Hyde Kfc Row - healthy eating, jobs in local area/Young people money.
Secondary research:http://mancunian1001.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/family-bucket-squabblefest-kfc-versus-hyde-town-centre/ - Full explanation of what is going on and what people think.
My audience for the Documentary is going to be: The people of Hyde mainly and around the age bracket of people who can drive a car + teenagers.
People who can drive a car and live in Hyde because they will be effected by it.
And teenagers because it's typically teenagers that hang around fast food restaurants.
Do young people eat healthy food, why is nachos on the menu when we could have salad.
Talk to the canteen owners about the butty van outside and if they are putting healthy food on the menu.
People to interview/give a questionnaire:
Canteen lady person
Maybe people in the butty van
People around College (Students)
People that live in the Hyde area who: Can drive a car and teenagers who can't drive a car.
Action plan:
I need to -
Documentary type: Observational
Make questionnaire
Make an internet forum/Interview people. Put on research diary on the date you were doing research. Say it was the best put link in talk about how it was great. Evaluate it.
Move beyond obvious sources of information (The Internet) Show evidence that you have spoken to someone.
Monday, 18 November 2013
Friday, 15 November 2013
Assignment 1 Plan
Introduction: I'm going to be talking about _______
First paragraph: Talk about production research; Content, Equipment, Cast and Crew. (Content, tech resources, personnel and locations) Talk about advantages and disadvantages of Production research
Second paragraph: Talk about audience research (Audience profiling and audience behaviour) Talk about advantages and disadvantages of Audience research
Third Paragraph: Talk about market research (Competition and competitor analysis (find out what that means)) Talk about advantages and disadvantages of Market Research
Done
First paragraph: Talk about production research; Content, Equipment, Cast and Crew. (Content, tech resources, personnel and locations) Talk about advantages and disadvantages of Production research
(Qualitative + Quantitative) Go into detail about primary and secondary research.
Second paragraph: Talk about audience research (Audience profiling and audience behaviour) Talk about advantages and disadvantages of Audience research
Third Paragraph: Talk about market research (Competition and competitor analysis (find out what that means)) Talk about advantages and disadvantages of Market Research
Done
Documentary Assignment 1.
In this assignment I am going to be talking about research methods and the advantages and disadvantages of different types of research methods.
When doing a documentary you need to research things there are many different types of research methods/data. For example:
Qualitative data, Qualitative data are basically peoples opinions. The opinions that have come from somebody. For example, a film review. A discussion, a reaction to a television programme. Qualitative data is a good method of finding things out. The results you get from it can guide a project to success. This means that if your film isn't very good you can get the feedback from people and then you can collect all of their data, look over it and make them changes to your film.
Another advantage of Qualitative data is that it can inform future research. It is also a rich source of information. You can have lots of detail, it's quite bespoke. Qualitative Data isn't all good. There are some disadvantages. For example, it can be quite tricky to get actual results. It's very general, not really exact. The findings are a result of a lot of variables. Like, if a guy is reviewing a love story film and he just broke up with his Girlfriend he might be a bit naff about it and just say that he doesn't like it because of the situation he is in. The data also has the impression of being less valid. A lot of people have different opinions of it. It isn't as black and white as quantitive data.
Quantitative data is numerical results. For example, Audience breakdowns, box office sales, DVD sales, Audience viewing figures. Quantitative data is a good method of getting straight forward results. It's easy to analyse. You get clear results from graph charts. The facts can be used in your favour. You can say things like 55% of people enjoyed my film. Only 45% thought it was bad. You can manipulate the facts. If you only interviewed 10 people then 55% isn't a very good number, but you don't have to tell them that. The disadvantages of quantitive are that the results you get from it are without detail. It's like binary basically. It doesn't inform you for future research. The data is usually an end product of something.
Comparing the two I would say that it is better to use a bit of both. You should use Qualitative data because you would get a lot of information and be able to further better your project. Then at the end of your project you should use Quantitative data because you get straight forward results and it's easy to see how well you are doing and so that you can show the public so that they can get a better understanding of if other people like your documentary.
Production research: Production research is research into setting up of production. It might be things like production costs. So going back to my first second paragraph, quantitative data would be 'How much is it going to cost to buy this camera' and then Qualitative data would be 'Is this camera good, what do other people think of it, is it what I need?' So you can see how helpful those two bits of data are because they help you understand whether you will need something and how much that something would cost. (This goes for all equipment, Cast and Crew, Content, tech resources, personnel and locations)
Primary research is research that is undertaken by yourself or your group. First hand. For example, a questionnaire could be given to the public for them to fill in. It could be about what kind of breakfast cereal they like. (Preferably using closed questions) A few other examples of primary research are: Interviews, Surveys, focus groups or participating in internet forums. An advantage of Primary Research is that it's an accurate way to get information because you were actually there to witness it being gotten. A disadvantage of primary research is that it is very time consuming. The answers people give may not be true or they could be biased.
Secondary research is previous research undertaken by others that you can use to inform your one research. For example, taking things from Wikipedia, books, text books, the internet, documentaries and just searching internet forums. Not actually partaking in them. The advantages of secondary research are that it is easy to acquire. You don't have to do much work to get a lot of information. You can just turn on your computer and there it is. A disadvantage is that it's not as reliable as primary research. The things you find may not be true and you don't have many ways of proving that it is if you didn't do the research yourself.
Comparing them both I would say that it is best to do Primary research first, despite the fact that it may be costly and time consuming, if you're making a documentary then it has to be built on facts otherwise it won't be accurate and people will call you out on it. I think after you have done Primary research just to back it up you should do some Secondary research to make sure that they things you have found out are actually true.
Another type of research is Audience research. Audience research is research into the audience of a film. For example a focus group into a rough cut of a film. An audience Profile is a stereotype for that certain age/gender for example a male 16-34’s profile is a man who is difficult to reach through TV as they do not watch much of it. It writes about what, when, why and how they watch it. Which channels are watched the most with a list of common ones included as well as including a list of shows watched.
An advantage of Audience profiling is that Audience profiles provide a general stereotype for many people. This means that it's easier to fit people into certain categories. A disadvantage of Audience profiling is that not everyone fits into a ‘profile’ leaving them alone.
Another type of research is Market research. For example looking at your competition. You could look at similar documentaires and compare the documentary you have made or are making to see what changes/improvements you could make. It's basically research into your competition. Seeing other people who have made documentaries and seeing how many DVDs did the other one sell. Looking into reasons as to why that might be.
An advantage of market research is that you get the information that you can then compare to your own documentary making it easier for you to see how your documentary is doing against the competitors.
A disadvantage of this is that sampling errors can have a big impact on results and lead to bad decisions. Also, like the other research methods is that it's costly.
Comparing Audience research and Market research I would say it is best to do Audience research because you're going straight to the audience and there is nothing clearer than just basically going straight to someone and asking them what they like and why. It will make your documentary better in the long run and you will understand more.
When doing a documentary you need to research things there are many different types of research methods/data. For example:
Qualitative data, Qualitative data are basically peoples opinions. The opinions that have come from somebody. For example, a film review. A discussion, a reaction to a television programme. Qualitative data is a good method of finding things out. The results you get from it can guide a project to success. This means that if your film isn't very good you can get the feedback from people and then you can collect all of their data, look over it and make them changes to your film.
Another advantage of Qualitative data is that it can inform future research. It is also a rich source of information. You can have lots of detail, it's quite bespoke. Qualitative Data isn't all good. There are some disadvantages. For example, it can be quite tricky to get actual results. It's very general, not really exact. The findings are a result of a lot of variables. Like, if a guy is reviewing a love story film and he just broke up with his Girlfriend he might be a bit naff about it and just say that he doesn't like it because of the situation he is in. The data also has the impression of being less valid. A lot of people have different opinions of it. It isn't as black and white as quantitive data.
Quantitative data is numerical results. For example, Audience breakdowns, box office sales, DVD sales, Audience viewing figures. Quantitative data is a good method of getting straight forward results. It's easy to analyse. You get clear results from graph charts. The facts can be used in your favour. You can say things like 55% of people enjoyed my film. Only 45% thought it was bad. You can manipulate the facts. If you only interviewed 10 people then 55% isn't a very good number, but you don't have to tell them that. The disadvantages of quantitive are that the results you get from it are without detail. It's like binary basically. It doesn't inform you for future research. The data is usually an end product of something.
Comparing the two I would say that it is better to use a bit of both. You should use Qualitative data because you would get a lot of information and be able to further better your project. Then at the end of your project you should use Quantitative data because you get straight forward results and it's easy to see how well you are doing and so that you can show the public so that they can get a better understanding of if other people like your documentary.
Production research: Production research is research into setting up of production. It might be things like production costs. So going back to my first second paragraph, quantitative data would be 'How much is it going to cost to buy this camera' and then Qualitative data would be 'Is this camera good, what do other people think of it, is it what I need?' So you can see how helpful those two bits of data are because they help you understand whether you will need something and how much that something would cost. (This goes for all equipment, Cast and Crew, Content, tech resources, personnel and locations)
Primary research is research that is undertaken by yourself or your group. First hand. For example, a questionnaire could be given to the public for them to fill in. It could be about what kind of breakfast cereal they like. (Preferably using closed questions) A few other examples of primary research are: Interviews, Surveys, focus groups or participating in internet forums. An advantage of Primary Research is that it's an accurate way to get information because you were actually there to witness it being gotten. A disadvantage of primary research is that it is very time consuming. The answers people give may not be true or they could be biased.
Secondary research is previous research undertaken by others that you can use to inform your one research. For example, taking things from Wikipedia, books, text books, the internet, documentaries and just searching internet forums. Not actually partaking in them. The advantages of secondary research are that it is easy to acquire. You don't have to do much work to get a lot of information. You can just turn on your computer and there it is. A disadvantage is that it's not as reliable as primary research. The things you find may not be true and you don't have many ways of proving that it is if you didn't do the research yourself.
Comparing them both I would say that it is best to do Primary research first, despite the fact that it may be costly and time consuming, if you're making a documentary then it has to be built on facts otherwise it won't be accurate and people will call you out on it. I think after you have done Primary research just to back it up you should do some Secondary research to make sure that they things you have found out are actually true.
Another type of research is Audience research. Audience research is research into the audience of a film. For example a focus group into a rough cut of a film. An audience Profile is a stereotype for that certain age/gender for example a male 16-34’s profile is a man who is difficult to reach through TV as they do not watch much of it. It writes about what, when, why and how they watch it. Which channels are watched the most with a list of common ones included as well as including a list of shows watched.
An advantage of Audience profiling is that Audience profiles provide a general stereotype for many people. This means that it's easier to fit people into certain categories. A disadvantage of Audience profiling is that not everyone fits into a ‘profile’ leaving them alone.
Another type of research is Market research. For example looking at your competition. You could look at similar documentaires and compare the documentary you have made or are making to see what changes/improvements you could make. It's basically research into your competition. Seeing other people who have made documentaries and seeing how many DVDs did the other one sell. Looking into reasons as to why that might be.
An advantage of market research is that you get the information that you can then compare to your own documentary making it easier for you to see how your documentary is doing against the competitors.
A disadvantage of this is that sampling errors can have a big impact on results and lead to bad decisions. Also, like the other research methods is that it's costly.
Comparing Audience research and Market research I would say it is best to do Audience research because you're going straight to the audience and there is nothing clearer than just basically going straight to someone and asking them what they like and why. It will make your documentary better in the long run and you will understand more.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Monday, 11 November 2013
Unit 1 Assignment 1
Time
A shooting schedule is a project plan of each day's shooting for a film production. A shooting schedule is prepared by the Assistant Director, it contains information such as what actors will be shooting what scenes. Where these scenes will be filmed and what times these scenes will be filmed at. It will also contain information about what animation is needed (Maybe?) What special effects are needed/will be put in afterwards. If the film is using any animals then there will be information about that. Basically the shooting schedule is what makes sure that the work pace has a good momentum and there is no waiting around with people unsure of what to do. A shooting schedule does change throughout the pre-production but everyone has to keep the Assistant Director in mind and report to her/him if they have a request to change anything.
It is important to have a shooting schedule because if you don't then no-one will know when/where you are going to film. It will all be unorganised and no work will get done. It's not very efficient if you have a bunch of people just wandering around not sure what to do. It will also be very costly if you're hiring a camera and you have to pay for each hour you have that camera then you would want to have the camera for as little as possible so you pay less. If you don't have a shooting schedule then you won't be at a continuous working pace throughout the day. There will most likely be a lot of waiting around and a lot of time wasted (and money spent) waiting around.
If you want to get a music clearance for a film there is no set amount of time that it would take. It all varies depending on what you want to use it for and who's music you want to use. If the artist is some big Hollywood music person then they will probably take a lot longer to get back to you either due to popular demand of the use of their music or just because they think that they don't have to get back to anyone because they are successful and pretentious. If you are some big well known studio then obviously it won't take long for you to get noticed because the people who make the music will probably know you and know that it is for something official. Whereas if it's for some indie film makers they might be a little bit more reluctant to give them usage of their song because they don't know how much money they would be getting out of it.
Personnel
It it important to get the right crew because you want them to be skilled. You want a crew who will understand what you are trying to do and who can work with you to achieve what you want your documentary/film/etc to look like. A right crew is a good crew. You want them to make the filming experience enjoyable for you otherwise that will probably show on screen if you didn't enjoy it. You want a crew who can be flexible for you and is 100% committed to the job. Also if you want to get a really detailed documentary you need to have the right information so that you aren't lying to the people who are watching it. You need to hire a skilled,
Cast and Crew of 'The Imposter' :
Will Stanbridge was a researcher for the documentary. He worked on other things such as: Breakout, Locked up abroad, Sex: How it works and he also worked as a producer for Gold Rush: Alaska.
Mike Cooper worked on the documentary as a sound recorder. He has worked on other things such as: The Book Group, Lilacs, The Tonto Woman and many more. He worked for 17 years as a freelance music recording engineer and excelled in the business by working on as many different films/projects as he could.
Águeda Balogh worked as a first assistant camera man. He was responsible for making sure that the shot never went out of focus, he was also responsible for how everything looked on screen. From 1997 he worked as a camera trainee. He took on many different roles such as the clapper loader and a camera assistant.
Facilities:
Currently in the industry you need a lot of HD equipment. People nowadays expect things to look good and to be of quality. This definitely means that you will need to let quite a bit of money go towards the equipment you buy to film your Documentary.
Here is a blog post somebody wrote about 'The best Cameras for shooting a Documentary (x)'
In their blog post they mention many different types of Camera and give many different reasons as to why this would be the best to use.
For example a cinematic camera: An Alexa, a Red Epic, a Blackmagic Cinema Camera or a Sony F55.
They say that this would be the best type of Camera to use for a nature Documentary as it is very high quality and it would increase the production value by a great amount. But the downside to it is that it would also take a lot of time to set up. This would not be good for some types of documentaries. For example, nature documentaries. This would not be good for nature Documentaries because of the fact that when filming a nature documentary you need the element of surprise.
The specs of the ALEXA camera are:
Materials/copyrights:
A shooting schedule is a project plan of each day's shooting for a film production. A shooting schedule is prepared by the Assistant Director, it contains information such as what actors will be shooting what scenes. Where these scenes will be filmed and what times these scenes will be filmed at. It will also contain information about what animation is needed (Maybe?) What special effects are needed/will be put in afterwards. If the film is using any animals then there will be information about that. Basically the shooting schedule is what makes sure that the work pace has a good momentum and there is no waiting around with people unsure of what to do. A shooting schedule does change throughout the pre-production but everyone has to keep the Assistant Director in mind and report to her/him if they have a request to change anything.
It is important to have a shooting schedule because if you don't then no-one will know when/where you are going to film. It will all be unorganised and no work will get done. It's not very efficient if you have a bunch of people just wandering around not sure what to do. It will also be very costly if you're hiring a camera and you have to pay for each hour you have that camera then you would want to have the camera for as little as possible so you pay less. If you don't have a shooting schedule then you won't be at a continuous working pace throughout the day. There will most likely be a lot of waiting around and a lot of time wasted (and money spent) waiting around.
If you want to get a music clearance for a film there is no set amount of time that it would take. It all varies depending on what you want to use it for and who's music you want to use. If the artist is some big Hollywood music person then they will probably take a lot longer to get back to you either due to popular demand of the use of their music or just because they think that they don't have to get back to anyone because they are successful and pretentious. If you are some big well known studio then obviously it won't take long for you to get noticed because the people who make the music will probably know you and know that it is for something official. Whereas if it's for some indie film makers they might be a little bit more reluctant to give them usage of their song because they don't know how much money they would be getting out of it.
Personnel
It it important to get the right crew because you want them to be skilled. You want a crew who will understand what you are trying to do and who can work with you to achieve what you want your documentary/film/etc to look like. A right crew is a good crew. You want them to make the filming experience enjoyable for you otherwise that will probably show on screen if you didn't enjoy it. You want a crew who can be flexible for you and is 100% committed to the job. Also if you want to get a really detailed documentary you need to have the right information so that you aren't lying to the people who are watching it. You need to hire a skilled,
Cast and Crew of 'The Imposter' :
Will Stanbridge was a researcher for the documentary. He worked on other things such as: Breakout, Locked up abroad, Sex: How it works and he also worked as a producer for Gold Rush: Alaska.
Mike Cooper worked on the documentary as a sound recorder. He has worked on other things such as: The Book Group, Lilacs, The Tonto Woman and many more. He worked for 17 years as a freelance music recording engineer and excelled in the business by working on as many different films/projects as he could.
Águeda Balogh worked as a first assistant camera man. He was responsible for making sure that the shot never went out of focus, he was also responsible for how everything looked on screen. From 1997 he worked as a camera trainee. He took on many different roles such as the clapper loader and a camera assistant.
Finance
You can get money for a documentary by either using your own money, fundraising to earn money for it. You can get a grant, you can use product placement in your documentary, you can get sponsored for it. In some cases you don't have to pay at all to use another persons clip in your documentary. But in most cases they do want a percentage of what you have made from the documentary. Or they just want a solid amount of money. You can also get money for a documentary from bank loans.
The Impostor was produced by A&E films and funded by the BFI film fund.
It can cost a lot or a little depending on what type of song you want to use. If it's from a big production artist then you will probably be charged per clip/minute/cut basis. This is usually going to be around 4/5p per song. It's then multiplied by the number of units with a minimum fee of £200 per song. And if you add VAT onto that it's £260/275.
Locations
The Imposter interviews were filmed in Texas. The re-enactments were filmed in Spain, San Antonio and phoenix.
When they were filming they had to get permission, they did this by getting permission off the locafj council where they were filming.
They could of also gotten a filming permit. To get a filming permit you need:
1. Certificate of Insurance with specific wording for the location you are filming.
2. A brief description and or a script and storyboards of what you intend to film at the location.
3. A schedule of when you plan to shoot at that location and when you will be wrapped.
4. A parking plan for production vehicles.
5. Possibly, a check or cash for the location or the governing body of that location.
You can get money for a documentary by either using your own money, fundraising to earn money for it. You can get a grant, you can use product placement in your documentary, you can get sponsored for it. In some cases you don't have to pay at all to use another persons clip in your documentary. But in most cases they do want a percentage of what you have made from the documentary. Or they just want a solid amount of money. You can also get money for a documentary from bank loans.
The Impostor was produced by A&E films and funded by the BFI film fund.
It can cost a lot or a little depending on what type of song you want to use. If it's from a big production artist then you will probably be charged per clip/minute/cut basis. This is usually going to be around 4/5p per song. It's then multiplied by the number of units with a minimum fee of £200 per song. And if you add VAT onto that it's £260/275.
Locations
The Imposter interviews were filmed in Texas. The re-enactments were filmed in Spain, San Antonio and phoenix.
When they were filming they had to get permission, they did this by getting permission off the locafj council where they were filming.
They could of also gotten a filming permit. To get a filming permit you need:
1. Certificate of Insurance with specific wording for the location you are filming.
2. A brief description and or a script and storyboards of what you intend to film at the location.
3. A schedule of when you plan to shoot at that location and when you will be wrapped.
4. A parking plan for production vehicles.
5. Possibly, a check or cash for the location or the governing body of that location.
You may have to pay to get a film permit. Every city and state has a council or office that handles filming permits.
You get permissions to film places because if you don't it is illegal to film there and you may get into trouble. Other reasons as to why you need permission is because you want to be able to air your documentary on TV and if you don't get permissions then that's not going to happen. It's also easier to get permissions than it is to just leave it and have to keep moving where you film because you aren't allowed to film there. If you get permissions then the work flow will be smooth and continuous because you have the right to film there. It will just make it easier on everyone and overall.
Facilities
The Imposter may of used a typical HD camera, a tripod, a shotgun mic with a boom pole and a field recorder. 80% of the Imposter is made up of interviews so they would of needed to light the set properly. They would of used lights for this. Most in particular 3 point lighting so that they can illuminate the subject in question properly. They may of used filters for their lights so that the light isn't too harsh on the person. They probably used a variety of different lens. I think they used a dolly because in most of the reenactment scenes the camera wasn't in a fixed position it moved around a lot. I doubt they would of been able to get that much of a steady moving shot handheld. So they must of used a dolly. In some shots the camera is moving from quite high up. They may of used a camera crane type device to move the camera in a fast way but still steady and high up. The camera may of been put on rails during some points of the filming mainly because they want a shot where the subject stays the same amount of distance away from the camera so to keep the shot steady and professional looking they probably would of put it on a dolly and mounted it on some rails.
To make my documentary I will need a JVC video camera. A dolly, a tripod. A suitable microphone. A boom pole, lights, filters and a field recorder.
Having the right kit is important because you want to be able to film everything you need and still make it look professional. The camera needs to be the right type of camera for a documentary so that everything is a nice crisp clear quality. I get real bored watching something if the quality is bad. I can't take it seriously. This is why you need good equipment. You also need good kit that will compliment your filming style as you're making the documentary.
Materials/Copyrights
In the Imposter they used a lot of home videos and news reports. They used sound recordings from real life police conversations and show pictures of real life finger prints. To get permission to use the home videos they would of had to contact the family and check if it was okay to use them. They would of had to get the permission of everyone (apart from Nicolas) in the home video to say that they gave permission for them to be on Television. I think they would of been able to use the news reports without asking for permission because it's public and it's just giving information out. But if they did have to ask then they probably would of had to contact the news studio that did that recording and made sure that it was okay for them to use it. They might of had to pay a small fee. But more than likely they didn't have to ask. To get clearance on the FBI pictures and phone recordings they would of had to ask the FBI and get clearance from them.
In 'The Imposter' they used a song called 'Listen to the music' by The Doobie Brothers. They would of had to get clearance from the studio that owns that song or from The Doobie Brothers directly. For the other songs I'm pretty sure it was just background royalty free music. (Which means that they can just use it and not have to get clearance from anybody.)
Getting clearance on a video clip or a musical clip on something that isn't yours, means that you have permission to use it in anything you want. (As long as you have made sure that it is okay with the person/people/company that owns that clip.) At the end of the film you have to give credit to the studio/person/people that own that clip to show that you know it's their song/clip but you have got clearance on it and you are allowed to use it.
Materials/Contributors
The imposter:
Contributors/People they interviewed:
Frédéric Bourdin - The Imposter/Fake Nicolas.
Charlie Parker - PI on the case.
Carey Gibson - Nicolas' sister
Nancy Fisher - FBI Agent
Beverly Dollarhide - Nicolas' mother.
Bryan Gibson - Carey's husband.
Bruce Perry - Child Psychiatrist
Phillip French - US Consul at American Embassy (Madrid)
They definitely needed specialist advisors for this film because of the amount of facts that they gave out during the documentary. They needed to make sure that it was right information so that people couldn't call them out on getting the facts wrong. They can't just assume things they need to fully go into detail to make the most accurate and interesting documentary they can. When they said that the fake Nicolas had mental problems they can't just make it up themselves they have to actually go to a psychologist and get the proper information from them. They would of had to of made it clear to the viewers that they have gotten a specialist to help them with that information so that people don't assume they have just made it up themselves.
IMPROVEMENTS:
Personell:
To be an editor for a Documentary you will of needed a degree in editing/film studies/media or television. You would need this to prove that you are quite experienced in this area of work. It would also help to have past experience on editing other things so that the person who would be hiring you can look at it and get a first hand look at how good you actually are.
To be a Documentary researcher you would definitely need a degree in something like History/English/Science anything that would relate to the type of Documentaries you would like to do the research for. It would help if you were a very thorough, skilled investigator so that you could find out every tiny bit of information.
To be a Director you would need to of built up a portfolio of things that you have done in the past. Directors have also been know to get a degree in film so to further better themselves in the Directing role.
Finance:
There are many companies in the UK that will support Documentary makers. For example, a really popular worldrwide online company that will help you raise money and get funding for your Documentary is a website called Indiegogo.
What is Indiegogo? "At Indiegogo, creating a campaign is simple. Tell people what you are doing, how they can help and what unique perks they'll get for becoming contributors. You keep 100% ownership of your campaign and you don't owe us a cent until you raise money. Our customer happiness team is here to make sure you have the support you need any time of day."
This is a very effective way of raising money for your film. (Website: X)
This is a link to a page that gives you lots of different links to companies who will fund your Documentary. The page is ran by the British council. (X)
Locations:
Certain places require you tto have a filming permit so people know it's happening ahead of time and to film where the imposter was filmed the location scout would've had to speak to some people. For example, since the most of the imposter is filmed in Texas - San Antonio, they would of need to call Drew Mayerr-Oakes. He works at the San Antonio Film Commission. He's the Director for it. His email is: drew@filmsanantonio.com
You get permissions to film places because if you don't it is illegal to film there and you may get into trouble. Other reasons as to why you need permission is because you want to be able to air your documentary on TV and if you don't get permissions then that's not going to happen. It's also easier to get permissions than it is to just leave it and have to keep moving where you film because you aren't allowed to film there. If you get permissions then the work flow will be smooth and continuous because you have the right to film there. It will just make it easier on everyone and overall.
Facilities
The Imposter may of used a typical HD camera, a tripod, a shotgun mic with a boom pole and a field recorder. 80% of the Imposter is made up of interviews so they would of needed to light the set properly. They would of used lights for this. Most in particular 3 point lighting so that they can illuminate the subject in question properly. They may of used filters for their lights so that the light isn't too harsh on the person. They probably used a variety of different lens. I think they used a dolly because in most of the reenactment scenes the camera wasn't in a fixed position it moved around a lot. I doubt they would of been able to get that much of a steady moving shot handheld. So they must of used a dolly. In some shots the camera is moving from quite high up. They may of used a camera crane type device to move the camera in a fast way but still steady and high up. The camera may of been put on rails during some points of the filming mainly because they want a shot where the subject stays the same amount of distance away from the camera so to keep the shot steady and professional looking they probably would of put it on a dolly and mounted it on some rails.
To make my documentary I will need a JVC video camera. A dolly, a tripod. A suitable microphone. A boom pole, lights, filters and a field recorder.
Having the right kit is important because you want to be able to film everything you need and still make it look professional. The camera needs to be the right type of camera for a documentary so that everything is a nice crisp clear quality. I get real bored watching something if the quality is bad. I can't take it seriously. This is why you need good equipment. You also need good kit that will compliment your filming style as you're making the documentary.
Materials/Copyrights
In the Imposter they used a lot of home videos and news reports. They used sound recordings from real life police conversations and show pictures of real life finger prints. To get permission to use the home videos they would of had to contact the family and check if it was okay to use them. They would of had to get the permission of everyone (apart from Nicolas) in the home video to say that they gave permission for them to be on Television. I think they would of been able to use the news reports without asking for permission because it's public and it's just giving information out. But if they did have to ask then they probably would of had to contact the news studio that did that recording and made sure that it was okay for them to use it. They might of had to pay a small fee. But more than likely they didn't have to ask. To get clearance on the FBI pictures and phone recordings they would of had to ask the FBI and get clearance from them.
In 'The Imposter' they used a song called 'Listen to the music' by The Doobie Brothers. They would of had to get clearance from the studio that owns that song or from The Doobie Brothers directly. For the other songs I'm pretty sure it was just background royalty free music. (Which means that they can just use it and not have to get clearance from anybody.)
Getting clearance on a video clip or a musical clip on something that isn't yours, means that you have permission to use it in anything you want. (As long as you have made sure that it is okay with the person/people/company that owns that clip.) At the end of the film you have to give credit to the studio/person/people that own that clip to show that you know it's their song/clip but you have got clearance on it and you are allowed to use it.
Materials/Contributors
The imposter:
Contributors/People they interviewed:
Frédéric Bourdin - The Imposter/Fake Nicolas.
Charlie Parker - PI on the case.
Carey Gibson - Nicolas' sister
Nancy Fisher - FBI Agent
Beverly Dollarhide - Nicolas' mother.
Bryan Gibson - Carey's husband.
Bruce Perry - Child Psychiatrist
Phillip French - US Consul at American Embassy (Madrid)
They definitely needed specialist advisors for this film because of the amount of facts that they gave out during the documentary. They needed to make sure that it was right information so that people couldn't call them out on getting the facts wrong. They can't just assume things they need to fully go into detail to make the most accurate and interesting documentary they can. When they said that the fake Nicolas had mental problems they can't just make it up themselves they have to actually go to a psychologist and get the proper information from them. They would of had to of made it clear to the viewers that they have gotten a specialist to help them with that information so that people don't assume they have just made it up themselves.
IMPROVEMENTS:
Personell:
To be an editor for a Documentary you will of needed a degree in editing/film studies/media or television. You would need this to prove that you are quite experienced in this area of work. It would also help to have past experience on editing other things so that the person who would be hiring you can look at it and get a first hand look at how good you actually are.
To be a Documentary researcher you would definitely need a degree in something like History/English/Science anything that would relate to the type of Documentaries you would like to do the research for. It would help if you were a very thorough, skilled investigator so that you could find out every tiny bit of information.
To be a Director you would need to of built up a portfolio of things that you have done in the past. Directors have also been know to get a degree in film so to further better themselves in the Directing role.
Finance:
There are many companies in the UK that will support Documentary makers. For example, a really popular worldrwide online company that will help you raise money and get funding for your Documentary is a website called Indiegogo.
What is Indiegogo? "At Indiegogo, creating a campaign is simple. Tell people what you are doing, how they can help and what unique perks they'll get for becoming contributors. You keep 100% ownership of your campaign and you don't owe us a cent until you raise money. Our customer happiness team is here to make sure you have the support you need any time of day."
This is a very effective way of raising money for your film. (Website: X)
This is a link to a page that gives you lots of different links to companies who will fund your Documentary. The page is ran by the British council. (X)
Locations:
Certain places require you tto have a filming permit so people know it's happening ahead of time and to film where the imposter was filmed the location scout would've had to speak to some people. For example, since the most of the imposter is filmed in Texas - San Antonio, they would of need to call Drew Mayerr-Oakes. He works at the San Antonio Film Commission. He's the Director for it. His email is: drew@filmsanantonio.com
Facilities:
Currently in the industry you need a lot of HD equipment. People nowadays expect things to look good and to be of quality. This definitely means that you will need to let quite a bit of money go towards the equipment you buy to film your Documentary.
Here is a blog post somebody wrote about 'The best Cameras for shooting a Documentary (x)'
In their blog post they mention many different types of Camera and give many different reasons as to why this would be the best to use.
For example a cinematic camera: An Alexa, a Red Epic, a Blackmagic Cinema Camera or a Sony F55.
They say that this would be the best type of Camera to use for a nature Documentary as it is very high quality and it would increase the production value by a great amount. But the downside to it is that it would also take a lot of time to set up. This would not be good for some types of documentaries. For example, nature documentaries. This would not be good for nature Documentaries because of the fact that when filming a nature documentary you need the element of surprise.
The specs of the ALEXA camera are:
- Film-like, organic look
- Wide exposure latitude
- 14 stops over the entire EI range as measured with the ARRI Dynamic Range Test Chart
- extended, clean highlights
- extremely low noise floor
- High sensitivity
- base EI 800
- adjustable from EI 160 to EI 3200
- ARRI color science
- natural color reproduction, especially for skin tones
- excellent color separation
- holds up very well when over or underexposed
- Sharp, natural images for HD, 2K or 4K deliverables
So, moving on to specialist equipment you would need. For example,
Like I said before a nature Documentary would need a lot of specialist equipment so that it can get the right footage. A documentary filmed in the jungle, aiming to capture quick moving, easily scared animals, would need a lot of different types of lenses. Ones that are good for focusing in on things for example macro lenses. You would also definitely need something to help you blend in with the trees. When filming high up things or birds eye view shots you would need a really tall crane to help move the camera at a steady place, or a helicopter.
The hire rates for cameras in the UK can range from £1500 if you are using a basic crew and you don't need any specialist equipment. You can get away with a not very good camera. Or a lot of money if you do need specialist equipment.
In the Documentary Frozen Planet they used underwater cameras to film the fish. These cameras cost up to £469 (Sea life DC 4100 HD) sometimes maybe more.
It is very important to stick to your shooting schedule so that no money is wasted. "Time is money" basically means that since you're renting out the equipment to buy per hour you want to get as much filmed as you can in that time you have it so you are not wasting any more money.
The Documentary 'A long and winding road' is about The Beatles. In this Documentary they have used music from The Beatles. To be able to play their music without getting into law trouble they would of had to contact people from the record label in which The Beatles were signed to.
Now though, they could be old enough to be able to be used in films/documentaries and copyright laws may not apply to them.
But I'm sure that this is not the case, you would definitely need to go and find out the names of the company that published their songs and contact them.
PRS: "PRS for Music is home to the world's best music writers, composers and publishers. Formed in 1997, PRS for Music Limited (formerly known as The MCPS-PRS Alliance) adopted the PRS for Music brand in 2009. The organisation brings together two royalty collection societies; MCPS and PRS. We exist to collect and pay royalties to our members when their music is exploited in one of a number of ways – when it is recorded onto any format and distributed to the public, performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online."
This basically means that PRS is a copyright service that helps music get taken down if it is put up illegally when the producer of said music does not want it to be.
You should try to find things that are royalty free because if things aren't royalty free then it's a lot of hassle to try and get permission to use that music. Royalty free music basically is just music that you can use whenever and wherever without getting permission from anyone. You also don't have to pay anything to use it. (Usually)
Now though, they could be old enough to be able to be used in films/documentaries and copyright laws may not apply to them.
But I'm sure that this is not the case, you would definitely need to go and find out the names of the company that published their songs and contact them.
PRS: "PRS for Music is home to the world's best music writers, composers and publishers. Formed in 1997, PRS for Music Limited (formerly known as The MCPS-PRS Alliance) adopted the PRS for Music brand in 2009. The organisation brings together two royalty collection societies; MCPS and PRS. We exist to collect and pay royalties to our members when their music is exploited in one of a number of ways – when it is recorded onto any format and distributed to the public, performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online."
This basically means that PRS is a copyright service that helps music get taken down if it is put up illegally when the producer of said music does not want it to be.
You should try to find things that are royalty free because if things aren't royalty free then it's a lot of hassle to try and get permission to use that music. Royalty free music basically is just music that you can use whenever and wherever without getting permission from anyone. You also don't have to pay anything to use it. (Usually)
Monday, 4 November 2013
Steph Production Diary Answers
1) What was the first thing the production had to do?
To kick the project off, we first had to get project approval from BBC Fiction and BBC Training heads.
We then welcomed staff in Fiction to apply for particular roles and based on their experience and enthusiasm for the role the trainees were appointed.
3) How did they find the right location?
4) When did they do the recce?
August
1 MONTH UNTIL SHOOT
5) What kit did they need?
Panasonic HD Varicam
7) What cost or quote did the production get that was 'through the roof'?
8) On what day in the directors diary did they get 'severely behind schedule'?
Shoot Day 1 - Wednesday 5th September
Unit 26 Assignment 2 Final feedback
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzjVcOxZw3pIeHNEY1hIdHV3am8/edit?usp=drive_web
I understand the feedback I have gotten and aim to keep up my distinctions.
I understand the feedback I have gotten and aim to keep up my distinctions.
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