Metal Gear Solid V Trailer Music

Change In Direction

I've decided to change my script idea. I'm doing this because for some reason I just feel much more emotionally attached to this new idea, I really want to be brave with this script and write about things that are maybe uncomfortable for me to share, so what I'm going to be doing is keeping all my notes for the script in a note book and not on my blog. it's been a while since I've written anything original but it feels good to be writing again.  

Interview Techniques

Rule 1 - Know what your film is about.
Make sure your questions are relevant to the overall narrative of the film. Understand the style of your film.

Rule 2 - Prepare, prepare, prepare.
Know your subject and your subject matter. Don't assume your subject will know before hand what you want to know. You have to ask the right questions.

Rule 3 - Rapport building is paramount.
Most subjects have probably not been in front of a camera before so it's important you do all you can to make the subject relax and more importantly like you (or feel comfortable speaking with you). remove as much tension as possible.

Rule 4 - Don't fidget.
When anyone is in a state of concentration most people fidget. You as an interviewer cannot fidget as it may give off the impression you are bored etc.

Rule 5 - Active listening.
Don't zone out when listening to your subject. Listen carefully, look at the body language and think of the meaning behind their words and stories.

Rule 6 - The power of silence.
Don't be in too much of a hurry to fill the silence with a new question, let the interviewee breath and think about their answers.

Rule 7 - Interviewing for the edit.
Try and make sure the interviewee is putting the questions into their answers. Don't ask closed questions.

Rule 8 - Never underestimate the importance of local knowledge.
Understand the subjects cultural and ethnic background. More important when your filming abroad  You don't want to cause any offence.  

Rule 9 - Good questioning vs bad questioning.
Don't ask multiple questions and don't try to lead the subject by putting assumptions into your questions.

Rule 10 - Develop your own personal style.
In time you will develop your own style of interviewing. You'll know what your comfortable asking and what your not. This style will likely have an effect on the style of documentary you make in the future.

Sync Sound

When recording someone speak, say in a restaurant and you wish to use a substantial amount of cutaways or GV shots in the final edit make sure you establish the context in where the person is speaking because to hear a voice with lots of back ground noise going on without visuals to match can be jarring for a viewer. You need to establish the fact the person is speaking in a restaurant, if you don't do this then you must record clean sound, the voice only, without any distracting back ground noise.

Three Point Lighting

The basic lighting set up is called three pint lighting.

The Key Light - Lights the subject.
The Fill Light - Fills in all the shadows created by the key light, usually softer and maybe further away from the subject.
The Back Light - Gives the subject definition and helps separate them from the back ground.

Visual Examples

Here are some examples of how we see our documentary looking.



We wanted to create a time lapse around Leeds, we liked the idea that we can capture lots of people moving around in real life but all these people also live online. Each of us has a second persona online.



Though the content of this film is highly irrelevant to our film I really like the way this film keeps the visuals interesting even though the entire film is pretty much in interview form. I like the soft focus and the little cutaways they do.



I think whats great about this film is that it's clearly a film about Facebook but you never get to see the entire Facebook logo, maybe it's an easy way to avoid copyright infringements.

Rough Edit, Social Media Documentary Footage

Here's just a rough edit I threw together over the weekend. Its just the footage we gathered out with the police as they checked the Hyde Park area for open doors. All the footage was shot by me on my DSLR.

How To Perform Good Research

We attended a lecture the other day explaining a few neat tricks to help us gather better research, here are some notes -

- Break down your topic into two or three ideas.
-Think of keywords & synonyms for these ideas.
-Think about where to look to make sure your getting truthful stories/articles.

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-Truncation - Place an astrix at the end of a word and the engine will search for many endings to that particular word.

-Phrases - Place words in quotation marks and the engine will search for those words together.

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-Look to combine your key words by using 'and'.
-You can also use 'or' instead, this widens the search.
-You can also use 'not' so that you narrow down your search.

Also be careful that the information your looking at is in date, you don't want to refer to articles or statistics that are no longer true.

Nexis UK is a massive database and the uni also has its own data base called Discover.

Documentary Paperwork

It's important that I know what documents need filling out for film/documentary so here's a rough breakdown of each document.

Call Sheets & Movement Order - These are important because they will allow all members of the crew to know when they are required on set etc and give details of locations and other vital bits of information. Vital if your working with NFS staff, the public and actors.

Release Form/Documentary Contributors - Everyone who contributes an interview or appearance on the film need to fill out this document or that footage cannot be used in any circumstances.

Location Agreement Form - Any locations used for filming need to be approved by landlords, police, council etc, this document needs filling in before you turn up at the location.

Locations Form Of Indemnity - This document will provide insurance cover for any damages at any given location.

Health & Safety - All shoots/locations need a health and safety assessment before filming begins. You need to visit the location (recce) so you understand the hazards and health risks and then fill in this document.

Photograph & Image Release Form - If we want to use archive footage or photos then this form needs completing by the owner of the copy right.

Production Report - At the end of each day of filming a production report will need filling in so any details of the day can be documented.

Memorandum Of Understanding Between The Composer And Leeds Met - If we wanted to use and none label music we would need the composers permission to use the music in the final film.

Being Intrusive

Now that I've had my first taste of documentary film making I thought I'd just write a couple of lines about some of the things I noticed while shooting.

Firstly I actually found the early stages of the shoot really exciting because we hadn't a clue what was going to happen next, we just knew we had to be ready, but no one was going to wait for us so we had to get ready on the move, I built the boom pole and the shotgun mic in seconds and I'm not even the sound guy, soon after we were swept away in large groups and I had to build my camera rig as we walked. It was crazy but still really exciting.

Once we started filming I suddenly realized how difficult it was to focus on the camera and keep track of what was going on in front of me, some lite drama would start to happen and I'd instinctively need to position myself in a suitable position and get the focus and exposure right, as this was an observational documentary and because I was using my DSLR it was quite challenging. After a while I started to run out of ideas about where to place the camera because every 10 seconds or so the same things kept happening; check a door, its locked, check a door its open, speak to person, move on, all the footage had started looking the same.

Something I felt really uncomfortable about was how intrusive I felt I was being, here we were, walking into peoples front yards, checking doors, when someone would open the door there I was with a camera in their faces filming the inside of their home. It made me feel really strange and I was unsure how much freedom I had with the camera. At times the police officer made motions that suggested I may need to back off, a few times the officer would stand with his back right in-front of my camera or close the door half way so that I couldn't see what was going on inside. As a documentary film maker you clearly have to be really nosy and stick that camera where the action is taking place.

I suppose I should mention the problems I had with sound. My DSLR has pretty poor internal sound but I was using the Rhode Videomic Pro on the shoot, the mic is very capable but I need to make sure the settings are right next time, a lot of the footage I got was far to muted, there was a lot of hiss in the background too as I upped the gain to compensate.

Crime Awareness Shoot

For our documentary we are trying to establish links with the local police so they will cooperate with us when we come to work on our film and need interviews ect... We went along to a crime awareness event, there the police joined forces with criminology students and went door to door raising the police presence in the area. Here are some photos -