 | Research |
Rights to Use Music - Sam Henshaw
I began thinking about the soundtrack I thought would most suit our documentary and came across a few artists that I thought would suit the emotional tone and pace of our film. I wanted to find high tempo tracks with an urban feel to work with how I imagine the visuals of our taxi film.
Bands such as Vondelpark, James Blake and Foals all have this desired emotion so below are the emails I sent to the contacts I could find. Vondelpark are a relatively young band and seemingly have to official point of contact so I sent a message to their YouTube channel, but I am yet to find have a response.
Recently began dicussion with the agent of artist James Blake.
Here is my ongoing conversation with a representative of the band Foals.
Documentary Research by Charlotte Savage
Ocom Rules
In order to create a successful documentary thats ready for film festivals as director I must make sure that whilst making our documentary we must follow the Ofcom Rules such as;
Rule 2.2 Material Missleadingness: It is very important that our documentary misleads the audience causing offence or harm. We may also have to be careful when interviewing people or in editing as if something is said that may cause harm or offence to the audience.
Rule 2.3 Context and Information/ Offensive Language: We must be aware that if the content of our documentary contains offensive language, scenes of a sexual nature or discriminating treatmeant towards issues relating to age, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender or religion from anyone we are interviewing we must inform the audience prior to viewing. However, if we as documentary makers were to show discrimination towards any of these issues we would be braking ofcom rules and our documentary could not be broadcast or entered into film festivals. As it possible that we maybe focusing our documentary on a person whose has been effected by his race and religion (Day in the life of a taxi driver) we need to be fully aware of this rule.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/guidance/831193/section2.pdf
Rule 5.9 Alternative view points: this rule states that different view points may be achieved in different programme, therefore this means that if an interviewee expresses an alterative oppinion we are allowed to show it, however we must consider and refer back to rule 2.3.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/guidance/831193/section5.pdf
8.22 Persons under the age of sixteen and vulnerable people: If we interview a person thatis underage or a vulnerable person, as a production team we must ensure that we recieve the correct signed permission forms .eg pernet or gaurdian.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/guidance/831193/section8.pdf
Week 7 Documentary language:
This week we spent some time during lecture looking at documentaries and breaking down the composition of the film to understand techniques used by documentary practitioners that enhance the viewing experience. We looked at a couple of BBC documentaries, 'Wonderland: The British in Bed' and 'Horizon' to sample some of the filming and editing techniques.
POV shots: Point of view shots are used because they portray the subjects perspective to the audience, not just from a literal point but from a psychological angle. A good example of this would be the rose petal scene from 'America Beauty' where Lister is looking up from his bed at what appears to be the ceiling, however it then cuts to a POV and we see he's looking at his mental image of Angela, this puts the audience in the main characters position which subconsciously builds up a connection to the character. As our documentary will have many characters and we are trying to show the life of the docks and the people that work there I believe that we should explore the use of POV because it could prove a useful device to build a character audience relationship.
Voice of God: The voice of God usually take the form of a narrator, it is used to inform and direct the audience about the content of the footage. We feel our documentary would not benefit from a narrator or presenter as we want the dock workers and imagery to be our main form of communication with the audience, this is because it allows wider audience interpretation. As our documentary is observational it is important for us that the audience can draw its own conclusions about the film rather than us manipulating it via post production.
Experts: An experts opinion or input is crucial in all documentaries as it forms the basis of reality for the audience, if a documentary film did not have the expert element the audience would not be convinced by anything they see in the film. Usually the expert element is in the form of a interview where the person talks about the subject while cut away footage is put over the top to keep it visually interesting. In our documentary the expert element will be in the form of the dock workers and everybody at the docks that we film.
Recurring imagery: Repetitive imagery is used in documentary to convey the importance of an event or subject to the audience. An example of this is the documentary '9/11 The falling man' in which a photograph of a man falling from the burning towers is repeatedly show throughout the documentary, although this the subject of the film every time a new theory or question is asked in the film the footage cuts back to the photo, often lingering while the narrator poses a new answer. As our documentary is in a linear form I think the use of recurring imagery is limited.
Second unit: A second unit is a camera (and sometimes sound) team that captures footage that the main production team wouldn't be able to. Second units focus on subjects that are missed by the main camera, for example if a production team were conducting an interview of a executive in an office a second unit might be filming the colleagues around him and their reactions to what he is saying. From our production teams point of view we know that we are going to need multiple second units, as we are trying to capture the workings of a large dock we are going to have to cover several locations.
Structure: The structure of 'Life in a Day' follows a simple linear pattern which goes from morning to day and ends at night. The beginning of the film starts slowly, with slow paced music and long clips, this slow pace represents the lack of activity in the early hours of the morning. A notable element of the film is the continuation of sound from one clip running over several, this creates a link between two unrelated pieces of footage.
After watching this film there are a number of characteristics which could be incorporated into our concept. The first element is the linear narrative which runs from the early morning to late at night, I would like to see this in our film as it gives a definitive structure to the piece which is universally recongnised. I would also like to look into our use of music in the documentary to manipulate pace and atmosphere, I think the music in 'Life in a Day' worked well because it matched the pace of the footage.
IDEAS RESEARCH - BY MARTIN WILDE
For some of the ideas I wanted to conduct some primary research on what could be our potential target audience on Yahoo! Answers.
In this question I ask about an idea we had about doing a documentary at Waterloo Station. The feedback we got was mostly negative and although it was not a very specific question to ask, people didn't seem very interested about the subject in general as a whole.
In general this question gave us an insight in what the public out there want to watch. Only a few would like it. However if we were to better market a documentary and appeal to the wider audience we would have to make in such a way that would appeal to the mass audience. Especially if we want to win film festivals.
I then asked a question about our best idea we had and feedback was mostly positive. But the general consensus was that we would have to do it in a certain way to make it different to others as it has been done a few times.
Ideas Research By Charlotte Savage
Fishermen
Unfortunatly we received a reply form Southampton docks stating that we would not be able to film our documentary there. However, after a gorup diccusion we then decided to look in to basing our documentary around the idea of 'A Day in the Life of a Fisherman'. Therefore we decided to follow up on this idea to see if ther would be any fisherman interested in helping to make this documentary.
http://www.ukcommercialfishing.com/: Website that could possibly help us to find a suitable subject to follow. Also incudes shell diving witch could prove to be quite interesting when talking to the divers.
http://www.careerbuilder.co.uk/Article/CB-127-Job-Search-Britains-Most-Dangerous-Jobs/
From this research we could create an unbias investigation into how dangerous the angerling business really is and what sacrifices the men and women involved have to make.
Taxi Drivers and Pakistani Culture
http://www.winchester-taxis.com/?gclid=CL-EyrKs2awCFYYPfAodCU11qQ
http://www.wintaxcarsltd.co.uk/
Even though we already have a primary for our 'Day In The Life of a Taxi Driver' documentary, I feel that in oredr to really get an in depth knowledge of what its like to be a taxi driver we would need secondary sources of information. Therefore, by using the links to taxi firms above, we can contact other taxi drivers to see if they would be interested in giving informationation for our documentary. As well as this I also feel that it would be beneficial to speek to a manager of a taxi firm in oredr to gain a wider understanding of how taxi firms are run.
http://dictionary.sensagent.com/taxi+wars+in+south+africa/en-en/
From researching in to conflict betwwen taxi drivers, i was abe to find that in south africa there are many 'Taxi Wars' between different taxi firms. This has made me wonder whether these 'Wars' are also apparent within the UK, and therefore this could be a key question that we ask both our primary and secondary sources.
Through further research I was able to find that 'Taxi Wars' are existant with the UK. However, unlike South Africa there is no physical violence involved, as they only send disruptive letters and emails to one another.
Racism within Taxi Firms:
As our primary subject is from Pakistan, it could be interesting to discover whether he himself has been the victim of racist comments or behaviour eith form his colleges or customers.
'Taxi Drivers accused of racism for displaying sign saying 'English Speaking' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247944/Taxi-drivers-accused-racism-displaying-sign-saying-English-speaking.html
'Racist Taxi Slogan Banned' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8104719/Racist-taxi-slogan-banned.html
'Racism Charge in Taxi Licence Case' http://www.herald-review.com/news/local/article_13a59e46-0449-11e1-af0a-001cc4c03286.html
Marrying Your First Cousin http://www.pakmarriages.com/id25.html
From this web article is was able to discover that it is not uncommon within the British Pakistani culture to be married to a cousin. However, I also found that the White British community did not agree with this part of the pakistani culture and were quite intent on banning the marriages. Therefore, I feel that it would be interesting to find out how the British Pakistani communities feel about this ban in contrast to White british people.
This is highly relevent towards of piece of documentary as our primary himself is married to his cousin. From this it would be relevent to ask heim whether he has recieved any abuse from this contravercial subject.
Racism in the UK against the British Pakistani Community
The Trouble with Immigration and Taxi Drivers
Based in a town adjacent to Southampton, Portsmouth has been tackling illegal immigration throughout their taxi drviers for the past 2 years. Every Taxi driver who didn't have a UK passport was checked to ensure they were legal to be in the country. This enforcment began after the council admitted a Bangladeshi driver had been carrying passengers in the state for four years, even though he had no legal right to work in Britain. When reading this article it made me think about what do we really know about the people we're getting in the car with, how do we know they aren't allowed to be in this country and going by a complete different identity? I thought that we could try an incorporate this into our documentary, hwoever we will have to make sure we strictly apply to the ofcom rules, expecially the ones Charlotte has pointed out at the top of the research page.
Once again, illegal immigrants have also been found working as taxi drivers in Woking.
An Asian taxi driver who was murdered in a revenge attack on July 22 this year, was hurled racist abuse by his assailants, it has been learnt.
Forty two year old Mohammad Parvaiz was hit with stones, dragged from his vehicle and beaten and kicked to death while responding to what he thought was a normal fare.
The jury at the Leeds Crown Court, which is hearing the case, was further told that the six member white teenage gang used racist language during the attack after luring him down a cul-de-sac.
A witness overheard one of attackers shouting “you f*****g Paki b******” during the attack, while another allegedly boasted to a friend after the assault: “I wonder if I’ve got Paki juice on the bottom of my shoes?”
According to the Daily Mail, the father-of-three suffered a fractured skull and jaw, broken ribs and brain damage during the assault and was pronounced dead in hospital.
Michael Hand, 19, Graeme Slavin, 18, and Christopher Murphy 18, have denied murder while two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old, who cannot be named and prosecuted for being under-aged have also denied murder allegations.
Prosecutor Adrian Waterman QC said: “During and after the attack the defendants displayed a racist attitude”.
“Mr Parvaiz is an Asian male. He was from Pakistan. Racist language was used, some very ugly racist language at that. The Crown’s case is this was an attack motivated principally by revenge and pay-back for what happened some weeks previously,” Waterman said.
“Rather than being racist however, it seems the apparent racism towards the deceased made it easier in the defendants’ own minds to do what they did,” he said.
“Mr Parvaiz was a 42-year-old taxi driver. He was collecting what he thought was a fare. The call-out was in fact an ambush. When he got there he was beaten and kicked to death. It is the Crown’s case each of these six defendants was part of a group that carried out this attack upon him and that each is guilty of murder,” Waterman added.
He further told the court that Parvaiz inadvertently became caught up in a dispute between neighbours in Huddersfield.
“Several weeks before his death, rival Asian and white youths had clashed in the area. During the dispute, one of the defendants, Christopher Murphy had his scooter damaged by a group of Asian men. Mr Parvaiz’s taxi was used to transport some of the Asian men to the property where the dispute took place, the court heard. He was acting merely as the taxi driver,” Waterman said. (ANI)
http://card.wordpress.com/2006/11/23/racist-gang-murder-pakistani-taxi-driver/
When reading this news report, I was shocked at the violence caused by a group of young men, to an innocent Taxi driver all becuase of his race. The apparent constant rivalry between the groups of asian and white youths, made me think about how racism is becoming a major spectrum in the younger generation, and it's also as its becoming a joke to them. However, it also makes me wonder where they got this abusive racism from?
BBC News: Zahida Kazmi
Zahida Kazmi has been hailed as Pakistan's first female taxi driver. She has driven from the crowded markets of Islamabad to the remote tribal country in the north. Here she tells Nosheen Abbas about her two decades in a male-dominated world.
In 1992 at the age of 33, newly widowed Zahida Kazmi decided to take her fate in her own hands and become a taxi driver.
Born into a conservative and patriarchal Pakistani family, she flew in the face of her family's wishes but with six children to support, she felt she had no choice.
She took advantage of a government scheme in which anybody could buy a brand new taxi in affordable instalments. She bought herself a yellow cab and drove to Islamabad airport every morning to pick up passengers.
In a perilous and unpredictable world, Zahida at first kept a gun in the car for her own protection and she even started off by driving her passengers around wearing a burqa, a garment that covers the entire body.
Her initial fears soon dissipated.
"I realised that I would scare passengers away," she said. "So then I only wore a hijab [head covering]. Eventually I stopped covering my head because I got older and was well-established by then."
Exposing herself to the hot, bustling city streets of Islamabad and by driving to the rocky and remote districts adjoining Pakistan's tribal areas, Zahida says she learned a lot about the country she lived in and its people.
The Pathans of the tribal north-west, despite a reputation for fierce male pride and inflexibility, treated her with immense courtesy on her journeys.
Eventually she became the chairperson of Pakistan's yellow cab association. Once she was established, she offered to teach young women how to drive taxis, but there was little interest. Even her daughters didn't express enthusiasm...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12680075
Reading this report made me feel proud of the Zahida, making a change in the sterotypical Taxi driver gender, proving to the world who she was. As most Pakistani men come over to England and become taxi drivers to give a better life for their family, it made me wonder if there are any women taxi drivers in Southampton that we could interview, capturing her point of view of being a taxi driver and why she chose this carrier choice.
Hinduism - Martin Wilde
Here I have conducted research in to the religion Islam the relevance to this is because our primary is himself Islam.
I have looked at blogs from Muslims like this one
and have evaluated that it is more than just a religion it is a way of life that you have to dedicate yourself to with the whole of your being.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world with over 1 billion followers. The 2001 census recorded 1,591,000 Muslims in the UK, around 2.7% of the population.
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/ataglance/glance.shtml
There was also recently a war in the religion because there are two types of Muslim. Sunni and the Shi'a. Latest violence has been at the beginning of the Iraq war.
Their religion is so vast in how many variation of beliefs because it.
Pakistan, the country with the second largest Muslim population in the world, has seen serious Shia-Sunni discord. Almost 80% of Pakistan's population is Sunni, with 20% being Shia, but this Shia minority forms the second largest Shia population of any country,[91] larger than the Shia majority in Iraq.
Until recently Shia–Sunni relations have been cordial, and majority of people of both sects participated in the creation the state of Pakistan in 1940s.[92] Despite the fact that Pakistan is a Sunni majority country, Shias have been elected to top offices and played an important part in the country's history. Several top Pakistani Generals such as General Muhammad Musa. Pakistan's PresidentYahya Khan were Shia. Pakistan's President and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was Shia as was his daughter Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband, President Asif Ali Zardari. There are many intermarriages between Shia and Sunnis.
Unfortunately, from 1987–2007, "as many as 4,000 people are estimated to have died in sectarian fighting in Pakistan", 300 being killed in 2006.[93] Amongst the culprits blamed for the killing are Al-Qaeda working "with local sectarian groups" to kill what they perceive as Shia apostates, and "foreign powers ... trying to sow discord."[93] Most violence takes place in the largest province of Punjaband the country's commercial and financial capital, Karachi.[94] There have also been conflagrations in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir.[94]
Arab states especially Saudi Arabia and GCC states have been funding extremist Deobandi Sunnis and Wahabis in Pakistan, since the Afghan Jihad.[95] Whereas Iran has been funding Shia militant groups such as Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, resulting in a tit for tat attacks on each other.[94] Pakistan has became a battleground between Saudi Arabia funded Deobandi Sunni and Wahabis and Iran funded Shia causing deaths of thousands of innocent Muslims. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi'a%E2%80%93Sunni_relations
Whilst researching into the topic of racism against Pakistanis in the UK i was shocked to find this question and answer on Yahoo.com. This clearly shows the level of racism with the UK. But I'm inteterested to find where these racist judgements come from and whether its passed down through generations or whether these views are expressed through todays media.
Racist Thug Banned From Using Taxis
http://www.reporthatecrime.co.uk/index.php/news/65-racist-thug-banned-from-using-taxis
From reading this article I once again found that racism towards Pakistani people was apparent within the UK, and in particular Pakistani taxi drivers. Therefore again, i feel that it would be interesting to find out whether our primary has every suffered from racist abuse whilst working, and if so, why he thinks this is and how he copes with the racist remarks.
Laws surrounding UK citizenship and teaching qualifications:
(Ben Collins)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13519933
|
A Guide for Foreign Teachers Working in the UK.doc Size : 197.5 Kb Type : doc |
Muhammad's teaching qualifications would have been assessed on his arrival in the UK, he was told that he would need to train in the UK in order to teach here. Muhammad told us that he couldn't afford to take time off work to take the course so he became a taxi driver.
Idea's Research by Natalie Markall
As our idea's kept on getting shot down, either by not gaining permission or not having enough evidence to create a detailed documentary, I carried on trying to focus my research onto the docks, as we all really liked this concept. However, I decided to look at Portsmouth docks instead. I came across this website:
http://www.portsmouth-port.co.uk/
After e-mailing them, we once again hit the same problem, that they weren't allowing us to film there due to 'health and safety' reasons. After this e-mail, we decided to comepletely shut down filming at the docks and spend our time researching other idea's.
Martin Wilde then mentioned to the group a Taxi driver who had come to England from Pakistan, to give his family a better life. Back in Pakistan he was a school teacher, however he wanted to give his wife and children a better way of living and coming to England was the only option they could achieve. With this concept, we could create a participatory documentary focusing on the reality of taxi drivers and looking into the background stories of who's behind the wheel.
Muslim and Sharia Law by Natalie Markall
Men and women can have as many spouses as they can fit into a lifetime; but this is not generally approved. Women are requested to have only one husband at a time (there is evidence that wealthy Arab women were polyandrous before the coming of Islam - certainly wealthy men were polygynous), and men are limited to four at one time, whereas previously there had been no limit, and a wealthy and generous man was expected to cater for as many women as he could afford (in the absence of a welfare state). Allah sent the proviso that no Muslim was ever to deliberately cause hurt or harm to another Muslim, so a man might not take extra womenfolk into his home if it would cause upset and distress (it was recommended when there were lots of widows after warfare, if the women were willing to be generous to bereft 'sisters'). Also, if a man could not provide equal treatment of his wives - equal food, clothing, money, living quarters, time spent with - he was refused permission for polygamy. Equal sexual activity was not ruled on, however. Some wives had no sexual relationship with their husbands at all after a while, or if they came into the household as widows of relatives. Don't forget that most widows also came with their children. When the Prophet married the widow Sawdah he took on six of her children, and with Umm Salamah another four, for example.Men having many wives?
I think Muslims generally are shocked by the general lack of respect and discipline here, especially if they are immigrants and not born here. They are particularly shocked by lack of discipline in schools and the difficulties faced by so many teachers in getting children to behave in class and actually learn. They are shocked by the appalling rates of theft, drunkenness, drug addiction, sex outside marriage, abortions, rape of children and old ladies, homosexuality - especially when it is being put forward as quite normal and an acceptable alternative sexual lifestyle; homosexuals in positions of authority (from teachers to MPs). They are also shocked by the general lack of respect for those in authority, and older people in general. In Muslim homes, children would probably be expected not to smoke in front of parents, not to sit down or start eating before them.What areas of law do Muslims in Britain think are mishandled by British state law?
The Qur'an
The Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet gradually, over 23 years. The essence of its message is to establish the oneness of God and the spiritual and moral need of man for God. This need is fulfilled through worship and submission, and has ultimate consequences in the Hereafter. The Qur'an is the word of God. Because of its inimitable style and eloquence, and, above all, the guidance and legal provisions it came with, it ensures the worldly and next-worldly welfare of humanity. God Most High said, "Verily, this Qur'an guides to that which is best, and gives glad tidings to the believers who do good that theirs will be a great reward." (Qur'an, 17:9) And, "There has come unto you light from God and a clear Book, whereby God guides those who seek His good pleasure unto paths of peace. He brings them out of darkness unto light by His decree, and guides them unto a straight path." (Qur'an, 5:15) The Prophet's role was expounded in the Qur'an, "We have revealed the Remembrance [Qur'an] to you that you may explain to people that which was revealed for them." (16:44) This explanation was through the Prophet's words, actions, and example. Following the guidance and the example of the Prophet was made obligatory, "O you who believe, obey God and obey the Messenger," (4: 59) and, "Verily, in the Messenger of God you have a beautiful example for those who seek God and the Last Day, and remember God much." The Prophet himself instructed, "I have left two things with you which if you hold on to, you shall not be misguided: the Book of God and my example." [Reported by Hakim and Malik] There are two agreed-upon derived sources of Sharia: scholarly consensus (ijma') and legal analogy (qiyas). The basis for scholarly consensus being a source of law is the Qur'anic command to resolve matters by consultation, as God stated, "Those who answer the call of their Lord, established prayer, and whose affairs are by consultation." (42:38) Scholarly consensus is defined as being the agreement of all Muslim scholars at the level of juristic reasoning (ijtihad) in one age on a given legal ruling. Given the condition that all such scholars have to agree to the ruling, its scope is limited to matters that are clear according to the Qur'an and Prophetic example, upon which such consensus must necessarily be based. When established, though, scholarly consensus is decisive proof. Legal analogy is a powerful tool to derive rulings for new matters. For example, drugs have been deemed impermissible, through legal analogy from the prohibition of alcohol that is established in the Qur'an. Such a ruling is based on the common underlying effective cause of intoxication. Legal analogy and its various tools enables the jurists to understand the underlying reasons and causes for the rulings of the Qur'an and Prophetic example (sunna). This helps when dealing with ever-changing human situations and allows for new rulings to be applied most suitably and consistently. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/sharia_1.shtmlThe Prophetic example (Sunna)
Derived sources
Scholarly consensus
Legal analogy (Qiyas)
