From practising on the Canon 1d I realised that the footage you get out of them and how well they work in low light is exceptionally good. At first I was put off by using them but since playing around and testing them out, I want to push myself and use it for the majority of filming for the documentary Young and Pissed.
The main pitfall is the follow focus on big movements, which is why I shall use the Panasonic P2 for anything that will need to cope with drastic movements. I have noticed that the Canon 5d is being used more often in programmes, and since watching Bouncers Ch4 I noticed that they used this camera on some of the master interviews and actuality. In order to keep up with the trends in TV, I want to able to use this camera for the documentary.
This evening we did our first interview with Kevin from 5 degrees who had an interesting story about how due to excessive drinking has seisures now so he can't drink, this interview would have goten the best out of the story if the director hadn't used the Recce questions for this interview as he didn't explore the story and we only captured a glimpse which is a shame. Got some more interviews scheduled soon so hopefully hearing from someone who owns a bar will give another perspective and the questions will be developed to help this.
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
Set back to filming
One bit of advice that we were given by Sophie Alcock, assistant producer for Twofour, was that lap dancers can sometimes be unreliable.
We have found that out today, when I went to double check that filming on Tuesday in Bristol was OK I got a reply from the manager saying she was in Greece. Definitely something I didn't expect to hear when I emailed her. So, we've got a slight set back on that part but will try and film them asap.
On the plus side we managed to get in contact with Gigi and Paige from Table Dancing Diaries who are willing to talk to us on camera about their lives, so in one way we've hit jackpot and only put ourselves back a bit. Just need to make sure we keep in contact with them all to make we get the footage needed!!!
We have found that out today, when I went to double check that filming on Tuesday in Bristol was OK I got a reply from the manager saying she was in Greece. Definitely something I didn't expect to hear when I emailed her. So, we've got a slight set back on that part but will try and film them asap.
On the plus side we managed to get in contact with Gigi and Paige from Table Dancing Diaries who are willing to talk to us on camera about their lives, so in one way we've hit jackpot and only put ourselves back a bit. Just need to make sure we keep in contact with them all to make we get the footage needed!!!
Friday, 24 February 2012
Recce and practice "drunks"
Just finished the Recce with Joe from the hand bar which gave a young persons point of view of the drinking culture in Britain. It would have been good to have the director here, as it's still early on in and no script has appeared so the sound man took on the role and came up with the questions. Hand bar is a very classy bar which visually was beautiful to shoot. After chatting with the manager, we realised we needed to get him involved with the documentary. He had some strong opinions on the drinking culture and the rise of tax on alcohol. His opinions could help give the doc a stronger storyline, he was telling us how supermarkets are encouraged to sell cheap booze in order to get their tax back, yet bars are being taxed on high percentage beers which aren't the drinks people would binge on. This made me think more about why we are making this doc, not only to show the truth about binge drinking culture but to show people can socially drink and where the blame lies.
For the project young and pissed, I'm using a Panasonic P2 to film the entirety of our documentary. This is a new camera to me, I have previously used it for our 1 minute projects but that was just practice. The main reason for using this camera is it's close to industry standards and docs that are being made like 'Bouncers' CH4 are using cameras like this but with small snippets from the popular Canon 5d.
We have thought about using the Canon 5d, as stylistically they work well in low light and the quality out of the can is spectacular. But to show why we can't use them for filming drunk people, we tested the P2 and the Canon 5d in similar situations. The sound man, James, acted drunk with the typical loud running at the camera, fake vomiting and fake fist fights. As you can see the P2 worked better at maintaining focus, although the 5d looked better straight out of camera following focus was a nightmare and is the reason it's used infrequently in most documentaries.
For the project young and pissed, I'm using a Panasonic P2 to film the entirety of our documentary. This is a new camera to me, I have previously used it for our 1 minute projects but that was just practice. The main reason for using this camera is it's close to industry standards and docs that are being made like 'Bouncers' CH4 are using cameras like this but with small snippets from the popular Canon 5d.
We have thought about using the Canon 5d, as stylistically they work well in low light and the quality out of the can is spectacular. But to show why we can't use them for filming drunk people, we tested the P2 and the Canon 5d in similar situations. The sound man, James, acted drunk with the typical loud running at the camera, fake vomiting and fake fist fights. As you can see the P2 worked better at maintaining focus, although the 5d looked better straight out of camera following focus was a nightmare and is the reason it's used infrequently in most documentaries.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Table dancing diaries
As I previously mentioned I managed to get hold of Sophie who is the assistant producer from 'Table dancing diaries' (BBC3, TwoFour) who was willing to chat to me on the phone and give our group some advice.
Whilst I was in London I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to speak to Sophie in person as we had already organised a visit to the TwoFour office in London. It was a really useful conversation as she made us aware of the problems they had to face such as strippers being unreliable at times due to busy schedules. This didn't surprise me but something that did surprise me was the little amount of people from that club that had put themselves forward, secrets have a big list of lap dancers on their books and only 5 put themselves forward. We also got to ask an important question about how to gain contributors trust whilst working on difficult projects. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed because they had been back and forth with lawyers and the company to gain the trust of the club owners and we only have 5 weeks. But with all the advice and help that Sophie has given us, the best bit of advice was that it is definitely do- able...so fingers crossed!!
Whilst I was in London I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to speak to Sophie in person as we had already organised a visit to the TwoFour office in London. It was a really useful conversation as she made us aware of the problems they had to face such as strippers being unreliable at times due to busy schedules. This didn't surprise me but something that did surprise me was the little amount of people from that club that had put themselves forward, secrets have a big list of lap dancers on their books and only 5 put themselves forward. We also got to ask an important question about how to gain contributors trust whilst working on difficult projects. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed because they had been back and forth with lawyers and the company to gain the trust of the club owners and we only have 5 weeks. But with all the advice and help that Sophie has given us, the best bit of advice was that it is definitely do- able...so fingers crossed!!
Welcome to London..
For the last couple of days everything's been a tad hectic! Over night uncomfortable coaches and long walks from place to place but it was all worth it with the opportunities we were given.
I missed the first day of the three day London trip. Instead, I headed down on the wednesday evening to stay for a couple of days.
Thursday was really interesting because we met Morgan Matthews, who is directing Britain in a Day. Whilst visiting him in his office we were lucky enough to be shown the rough cut of the programme and give him constructive criticism. I must admit, this wasn't easy at first when your picking apart a Bafta winning directors work but he was really open and wanted as much feedback as possible.
Friday was probably my best day out of the two, even though both events were brilliant opportunities that I didn't want to miss. We got to work with the development team in the TwoFour office in London. They split us into two groups and worked with us to pitch an idea for a certain slot. It helped to contextualise a certain type of audience to a certain type of show. From the beginning, coming up with an imaginary character called Jane felt odd, but by the end of the brainstorm it helped as you started to think what Jane would like to watch. Her hobbies we had created helped to pick the genre of the show. Overall, an amazing couple of days!!!
Here's our group pitching at TwoFour
I missed the first day of the three day London trip. Instead, I headed down on the wednesday evening to stay for a couple of days.
Thursday was really interesting because we met Morgan Matthews, who is directing Britain in a Day. Whilst visiting him in his office we were lucky enough to be shown the rough cut of the programme and give him constructive criticism. I must admit, this wasn't easy at first when your picking apart a Bafta winning directors work but he was really open and wanted as much feedback as possible.
Friday was probably my best day out of the two, even though both events were brilliant opportunities that I didn't want to miss. We got to work with the development team in the TwoFour office in London. They split us into two groups and worked with us to pitch an idea for a certain slot. It helped to contextualise a certain type of audience to a certain type of show. From the beginning, coming up with an imaginary character called Jane felt odd, but by the end of the brainstorm it helped as you started to think what Jane would like to watch. Her hobbies we had created helped to pick the genre of the show. Overall, an amazing couple of days!!!
Here's our group pitching at TwoFour
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Ring round!
Your probably wondering how we're doing for contributors for the stripping project...well...
after having meetings for the project 'young and pissed' we are all feeling confident about finding bars, restaurants and people that drink to be part of our documentary. My worries are around 'Stripping for the kids'!
Researching around the subject is easy but after calling many most seem to not answer their phones, which makes it more tense for the director and I. Some however, are polite to say they're not interested, and on one occasion one lady was very rude but I think that's expected when asking a huge amount for such a difficult topic. But there is a silver lining, Rachel from Platinum Club in Bristol sounded intrigued and seems to really like the idea so we shall see!
On the plus side, I managed to get in contact with the assistant producer from 'Table dancing diaries' BBC3, TwoFour, who is happy to talk to me about the series and has always mentioned this to the director who is also willing to help with advice. Just looking forward to asking some questions when it comes to gaining trust, tackling a difficult topic and about whether they had access prior to filming.
Here's a link to information about 'table dancing diaries'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b1y1n
after having meetings for the project 'young and pissed' we are all feeling confident about finding bars, restaurants and people that drink to be part of our documentary. My worries are around 'Stripping for the kids'!
Researching around the subject is easy but after calling many most seem to not answer their phones, which makes it more tense for the director and I. Some however, are polite to say they're not interested, and on one occasion one lady was very rude but I think that's expected when asking a huge amount for such a difficult topic. But there is a silver lining, Rachel from Platinum Club in Bristol sounded intrigued and seems to really like the idea so we shall see!
On the plus side, I managed to get in contact with the assistant producer from 'Table dancing diaries' BBC3, TwoFour, who is happy to talk to me about the series and has always mentioned this to the director who is also willing to help with advice. Just looking forward to asking some questions when it comes to gaining trust, tackling a difficult topic and about whether they had access prior to filming.
Here's a link to information about 'table dancing diaries'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b1y1n
Friday, 10 February 2012
New module, new projects!
New module started with a great result back from our previous documentary, looking forward to starting the next projects!
This time round we are asked to work on two productions, working on one was hard enough, trying to organise ourselves and work in difficult situations. But this time we're stepping it up, always ready for a new challenge.
In continuation with improving my camera skills, I've taken on the role of camera operator for a project called 'Young and Pissed' , yes I will be filming drunk people! This again will push my boundaries as you see on programmes like 'Party Paramedics' CH 4 and 'Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents' BBC3, filming people that are drunk isn't easy. This will require me to use hand held techniques and on camera lighting for night filming as well as avoiding violence and vomit.
The hardest role I've taken, which is new to me, is to be the producer on a project called 'Stripping for the kids'. This was influenced by the programme 'Table dancing diaries' BBC3 by TwoFour. This is the most challenging subject matter to tackle so we shall see if we can find some contributors!! wish me good luck!
This time round we are asked to work on two productions, working on one was hard enough, trying to organise ourselves and work in difficult situations. But this time we're stepping it up, always ready for a new challenge.
In continuation with improving my camera skills, I've taken on the role of camera operator for a project called 'Young and Pissed' , yes I will be filming drunk people! This again will push my boundaries as you see on programmes like 'Party Paramedics' CH 4 and 'Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents' BBC3, filming people that are drunk isn't easy. This will require me to use hand held techniques and on camera lighting for night filming as well as avoiding violence and vomit.
The hardest role I've taken, which is new to me, is to be the producer on a project called 'Stripping for the kids'. This was influenced by the programme 'Table dancing diaries' BBC3 by TwoFour. This is the most challenging subject matter to tackle so we shall see if we can find some contributors!! wish me good luck!
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