Interviews/Sequencing Workshop

Interviews are a huge feature in any type of documentary. They provide a sense of reality as we can hear some information from someone with knowledge about what they are talking about. Seeing real people on the screen allows us to engage more in a piece and feel connected to it, especially if the participants are trying to promote something. As a group of four we then had to film an interview that could be based on anything and construct an edit with cutaways and sequences. We decided to keep the theme of the interview very simple with just a casual conversation between Becca and Ellen. The topic was how they first met and their impressions of each other. We came up with some very simple questions such as 'What was your first impression of Ellen?' and allowed them to talk as much and as openly as they liked to give it a really easy going feel. As they know each other well this came across and provided the interview with some really funny moments and great reaction shots. When it came to filming, it was incredibly difficult only using one camera and trying to achieve a variety of shots. We started off with a two shot which was simple enough but as there became emphasis on one of them, we tried to do a few close ups to make it feel more personal and give the edit more variety. However, when you change the shot and it comes down to the edit, you must find cutaways to fill the space so that you cannot see the change in framing. We worked on these in our groups and listened back to what they were saying so we could choose what to film. We decided on some simple cutaways such as Becca working on one of the macs in the studio or her spending time with Nisserin to illustrate her as a person whilst Ellen is describing it. Overall I think the final edit was relatively successful and I learnt more about how to cover an edit and create a sequence which will be very useful when editing our documentary. 

Brian Cox - Documentary Filmmaker

Brian Cox is an English physicist and Advanced fellow of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. I have decided to look at him as a documentary film maker as he is well known for his science documentaries, particularly the 'Wonders of the Universe' series. He has even been described as a worthy successor to David Attenborough and Patrick Moore for his documentary work. He has featured in other science programmes of a factual base including 'Horizon' and 'Do you know what time it is?'

I have watched some of the 'Wonders of the Universe' series and find his approach and enthusiasm to be very encouraging and appealing. As he is a physicist and University professor himself, he has plenty of general knowledge in this field and expresses it in a very passionate way.
A particular episode 'Destiny' focusses on the idea of where we come from and why we are here on Earth. He explains that people have often turned to religious and spiritual reasons to explain but he delves into answers provided by Science. To conclude the episode he discovers that time is not characterised by repetition but by irreversible change. The vast universe is subject to laws of change. I think that Brian Cox is quite successful as a documentary filmmaker because he takes ideas and theories that are so complex and unbelievable and makes them not only very exciting to watch but also makes the audience feel like they can understand and learn about something that is complicated and far fetched. I think that that is the key to his success as people warm to him and embrace his friendly approach. When he is talking on screen, it feels as if you are having a conversation with a friend allowing you to feel comfortable and at ease.

Script Layout

Here I have attached some screenshots of our working script. Scripts for documentaries are set out differently to a typical script that you would write on final draft. We set out a table with the images on the left and the commentary/sync that would accompany it. For example, we would shoot some actuality of the gardens itself and the sync over it would be the presenter explaining some background information about the location. Setting out the script like this means that we can visualise what we want to appear on screen and put it together with want will be said. We had a discussion about what the storyline would include and in what order to we could structure      the script. When it came to writing it, we sat down together and decided what we were going to say. I have attached some progress screenshots of what we have written so far. We labelled the audio as either commentary or sync to make it easier for us to visualise and piece together. I would say that this is the most effective way to write a script like this for a documentary as it looks more structured and is easier to interpret. We wanted to sync and commentary to sound professional but casual and friendly at the same time so that audiences would take it seriously but feel comfortable and at ease when watching it.

Presentation/Pitch

On Monday, we pitched our idea to Helen and Simon. We composed a powerpoint which included a lot of information about the project. We have researched the topic in good detail to find out about the species itself and why they are endangered. We also have been in contact with Jo and Leigh who run the Hawking Centre who have given us plenty of details about their backgrounds as falconers and the scheme they are running called 'Vulpro'. A member of the scheme, Julie, has carried out some conservation work in Africa and has planned a trip which will be underway next month. After pitching the idea, Helen and Simon had some good feedback and thought that it was a good idea but felt that we hadn't pin pointed the idea down to a certain purpose. We wanted to include several angles for the documentary showing the gardens and the centre but were made aware that this wouldn't be to the point and would make the documentary quite confusing and all over the place. In terms of the presentation itself, we spent plenty of time in the studios working on it as a team, including everything that we had researched. We also thought about the 'who, what where, how and why' to guide us when putting it together to make sure we had covered everything that Helen and Simon would need to know. However, when it came down to the presentation itself we decided to go for a casual approach with any of us talking to make it conversational but I think we should have allocated sections to make the presentation a bit more structured.

Chosen Idea

After discussing our ideas as a team and with Helen during a couple of meetings, we have decided to choose Laura's original idea which involves looking at endangered vultures. Laura already knew the owners of the Hawking Centre at Doddington Place Gardens in Sittingbourne and so was able to make contact with them easily. She told them about the documentary and they were keen to be involved. They have previously been filmed as part of the CBBC television programme titled 'Wild World' and so were keen to be involved in another filming project. The contacts were a huge aspect when choosing our idea as it was great for us that they were so interested in the project. We have decided to focus on the vultures living at the Hawking Centre. After speaking to Jo Holmes, the owner, she told us that the vultures are endangered in the wild and that they had set up a charity titled 'Vulpro' which aims to protect vultures and promote awareness of their vulnerability. As vultures are not the most attractive birds of prey, they are often overlooked which means that people are less inclined to show interest in them. This was a big factor for us when choosing our storyline as we felt this would be a good challenge for us to try and convince people otherwise. In terms of narrowing our storyline, we decided to focus on the conservation work that Jo and other members are carrying out. In January, a member of the team - Julie will be going out to Africa to do some conservation which we thought was specific enough to focus on seeing as the documentary is only 10 minutes.

Documentary - Ideas

After our introduction to the project, Helen asked us to each come up with an idea to pitch to her and the group. During lectures, she showed us different ways to find stories that could be interesting including looking at the news sections which have articles documenting recent issues. I looked on a few websites to get some ideas. Amongst those I looked at the WWF website because they focus largely on animals which is something that came to mind when we were given the brief. After looking at several articles, I found that I was most interested in an article titled 'Changing the way we live'. Globally, people are using 25% more natural resources than the planet can replace. In the UK, we're consuming three times our fair share of the planets natural resources. I was particularly drawn to this article because it suggested many ways in which we are already helping to reduce levels of waste as well as suggesting new methods. The categories included food which suggests that we should reconsider what foods we are eating. Other suggestions included zero carbon housing, more sustainable transport and striking a balance between necessary global development needs and vital conservation of species, habitats and natural resources. I thought that this would be something interesting to look into as there are lots of approaches and angles to look at. However, as it is a broad topic, it means that it wouldn't be easy to target to a specific location for this idea and would require extra research to find people in the area to talk to who are undergoing this scheme.

When we had a group discussion with Helen, we talked about our ideas. Laura's idea involved endangered vultures which are housed at Doddington Place Gardens in Sittingbourne and Ellen had looked into the care and welfare of the deer at Knole Park in Sevenoaks. We talked about the practicality of each idea and decided that Laura's idea would be easily accessible as Laura already knew who ran the Hawking Centre who were keen to be involved in the project. She had also found out that the location had already been featured in a children's TV show 'Wild World' where the birds had been featured.

Commission Documentary

For the final project of the year, we have been asked to work in groups of 3 or 4 to create a 10 minute Documentary piece. I am in a group with Ellen and Laura which I think will make a good team as we are good friends on the course and should be able to communicate ideas effectively and share creative ideas to make good decisions. The brief we have been given for the unit is 'Doorstep Wilderness'. We must make it appropriate for the target audience so that it could be broadcast on the wildlife channel called 'Eden' at 8pm so before the watershed. This is a very broad topic which covers a wide variety of aspects including animals and the environment which leaves plenty of opportunities for creative ideas. In our groups we must individually come up with an idea and pitch it to Helen. Once we have decided on a final idea, we will be pitching these to Helen, Simon and Laura so they can assess whether the idea is suitable for the project.
There are several different types of documentary including observational which includes very minimal human intervention, participatory which includes some intervention and educational where every aspect will be set up to inform and instruct the audience. As well as capturing action, we are expected to interview someone who is an expert in the field. However, after watching some previous students work, we were told that interviews should only be a small proportion of the documentary otherwise it becomes very difficult and taxing to watch. We were also told to set up what the documentary will be about within the first minute of the video so the audience knows what to expect and will feel engaged in the subject matter straight away.