Week Two - Photojournalism documentary and documentary modes:
- Introduced to documentary photojournalism and photojournalists. Learnt that photojournalists did not always capture moments, but sometimes set up their subject to look a certain way and staged images.
- Reminded that documentaries take us to worlds we wouldn't normally go, and that looking at others' lives is a way of escaping our own.
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Reviewed different modes of documentary:
Expository: Features a 'Voice of God' narrator, usually a middle aged male voice to convey authority. Typical of the 1930's
Observational: Advances in technology lead to a reduction in camera size, making them easier to transport. This allowed the filmmakers to be less intrusve and obtain more natural footage. Observational documentaries simply 'observe' events, and usually use long shots to give a feeling of realism.
Poetic: Is a mode which transforms historical material into an abstract form. Typical of the 1920's and modernist ideas.
Participatory: Shows an encounter between the filmmaker and the subject on film, thus making the viewer aware of the filmmaker, who is then recorded whilst actively engaging in issues being documented. The filmmaker is also seen asking the interviewee questions.
Reflexive: Actively engages with issue of realism and representation, and makes them apparent, thus challenging the impression of the other modes of documentary whilst acknowledging the viewer. Typical of the 1950's due to technological advances?
Perfomative: Like the reflexive mode, raises questions about knowledge and representation, whilst acknowledging the emotional and subjective aspects. Can often present ideas so that they give different meanings for different people.
Out of lecture reading included research on John Grierson and Griersonian documentaries. Grierson first coined the phrase 'documentary' as a term to define a non-fiction film, in addition to 'the creative treatment of actuality'.
Week Three - Canon 450D workshop:
- Introduced to Canon 450D cameras
- Shown how to change the settings on the camera to give different: Depths of field, Focus points, Shutter speed and ISO setting depending on lighting conditions.
- Taught how changing any one of these settings achieves a new effect, and how each of these can be used to convey a certain meaning.
Out of lecture reading included downloading and reviewing the Canon 400D/450D Visual guide, available Here. This described the basic instructions for the cameras and helped develop understanding in the different settings featured.
Week Four - Website development:
- No lecture to attend, instead met up as a group and spent time developing the website.
- We also met up for a second day to practice using the Canon 450D's and adjusting to using the different settings.
Out of lecture reading included briefly reading parts of What third world? Changing photographic representation of international news in Slovene elite press, available to read Here, which outlines the problems with regulations and the media.
Week Five - Advanced Photoshop workshop:
- Re-introduced to Photoshop, firstly as a refresher from last year, in addition to being introduced to RAW editing using RAW images.
- Shown how to create and save XMP files which allow you to edit an image without defacing the original file.
- Learnt the industry standard for various platforms:
Television standard resolution = 72 DPI - Doesn't matter about pixels
Cinemas/overheads = 6000 DPI
Online/MediaStorm industry standard = 350 DPI
Magnum industry standard = 180 DPI
Week Six - PD170 training:
- Advanced camera training using Sony PD170 cameras, recapping how to use each of the settings and finding aesthetically pleasing shots.
- Learned the history of production companies and their growth in the UK over the past 50 years.
- Overview of technological advances within the industry.
Out of lecture reading included downloading and reading parts of How real is the reality in documentary film? from the learning network, an interview which outlines the problems faced once you label your work a documentary and the interpretive nature of what is being shown.
Week Seven - Presentation preparation:
- Went into further depth into what is expected of our group presentations/pitches. Notable information included that each pitch has to be between 10 and 15 minutes, and that groups were to be expected to answer questions for a further 5 minutes after. The presentation must include examples of promotional materials made by the group across various platforms (i.e. Posters, Promotional videos, flyers etc.). In addition to this, the mode of the documentary must be outlined.
Week Eight - Final Cut Pro workshop:
- Introduced to Final Cut Pro.
- Shown that organising work into folders, or 'bins', is best for arranging media files.
- Reviewed tools on editing, how to use them, and the best ways to use them.
- Reminded that the European video system is PAL, therefore this setting would be used when editing our productions.
Out of lecture reading and useful links:Aesthetics of Realism - This PDF is an article which outlines the introduction of hybrid documentaries. It also explains how advances in technology have blurred the lines between reality and fiction within documentaries, and that we, as viewers, cannot trust everything we are shown or told. I found this useful as it helps to understand that some documentary practitioners may try to convince the audience that what they are seeing is the truth through the use of certain techniques and disguising fictional events.
Final Cut Pro user guide - This guide proved useful as it helped outline the best ways to use Final Cut Pro and adjust to how it operates. This was also helpful as a refresher between projects, should anything outlined in the lecture be forgotten.
Week Nine - Further documentaries:
- Watched the beginning of the documentary Biggie and Tupac. This was shown to us in order to help us take note of the decisive moment and various techniques the film employed to attract the audience's interest.
- Told about what previous year's students used in their pitches in order to capture the audiences attention.
Week Ten - Final Cut Pro workshop 2:
- Second workshop using Final Cut Pro. Went into further depth on using text within our post-production. This lecture outlined the importance of have legible text and ways to overcome continuity errors within captions. For example, if you are using white text and an interviewee is wearing a white shirt, rather than changing the colour of the text for each interview, using a banner allows the same style to be used in each shot.
Week Eleven - Documentary pitches:
- The lecture was split into half, some groups pitched their ideas during this week whereas others would be scheduled to do so next week.
- Our group was in the half to present during this week. After putting forward our idea the class was encouraged to ask questions regarding our idea. From the feedback given we we able to learn a lot in terms of where our idea should be taken, should we continue with the 2012 theme. One particular criticism was the fact the documentary may end up being similar to other 2012 documentaries, simply stating a range of facts. From this, we learnt that the best way to create our documentary would be to find just one ordinary person and follow them as we see how the idea of 2012 has influence their life.
Week Twelve - Documentary pitches continued:
- The second half of the groups presented their ideas for documentaries and provided supporting promotional material for them.
- Main competitors for U-doc festival were outlined and the group discussed ways to make our film unique and to the highest standard.
