Evaluation

For our first film, Liverpool Passions, I was director. Despite a very troublesome production, I believe that what we ended up with was a very good film and reflects the hard work we out in as well as the great experience we had working together. Our original idea was to make a film about why people declare themselves as Jedi on the census, and compare that to christianity, as Liverpool has a very strong Catholic history to it, but also the highest proportion of ‘Jedi’ in the country. The idea was to, through a slightly humorous means, ask serious questions about why people are religious or feel the need to protest against organised religion. We then changed this idea to one where we would interview many people of varying faiths and passions, and intersperse these interviews in order to compare the way someone would be devoted to books to the way someone would be devoted to faith. In preparation for this, I had to try and find representatives of different faiths, since I had some connections to people working in the church in Liverpool, while other members of the group tried to find people with other passions. 

   It seemed very early on that the religious people and the humanist that we contacted were more passionate about getting involved than the non faith related parties we contacted. After sending out numerous emails, the three who I found who were free on the particular days we needed were the vice president of a sceptics society, a Christian artist who works on many faith based projects and a Hindu temple. Other members of the group had also made contact with a few shops owned by fanatics, such as record collectors and book collectors. In retrospect it would have been a good move to try and focus more on the passions than the religions when contacting people, as in the end we wonky had one non religious or anti-religious person to interview. However I feel we managed to edit around this issue by revising our idea to fit with the interviews we had got, which meant making a film exclusively about faith. In future, when making documentaries, I will put more thought into pre production as this seems to be a much bigger part of documentary than of fictional films.

   Filming in Liverpool was a great experience. While the somewhat limited time frame meant that we were under a lot of pressure, which was only added to by the fact that we didn't know our way around the city and our group suffered a number of minor injuries, we overcame this by keeping a positive attitude. In fact, a lot of my job as director in Liverpool consisted of motivating the rest of the crew to get round everywhere quicker so that we had time to get as much as possible. In the end, four of our potential contributors pulled through. These were the three I had contacted and the owner of an antique book store. We also got permission to film in a record store near the book store, which in retrospect was a bad idea as we thought we were going to get an interview there, however when we arrived it seemed like the owner just wanted us out as quickly as possible and refused to be interviewed or let us talk to the customers. This not only meant we got no useful footage, but also that we wasted valuable time we could’ve spent elsewhere. On each location I made sure our Cinematographer got a good amount of cutaway footage, so as to add to the ease of the editing. I also wanted every interview filmed from two angles to help with this.

   The four main interviews we got were of a very high quality. For the Hindu couple we interviewed, we interviewed them at the temple, as this location was where they worshipped. The Humanist we interviewed was a member of a group called sceptics in the pub, so we chose to interview him in the hostel bar. The book store owner, we interviewed in his shop and the Christian artist, we interviewed next to the Anthony Gormley statues on Cosby beach, as this was the site of her organisations first event. While all of the locations worked visually, the beach and hostel bar presented some sound challenges. We got around the issue of the sound on the beach by using radio mics, which were obscured by her scarf, meaning the sound of the wind wasn't picked up as well, however the mics kept cutting in and out so some of the best sections of interview had to be done from the boom mic, which hadn’t filtered out the wind nearly as well. The hostel had a lot of background noise which, though not sounding out of place as it was in a pub, was slightly distracting to the interview. If we could go back I would have liked to find another pub, which would have been very quiet at that time, and filmed there, so as to get less noise. Both interviews were toyed around with in post production with noise reducers to try and clean the up which helped a lot.

   While the religious and humanist people we interviewed were fantastic, it would have been better for us to find more people who were talking about something unrelated to religion. As Brian, the bookstore owner, did such a god interview it was a real shame we had to cut this out. We also left out a spontaneous interview we had captured with a street preacher named Michael, as we didn't have any more smaller interviews to include and so his would’ve seemed very out of place and shifted the balance to making it more of a film about Christianity. We also got some nice vox pops in shops with some very interesting people with different views on religion, however we didn't have enough to make it worth including them. I feel it would have been better for us to have gotten lots of very short vox pops on the street with random members of the public as this would have given a greater range of views and allowed for better representation of faiths not covered in the main interviews.

   When it came to editing, me and the editors had to sit down with the transcripts, which I had gone through and highlighted the key moments of, and stitch together a coherent sequence of points that would bounce off one another. This was perhaps the hardest part of the process for me, as there were many things I really wanted to include but in the end couldn't due to time limits and them not being relevant to things other people were saying. By this point we had already agreed to make it exclusively about faith, and so Brian had to be left out as well. We also included very little form the second camera angles, as it was hard to sync them up and we only had limited time to edit. In the end I think what we created flowed very nicely and reflected well what the contributors had said to us. With this being the first documentary I have directed on my own, it was in many ways a learning curve for me. If I were to go back, I would do many things differently, but I am proud of my contribution as director and of the team I worked with, and feel I managed to lead them well.

   For our second project I was chosen to be the cinematographer, and decided me and Georgia, the art director, would work closely together, since we both had more experience in the role the other person had taken. To get a more cinematic look, Adam wanted us to shoot on DSLR cameras. Knowing Georgia was a big fan of them I agreed, which in retrospect was a mistake as I realise now I can’t stand them and would have been much more comfortable with an XF-100. However, the look of the film is very good and so this wasn’t much of a problem for the film as much as a personal bother for me. Rather than storyboard, me and Georgia filmed a kind of video storyboard for me to work from as a reference point. We covered form every shot of the video storyboard on the shoot, although didn't include every shot from it as we had some spontaneous decisions of the day which were better.

   When it came to designing the set, Georgia was ill and so, leaving me strict instructions, it was up to me to some degree to construct the master shot and the set at the same time and do the lighting. Georgia and I had agreed to decorate the back wall with many creepy paintings, which I chose with Adam. We also said that lots of clocks and cuddly toys littering the shot would make it creepier, me and Adam thought it would add to the creepy tone if these were facing Edith just like Jacob and so positioned them in that kind of way. It was also imperial that everything was well lit and so I had Adam and Lucy stand in for Edith and Jacob when positioning the lights. My aim was to clutter the edges of the frame with stuff and Jacob, Having Edith in the middle with a nice spotlight on her that didn't stand out too much. I had to face many challenges and make many decisions with this. Such as, how to manage double shadows created by the multiple lights, which I tried to hide behind the characters for the most part, or obscure in the shadowy edges of the frame. I also had to get the lights, balancing all three of them, at such a level that Edith and Jacob were both well lit, Edith more so, with dramatic shadows but not overt spotlighting. getting this balance right was near impossible, so in the end we chose to forgive a bit of a deliberate spotlight in order to get more prominent shadows haunting the scene. I also had to balance the colour palette, by putting lots of reds in the foreground, and on the paintings, against the green wall and the green light that would bounce into the dimly lit areas of the shots.

   Once the master shot was set up and the lights set to their appropriate settings, we were ready t begin filming. Before our shoot with the actors, Georgia came to the set to make some final changes to it and give me advice on shooting it. When filming, I chose to contrast Ediths very standard, straight on shots with Jacobs distorted, Gilliam inspired cantered shots. This suggests her comfort and power is the opposite of how he hates his situation and has less power. It also creates, early on in the film, both the unsettling and Jarring feel and a very formalistic tone that means the audience addresses, while still seeming a bit odd, are accepted by the audience. The power relationships are changed at the end when Edith starts being shot in distorted ways and Jacob eventually steals her spotlight in his own variation on the master shot at the very end. The best shot I got, I feel, was the “Biscuit Cam” shot where Jacob tries to grab a biscuit and his hand is slapped away by Edith. This shot reflects both my influences from Gilliam, in the distorted appearance of the hand and the cantered angle, as well as Kubrick in composing form the centre outwards. I am very proud of my cinematography on this project, but if I were to go back I would use an XF-100 for personal reasons as well as so that I could have zoomed in further on certain things and would have been able to use a tripod on many of the shots of paintings or stuffed animals that we cut away to for the deaths sequence. I would also be more careful with aperture, which was hard to control on the DSLRs as they keep resetting, and perhaps forgive a little more deliberate lighting in order to get better shadows on the walls.

Mr Right

https://vimeo.com/126047941

Filming

We filmed most of the footage in one shoot with the actors, however some of it was captured in a preliminary shoot the day before, simply getting insert shots around the room.

These shots were filmed on the first day, as none of them required the actors. We used a third Dedo to add extra light to the objects being filmed in many cases, such as in the shot of the monkey and of the woodpecker. Due to the need for the camera to often be very close up to the subjects and the limited zoom on the 70D, I was unable to use a tripod for many of these. For many shots of the paintings in particular I chose to use very dynamic angles in order to add a Gilliamesque nightmarish tone to the piece.

I chose to film on two cameras, with one locked off capturing this master shot. I chose to frame it in such a way that Edith is definitely the centre of attention, through positioning her in the centre and composing the rest of the shot outwards from there. The key elements to include were the two actors, obviously, as well as some of the posters, animals and the dolls house. The spotlighting also adds to her importance. While we considered filming in black and white, I am glad we chose to use colour as, rather than the kind of black and white contrast used in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, we instead used a colour pallet of reds against the green background, which also bounced green light onto other surfaces of the room, such as the dolls house. This drastic contrast and dramatic use of primary colours contributes to the manufactured feel, as if this is almost filmed in the dolls house.

These two shots illustrate the difference in how Jacob and Edith were filmed. For the most part, Edith was shown in very standard close ups, which we could cut to in a way that was almost reminiscent of a shopping channel, as if she's showing Jacob off. However, Jacobs shots rarely have him acknowledge the camera, and are cantered, often with him lit in a less even way than Edith, such as below.

In this two shot, Jacob is half lit in a very deliberate, German expressionist style way, which makes him an imposing and threatening presence in the shot. The shot below also adds to the characterising of Jacob as a threatening presence, as we had a typical close up and this one of half his face. It is extra jarring that we show only the dark half of his face rather than the well lit half. In addition to this, the contrast of his pink skin and the green wall is very jarring.

This is my personal favourite shot of the film, where Jacob grabs the biscuit. The way his hand interrupts her spotlight makes the light on it very dramatic, allowing it to take over in the shot. Furthermore, it is positioned in the centre, and the camera was placed as close to the plate as we could get it, which made the hand appear very large and threatening. The angle of it also contributes to the feeling that something is wrong as well as serving to block Edith out of the shot, meaning that when Jacob looks to the camera it is easier for the audience to spot.

The way Jacob leans back into the shadows at the end of the shot serves to set him up as even more of a danger. However, he leans forward it is one of the best examples of chiaroscuro lighting in the film. Giving him this kind of presence and importance in such a dynamic shot set him up nicely for when he takes power from Edith when he goes to the window. As you can see, he is spotlit and shown form below, making him look powerful. Whereas when we see Edith again, she is filmed with the same techniques that were used to make Jacob look weak earlier on, filming at awkward angles and placing the camera above her.

Rather than show an on screen death, we chose to represent her death cinematically. One technique we used for this was pulling in and out of focus on Edith with all the paintings, the screaming face by Francis Bacon in particular, in the background staring down at her. This would also be an opportunity to show all the insert shots of paintings and other things around the room, the next thing we cut to was a shot of her teacup on the floor, to symbolise that she had dropped it and died.

The third Dedo was used again in this shot to create a large, dramatic shadow on the cup.

This final shot is a variation on the master shot, showing Edith dead on the sofa, with jacob taking her spotlight and eating a biscuit.

Set Design & Lighting

We did the set design and lighting set up before our shooting day, so that we wouldn't be wasting time while the actors were there. We designed the set to be very cluttered around the edges, but with a lot of room in the centre for Edith, because she sees herself as the centre of the world and is a very self centred person. Jacob, on the other hand, is pushed off to the side, in the clutter. Some prominent aspects of the set are the cuddly toys, all placed around Edith looking at her, just like Jacob, so as to suggest that she treats him like one of them, just a toy. Also, simply to make it look creepy, we included a lot of clocks, showing different times. This was a spur of the moment decision, yet on reflection it helps give the sense of the film being in another time. The paintings on the wall as well as the sculpture and pencils on the table and the manequin on top of her bookshelves suggest that she is an artist, however the nature of the paintings in that they are all very grim and reflect troublesome issues is symbolic for Jacob, as both have deeper troubles to them however she only looks on the surface and sees them only for their beauty.

The lighting set up used two Dedos, in order to create the harsh, large shadows on the walls. I placed the Dedos fairly low so as to make the shadows go higher up the walls. One Dedo was mainly focused on Edith, which was very bright, then there was a dimmer one focused on Jacob. This meant that Edith looks clearly more important due to the spotlighting on her, whereas Jacob, while still well lit, doesn't look particularly prominent in the shot. Both also had very nice defined shadows on the wall, which were closer together due to the angles of the lights. In addition to the Dedos there was a Kino light illuminating the whole room which made the Dedos less deliberate looking and more natural, also making the scene easier to film as the Dedos alone wouldn't have provided quite enough light.

While setting up the set and lighting I also positioned the  camera for the master shot, so that I had a sense of how everything would look on camera, and could make appropriate changes in accordance with this.

Video Storyboarding

Rather than a conventional storyboard, we chose to shoot a video Storyboard. By this I mean we got two members of our crew to fill in for the actors, went to the location (Before the set was dressed) and filmed a series of shots that we can use as reference when it comes to filming. Although we will most likely shoot a lot more than just these shots, it is good to have a starting point to use as a bare minimum and a set of angles to try and cover everything from.

https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xtf1/v/t42.1790-2/11021583_10205519594162329_1407979569_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjM5OSwicmxhIjo1Nzl9&rl=399&vabr=222&oh=9dc2287a582350ca6a6c80b8c900e815&oe=554BD39D

This is our master shot, where Edith is centred and Jacob pushed to the side, hopefully to be cluttered in with props and elements of the set. We will try to cover everything from this angle so as to always have something to cut to that is familiar to the audience.

 This is an example of how we will shoot Jacob, at a slanted angle so as to make him appear more uncomfortable and less secure than Edith.

In this shot, we see both Jacob and Edith, However, Ediths prominence further illustrates her power over him in their relationship. 

This is a shot I am particularly looking forward to, when Jacob goes for a biscuit, then looks at the camera. By placing the camera very close to the table we will hopefully make his hand look very big and menacing, this sense of menace is heightened by the cantered angle.

In this shot where Jacob goes to the window we will hopefully use the natural light to nave him spotlit and Edith in the dark by contrast now, illustrating the change in power, which will be further shown in this shot where the placement and angle of the camera makes Edith seem weaker.

Influences: A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange, one of the biggest influences on us narratively for this film, features many examples of dynamic composition which I have taken influence from for the cinematography on this film. In the scene in the tunnel, the characters are lit in such a way that creates huge, sharp shadows, much like the ones I intend to use in our film. The shadows here create terror and a sense of power, since their shadows are so much bigger than the tramps. This appears to have been done by lighting from not too par above, as lights further down will lead to larger shadows.

This is not the only instance in which Kubrick has used cinematography which could be useful as a point of reference to me. Kubrick often creates visually dynamic images in his very wide shots, such as this one from A Clockwork Orange, where the Droogs appear very powerful because they are given space in the frame whereas everything else is very cluttered. As well as this, they appear slightly better lit than the rest of the content of the shot, suggesting that they are the most important thing in the room.

Another contributing factor is simply placing them in the centre. In fact, many of Kubricks most striking images appear composed from the centre outwards. 

This technique could be used in out film to give more visual power to the old lady by placing her in the centre of the frame and giving her lots of room, whereas Jacob and everything else will be cramped together somewhat claustrophobically. 

Influences: Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam, director of Twelve Monkeys, Time Bandits and Brazil, has a very unique take on Art direction and Cinematography. Twelve Monkeys, a film inspired to a great degree by the Cabinet of Dr Caligari, uses its cinematography in a very interesting way. Particularly in the scenes in the mental asylum, the shots used are often very cantered, creating a somewhat nightmarish feel that is so deliberate that it distracts the audience from Brad Pitts manic rambling.

This all serves to create a very jarring effect on the viewer in these scenes, emphasising just how out of place Bruce Willis character is in the past that he has been transported to. Camera placement is also used to great effect by Gilliam. For example, in the first shot shown, Bruce Willis Character and Brad Pitts appear vastly different in size. This is achieved by placing the camera very close to Willis and zooming all the way out. Doing this gives a further distorted feel to the image, a technique which is used again here, in this shot from brazil.

In this shot the babes head appears disproportionately large in comparison to the background. Although the baby is admittedly much closer, having the camera very close to the baby accentuates this difference to the point that it starts to feel unnatural and uncomfortable.

   These types of camera techniques would be very useful in our film as we want to create a similarly nightmarish feel from the shots of the perfect man in particular, in order to make it seem like he is trapped in a world he hates.

Another interesting visual aspect of Gilliams work is his attention to detail in art direction. This is most prevalent in three of his films that he calls the "Trilogy of Imagination." They are Time Bandits, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. All of these have Gilliams signature art direction style present and cranked up to eleven with different results. In Time Bandits, the unique home made feel about everything helps keep it all seeming like an adventure that the child has dreamed up himself, particularly the fact that one of the time Bandits wears a colander as a helmet.

Perhaps most relevant to us is the use of art direction in brazil. The sets, props and costumes are meticulously designed in such a way as to make them often clutter the set to such a degree that the characters seem penned into a corner of the frame. In this example below, the claustrophobia is accentuated by the blocking and camera placement, driving the claustrophobia to an extreme level. This would be a very useful technique to emulate in our film as it would contribute to the nightmarish tone we want to create. 

In Baron Munchausen the art direction is often used to reminisce old fashioned effects from films such as Jason and the Argonauts and the 7th Voyage of Sinbad, as well as old fashioned theatre sets such as those present in the beginning of the film, reflecting the idea that the film itself is all a play being put on by (Supposedly) Munchausen. This was done through the use of very low key effects, almost as low key as Gilliams animations for Monty Python.

Influences: German expressionism

In order to get the right type of creepy tone I looked at some German Expressionist films, most notably The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. In this film, the cinematographer Willy Hamister, as was the trend with many german expressionist films, used a technique called chiaroscuro lighting, which is creating a strong contrast between light and dark. In order to achieve this he had to create large, sharply defined shadows to litter the shots. These help create a very creepy, highly formalistic atmosphere to the whole film. In this shot we see an example of chiaroscuro lighting, with the Somnambulist and the virgin he is kidnapping being spotlit, against a background decorated with abstract patters made of shadows. The spotlighting, though it appeared very deliberate, creates this contrast between the dark and the light which contributes to the overall strangeness in the tone of the film. This technique is used at numerous times throughout the film to similar effect, as well as several other techniques present in this shot.
   Another thing to note is the type of light used in this shot. The lights in the film all seem to have very sharp edges to them, allowing for very defined and powerful, rather than soft and naturalistic, shadows to be created. This can be seen most clearly in the shadow on the wall of the somnambulists arm, the edge of which is very sharp indeed. These defined shadows on the walls almost create the sense that the scene is being haunted by its own shadows. The art direction is also key in creating the chiaroscuro because of the colours of the costumes. The somnambulist is dressed all in black, while the virgin is in white. This compliments the type of lighting used very nicely as simply in the costumes there is already a contrast, symbolic of binary opposites of purity and corruption, being put into practice. These two factors work together nicely to create a very striking image, with heavy contrast and a sense of terror.
   I intend to utilise some of these techniques in our film. For example, I will be trying to use lights which create very sharp shadows, in order to create a similar sense of looming terror around the scenes. I will also, to some degree, create a similar sense of terror using spotlighting, though not overtly. Hopefully the cluttered background will stop the spotlighting being the focus of the shot but not disguise it altogether. The cluttered sets may present a challenge in trying to surround the characters with shadows in a similar way to this film, as we will be trying to keep the elements of the set fairly visible even if they are out of the spotlight. I will hopefully be able to use the sets to create abstract patterns around the characters. Another challenge will be working with the art direction in terms of colour palette. While this film in some ways benefits from being black and white, if we are choosing to shoot in colour we may need to pay some attention to how contrast can still be created, perhaps by using contrasting colours in the shots.

Liverpool Post production

Coming back to Sheffield to edit, our first task was to transcribe each interview. Of the four we transcribed (Though we only used three) I took Suresh and Veejayras. Once we had the finished transcripts we went through them and highlighted the sections we felt were most interesting and relevant. We also planned what we wanted to include and made an edit plan, dividing the film up into loosely separated sections with each participant introducing themselves, talking about their organisation or giving their view on a set theme. The transcripts allowed us to look at what we wanted in the edit plan then scan the highlighted transcripts for sections that could deliver this, while also allowing us to see what was most interesting and trying, if possible, to make space for it in the interview.

It became clear from early on that Brian, the owner of an antique bookshop with a great passion for books who we had interviewed, would not el into the structure of the film as much as we would like him to, as he seemed far too much like an odd one out. While filming, one of the places we had arranged to film in, a record store, refused to let us interview them or anyone in the store, and we weren't able to find another person who would be as interesting as the others and provide some company for Brian in the film, and so with regret we had to cut his section from the film.

While editing I tried to instruct the editors on how to give a good rhythm of cutaways along with the interview. Often me and the editor (who did an amazing job) would clash with me wanting more of the footage to be cutaways while she wanted more of it to show the subjects. In the end the balance we have achieved between these two is better than what either of us would have done alone and so I am glad I sat in on all the edit sessions.

Me and the sound editor worked together on the music, as I was the only person in the group with experience of making music. Originally we had wanted music that reflected different religions, however we did not have time to record this, and weren't sure what music we could use to represent atheism, and so took to Garageband to compose the music ourselves. The process of making the music was that I would play a couple of loops, put them together and show them to the sound editor, who would then give feedback, and I would go away and change it. Although I was the one physically composing, since we were working as closely as we were on it I think both of us take equal credit for what was produced.



The edit plan we drew up was this: Editing Plan

• 5 Sections.

• 1 Intro section
• 3 Middle sections
• 1 End section

Title

• Intro: How would they describe religion?

• Annie
• Michael
• Suresh & Veejayra

Bridge with cutaways

• Section A: Who are they & Introduce organisations.

• Annie
• Michael
• Suresh & Veejayra

Bridge with cutaways

• Section B: Founding the Organisation & Why they were needed.

• Annie
• Michael
• Suresh & Veejayra

Bridge with cutaways

• Section C: Effects of Religion.

• Annie
• Michael
• Suresh & Veejayra

Bridge with cutaways

• End Section: Where is religion heading?

• Annie
• Suresh & Veejayra
• Michael

Filming in Liverpool: Interviews

As director, and the person who had made initial contact with most of the interviewees, it was decided I would interview all the participants. I was fairly comfortable with this, having had some experience of conducting interviews in the past. When meeting each participant, I made sure I spoke to them a bit while setting up the shot and equipment so that they wouldn't feel like they were being interviewed by a stranger. Also, to ease them into the process of putting the question in the answer, we asked them each a number of random practice questions, normally including their favourite film. Fortunately all of them were familiar with this as they had all done recorded interviews before.

We wrote a list of questions together which were adapted slightly for each interview, for example "What do you get out of christianity?" would be "What do you get out of Hinduism?" These questions served as great icebreakers and often after their answer I would ask one or two more questions on that topic in order to probe the subject deeper. Also, they often answered some of the questions I had written before I got the chance to ask them, meaning I would be able to cross off three questions in one sometimes.

Our interview question were:

• What is your [said faith or belief]?
• When was the first time you encountered this faith or belief?
• Did you grow up in a religious household? 
• What elements of [said faith or belief] do you particularly like and why?
• If someone came to Earth and didn’t know what faith was, how would you describe it to them?
• What does your faith or belief mean to you?
• Are there any incidents or experiences that have led you to believe in this?
• What impact do you believe faith has on someone’s life?
• What do you see in your generation in terms of faith?
• Where do you see faith in the future?

Filming In Liverpool: Sound

We faced many challenges to do with sound while filming in Liverpool, both with locations and the equipment. I chose to make sure each interview was covered with two microphones in case one cut out or didn't record properly. In Annie and Michaels interviews these were both plugged into the camera, going directly to sync up with the video, whereas Suresh and Veejayra interview was recorded straight to the camera with the shotgun mic and into a zoom with a pair of Radio mics.

The reason for recording with the boom and radio mics was that while the boom gets very good directional pick up of the sounds, we thought it important to be covered, and radio mics are much more discreet than lapels or any other kind of mic. However, in Annies interview as well as the one at the temple, the Radio mics cut out, leaving half the interviews captured only from the boom. This however was not too much of a problem as the boom didn't cut out at all.

In Annie and Michaels interview, we had a lot of background sound to deal with. In Annies, it was the constant blowing of the wind and Michaels had the sound of people in the pub. One of the solutions to this would be to use some of the cutaway footage to illustrate that the background sound is coming from somewhere, and stop it seeming distracting as the audience will understand why it is there. Also, as the mics are all pretty good quality the background noise is never intrusive, although a little annoying. In Annies interview, the better sound came from the Radio mic, as this was shielded from the wind more than the Shotgun. However, as it cut out on is halfway through we will only be able to use its sound for some of the clips.

Filming in Liverpool: Cinematography

As a director, filming presented both challenges I had anticipated, and unexpected ones. Namely, that due to cancelled interviews and not getting the permission to film in certain places we had hoped for we had to abandon the passions section of the plan and focus solely on the broad range of religions in Liverpool.

In terms of cinematography, me and the group thought it would be a good idea to film each interview with two cameras. The first, with the shot set up by our Cinematographer and then monitored by our sound editor (Who would also keep an eye on the sound levels as we were capturing directly onto this camera) would be static. The second, set up and monitored by our cinematographer, would have the freedom to move more and ideally be used for cutaways once we come to the edit. Initially we wanted the main shot of each interview to be on the same side, indicating that these different people are all on the same side really, however with Annies interview, the best view we could get was opposite to the one we had already filmed for Michael, so we chose to use the cutaway camera to place everyone on the same side at the end of the film.

For the interview we conducted at the Hindu temple, we chose to interview the couple who run the temple together. This meant that the framing of the interview had to be different, as we wanted the main shot to include both subjects. We went for a straight on shot, with me interviewing them from the side of the camera, and the couple positioned in front of one of their statues, then having the second camera moving around in order to get a good variety of cutaways.

As well as the interviews I wanted to get a range of cutaways at the location of each interview in order toile a sense of space to each location and to provide footage to help make the interviews flow better (footage to cut to in order to disguise an edit in the interview) and to flow between one another in a cleaner fashion. The cutaways in each location will help to enhance the interview by illustrating things the interviewees are discussing, such as the sculptures on the beach, pub scenery or the statues in the temple. The second type of cutaways we needer were general ones of Liverpool and so often when walking between locations I would have to be on the lookout for good cutaway material. 

Documentary research: The Runners

The runners is a short film with a similar premise to Humans of New York, but where the people who are asked are out running. By asking the people in this kind of situation, where they are not expecting it, the answers are different to what they would say in a conventional interview scenario, and arguably more genuine. As well as the variety of interesting questions posed to the runners, it uses a variety of shot types, rather than just cutaways, to keep itself visually interesting. This is one of the most influential documentaries for our idea in terms of the questions being asked and the unconventional nature of the set up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F7T1EGSoMQ

Broadway Idiot

During pre production of our documentary I watched (Admittedly with no eye towards this being an academic exercise) the documentary Broadway Idiot. The documentary shows the process of adapting the rock album "American idiot" into a broadway musical. It is constructed mostly of intertwined interviews between the band and the producers, charting their journey to make the musical happen and how they both discovered how similar a working class punk rock band and upper class musical directors could be.

On watching it I was struck by how it was in fact quite similar in some ways to the film we planned to make. For one, it strives to show the universality of human nature, in depicting seemingly very different people and showing how that they think is actually very similar. It also focuses on the building of something, which was something we wanted to get out of our interviews as all three subjects had started or been involved in starting up projects from scratch which had become very big. Even structurally, with the intercut interviews bridged by cutaways, this mirrored my vision for our film.

Revising Ideas

As a group we decided to somewhat merge our ideas and make a film about passions across liverpool in general. We want to identify people of different faiths, namely who have started some kind of organisation relevant to their beliefs, and ask them similar questions about how they became that faith, why they practise it and what they think of other faiths in general, as well as about the place where they worship and the church/mosque/temple they are as part of. However, we also want to interview passionate Humanists, people with various obsessions (Star Wars, record collecting, etc) and ask them what they think of both their passion, wether then think it is similar to a religion and what they think of the idea of religion.

Each of us is going to try and make contact with someone who would be interesting to interview. Personally, I have been tasked with finding a representative from each of the major religions, and someone who is a passionate Humanist. A quick google search revealed an organisation called "Skeptics in the pub" who are linked to the wider "Merseyside Skeptics society" who I have emailed along with a Mosque, Synagogue, Hindu Temple, Buddhist Meditation centre and Sikh Temple. In finding a subject to talk about Christianity I have used personal contacts to find a number of people who may or may not be available.

Heres our revised treatment.

Liverpool Passions

Our Liverpool story will look into the faiths and passions of people living in Liverpool. We will tell our story through a number of interviews with people who are passionate about something, be it their faith or just something that interests them, creating comparisons between the different subjects and the things they believe in.

The narrative structure will be formed around the content of the interviews, so we will use the second half of our time to film pickups that may assist the moulding of the narrative formulae. We will then manipulate the structure of both the interviews and pickups in order to orchestrate a thoroughly encompassing piece of documentary cinema.

Quintessentially we will begin the film with two juxtaposing interviews on the subject of religion from someone with no faith and someone working for the church. This will set the tone as being a study of varying religious beliefs however as the documentary progresses we will include a wider variety of beliefs and passions mainly focusing on people of Hindu faith, Buddhism and Islam.

Then we will divert into interviews with people who are not simply passionate about faith or their lack of it but maybe passionate about their business or hobby. With this, we will explore beliefs/passions of groups such as atheists, football fans and comic book enthusiasts. The aim of this will be to compare, not only how similar people of different religions can be in their practices and the way they express their faith, but how people with no distinctive spiritual belief also practice their passions in a way that is similar to that of religious people, ultimately conveying the message that the people of Liverpool, although diverse and colourful in their nature, are all still people and all united by the universal bond of human nature.

Potential subjects will include people of different faiths, passionate humanists/atheists, owners of niche shops and various enthusiasts. We will also perform interviews with the general public and ask them about their beliefs and passions in small vox pops format in order to get a broader view of the grand spread of people across the city. We will attempt to capture locations in the city or other visual elements of Liverpool that reflect the content of the interviews.

Our primary audience would be somewhat cineliterate as it is both a short film and a documentary but our secondary audience will be mainstream audiences as it appeals to a wider variety of individuals due to the range of faiths, beliefs and passions we will be exploring in the documentary. Our target audience will have some interest in faith and/or spirituality and so the questioning nature of this film will give it the potential to be shared to friends of those people who may not have that kind of interest but this film may ignite their curiosity and make them think about their personal beliefs. In this way the film also has a tertiary audience through its potential for virality.

Documentary Research: Skateistan and Afghanistans Girl Skaters - Kabul 2012

https://vimeo.com/15841377

https://vimeo.com/46337060

The short documentary "Skateistan" which we watched in one of our seminars, is very interesting with a view towards making our own short documentary. None of the interviews are shown, instead we hear the interviews and see a series of cutaways. In this case, this is more effective than showing the interviews as the cutaways succeed in telling the story by themselves, often referencing information about Afghanistani culture and how it has been affected by violence through images while the subject is simply discussing their skateboarding in order to tell the story through a juxtaposition.

While it may be useful, especially when cutting in and out of multiple subjects as we plan to in our documentary, to show the subjects faces, Skateistan is a fantastic example of how much of a story can be told through cutaways and how they can be as much the focus as the interviews.

However, having some previous knowledge of Afghanistans skater culture, I knew that it had the highest percentage of female skateboarders of anywhere in the world, and so was surprised that this was not directly addressed in the film. However, I found another short film called "Afghanistans Girl Skaters - Kabul 2012" which was a combination of footage of girl skateboarding and text describing the boom in female skaters. I found this particularly interesting as it presented something familiar in a way that was unfamiliar, as in the west there are very few girls who skateboard as well as very few Arab skateboarders. Also, typical western ignorance and the media we consume may lead someone with little knowledge of the culture to believe that few Afghan girls have the independence and freedom to do something such as skateboard. It was interesting to see conventional views challenged in this way and so for our documentary, as we should be dealing with religious figures, I think it would be interesting to find subjects who are somewhat different to what the typical perception of these faiths would be.

Research into Documentary Filming

Having only ever co-directed and been cinematographer on a documentary, I decided it was important to do research into, not only our subject matter, but also into techniques of documentary filmmaking rather than narrative films.

One of my key sources in this was the book; "Directing the Documentary" by Michael Rabiger. Reading several sections of this book prepared me for the process of making the film, by covering such topics as interview techniques, constructing a sense of narrative, and getting good editing rhythm in interviews and montage sequences. As well as preparing me better for the Liverpool Documentary, this has prepared me more for documentary filmmaking in general and how it should be approached differently to fiction films.

RABIGER, M. (1998) Directing the Documentary. 2nd Ed. Woburn: Butterworth-Heniemann

Original Ideas

When drafting up our initial ideas, Zoe, our sound editor, presented an article on Liverpools "Jedi" population, mostly made up of Star Wars fanatics and Humanists, skeptics and atheists as a protest vote of sorts against conventional religions. We thought it would be interesting to use this as a window to examine the relationship between people and religion in modern Britain, by paralleling someone who identified as Jedi on the census with someone heavily involved in christianity. We wanted to shed light on how relevant religion is to modern culture, and if in fact pop culture is now more important than religion.

Our second idea, which generated somewhat organically between a few of our team, was "Drunk Humans of Liverpool." Inspired by articles about Liverpools drinking culture and the blog "Humans of New York" we wanted to ask profound philosophical questions to intoxicated Liverpudlians on nights out.

As we thought there was more scope for probing an interesting subject with the first idea, and also that filming nightlife may present a range of challenges, we chose to go with the Jedi idea.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-home-1400-jedi-knights-8552303

http://www.humansofnewyork.com