“Scouservari”:
To begin with when deciding on ideas for our project “Scouservari” wasn’t either of
the two we created treatments for. Our first two ideas were to create a
documentary on Liverpool’s youngest ever councillor, Jake Morrison, but the
main idea we were going for was a documentary on the Bluecoats art centre.
After pitching the idea to the rest of our seminar group the main point that
came up was that we should focus on one specific person rather than the whole
of the Bluecoats centre. After contacting Michael Phoenix, the Bluecoats
resident violin maker and repairman, we decided to create a documentary on how
he makes the violins and stories that he had. From there we constructed the
idea of “Scouservari”.
We each took on separate roles which were as followed:
·
Paul-
Producer
·
Megan-
Camera Operator
·
Louise-
Sound Editor
·
Myles-
Sound Recordist
·
James-
Assistant Sound Recordist
·
Chris-
Director
·
Joe-
Video Editor
As the sound editor my main role was to mix and sink the
audio recorded on the Zoom to the image that Joe was editing. I also edited
some of the sound recordings to reduce the background noise such as a heater
that was creating a high pitched noise.
When researching into how we wanted the documentary to look I
think our main influences came from that of “The Archive” directed by Sean
Dunne which told the story of a failing record company through stories and
interviews with the owner and his wife. We liked the idea of the interview
being more chilled out and in the environment that Michael was referring to
throughout the interview. We also wanted to have less of a sit down interview
more of an interview where he was working with the violins while talking which
then used cut aways to close up of his hands/ certain objects so it became a
voiceover. Similar to the way in which the interviewee answers the questions in
“The Archive” we wanted longer answers that were more stories so we could build
up a better profile of Michael for the audience.
Another influence we felt was that of Pinocchio by Walt
Disney. The colours in the work shop scenes where Geppetto is building
Pinocchio are very organic all browns and golds as he is working with wood of
similar colour. We took this on board by trying to construct similar colour
tones throughout our piece as we wanted to show the organic feel of the wood
that Michael was creating his violins from.
My personal influence for my role as the sound editor was the
documentary “Pockets” directed by James Lees. Throughout the piece you the
audience see objects with a voice over before cutting to the person speaking
about the objects. I used this same idea all the way through the piece such as
showing close ups of Michael working while the voice over carries on. For our
piece I incorporated cuts of Michael’s sit down interview into the piece where
the voice over would link to him constructing a violin.
When reviewing the audio of the piece I think it has much
strength. The voice over was very clearer after the removal of some of the
background noise such as the heater and the fridge that was kept on during
filming. I also think the way it changes between Michael in a sit down
interview then different cuts of him doing work is strength as seeing how he
constructs the violins while he is talking helps the audience to get a better
view of his work.
Personally I think a weak side to the piece is that the at
times the soundtrack of violins is too loud and should have been mixed together
with the voice over better so Michael could be heard clearly throughout the
whole film. Also at times there are slight audio spikes that are only
noticeable once the piece was displayed on the large screen in the presentation
that I need to re-adjust.
As a group our aim was to create a film that portrayed
Michael Phoenix’s love for his violins and the importance of music in
expressing yourself. We wanted to steer clear of any other type of messages
such as politics even though when we recorded the interview he mentioned this
topic quite a bit. We wanted more to show Michael and his personality. I think
we did this successfully as the footage and audio were edited to the fit the
story that we wanted to tell about how important music is in Michael’s opinion.
However to get this story across we had to go back on a different day to
re-shoot parts of the interview as we wanted to capture Michael’s personality
more than we originally managed to do the first time we shot.
Overall I think we
worked well as a group. We each took on our own separate roles well which made
the team work flow well but we also helped out other members too. However we
did have one problem with one member of the team. James was unable to find a
group so Lee asked if he could join us and we accepted. He took on the role as
a assistant sound recordist to help Myles and he recorded all the sound on the
final day of the shoot. However when we returned to university we found that he
hadn’t recorded any of the audio for the final day meaning we were missing
large chunks of audio that we needed for
the interview. This meant we had to return to Liverpool again to recapture what
we had lost.
“The View”
When we were first given the brief of “journey” what we
wanted to achieve was that of a mental journey rather a physical one. It was
Oliver who came up with the idea of a man with agoraphobia and his journey of
trying to get out of his bedroom.
We pitched the idea to our seminar group and everyone seemed
to like the idea and the themes behind it. However many said that we should
probably not over do any of the panic attacks etc and keep it quite subtle.
We each took on separate roles which were as followed:
·
Louise-
Producer
·
Rose-
Camera Operator
·
Adam-
Sound Editor
·
Hannah-
Sound Recordist
·
Oliver-
Director
·
Sarah-
Video Editor
From this point we began to construct our script with the
idea of subtlety. We decided there would be no dialogue throughout the piece as
we felt it should rely more on emotions and facial expressions than any speech
or voiceover. It was also decided that we’d keep running motifs going
throughout the film that would point towards his agoraphobia and the reasons
behind it. This came in the form of a red coat and a key. The coat represented
the girl that he lost which we also see being worn by the girl who walks past
his window and the key represents his wanting to go outside.
Our influences consisted mainly of “Bunny and the Bull”
directed by Paul King and “The Perks of Being a Wall Flower” directed by
Stephen Chbosky. I particularly wanted to follow in a similar style to “The
Perks of Being a Wall Flower” which is also a story of someone suffering with a
mental health problem but it is done in quite a subtle way with only one time
the full extent of a panic attack being seen. I also felt the colouring of the
film should be similar quite brown tones except for any shots with sunlight
which are bright. The film “Bunny and the Bull” also helped us to tackle how we
would show the actors isolation through our set design to really show how long
he has been in the room without leaving.
Alongside this we found a short film called Memoires that
became a main influence in the cinematography side of the piece. The film uses
different focuses pulls and carefully constructed to close ups of objects to
show how they contain memories for the character. We took on these similar features
and used them throughout our film.
As the producer my role was to mainly organised the
production and make sure all the necessary health and safety and form were done.
To find an actor I placed an advert on StarNow that advertised for a male actor
in the Yorkshire area between the ages of 30 and 50. We wanted an older actor
to portray the part rather than a student actor as we thought it would bring
some maturity to the role. The location was also important as we didn’t want
the actor to travel to far as we were paying for his travel expenses. To organise the shoot I began by creating a spreadsheet
that showed days in which everyone was available from there we selected two shooting
days which were the 9th and 10th of April. From there I
constructed call sheets that I gave to each member of the crew, the actor and
the owner of our location so everyone knew start of day, end of day and
location.
On days we were shooting I took on the role of a runner. I
helped out on set as much as I could by helping with moving equipment and
collecting food for the other members of the crew. I also took on an extra role
of a girl walking past the window.
When looking back at my producing role I feel the main
strength was my organisation. I successfully organised the dates of the shoot,
the shooting times and all the consent forms that needed to be done. This
insured for a smooth running shoot where everyone turned up on time and were
able to complete the shots we wanted each day. However I feel my weak side was
my lack of involvement in the post production side of the project. The director
wanted to work solely with the two editors without others being around
distracting from the work meaning I didn’t help with any of the post production
side of the piece as he decided on scheduling etc.
Our aims as a group for the film were to:
·
Successfully
convey our idea of “journey”
·
Create
a film that captured what it is like to have agoraphobia
·
To
successfully use motifs to tell the story
I feel that we managed to complete all these aims. Our
character goes on a journey of trying to leave his room which although is very
small it does occur. We first see him put on a coat and try to go outside but
unsuccessfully the final scene is that of him of putting on his shoes showing
that he is now progressed to the next stage of trying to go outside. Although
it is not a big journey he has progressed. The story I feel accurately portrays
agoraphobia through the use of panic attacks and seclusion but to me what shows
this the best is the use of the sound design. Adam added the sound of a high
pitched noise whenever the actor was feeling anxious as if he had ringing in
his ears which occurs when people have panic attacks. Adding this really helped
to involve the audience in how George was feeling. The motifs throughout the
piece were used quite well to help explain his agoraphobia but especially that
of the key. The key represents his longing to unlock the door and go outside
but he can’t so he plays with it between his fingers to highlight the longing.
This was probably the most challenging group work I’ve had to
work with. Oliver and I both have strong personalities and clashed throughout
the process usually due to an artistic disagreement. However I feel he could
have treated his crew a little better as many times I had to talk to him about
the way in which he ordered people around and clicked his fingers at them. He
was in charge as director but I felt he could have been nicer towards his crew.
Except for that the group worked together well and produced a great piece.
