multiple other videos in order to tell a story. Although I think that this works and can have a huge impact on the audience, I also feel as though it can be a little bit boring and therefore I will attempt to do a few different things with my video in order for people to engage with it more. Although I do plan on interviewing my subject, the videos around that should be more interesintg than others I've seen.
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15/10/2016
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Heidi and HeatherHeidi and Heather is a beautiful story about how two twin sisters are trying to change the world and make people happy through music and sinning. Since they were young, these twins used to go up to strangers and sing different harmonies to keep people happy or cheer them up if they were feeling/ looking down. The videography in this seems as though it was done by a professional and also the audio is very good. Un like previous videos, this one is clean and crisp in the way it has been processed. Throughout the video, there is an interview with the two girls and then them singing playing slightly quite in the background, keeping the viewer both entertained and interested in what they are saying. The happiness and the chirpiness of couple definitely help with how I engaged with the video. They are both happy throughout and seemingly really happy to be doing the video. I think this is a major key to making an interesting video. Yes you need an interesting subject and yes you need good videography and audio but when it boils down to it, if your subject is boring or seemingly doesn't want to be there, you have a failed video. Hence why I want to do my video on my chosen subject.
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12/10/2016
We were misunderstoodKieran Wakefield is a 3rd year on my course at university and I have used his work a lot in my blog for this module because I find his work exceptional and engaging for me. He documented the Polish community in and around Cheltenham and uses video in a very similar way to how I plan on using it. My idea is to do a similar styled interview about an alcoholic man who has lived a very interesting life. He is a retired builder who has worked on oil rigs all around the world and I think that his chirpy, Gloucester accent will engage the viewer massively as well as listen to his story. Kieran's work on Dagmara is really interesting, although I get the sense that she would like to be back in Poland, and it is actually quite a sad story, I also get the sense that she is doing all of her work for her daughter and can see the benefits of living in England. She talks about how being in England is like 'having a prize' because her daughter is really happy being in England and therefore she is. I would like my story to have a similar affect on the audience as this one does because although it plays on a lot of emotions, it eventually has a happy ending.
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10/10/2016
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GosiaThis video is a personal documentary about a young Polish girl Gosia, who is a professional photographer. Her father was a photographer too. She hates him, but at the same time catches herself connecting to him. The videography in this is incredible as well as the story itself. It is obvious in this video that the videographer has waited patiently for the perfect light and then edited the perfect audio on top of the perfect light recording. This is evident straight from the start when we get the orange haze of the sun in a blurry but beautiful silhouette of Gosia, the voice of the subject that speaks... "I'm looking for beauty, I want to embrace it", I really liked the start of this video and also enjoyed following the narrative of it as it was a deep, sad story but also quite nice at the same time. She speaks about how she hates her father but is also inspired by him. I get the sense that the girl being recorded is adventures yet is quite lonely in this video, as we see her out by herself throughout the video, however I also get the sense that she doesn't mind being alone as she can find the beauty in the life she lives.
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08/10/2016
I Have OCDI have OCD is a video self portrait. It is so different to all the other videos I have watched so far. It is about a man who has severe OCD and he decided to give us an insight to his life by doing a video in first person. He seems to have recorded this while just hand holding his camera, giving it a jittery, and giving it a more 'human like' feel. The videographer also speeds up or slows the video down depending on the emotion he is feeling at the moment in time. For example, when he thinks he is about to have a heart attack, the video speeds up drastically. As a viewer, you stay engaged and follow the story because the tempo of the video actually makes yourself worried, as well as the guy in the video. Jump cuts in the video make his life seem chaotic which contrasts with usual OCD. Jump cuts are generally used in horror and thriller films and I think that the first person mixed with lots of jump cuts and fast pace talking create an incredibly intelligent film that engaged me and gave me an insight in to this persons life without me actually seeing him once. A first person view is something to consider in this module.
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05/10/2016
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"Why do I take pictures every day? It's like, why do I breathe every day?"This documentary video is actually on a photographer. This man walks around New York City every day and takes photographs of people with an instamatic camera and then gives the picture to the person he takes it of. He talks both about his life and his photography. He keeps mentioning how everybody is taking selfies, and he is there to show that 'real' photography is still the best way. "They're taking selfies of themselves but they're not taking a real clear picture of themselves". The videography and the story is incredible too, as if it is done by a professional. The story follows a nice narrative and keeps the viewer interested throughout the 3 minutes. He engages with the audience and develops as a nice subject who we want to know even more about. The video itself has a lot of different clips that the editor has evidently used to fill in space throughout the video but because of this, we get an insight into his personal life as well as what he does day-to-day. I really liked this video and will try and have my subject out and about more instead of just an interview.
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03/10/2016
I Survived The HolocaustThis incredible short video documentary on a man who survived the holocaust is quite similar to 'The lady in number 6'. I became really interested in short videos of the holocaust a few months ago and then started researching them even more throughout this module. I think that the power and the emotional they behold is astonishing. To imagine that the people sitting in front of the camera talking about something that happened 50/60 years ago so horrific amazes me. Although my main thought was to do something on immigrants or an ethnic minority, I would like to look in to things like WWII survivors, holocaust survivors or war veterans. To do this, I would maybe have to look at charities that sponsor war veterans and help them recover. I think the power that these videos have would seriously be worth doing because not only would it help the project that I am doing but it has the chance to actually change the world in some cases.
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01/10/2016
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The lady in number 6The lady in number 6 is a short film documentary by Malcolm Clarke. He documents the current life of the worlds oldest pianist, who is a 109 year old woman. She also happens to be the worlds oldest holocaust survivor. Alice Herz Sommer shares her story on how to achieve a long and happy life. She discussed the importance of music, laughter and how to have an optimistic outlook on life. The video itself is shot very similar to that of Kieran Wakefield's in the previous post. The main focus of the video is the interview with just her in the video, but throughout the documentary we see her playing the piano, walking, and also other people talking about her too. What was unusual about this video in my opinion was that they used clippings of pictures that they'd not shot in this video, such as a drawing of the jewish band that played to the German soldiers, which evidently saved her life in the end.
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29/09/2016
The MisunderstoodThe Misunderstood was a short video documentary shot by a student called Kieran Wakefield. His story tells of a Polish Migrant as she talks about her past life in Poland, her family and the struggles of living in a new country. The was Kieran films this documentary is wonderful, he has many different panning shots of something relevant to the person in the video, for example; he would interview her and then pan across the walls of her house where many photos were. Previous 2nd years work is something I will be looking a lot at this year as it will give me a good idea of what level my videos and documentaries should be at. I think that a minority group would be the perfect place to start; maybe focusing on a religion, a nationality or even start looking into different sexualities.
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27/09/2016
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Small town inertia'Watching a plane fall from the sky, aflame.' Is the chosen title for J A Mortram's documentary series on a man who struggles with Paranoid Schizophrenia and photographs him over the course of 12 months. "Living alone can often be a vicious limbo. Coupled with Tilney1’s symptoms, fears and the crippling effects of his diagnosis and medications, life for Tilney1 has been brutal." In the documentary, Mortram includes a lot of text explaining the build up to a photograph and also different aspects of his life. I think this is an incredible documentary and is also quite emotional. The photography in it is also exceptional, Particularly the top image which would work remarkably well as an establishing shot. "Small town inertia" is something that I will be looking at a lot this year for my documentaries and also my 'on assignment' lectures as the photographer includes some wonderfully thought out stories and photographs them in a beautiful way. This particular documentary looks as though it was shot in 1970's America, questioning wether or not it should be in black and white, however I think that this works well in this particular series because you want absolutely no distractions from the person in the story.
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