In class notes 21/03/2014

recomposition techniques 

vertical edit within the frame

horizontal edit shot after shot

keep a big picture 

1 each scene means? conflict? exposition?

2 shots

Feedback from the tutor for mid-term pilot

the overall idea is not clear enough. it can be seen it is a documentary about M.E. but there is no direct protagonist's participation in it and the confirmation from him could have been had at the stage. the repetition of the two only interviewees is dry and bores viewers a bit.

draft schedule & equipment list (updated)

19/03/2014 stammer park recording

today was our first day of filming but it was a windy and cloudy day. we needed to go to stammer park to film Ren doing some music video. in sound part i choose to use K6 microphone. in choosing the appropriate location, i suggested we go to the forest where crowded trees can form more sound walls instead of open field to record his voice. ( it was really disappointing finally these shots were only used as some silent cutaways superimposed on interview talking heads. i remember the reason we chose to do in the forest instead of the playground was because of the sound but now the sound of these clips is not even used in editing…)

equipment list: Z7 camera, tripod, K6 directional microphone.

26/03/2014 interview

today we did the interview and i purposely used radio mic to improve the record quality. i tried recording ambience sound in the exact room we did the interview to get rip of the jumps in the cut between two talking head clips. 

equipment list: Z7 camera, tripod, marantz recorder, radio mic, D7000 camera...

08/04/2014 A day in life

Today we did the 'a day in life' intending to use observational mode to cover his life in a day. but to my disappointment again, we got there ( Ren's own house) quite early in the morning at around ten but we finished at 1pm in the afternoon. i thought we would cover his life in that day but then we didn't. we could have captured a lot more interesting sounds in his life ( his on location conversations with the people he met. 

the above shot could have been really interesting if we had allowed more space for the two subjects to interact and maybe their conversations can but amazing part of the sound track but actually, they are not even in the cutaway clips. they are cut.

equipment list : z7, K6 directional microphone.

13/04/2014 Busking 

i tired to let ren have the radio mic but was stopped by my group member as they thought if we are filming him performing on the street maybe we also need to record his voice. 

so again simply my group members did some cutaways shots and they never thought they were gonna do any essential story apart from the interview. they didn't intend to have shots that visualise the real life of him. 

equipment list: z7,k6.

reflection of the individual engagement

in the soundtrack the dominant part was actually the speech and music.  diegetic noises was not playing an important part in the short film. to my disappointment, we left out so much of it and without the music and speech the film was almost a silent film. it goes well with only some constant silent cutaways but without the diegetic sound the authenticity was reduced. because in a lot of shots we only made the most of the visual information but overlooked the sounds recorded with them. the teamwork with camera man was not conducted well as some shots were shot while the sound person were not even aware that they were being shot. so the sound person couldn't know which microphone was catching sounds (the mic in Z7 or K6, or radio mic)and what kind of sound it was catching. we tended to do too many random shots intended for cutaways and it was assumed that those clips don't need sound at all. so finally the finished product doesn't contain sounds (by sounds here i mean diegetic noises). From realism's perspective the consequence is that only half of what happened remained after the editing. when we see Ren walking across the street we don't hear him talking. It was not because the sounds were recorded badly but was because that from the beginning, we didn't intend to cover the events actually happening there so when we use those silent cutaways they seem to be cheating on audiences. A documentary shouldn't cheat audiences to that extent.  if you watch those cutaways without sounds muted you will find that the things happening in those shots can not be strong supporting evidence for the interview content. Instead they are random things happening but what should have been filmed was things that actually happened to Ren. For example, busking scene, we should have let him do what he does as he anyway will do. We were manipulating his life instead of filming what is going to happen. it was all planned, not spontaneous. John Corner talked about something interesting might have happened, say there were passers-by interacting with him while he was singing and then the sounds would convey important meanings in that case. Imagine if the first a few shots in the beginning could have included aural information instead of just music it would not look like a music video which is how it looks like now.

In class notes 14/03/2014 (tribe viewing)

i speak about them to you (expository)

it speaks about them to you or us (sci-fi )

i or we speak about us to you (participatory)

'social actor' drive a filmmaker's choice. link between screen & reality.

'interesting character' 'subject'

respect the way people should be respected 

<tribe> viewing 

how many filming groups were there? (indicated by the long shot)

participatory /expository sound environment / manufacture  

image edited according to voice over or voice over edited according to image?

accuracy of representation.

< no internet week> < food> samsana 

Reflection about the pilot submitted

just finished today's class and a little feedback from the pilot material we submitted yesterday from our tutor. ours is sort of the weakest among the three groups unfortunately in terms of the interviewees, the footage we have got in it. joanna thinks we cannot rely on one person only like Ren to participate and we are like putting all the eggs into one basket…she thinks the pilot is not strong enough as we went through other groups in class as well…
so what we may have to d...o in the second half of this term is to try other subjects like doctors or his families or even other patients similar with him so that it can be guaranteed we will have something to film… Luca Greene what you said about what we are doing in case his availability is no longer there (doing an general introduction about M.E.) seems not to be working with Johanan i am afraid… so we may think about other contacts we could have…

Assessment 1 Group project proposal (my individual version)

The documentary will be about a patient named Ren Grill who has been making Facebook pages and posting YouTube video diaries for his suffering from M.E. /CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). His psychological path as being a patient and his daily life will be explored. It will represent his suffering and how he sees himself as a distinguished being from others. It will tell audiences his personal situation including issues of his specific symptoms that may set him apart from other patients, what he thinks that causes his suffering( e.g. psychiatric causes, genes from family members, or car accident), how he was confirmed as a patient and life for him since then has been changed (his relationship with friends, family, partners; his school, work and other social activities). The documentary will demonstrate his personal history mainly through interviews with him when he will orally deliver his thoughts about the abovementioned issues and opinions of other relevant social reality such as the absence of cure methods and lack of funding basis for a more advanced, professional research on medicines. We will see him in his house, his engaging himself in activities he is able to do. There will be interviews to be conducted with specialists or medical school students from University of Sussex and we will show their responses to Ren’s personal case and how a full time student may be educated in terms of M.E. in medical-related degrees.

Documentary modes such as participatory, observational, reflexive and expository will be involved. We will use his speech in interviews to be narration in soundtrack, which simulates to voice of god and builds up a better access for audiences to know his voice and identity. Some of his activities we will film may be spontaneous so we are meant to capture him either enjoying or struggling in doing some daily activities easy to a non-patient. In observational mode, this footage will authentically reveal details. We will also use participatory mode to communicate with specialists and students on campus and also communicate with him from off camera while doing interviews.

We will conduct the interviews with him wherever he feels at ease (places such as a café, his room, or just on streets). We will insert some archive footage from his YouTube diary, like we did in the pilot material, and intercut with interviews we are doing when his responses to those videos can be unfolded (e.g. we may ask why were his temper out of control at that certain moment; what was in his mind). This facet about his involvement in social media contains some reflexive elements. Whenever he refers to a piece of memory of the past, still photographs of his personal belongings can be shown on camera as a valid reference.

We will record and keep ambient sounds whenever they embody his unique relation with the environment (e.g. his singing with a guitar; on location recording will be required). The music he performed in gigs can be placed in music track as a representation of his passion towards life and a signifier for hopefulness.

The project will target at young M.E. patients and all the other non-patients to encourage them.     

notes taken in the research for proposal

* symptoms of chronic fatigue syndromes.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Chronic-fatigue-syndrome/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

material         what to do with it

diversity of people

facts

symptoms and diagnosis

audiences

permissions

intention

personal perspective

behavioral evidence (gig, backstage)

1. *personal research / documentary genre

reading and viewing (your own responses )

documentaries ' approaches and techniques( for project and your role)

2. *production research:

your role (sound and camera)

exercises (campus interview; observational recording)

*attendence of meetings

points / actions decided

*places(locations)/people/

group proposal 

what story 

situations: scenes of his suffering( ask him when he is most likely to suffer and that's when we should film/ does he think there are any social reasons of the illness' existence/psychiatric causes/ his   ) sleep/ eat;  physical activities; rest& work; 

typical/ unusual elements: what are his symptoms as CFS symptoms vary according to people? psychiatric causes/ his personal history that determines what caused his illness; his improvement or deterioration over time; how is his family members' health conditions; genes; car accident / his general practitioner/ how did he ensure his illness as CFS? and what emotional reaction did he have upon knowing that?/what diagnosis has he received to date?no? (five main challenges: 1. balance between rest and activity/2 use of drugs( there aint any drugs available for CFS) / 3alternative and complementary therapy / 4education and study about that/ 5emotional and psychological comfort for patients)/ severity of his illness (mild/moderate/severe)/ his relationship affected?/ work, school, social activity (gig)/  is he confident /has he recovered or not?

how be told

theme (struggles and hopefulness) (from his perspective/ his everyday life) (better recovery rate among children and adolescents)

subjects: patients (from different ethnic groups), doctors and specialists, researchers, patients' families and friends. (patients and people in their social networks)

places(his home; other places he usually goes; medical school; health centre) 

incorporative material (his youtube diary and gigs)

sound (narration' first or third person; ambient sound, music, effects)

audience : young people. 

storyboard concept :

• his suffering in everyday situation; sleep; work; suffering after physical & mental activities; revelation of his particular symptoms and severity; 
• causes. social reasons; family history; his relationship; 
• medial school shots and shots from specialists (conflicts exist here )
• show how strong he is and encourage children and young people. (his gigs)

Viewing of Sherman's March