Throughout the course of this project I have learned a great deal of information about the production process and values of documentary filmmaking. I have also learnt about the relationship between photojournalism and documentary and how they can mix in a stills film. My professional conduct as a media practitioner has also improved with the work I have undertaken in this module.
The first research I undertook was orientated around my initial ideas (Mass Commute and Bouncers), I believe this was a good starting point because I had yet to fully understand the modes and styles of documentary which meant I watched similar films with an aspects of how the audience would view our potential documentary, this allowed me to get a first impression of how good the idea was. Learning about the documentary modes focused my ideas down to a direct style (Poetic and expository) although it benefited my ability in explaining the idea to my group I found that it made me narrow minded, and reflecting on it I was less open to ideas that involved different modes. Overall my research into documentary and photojournalism was productive in widening my knowledge of the genre. I found that looking into individual aspects of a documentary taught me a lot more about the production values, this specific research also informed my concepts around our chosen topic. Through my research into Educating Essex I learned about stationary camera setups that we plan to use in our Cabbie documentary.
The structure of our group was very clear from day one, which meant in the early planning stages we progressed very quickly. The best element from our group dynamics was our regular meetings within the first four weeks, in this time we planned our idea and contacted a primary source (The docks). However this good progression did not last, while waiting for a response from the Docks we rarely met and the time was spent developing our individual pages. Although we felt we benefited from this short break in the long run it damaged our project, we should have used the time to develop a backup idea. Once the confirmation from the docks came through telling us that we could not film we were stuck with second-rate ideas that did not have enough depth. Overall we worked well as a team, we adapted well to changing conditions and acted quickly to save our project. When it came to contacting our primary for the taxi idea we took no chances, we took everything we learned from our experience with the docks and applied it. We kept in contact with the taxi driver via phone calls and arranged to meet him to discuss the possibilities of the documentary. Meeting Mohammad (taxi driver) in person was the best group decision we made during this project, it allowed us to build a relationship with our primary and get him enthusiastic about the project.
My role within the group was listed as sound designer, however I undertook a number of other mini roles to help ensure we had sufficient work done to progress our ideas further. I helped to design some of the promotional material from the business cards to the high visibility waistcoats. I found that when it came to producing promotional material and conducting group work our team lacked communication, we would often make items and carry out group research without consulting the group which seemed acceptable at the time however it began to cause problems when two group members did the same task without knowing it. This highlighted a generic underlying problem within our group, disorganization. We could have improved this by having regular meetings each week and sub tasks allocated to group members to undertake between each meeting. I think I worked well at creating items for our group, I produced the teaser poster which set our colour theme for the documentary (Black and yellow). I believe my research into bullet cameras and microphone setups will be essential for our group to understand because it has become a large part of our concept. This research forced me to contact specialists in the field to ask advice on which equipment to invest in, extending my professional conduct and making me more confident with my researching techniques.
The technical design of the sound and camera was left as an afterthought when planning the taxi driver documentary. It was not until we had feedback on our idea from an internet forum that pointed out how filming could become an issue as we would not be able to capture true reality with a camera crew in the taxi. We soon began thinking about ways to film without the need of a crew but the fact that we had not thought of this beforehand showed how poorly we were working as a group in the early stages of our project. My technical design page covered different aspects of my productive design work, I included my development of the company logo and how it was created using Photoshop, I also included elements about camera and sound which I thought would help push our production forward.
My new media application page explores my use of mediums to promote the documentary, I felt this was another area where my contribution was important to the groups development. I took an active role in creating high visibility vests for the crew to wear on shoot, these vests are essential for safety reasons and also help promote our production company, this idea of integrating a brand image into our work came from one of our first meetings where we decided that if we are acting professional then we are going to have to look professional. The one area of my website that I feel I underperformed at was my photo essay. I feel that my images were too passive and did not engage or explore a narrative or subject, this ultimately lead to a photo-essay that lacked depth and structure and amassed to a collection of images of Portsmouth Harbor.
I found that this module has helped develop me as a practitioner and has given me a platform to expand my creative and technical abilities. I found the course has pushed me to new levels, which is visible from the work that I am currently producing. Although there are a few areas of improvement I felt that my work helped my production team in its goal of planning an original documentary.
