Glastonbury Emerging talent competition

Recently I was asked by Glastonbury FM the local radio station I have been volunteering for, If myself and presenter Liz Janaway would help out at the emerging talent competition, which is an annual event held by glastonbury festival and is designed to unearth unsigned bands and give them a chance to win a slot on the main pyramid stage. Previously the competition has given prominence to winning bands such as Scouting For Girls and Stornoway.

Twelve bands compete in the finals which are held over two nights at the Pilton Working Mens Club six bands compete each night in front of a panel of judges. Our job was to interview the bands back stage in the waiting room before they went on stage, Most of the bands had already had a main interveiw during the day with Worthy Fm ( the festivals official radio station who join forces with Glastonbury Fm to cover the event) We were asked to do an in formal interview which most band members were more than happy to do, although there was one band who wanted to 'have some space' before going on stage, with those guys we waited until after their performance.

We had a few technical issues one of them been that one of the stage crew kept walking in out of the room, everytime he opened the door we got a loud blast of noise come in from the stage, which ruined parts of some of the interveiws and resulted in me having to cut out large parts of the interveiw during editing. I was only given a couple days in which to edit down all the material, I kept it short and each band interveiw was narrowed down to approx 3 minutes each. I was pleased to hear that Steve bilborough used all the material in his show and was happy with the results.

The line up was of a high standard and I would of struggled to pick between some of the acts. The winning band was Ellen and the escapades (one 0f my favourates). Ellen was a sweet little girl with voice of an angel, she was very shy and we didnt manage to get much of an interveiw with the band but we did get a live recording of them warming up just bfore going on stage.

The whole experience was enjoyable and very rewarding, there was talk of us working with worthy fm during the festival as roving reporters, they will be following up the six winning bands that earned themselves slots on the smaller stages

A grave matter

For my personal project I intend to make a documentary a bout a local man who lives in my village and by trade is a grave digger. Brother Ray as he known to all the locals is a colourful and earthy character with a very bright attitude towards life.

I intend to film Ray as he goes about his daily work and record his attitudes towards life and death and how he feels to be gravedigger. I also intend to do a little research on the history of gravediggers ( fossers as they were once known ) and give a list of famous people who have been diggers.

I feel that the character of Ray is a strong one. He's a bit of a rouge and is best described as a real life Steptoe in the 21st century. I Hope to encapsulate the true nature of Ray, if he comes over on camera as he does in life I think he will make a good character to base my documentary on.I intend to make a documentary about a local Somerset man, known as Brother Ray. Ray has earned his living from working the land since childhood his main occupation is grave digging but takes on a whole host of jobs from tree felling to stone wall building. I intend to tell a little of Rays story, how he came to be a grave digger and his attitude towards his job.

• Ray will be the main character I may also include his young apprentice (his nephew) lukerow Scarecrow as Ray calls him, and possibly a vicar from one of the churches whom Ray works for.
• I will show the day to day life of Ray and look at what is required of him as a gravedigger. As the decline in burials gives way to the increased number of cremations Ray finds himself turning more and more to alternative sources of income, I will show how Ray lives from working with the land and the various jobs he under takes in order to make his living.
• I will present the documentary with the use of interviews photographs, cut aways, and music.
• The issues I will be exploring are one mans attitude towards life and death and his role in the burial process of a person as they passage from this life on to what comes next, and also how Ray has managed to support himself all these years by using his initiative and contacts throughout the community in order to secure work.

I would like to portray Ray as the down to earth, comical and spiritual man that he is, in the face of his work Ray still maintains a constant cheery attitude to life. In the low budget Austrailian film Kenny Clayton and Shane Jacobson created a mocumentary about portaloos and plumber named Kenny Smyth the character was a funny, likable and a down to earth chap. As one reveiw read.. A mockumentary with a dash of corporate video that treads a fine line between fiction and reality, a film that is hilarious but doesn't ridicule its subjects or subject matter, and one that makes a hero out of not just an ordinary working bloke, but one who's working in something most of us shy away from: the pumping of poo.
That is that very same essance I want to capture in Ray, although in my case the subject is real life, I want to capture Ray as he is, I personally feel that documentarys ought to document their subjects as they are and I dont wish to stage my film in any way.

Filming Begins

Last week I began filming Ray, Using my own camera a cannon xm1 and a labec tripod from uni. I started shooting Ray digging one of the two graves he had to work on that week, the weather was fine and I managed to get some good footage of the grave been dug both by hand and with the mechanical digger, I also interviewed Ray as he worked and again later whilst driving around in his truck, I had a few technical problems in both of the locations.

At the cemetery the audio recording was very poor as I didn't have the right external microphone, so I had use the internal Mic which picked up wind noise and the audio levels were really low in places, In the truck I had problems with the light changes and I was unable to see the veiw finder as there was very little space, I had to point the camera and hope for the best. I found that interviewing Ray whilst driving around seemed to be the most relaxed for him , I am hoping that I am going to be able to do something with the footage in post production so I can use some of it in the final piece.

The second day of filming was thwart by heavy down pours of rain and sleet, I managed to film about the first ten minutes of the grave been prepared for burial then the heavens opened up. I did manage to get a few interviews with Ray in the truck whilst he waited for the funeral to leave. I have asked Ray to allow me to come with him again so I can once again follow the process from beginning to end and capture the moments I was unable to catch, I do hope that the weather is going to be better.

Instructional Video

Project breif:

Was to make a 3 minute short self contained instructional video, that focases on cheap heathy food for students.

Our group decided on making a vegetable curry, the ingredients cost us £5.80 and we managed to feed four us and could easily of stretched to five decent sized meals. The idea for the curry came from one of sainsburys feed four five recipes the food was healthy, tasty and cheap to buy. We adapted the ingredients a little as some of the vegetables were not to our liking.

I watched several cooking programs on you tube and television, to get an idea of how they set out the cameras and what camera angles they used. From the hairy bikers to master chief they all seem to use a variety of angles. Using celtex we broke down the stages of the recipe and sketched out each shot needed to explain the process.

We decided to use two cameras to film, one to take the wide angle shots and the other for the close ups. We nominated Rachel as the presenter a good choice as she took to role instantly, and kept us all highly entertained with her Australian student role.

Technically we had a few hiccups one camera filmed in 16 by 9 and the other 4 by 3 which is going to cause us problems in post production. The lesson to be learned there is ALWAYS check and make sure both cameras are set the same. We also didn't take into account the short time limit of three minutes and may have to use a voice over to explain each stage when we come to edit it all together.

Finished

We finally edited and finished the demonstration video. It took us a couple of hours to record the voice over and finish the editing, we had a few headaches with file formats and FCP, which resulted in having to render the film as a quick time movie, import it into Adobes Premier editing suite and add the audio, it seems that Premier is compatible with WMA audio format.

This was a fun and productive task, it made us think about camera angles and shots. Was I to take on a task like this again I would consider the time factor and work the shots and narrative around the time, rather than record the piece and then try to cut it later. We got around the problem by recording a voice over afterwards , which worked out quiet well in the end.

Structure.

Having had a discussion with Ross following the group meeting on tuesday we have now begun to form the structure of our documentary and intend to make Anna and her life style the main topic of our focus.

1st minute
Beginning with a short introduction regarding attitudes towards food in the U.K we will highlight the fact that obesity is on the increase in the uk and that the government has set out initiatives on the importance of eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. with the use of voxpops we will reflect 2 - 3 opinions from the general public.
2nd minute.

Introduction to Holistic nutritionist and raw food specialist Anna who will talk about her lifestyle, nutrition and describe what it is she does and how raw food can be beneficial to our health and well being.
5th minute
Anna will go on to demonstrate in public how to make a healthy dish and we will see if she can convince the public that healthy food can be tasty.
7th minute
interviews and vox pops of the publics reaction and a round up from Anna.
Below is a slide show of some of the research Ive done and other bits and bobs...

19/3/10

We have begun filming some of the content for our documentary, last week saw us record one of Annas workshops. We used the Z1camera for the close ups and my own camera for the wide angle shots, the sound was recorded using the seniser rifle microphone connected to the Z1 camera , the microphone was set up above Annas head where we managed to get a decent sound quality. I am pleased we made the decision to take the microphone rather than use the mic on the camera, as we had to set up at the back of the room so we did not block the veiw of the people attending the workshop, I was stood next to the window and the noise from the street outside was quiet loud given the distance I was stood away from Anna I think we would have struggled to get a decent sound quality.
After the workshop had ended I interviewed some of the guests and asked them some questions regarding the workshop, I was alone at this point and found it quiet difficult to concentrate on all the tasks such as interviewing sound and the camera, the result of which was that the some of the interviewees moved around in the shot and as I wasn't behind the camera some of the framing is out, I am hoping we can resolve some of the problems in post production.

Thursday 16th March

We began filming the second of three scheduled days of filming , The aim of the day was to Interview Anna, capture some cut away shots and interview the restaurant manager and shop owner where Anna supplies her cakes. Ross was in charge of the Z1 camera whilst I took care of the sound and interviewing. Annie was unable to make all of the days filming and although we managed it with two of us, I found it difficult to deal with both the technical aspects of recording and doing the interviewing at the same time. We had a few issues with the framing of the subjects but once again I think we might be able to sort them out in post production. We managed to acomplish everything we set out to and think we have some good interveiws to work with,

DAY THREE

The filming for the third day had us out on the streets of Bath Filming Anna Putting some of her raw delights to the test , are aim was to record the reactions of the general public . Annie took the role of interveiwer, Ross was on sound and I was on the camera we found that most people were happy to record a vox pop interveiw and answer a few simple questions.
Annas food created a lot of posertive attention every person who tasted it seemed to like it which was very good feed back for Anna and easy filming for us, the only problems tha t occurred on this particular shoot was the weather. We only managed to get around an hour of filming before the heavens openend and down came the rain , we managed to get all the equipment packed away before it truly lashed it down, That finished off filming for that day but due to the postive responces we had managed to film we had enough, and now had enough footage to move onto the editing process.

After many Problems with uploading the file to the net we have finnally managed it . Here is the finished version of food for thought.

Documentary Making

On tuesdays lesson we will be covering documentary making and have been asked to do some research on the subject, below are some of links to videos and forums I have visited.

Make a documentary
write a documentary
Interviewing for a documentary

Here a list of tips from the site; SUITE 101.COM

• Watch documentary movies. Go see them on the big screen if you can. If not, then hit your local video store or join Netflix or Greencine to get movies mailed to your door. You can even watch them online at sites like FourDocs and the Documentary Film Network. Learn what makes or breaks a documentary film. Think about what kinds of documentary films you like. Learn the various genres and filmmaking styles. For example, Michael Moore's filmmaking style is very different than Ken Burns' filmmaking style.

• Become familiar with technical equipment. Beg, borrow, steal equipment like DV cameras, final cut pro editing systems, cheap mics, flood lights. Experiment with lighting setups, audio recording, splicing clips together. Read filmmaking forums like IndieTalk to get sound technical advice from experienced filmmakers.

• Choose a subject that you find fascinating and is accessible to you. Choosing a subject that is compelling & timely will result in a strong and relevant film. It is often better to focus on a local personality or local event so that you will have access to loads of resources for your film. Besides, it's much simpler & cheaper to shoot at home than abroad.

• Become an expert on your chosen subject through research. Research your subject as thoroughly as possible. Gain knowledge through the internet, books, and word of mouth. Attend events pertaining to your chosen subject.

• Create a structure/outline for your film through visualization. Close your eyes and imagine how you would like the final product to look. Think about how you want to structure your film. What do you want to start with? How are you going to build your film? Write down your ideas. This will give you a blueprint for shooting. But remember that in documentary filmmaking, unlike fictional filmmaking, the footage informs the final structure of the film. Your initial written outline exists to serve as a guideline for shooting.

• Analyze your wants/needs for making the film. Make a wishlist of any people, locations, items, equipment you WISH you could have for your film. Cross-reference this list with any people, locations, items and equipment that you do have access to. Ask people. Check with local art centers, film departments at universities and colleges. Talk to the local film office. If you still can't find it then go to Myspace or Craigslist and see if you know someone who knows someone who can help fulfill some of the items on your wishlist. If you are looking for footage, check with stock libraries for material that is in the public domain and free to use.

• Find finances for your film. Use Google or check with your local film office to find out what existing documentary funding programs are available to you. For example, the International Documentary Association has a great list of grants you can apply for. Hold fundraising events. Other options are to apply for credit cards, borrow from Ma & Pop or donate yourself to a pharmaceutical company and become a lab rat like Robert Rodriguez did.

• Shoot! Don't talk about doing it - get out there and shoot your film. This is the step that differentiates the aspiring filmmakers from the actual filmmakers.

• Post-production. Fast forward through all of your footage, and take printable screenshots of key scenes. This way you simplify the editing process by creating a visual map of your footage. Once this is done you should watch ALL of your footage and create an action log listing timestamps. This will help you to save time in the editing room.

• Show your film! Upload it to the internet, four-wall it in a theatre, send the cut to distributors/networks to see if they are interested, hit the festival circuit. You can apply to multiple film festivals at once through the website Withoutabox. If all else fails, invite people to your place to screen. Burn multiple DVDs and get the film into the hands of family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, anyone you know who is in the film industry.

ONE SHOT SCENE

In Fridays lesson we looked at one shot scenes, mike showed us several videos illustrating the various ways directors have used the one shot scene. One very interesting approach was that of Michael Figgis whos film Time Code used four one shot scenes that ran simultaneously.

Mike demonstrated the various ways in which the camera can be mounted. From the use of a tripod for still shots, panning, zooming and tilts, to a monopod which can be very use full as its not only light and easy to carry but also very versatile and useful for very low shots and high shots that are difficult to get a position, but care is needed to keep the camera strait upright, a figrig was the other device shown to us and one that I have never seen before, designed by Michael Figgis for the purpose of keeping the camera hand held, steady and easily maneuverable.




Before setting out on this project I did some research and looked at many one scene shot videos on youtube. I was hoping to glean some inspiration and the scene below was my favorite and I feel it illustrates continuity as the scene plays out.



Our project for this week was to create a one shot scene, along with Edem, Ross, Simon and myself we decided to use the fig rig as we wanted to use a lot of movement within the scene. Each of us took turns in the different rolls of acting, camera handling and director giving us all a chance to use the fig rig and come to grips with camera handling and directing. First of all we blocked out the scene and decided how we wanted it to unfold and marked out where we wanted each person to stand. It proved to be quiet a difficult task as we encountered many problems such as weather changes and passers by walking into the scene. we shot the same scene ten times. In the end only two were worth using as the others all had very obvious problems that could not be used, even the final choice had errors but overall appeared to be the best.

scene 1 from mandybriggs on Vimeo.

This exercise highlighted some of the problems film makers encounter when shooting. The weather was our biggest problem as we had extremes of snow to bright low winter sun light, because we were filming a one minute shot that could not be edited, we were unable to alter the cameras settings when we changed directions and the light exposure dramatically changed, the auto function didn't take in the light readings very well either. We found that the footage taken during the snow where light levels remained the same was much better, although we did have a few problems with snow on the lens. For this type of shooting I think a cloudy day where light levels are the same is essential to this type of shooting.
This was a good exercise and I feel we worked well together as a team and came away from the experience having learned quiet a lot from an afternoon of shooting.

Oh my god... 180 degrees

On friday lesson we took a look at the 180 degree axis rule when shooting a film. An imaginary line is drawn through the subject over which the camera must not cross in order to avoid confusion to the viewer.

I found this film that I thought illustrated the point very clearly..

We moved on to cover motion direction across the screen, another important factor to learn when film making. We watched a clip of a car chase from the film Bullet, using Celtex we broke the movie down into shots and described them. This was a useful task as it helped to to give a clearer understanding of how films are shot by unpicking them piece by piece.

Using a camera and tripod and working from a script, Mike, Ross and myself filmed the next exercise as group. The film was as follows; a man is walking through the university when his phone rings, he stops to answer but the call is cut off, he tries to ring back but realizes he has no credit, he then makes a dash across campus to the class room where he enters and has a look of surprise, ( we actually missed that last shot ooops) We had to maintain the same direction throughout the film, the direction we followed was from left to right. At times it was a little confusing working out left to right action and as the director on this piece I had to work out the shots and give it some thought and planning.

Here is the edited version of oh my god..

Oh My God !! from mandybriggs on Vimeo.