When we thought out our two minute piece we only imagined what it would look like writing down the various angles and actions we wanted from Tango. Paul created a Storyboard so we all fully understand what it is we are showing and want to capture.
This was a much clearer indication as to what we are going to capture on the day.
PITCH
We are quite lucky as a group because from the first meeting we knew what we wanted to document. Paul and Hannah did the brilliant job of sending out emails and requests early to ensure we could actually document this piece. From the word go we haven't stopped working until we have fully got the permission and the interviewees. Even though we filmed some of our work before we had the chance to pitch we all felt confident that our piece would be well received. Also, we were very early in filming and if anything needed re-doing we would be happy, and have the time to go out again to capture it
Overall the Pitch was easy to create as we knew what our idea is and have everything planned.
Overall Pitch presentation
Our idea was well met with our tutor and documentary group. A couple of people asked if we had permission to film the things we want to capture, to which we do, apart from the consent to film within Sheffield Wednesday ground. We were pleased that people though our piece was an innovative and creative.
Today I booked out the necessary equipment I would need for the shoot;
Marantz with microphone,
Long XLR cable,
Rifle Mic,
Lapel Mic,
and Boom Pole.
Since I haven't used this equipment in a while I thought I would get to grips and do some simple recordings.
I looked in to the preset settings for the Marantz and what needs to be set up to get it to work properly.
I also learnt some techniques on how to record sound using the Rifle Mic connected to the Boom pole,
i.e Point Mic towards chin + chest Never Point Mic underneath (scooping)
Make sure boom cable is secure around boom pole to prevent slapping. Stay away from loud noises.
Show audience background noise to avoid frustration of not knowing where they are.
Recording levels- 0db or higher will peak (too loud)
Head Room between -3db- -12db (aim levels towards -12db)
I also looked at various websites for more in depth information to fully understand the mic.
As I am the sound recordist I wanted to update myself on the equipment and the do's and dont's.
I have never operated with sound and thought I would give it a go, instead of being ignorant and watching other people operate with it I wanted to do it first hand and solve the problems that I will come face to face with. Sound isn't something that I am wanting to do but I know sound is a crucial part to any film making.
Possibly not important but I looked in to the pick up direction of different types of microphones.
Microphone Types Lapel Mics;
Lapel mics create high quality sound, they are consistent and sound rejecting. An interviewee should have their own lapel mic in the correct position.
The disadvantage is that they are slower and more difficult to set up. Also, if the mic position does happen to go awry, the interview may have to be interrupted to fix it.
Boom Mics;
Microphones placed on a boom arm are very versatile and are used in both studio and mobile settings. The main advantage is that the interviewee participants don't need to be rigged for audio or worry about mics, and the sound operator is in full control. The microphone is usually a shotgun (very directional) mic which can easily be pointed to any speaker or other sound.
The boom operator and camera operator need to work together to make sure the mic stays out of camera shot.
From my experience the only disadvantages of a Boom Mic is the amount of wiring needed to coil around the boom pole, it can become loose and is very annoying. Also, the wiring can sometimes swing knocking the boom pole and this sound can be picked up.
PZM (Pressure Zone) Mics
PZM mics are useful when a number of participants are seated around a table. The mic is placed in the middle of the table and can pick up all speakers.
Radio Mics
This type of microphone can be plugged into a small battery-powered radio transmitter and sent to a receiver at the recording end. This frees the interviewer and guest from the restraints of audio cables. It also means the participants can be a long way from the camera (which would obviously be on a long zoom).
Built-in Camera Mic
This sound was recommended but only in desperate situations. I would advise anyone not to use this kind of mic as it is unlikely to produce good interview sound.
Whilst educating ourselves on Poetic Documentary types, we were introduced to a film 'Listen to Britain' (1942) created by Humphrey Jennings. Jennings films a number of events/scenes representative of wartime Britain, however, he does not use any narration or commentary, he doesn't even use a musical score.
Jennings recorded sound alone often more amplified to convey a mood. These sounds are the narrative drive for the film.
The film was produced by British Government's Ministry of Information to support the allied war effort, this film was used as propaganda, but Jennings chose to hide this with ambiguity. From the visuals, Jennings wanted to show allies that the British people were fine and they don't need any help, they were infact coping with the viciousness of the world war. Jim Leach, a writer and editor for the book 'Reading Documentaries', quotes, 'Humphrey Jennings films have been recognised as key examples of 'poetic' style whose beautiful images and striking montage effects seem to challenge John Grierson's emphasis on the social purpose of Documentary. ' Also in the book, Jim leach quotes Edgar Antesy, one of Humphreys colleagues, who said, ' This film is a work of beauty which "will not encourage anyone to do anything at all'.
Looking at this type of documentary made me think about what we are trying to perceive with our work. We were defiantly not trying to cause/create propaganda. We needed to think about what we want to perceive to our audience, what we are trying to show them.
Meeting
We had another meeting and I brought up 'what we are trying to show our audience', do we want to stir an emotion, create an opinion, prove a fact?. With our two minute poetic piece Hannah (being Director) wanted a narrator talking about Tango Man. We dont reveal this character but just show parts of his face, his legs and arms. The narrator will tell us (the audience) about some emotional facts about this mans life, whether it be he lost a loved one, losing his job, why he is single, what he wanted to be when he was younger, did he achieve it?, is he happy and so on. (We have asked permission from Tango Man if he will be okay with us asking these questions and he is more than happier to help). We want the audience to be confused and quite ambigious as to who this man is and why we should be talking about these quite morbid facts. This will last for 1 minute.
For the next minute of our piece, the narrator will finish the commentary and the camera will look up at the 'Sheffield Wednesday Ground logo'. The narrator will then say Tango mans name and we will have a full portrait view of who he is, revealing him to the audience. We will then add a montage of footage viewing Tango Man as he is embraces with fans. We want to show him being loud and taking off his top, we will then view him goading on the crowds in to an innocent chant and showing him drinking with his friends, throughout this we will be viewing from a distance not invading his space as he may not act this way with a camera in his face.
Hannah came up with this idea because she wanted a contrast of two sides to 'Tango Man', for this we will be looking at more in the longer project. One side will show him away from the fans and football, and another side embraced with his friends and showing why he is so famous with everyone.
We worked out that we want to show the audience this mans way of having fun and his love of supporting a football team, some people are negative towards him but we want to show/prove to them that he has a softer side, and that deep down he is a hardworking man who likes to have a bit of innocent fun now and then. We want an interview with him to understand why he does what he does, does he know hes famous among the crowds and his opinions and views.
Inspiration
Whilst watching the Humphrey Jennings 'Listen to Britain' it made me think about the atmospheric sounds of a football match. Apart from the interviews the atmos sounds are mandatory to record. Without these sounds the film wouldn't have its football feel and I was keen to make sure we gathered plenty.
A lot of the time the sounds are jumbled and its
difficult to pick out one sound. But having been to match days before there is
a multitude such as chanting, singing, swearing, peoples talking, whistling,
instruments played, and the band. You also hear women screaming and children
shouting with the referee blowing his whistle. Even though these seem
simple the crowds change their shouting when something happens on the pitch,
for example if someone falls down or gets tackled the crowd either heckle or
the shouting gets intimidating. If the crowds think a fowl is wrong they begin
to shout and swear and jeer. I want to capture each of these if possible and in
order for me to do so I will need the rifle mic to directly pick up each source
in the grounds.
I found a youtube clip isolating some of these sounds.
References
Keith Grant, B. and Sloniowski, J. (1998) Documenting the Documentary: close readings of Documentary Film and Video, Detroit, Michigan: Wayne state university. (pg. 154-158)
GoProZz, 2012. Football Match- The sights and sounds [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwIy-8zATgU [Accessed 4th May 2013]
YouSoundTube88, 2010. Football Sound (Sound Effects) [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FUGsIHd-WA [Accessed 4th May 2013]
Paul decided to email quite a few contacts to see what responses we could get, but we also wanted a back up project if the main project was to be held back by something. He emailed the RSPCA, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and the charity for the Armed Forces. Luckily Sheffield Wednesday got in contact about 'Tango Man'. We found out his name and the club happily gave us his phone number and that he was interested in being in the documentary.
This was great news and we started to plan out the two minute poetic documentary. We wanted to gather more information on 'Tango Man'.
There is no valid information on 'Tango Man' other than comments or publishings of him in 'The Star' or other local newspapers. Through these newspaper articles Hannah found out that he is from Wolverhampton and is a huge fan of Sheffield Wednesday team. In some of the newspapers, quotes from the public and Sheffield Wednesday fans described him as a show off whilst others said he was a a legend. Apparently Tango is banned from various grounds such as Barnsley and Plymouth Argyle for taking his top off and other minor offences. Some of his friends say that he is confident and harmless and is often seen as the teams mascot.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Whilst looking at various inspirations I came across a short documentary documenting the life of an avid Portsmouth fan. The story follows John' Portsmouth Football Club' Westwood and documents about his life as a fan at the match and his personal life.
The documentary takes a observational approach and there is no interference from the interviewer. At the beginning of the piece there is two supporters of Portsmouth who know John and praise him. The documentary then shows John drinking with friends and dressed up in his costume on his way to the match. A fan over the top of these shots praises John and all he does.
We then see shots of the Portsmouth stadium and logos. It then concludes with an interview with John himself who is dressed in a shirt and tie completely opposite to the attire he wore before telling us how
and when he became a fan and why he will always remain a fan.
The next sequence shows John outside a bookshop smoking, the interview then goes inside the bookshop and John explains that he has a huge passion for books and they are his life. He also explains how he got his name changed by deed poll.
The documentary then moves to Johns house and shows his huge collection of Portsmouth memorabilia. John explains that he collects anything and everything to do with the club, he moves on to talk about his tattoos and how he was scared of needles but once he got the courage he covered himself with them, most of them being Portsmouth logos.
We then go back to John in the stadium and he explains that he has been kicked out of multiple stadiums. He explains why and thinks its the fact that he stands out and is very passionate about his team. The short then goes back to Johns house and he talks about his personal life, especially his divorce from his wife (because of football), right at the end of the film John gets a phone call from his mum and he says he will pick her up soon.
Overall I thought the short was very sweet and informative about this man. It doesn't explain anywhere what the documentary is about and I just guessed it was looking in to the life of John. The approach they took was very pro and I thought maybe an argument should have been applied to give it a bit more appeal. John seemed like a very unusual character and it was good to see his softer more laid back side because it was quite a shock to see him working in a book shop, especially from seeing him at the beginning of the short all dressed up looking intimidating, swearing, singing and jumping around.
I like how it was shot especially when he was talking about something the camera went straight to it so we had an understanding as to what he is on about. I also liked the change in music especially when he was explaining how he is single and lives alone, as it changed to a more sadder tone and then went straight in to loud abrasive music when he was at the match.
Some of the shots were ambiguous and didn't really signify anything. I would have preferred to see more of him at the game or at a different location whilst he was dressed up.
Looking at this piece has inspired me in to thinking about ours a lot more, especially as ours is about Tango's good side and his avid fan side. We need to look at camera angles and fins out what we want to use as an emotive.
To keep in contact we set up a Facebook account just for our group. Through past experience this is the best way to keep in contact, we also exchanged numbers just incase one of us couldn't get to Facebook.
We were asked to get in to a group of about 5 people, a minimum of 3. I joined together with Hannah, joe, Jacob and Paul. Instead of discussing what to do and who will do what in a noisy environment we arranged a meet up later in the week when everyone was free.
The First Meet:
We met after a lesson and decided to go over roles. Paul expressed earlier that he was interested in being Producer, I thought that he would be suitable for this if he was raring to do it. Hanna and myself over the christmas period actually discussed ideas and roles for ourselves, she wanted to be Director to have a taster as to what its like. Jacob is doing the cinematography module and was interested being cameraman and Joe agreed to be editor as he is doing Post Production. I didn't mind what I did but I have already been Producer, director and cameraman for other projects and wanted to try something different. Even though I am not doing sound or interested in it I thought it would be a good idea to practice with it (and the fact everyone was adamant not to do it), I also expressed that I would like to be Art director as well as I am currently enrolled on to the Creative Project Realisation strand.
With this sorted we decided to move on to various ideas. I wanted to film in the RSPCA in sheffield. I am interested in how the RSPCA is coping with the financial struggles at the moment and wanted to know more. I often visit the centre and have even adopted a cat from there. Throughout the centre posters are up explaining that it is mostly run by public donations, and that volunteers are wanted as they would struggle to pay staff wages. I am outraged by the fact that animal charities have no backing by the government and its mostly the public that keep these facilities a float, animals have no voices and are often treated with horrific abuse, abandonment or riddled with illnesses that their owners cannot afford. These are occurring more and more and with the cuts animal rescues are struggling to go out there and save them. I had an idea that with this documentary I would use interviews from staff, visitors and even try to go along with the staff that leave the facility to pick up animals. I would ask an array of questions such as, How is the facility coping? Are you struggling? What would benefit this facility? Is there enough staff?, What questions would you ask a local MP and so on. I would try to stir an emotion with my audience by filming many of the animals throughout the centre and give an insight in to how they have come to be here and what is the future for them.
I expressed this idea and it was well met by my group, we took it in turns to represent each idea and how we would capture it, what we wanted to get from this theme and how difficult it would be to film.
Paul wanted to document the lack of support for people who leave or get let out of the army and how they struggle once they do leave, he found out that many of these people are left homeless because of the lack of help and funding to get them in to jobs.
Joe wanted to document his grandfather talking about his experience in the D-day. He wanted to capture an array of people who have experienced the trauma of that day.
Jacob wanted to document the current climate and how it is affecting local businesses and chains and what is going to be left for the future.
Hannah wanted to document 'Tango Man', who is a huge Sheffield United supporter from Wolverhampton. She found out that this man is famous for supporting the blades and is often seen as an icon among the fans, he attends every match with his wheelchair bound friend. She wanted to find out all about him and his life in and out of football.
With each idea expressed we wanted to have a vote on the top three and then whittle it down on which would be the most realistic to film.
We went around the table voting only two, however we couldn't vote our own.
After much discussion the remaining three were, Tango Man, RSPCA, and the help for heroes.
After much discussion we decided that 'Tango Man' would be the most realistic and adventurous out of the lot to film. We were all happy with this idea as we thought it would be different and quite affective finding out about this mans personal life in and out of Sheffield United stadium.
