And the year comes to an end!

Final screening now has arrived and our last practical work handed in.

With the last stages of tweaking it was not as easy as I had thought. I had to do post sound due to us not having anyone taking on this role and as director you soon learn, you have to be a jack of all trades. It was stressful but after getting the hang of it I managed to improve the sound...probably only slightly but I learnt a new skill.

The final screening was enjoyable as we just got to watch the documentary in full with the support from the editor to finalise the last bits of the doc and the cameraman who was teaching me Pro tools it became a finished piece.

With the BMX doc I enjoyed working on that project, my footage wasn't obvious to the audience who had shot what. This to me was really good feedback as I wanted to make sure I could match Tim's footage as his experience with cameras is much better than mine. Overall a positive experience and a nice end to a long and hard year!!

Crit screening

The final crit screening of the course. This time I was more nervous because it relied on me to whether our course leader thought we had delivered what we had pitched. Watching it through, I tried to gauge what people thought but you can never tell.

When the lights came back on, I was glad to hear the feedback. The feedback was positive and the documentary was at a stage where the feedback was very specific on what needed to be done. The relief on my face must have shown. For my first time directing I was nervous but am happy that it's finally paid off. Working alongside the editor to get the last phase of this work complete has been hard but to hear what needed to be done I knew it was going to be a day just tweaking the last pieces.

BMX filming done and dusty!!

First day was the Olympic development programme, again a long drive to film at Manchester. Gaining access in though felt slightly overwhelming but the riders were nice and we just let them continue on whilst working with them. I struggled this day the most, the tripod was stiff and the handle didn't work so any movement caused big jolts in the footage. As well as that using the 70-200mm lens made it harder for my depth of field and I am always wanting to push myself but had focusing issues at the start and didn't know about the image stabiliser button which is normally on. After a day of defeat I felt very deflated as my work has been consistent. But with the support of the director without mistakes I wouldn't have learnt more about the equipment.

Saturday we spent the day at Peckham BMX track and then off to visit Flo our young rider. Peckham initially was something I was worried about, after the dilemmas of the other production company filming their riders I felt nervous. The production company was there, well students working for them were. To start off with I felt I was stepping on peoples toes but out of all the time filming I had the best time there. I filmed actuality of Quillan coaching and the riders practising whilst the other cameraman filmed interviews. I knew what the director wanted so used my initiative and got on with it. The riders made me feel welcome and you could tell the coach and them were one big family trying to make the best out of an area known for being rough. Spending time with Flo was enjoyable, she was much shyer and often when I filmed her she went the other way. To relax her as well as testing out other shots I got into a tunnel to film, which made her laugh but got her use to being told where to ride her bike and the camera being on. Whilst the cameraman was interviewing her dad, I spent time with her recording her playing on the swings, showing her as a normal 12 year old girl. By the end she was more relaxed and I even joined in with her doing cartwheels.

Final day was with Rob which was a short day filming. All we needed was some nice visuals for an opening montage and an interview. That day I felt a bit like a spare cog as this didn't require two camera operators and felt this day a 2 camera set up was too much. But on the one hand having 2 meant capturing him on the track meant we spent less time filming. All in all a busy couple of days.

Here's me filming Flo:-

It's a wrap!!

I must say after the first two days being pretty straight forward I found the last two stressful. But then the pressure starts to build because you're trying to concentrate on what to film? have I missed any shots? and keeping an eye on the story.

Tuesday was the night shoot which made me uneasy before I had even got there which didn't help. On the way there me and the editor/sound sat in with Phil and his son whilst driving to try and record them just chatting casually as Phil always sticks to talking about his work when the camera is on and I wanted him to relax more. The more we filmed the more I got to see the real Phil. The journey took much longer than he had told us so before we started filming the light was disappearing. We did an interview with Matt sanders, which started off really well but after my questions I was ready to pick up the pace and get the actuality of them setting up before it was too dark. The producer and me disagreed on this situation, she wanted to continue the interview but I knew I needed this scene and we didn't have the time before it got too dark to film. In an ideal world we would have done the interview again or gone back to do it but we didn't have time on our side. The night shoot was tiring and we didn't get back until quite late, I have noticed more so than on other shoots, that being on location is tiring.

Wednesday was our last day, after feeling very tense from the night before I wasn't at first looking forward to filming. We had a break in the day where I could work out what was left to shoot before we met up with Phil  in the early evening to finish the shoot. I got the producer to ask some final questions we wanted to get out of Phil and then headed off for our final interview with a guy who used to work in the military. This felt all secretive as we have to blur out his face and distort his voice to keep him from being identified. I was thrown  off by his answers of "no comment" and "can we move on to another question" as what I had prepared were going to get the same response. I had to re think and got the producer to help as he had thrown me off track.

I have definitely found this role very difficult and can now understand why when I worked on the strip doc the director was panicking and I couldn't see why. Even when things are going well there is always in the back of your mind the pressure is on the director to deliver. At times I found it hard but have felt I have been given a great opportunity to try a new role, which at first I was surprised I convinced myself to do it but if you don't push yourself now, then going into the industry you will just sink!

First couple of days of my first time directing!

Sunday was arrival day more than anything else and to meet Phil's son for the first time who I didn't even notice was in the house on the recce. I didn't really know what to expect before we met him but was prepared for the interview with him. He was not what I had expected, I didn't expect him to have the same beliefs in as much because from the research I had done, I had been ready for a football lover rather than a young lad interested in UFOs but he was a really nice guy and was confident on camera.

Structure was something I found didn't really work, as pin pointing with Phil when to film was often changing and after meeting him again I realised we had to just go with the flow and think on our feet. Monday arrangements had already changed, even after discussing with Phil on Sunday. Firstly we met with a witness who had seen a UFO which was hard to interview as the quiet road where he saw this sight was all so quiet until we hit record. Patience was a virtue, but looking at the time was a habit I seemed to have. Afterwards, Phil decided he wanted to find a farmer which was previously arranged for later on to give me and the producer time to find one. Instead we followed Phil down many lanes in order to find one and yes we hit the jackpot.

These last two days have ran quite smoothly, a few changes but I feel confident. Directing is a new role for me as I'm normally filming. So far, I have learnt that you have to think on your toes and it isn't always easy when people are asking you for the answers but I'm learning a lot and it's completely different to filming, even though you work with the cameraman to pick the visuals the pressure is on YOU to deliver.

Here is a photo of most of the crew (minus the cameraman taking the pic) after a non stressful two days let's see how I cope after the night shoot, which is the one shoot I'm nervous about.

Run down after 2 weeks inter semester

Here's a run down of the last few weeks which has been busy with organising filming dates and working on scripts and shooting lists. After filming the BMX I've been researching more into the UFO doc over the inter semester break. Got the shooting wish list done, contributor research and have got a script. However, because this documentary is an ob doc, there is only so much structure I want. I want to allow the audience to get to know him and even though there are key scenes I want, I want to make sure we let the rest unfold. I've also looked into crowdfunding and although it's not been a huge success it has got us some extra cash. The producer has been on work experience for 2 weeks so has missed some of our conversations as I've spent a lot of time mainly bouncing ideas back with the cameraman and the editor to help with the visuals and the editorial style. Still not quite on the same pathway with the producer but slowly getting there. Filming starts tomorrow, which is exciting as Phil Hoyle has been a really big help in also looking for accommodation, organising the other contributors to meet within the same time frame to make our lives easier and cheaper, as well as looking into finding us a farmer to be on camera. He's like my assistant producer as well as a strong contributor.

As for the BMX doc, filming is due to happen the week after. I'm excited to do some more filming and am excited to say that we get to film inside the Olympic development programme in Manchester which allows us to film academy level riders. This filming is taking place a week later than expected but it's allowed the director time to get his way into the development programme aswell as the peckham BMX track to film Quillan and Tre. This will give us the contrast of the grass roots track to the World championships track.
Here is a picture of the peckham track:-

The green light!

Today was the final pitching stage, I felt the pressure more this time and I was nervous last time but there were more questions because there needed to be no holes, or at least less holes in the pitch. With the UFO doc, we pitched as the whole team we wanted it strong as it's something I'm quite attached to. Me and the producer though seem to be on separate pages, so need to get on the same page so this doc is as strong as it can be.

James pitched the bionic man, which is the one I'm camera on. The pitch was clear but again our lecturers were looking for holes in the pitches to pick out the strongest ones from the rest.

I'm technically, on 4 productions at the moment, which is the UFO doc, Bionic man, BMX and the cusp of madness. Cusp of madness is a new one that was brought to the table, about artists trying to reach the goal of fame, looking at ryan keen and also using the access of gaining an interview with the drummer from madness. So, I shouldn't be worried about what gets made but I still felt the pressure incase they all got made.

The UFO doc and the BMX got greenlit, which at first I was a little bit disappointed about because I wanted to do a camera role and those were the roles on the other documentaries. In the end I backed down as producer on the BMX and took on the role as 2nd camera in order to get a camera role. Not as fortunate this time to get a main camera role but I see any experience as being important and I will continue this out of  my studies as well. Now the making begins!!

Recce

Yesterday was the first of two recces before the final pitch. We drove to shropshire to meet Phil Hoyle who is the co founder of the APFU, which is one of the contributors for the UFO doc that I'm directing. He was very inviting and a perfect host. Very well spoken normal guy, who off camera was much more relaxed but was still very good on camera. The information he was saying was interesting but at times a bit too much for me to understand but I definitely felt he was a really good contributor when we left his. This is my first time directing so at first I was nervous but my team is strong and I had the support I needed and I started to picture what we would film next time so directors hat is on.

Yesterday, I realised how important it is to have a good team, driving 10 hours with the sound man and camera man (to shropshire and then to Taunton) means your stuck in a car, with the heater stuck on hot air (my faulty car) on a sunny day trying to find the place. Definitely need to get along and the team was brilliant.

Today, we met David Follett for the extraordinary me brief, this time I was camera so less pressure was felt. He was lovely, and this was harder than yesterday because we didn't know how open he'd be about his accident. He was really co operative and helpful and had such an interesting story. So overall, a positive couple of days.

Now back to cornwall, after what felt like a long couple of days but definitely worth it..lets see what get's green lit.

Here's some stills from the recces.

Pitching begins!

First pitch was today, which made me feel nervous and none the wiser. It was nice to hear about the other projects that we're being made and what everyone was getting up to. However, feedback helped us know what they felt but whether it fits the brief or is possible to get made I haven't got a clue. All we know is we need access and recces by the next pitching session, but if we have the access and it misses the brief then it still won't get green lit. Fingers crossed!!! Only dilemma is if all the projects I'm working on get green lit I have decisions to make on which I feel is stronger.

Recces are now booked so will get to meet the contributors in person next week, let's hope they are as good in reality than on paper.

Rob skype

This doc has been quite hard to work on, mainly with the crew not knowing what role they were going to do, the camera man was going to maybe direct which shifted everyone's roles. This put me a little bit uneasy, because I couldn't see a role for me in this crew and have now started to re think what I'm working on and have started to look for ideas for my second role, rather than just doing a camera skills portfolio because I feel I have more to offer.

After the crewing going back to the original team, we had our first Skype call with Rob. This call went well with lots of contacts given to us. My main concern is that they don't really link to the story we are going for, we have a lot of contacts for cycling which is great but not helpful when we want to concentrate on BMXing. He is our way in, which seems he has some contacts but not as strong as I had previously expected after him having calls with the director. I thought we had links to the GB team which doesn't seem to be the case now after the call, Rob is a fanatic about cycling and BMXing but I'm worried he's concentrating too much on nice visuals and not what's television but we shall see what happens.

Crit time, once again.

Again, crit screening approaches and time to hear feedback on the two projects I've been part of.

Firstly, Stripping for a living looked good on the big screen and it was nice to see it on a screen which isn't in a tiny edit room. Waiting for feedback was tense because of the huge effort the group has put in as a whole. Feedback felt more personal as we had so many let downs when making this documentary and seeing it into an edit felt like an amazing payoff. The feedback from the crit included positive comments about the shots used and general good consensus of it being a strong piece. The downfalls were about the contributors stories. I must admit I felt I needed to defend this as gaining access into a club to film is hard. Twofour did this over months with lawyers and for me and the director to gain access in 3 weeks and being students was a massive achievement. When we heard that home life would have made it better, I agree it would have made it more into a documentary as it is something that would probably be a taster tape in the industry but due to time constraints and lack of trust we made the best use of our time.

Finally, Young and Pissed didn't give the audience enough to make full comments as we only had the opening  sequence. The feedback was again positive and constructive, it said it looked promising which is good because I have wondered what the outcome would be like due to time. However, some comments and questions threw the director as the storyline still doesn't seem set. Working on the edit with the team after the crit finally started to see something come together, we had to be more decisive as we are still way behind of schedule. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring something stronger to the table.

Drunkern monkeys and police camera action!

Last night was lets say interesting...

It started off very quiet as 9:30pm isn't really the time to see a lot of drunk people but gave us time to set up and have a nosey around..oh and also get threatened by a drunk middle aged woman. I felt frightened and did not really expect that reaction when filming last night on the streets.

After 50 minutes of filming, which I didn't understand why we filmed that much but I recorded as the Director needed to capture the night progress to actually becoming quite lively. We got a typical drunk dressed up as a monkey, a couple of waves and the typical guys running at camera.

A bonus was getting to film in the policemans car whilst interviewing him, this was hard because the first two times he got called to split up fights. We wanted the Director to ask the questions to the policeman so his eyeline was at him, but he had confidence in us. It made it harder as the soundman was in the back which meant he didn't know quite where to look and we had so limited time it would have been good with the extra pair of hands. Still glad shooting is over and definitely never expected to be threatened by a middle aged woman I must admit.

Draft 3 and one doc down!!

We now have a more developed script from the director for Young and Pissed, yet there is still no ending which is worrying as this is the edit week. Still very unsure about the whole project as it's been a bit miss match with scripts coming in bits and shooting being very spread out over the 5 week period as the first interview was 4 weeks ago so by now should be in the edit. Time is ticking, Asda interview is however done which does only leave us with one more part to shoot so not long until the filming is complete.

On the plus side the Stripper documentary is filmed!!! With so much hard work from the Director and I in planning it, it was a huge success. Especially working with such a visual and experienced camera man, this helped when we were under pressure with the schedule. Only slight problem was expecting 3 girls to be willing to be interviewed, yet the girls didn't really know what was going on. So over 2 days we gained enough trust to get two girls on camera with others doing pole dancing and even one allowing us to film a lapdance. A huge success after the amount of effort the group has put in..can't wait until the final edit.

And it happens again..

From the all go ahead last night I was excited to finally get access into the club, but last minute Carrie called to say the Girls were tired. At first, it was gutting with all our hard work and another delay, but on the plus side we have arranged to film tomorrow evening when they are open. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

First cancellation on Young and Pissed, we had organised with the director to film monday evening in the streets but due to how hard it has been to gain access in the club we could not miss this opportunity. Luckily the director was fine as he realised we could film on the thursday evening, which works out better due to a student pub crawl thats been organised. But other than monday evening, we're free to film..just hoping the filming goes smoothly!!

Spoons for cutaways!

Had my first encounter with filming in a pub this evening. However Falmouth is very student based and Saturday isn't a night that we would get the most students, so didn't think it was quite the best choice of evening but I have no problem with shooting when needed.

Still needing a script to help me out, and need some support from the Director. At first I was worried about what we were meant to be shooting as I got a confused look and didn't really know what he wanted when asking what to shoot but did get some ideas after discussing it which helped to get some good cutaways. Did get a lot of interest from locals asking about the camera so have to not be rude but make sure they don't distract me.

Have managed to get hold of Carrie from Central Chambers and will be filming tomorrow night in the club, fingers crossed!!

London, first day filming not as we expected.

Today, we were meant to be filming, with previous contributors pushing our filming schedule back the heat was on. For instance, the manager from Central chambers went away on holiday so we had to re organise for Sunday 11th, and Gigi had re arranged due to mishap with hair extensions.

However, just a case of bad luck, Gigi has gone to a + e, due to pain she has been getting from her breast implants. Even with all the pre production we have done, me and the director had not been prepared for something we had no control over. We just hope Gigi gets better and that we can get to interview her as soon as she is fit and well. As well as that Paige who we previously hoped to interview hasn't got back to me after numerous calls, texts and voicemails. Will just have to keep trying!!!

Working with the Director

I noticed I've mentioned a bit more about the stripping documentary but that's because there is a lot more pre production involved in this subject matter as Young and Pissed is more of a local documentary so pre production isn't as complex as finding strippers. There has been a lot of effort put into the script and shot lists and  all the paperwork is up to date for when the filming begins for the stripper doc so it's all go when the green light is there.

However, the young and pissed documentary has gone through a couple of changes in its storyline and is still in need of a catchy title. Today I received a script, which I'm glad about because now I can storyboard the rest of the shots needed but would have preferred receiving this after the pitch. At the moment the shots needed at the interviews are discussed with the director whilst setting up, and the script is basic so I've had to rely on the director on the day. I've started to build a visual storyboard of what I would like to shoot. But I will have to use my creative side and what we have discussed in conversations during shoots to start building up what I think the director wants. I think this documentary needs to have a longer script soon and ideas of shots to help me out and get the best out of this concept.

Behind the scenes!

This weekend we were given the opportunity to see behind the scenes in Aardman animations, and the BBC programme Andy's Wild Adventures. This gave us the chance to see how a programme is made and the work that goes in to get each shot.

On Friday we got to meet the crew that filmed Andys Wilds adventures. We were introduced to John Miller who is the director, by the set designer Keith who was the one that arranged for us to join them for half a day. Whilst on the course we have seen how a director works on location but not in studio so it was interesting to see. The shoot we were there for was the filming of Marine Iguanas. Andy who is the presenter of the show had to do a lot of takes when using props that didn't seem to work, get sprayed by a water pistol to represent iguanas spraying him and put his hand in a tank of water to give a realistic representation of picking up seaweed from the water bed. It was interesting to see how much green screen was used, and even the props for him to walk on or touch were green. Whilst filming they put the backdrop that would be on in post production on the screens so the actor could see where he would be placed. Storyboards were used to help define what shots had been done, and computers were in the studio to play back the recorded material. All of this showed the organisation that had gone into the production to get the shots in time.

On saturday, we got a quick tour of one of the smaller Aardman studios. It was empty because no one was working, which meant we got to see the sets and where they make the characters without disturbing filming. Paul, who works in advertising there gave us the tour. She showed us the ship they had built to make the new film The Pirates In an adventure with Scientists. This ship was bigger than I expected, it's very hard to work out the size ratio of the props, it was a lot taller than us and width ways again taller than us. She showed us the details that go into making the set, from carpets painted green to represent grass, props made for everything you can imagine from bread rolls to clothes on a washing line. The one thing that surprised me was the amount of lighting they used for each sets, Paul explained that they had to use so much light because they needed to light small sets and characters to prevent harsh shadows.

The weekend has opened my eyes more to the professional environment of the studio, as this is something we haven't really covered yet on our course.

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

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