Thomas King

Blog 1

Week 1

With week one the main goal was to establish a team to create the documentary with. A few key elements I needed in my team members was enthusiasm, dedication along with the most important part of a successful group project participation. I found that in my decided upon teammates who were Jack Dalton, Grace Thompson and Tameika Liggins. I had previously completed productions with them in the past which gave me confidence that they were a good fit for another project. Along with this I decided to start considering subject matters for the documentary. As referenced in the weekly readings I started testing ideas as to see the best possible one. This led me to the idea of the doing a documentary on the environmental effects of the RAAF Base in Williamtown.

Along with this I decided I wanted to take up a video/sound editing role as they both work hand in hand with each other as well as the fact I pride myself in video editing skills. This lead me to think of possible editing styles and techniques I could possibly use however this is dependent on the subject matter the documentary is decided upon which is yet to be determined as such I haven’t given any extended thought to these ideas yet as they may not relate to our finalised topic next week.

Blog 2

Week 2

In week 2 we came together as a group to decide on the intended topic of the documentary. Luckily every member of the team followed the general rules of this weeks reading which was about group work. We laid out the options we had for the documentary and compiled a list of ideas we had. In the end we narrowed these down to 3 which were

My idea about the Williamtown raff base environmental impact.
The changes to Newcastle through the eyes of our grandparents.
The mountain biking scene in Newcastle focusing in on Glenrock valley

Out of these options we choose the one about Glenrock valley as we thought it applied itself to many more possibilities in many aspects of the project opposed to the other ideas.

Blog 3

Week 3

Insert Blog 3 here Once week 3 started we realised with the help of the weeks reading which was about research that we had to focus our idea better. This included slightly changing the concept to revolve more so around a singular person opposed to the entire mountain bike community. Along with this planning of shots and ideas through research and experience / expertise that jack had on the Glenrock area allowed us to create a more enticing film by adding some great set locations for action shots to the list of locations to film. To go in hand with this the discussion of equipment used for the shots was discussed such at the use of gimbals and drones for more action and steady cam related shots. Insert Blog 3 here

On top of this I explored some possible sounds that could be used throughout the documentary. One idea I had was for fast past heavy music edited to action shots similar to the film “Baby Driver” which was an inspiration for the whole team. The song is have been initially thinking of is ”Motorbreath” by Metallica. The first section which is the main point of inspiration includes a cold drum intro followed by fast paced single note guitar playing followed by aggressive power chords. This is the basis I would like to use for our music in the action shots.

Blog 4

Week 4

This week we did a lot. We began by first going over our and completing the pitch and proposal for our documentary as well as assigned what sections each of us were going to talk about. We wanted it to be effective and clearly covey our intentions for the film so we referred to “Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger” which has a great chapter about pitching. Four points from the reading gave good points to hit and discuss during the pitch.

1. Background of the topic

2. Character or characters and what makes them special

3. Problem or situation that puts the main character(s) under revealing pressure

4. Style of the coverage and the editing

Rabiger, Michael. Directing the Documentary, Taylor & Francis Group, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/newcastle/detail.action?docID=546636.

Created from newcastle on 2019-08-23 03:44:22.

With this info I geared our slide show to emphasise these points. With this I feel our pitch was great as we hit each of the points we wanted and were suggested in the text.

The day prior to the pitch we also went scouting at Glenrock to get a feel for the place while also doing some light shot planning. What came of this was some good possible shots and a location for a nice opening if we plan it right. On top of this for a separate course I had to play some guitar for some background noise. This gave me a quick opportunity to experiment with some noises that could be used In sections of the film. This still early days for the composing of the music but this session has given me some further ideas of sounds that could work for certain scenes.

i would add the audio however WordPress inst allowing it to be done. so i the meantime i will link more riffs that have given me ideas.

The opening in this song ” Blackened ” has a reversed guitar section which could lead to some cool sounds along with an extremely fast riff following the intro which again might fit well in action parts.

Blog 5

Week 5

Week 5’s reading was relating to microphones. This yet to be seen if it will relate to any of the music used in the production of the documentary. The reason for this is that we may have a possible opportunity to use the music of a band known as the Evil twin which would fit the thematic points of the riding sections of the documentary along with it lends itself heavily to the desired editing technique of the documentary which is editing to the beat of the music. The other sections of the documentary will however have music or artificial ambiance in the for of some sort of synth. This will be produced with the use of a MIDI keyboard plugged directly into my computer allowing me to use the keyboard in ProTools and emulate an entire suite of instruments from guitars and drums to synths and flutes. This has given unlimited options when it comes to possibilities to what the ambiance could sound like. And as this is done completely in the ProTools software no use of a microphone is necessary.

Some inspiration for possible synth noises for parts of the documentary come from the iconic original terminator theme which is a staple synth song.

Blog 6

Week 6

This week’s reading focused on perspective which was not completely relevant to my roles however it may have an affect on how our film will be edited. At this point in time louis is our only interviewee however as production continues this may change. Whatever the outcome of this is the editing style may change to accommodate the direction we choose. An example may be to focus more on the narrative themes of the project or to focus on the action shots more so. As the production continues this will be decided.

This week we began filming at Glenrock. The day started at 5am and we wrapped filming at around 11 11:30 ish. One issue that we faced was not anticipating how long it would take to film the segments that we planned. However we were able to get many of the shots we wanted along with plenty of spur of the moment material which has heavily helped with giving the documentary a more natural feel. With the Ronin and my Canon 80D I was able to film many steady shots of louis in motion which will be great fuel to create many action sequences. Looking back at the footage has given me lots of inspiration as I believe if we continue to get similar shots we will be able to create a great project that follows our ideas that we will be proud of.

Blog 7

Week 7

Week 7 had its reading about producing transcripts which was not a role personally assigned to myself. However the importance of a transcript will be crucial in the editing process. The use of timecodes on specific sections of the interview will greatly increase productivity in the editing process by eliminating having to go through the interview to try and find a specific section.

This week we also went on to film a Glenrock again this time in the afternoon along with filming in a group setting. During this session we got plenty of great group action shots along with great general interactions between all people and mucking around between the guys. Again we did run into problems in regards to time management with the schedule however this was not due to not being prepared like last time. We were running on time for our shots till unexpectedly louis crashed into a ditch a broke his bike. This resulted in us deciding to continue filming the rest of the group and send louis home as he was unable to ride and was pretty upset about the incident. The rest of the shooting for the day was great but as stated the majority of the days shooting didn’t include footage of louis. This has put us in a position with a few options.

shift the focus from only louis to a group of riders as the rest of the days footage doesn’t involve him along with he may be out of action on the bike until further notice as a replacement may take too much time

Keep louis as the main feature and have him borrow another person’s bike for filming along with try through further interviews make the shots that he is absent from make contextual sense for why he isn’t present

Brainstorm further ideas

Blog 8

Week 8

This week we had no readings to do so this gave us ample time as a group to focus on our prototype. With the prototype we decided to focus on the two main sections that we thought highlighted the themes of the documentary. The interviews and the action.

With the interview section we pulled clips together that we thought would give the viewer a good idea of what to expect from the documentary as to set the feel and tone
This was not do difficult as many of our interview clips complemented each other being placed together
We then focused on making an action segment to be shown as to highlight the intense nature of the sport while also showing off the great footage we shot
The assembly of this segment was easy enough however it was shown during the process of gathering the clips that this process could be more streamlined as at many times it took minutes of searching to find specific clips
Once we did assemble the desired clips in the sequence we wanted it became a matter of slightly editing them to match the beats of the music as to give more impact

Blog 9

Week 9

This week the reading touched on the post production process of assembly and dramatic structure. These two concepts were both beginning to be put in motion for our work and will continue to be relevant in the upcoming weeks .

The points on assembly became very important as we decided that this week before any work was done that, we needed to get a system in place as to maximise work flow and efficiency with the project. The plan constructed to combat this was to first sift through all the files we had and pick what we thought were good and bad shots. With this list of good and bad shots completed we began to organise them into a folder as to easily access them when needed
I went the extra step with this and as I went through files after filming both days separated them into folders with the dates they were shot and on what device they were captured on as to allow a level of organisation with the other clips in case we were to pull from them as well.
Jack also took it upon himself to think of new ways to approach the dramatic structure of the doco as to give better impact. He pitched ideas to us as a group to see our thoughts as it would change the editing style. Each new addition sounded great and continuing forward some of these may be implemented into the project.
This process took an extended period of time since it consisted of rewatching all our footage and as such consisted in the majority of work being done this week however the benefits of this future time save out weigh the time it took to implement.

Blog 10

Week 10

The discussion this week focused on postproduction along with sound and credits. Postproduction and the credits of the film we hadn’t deeply thought about up to this point however we need to think about these soon.

Sound is a key aspect of our documentary and is highlighted in many areas. Our sound is separated into 3 parts.

The natural sound of the videos and interviews
Our music track
Dedicated atmos for certain sections

The approach that we have decided to take with the sound is to highlight the natural sounds to give the documentary a more grounded feel. This also done as a way to complement the visuals and enhance the entire documentary. The more is less approach is what we are focusing on as to have more natural feel as to also engross the viewer more in the interview sections. The use of music and non-diegetic sounds may produce the opposite effect which is not what we want.

The other sections of the documentary will use the music we have gained permission to use as a backing track for an action section. This will be a clear shift from the rest of the documentary as the music is quiet intense as to complement the action on screen. We have already completed the action sequence which was edited to the music and complement each other quiet well. Over time we may edit this segment slightly but as it stands we are very happy with the end result.

Blog 11

Week 11

As we come closer to the completion of our project, we started to refine our work and have an almost complete project by next week. The readings focused on music and refining the overall product. I touched upon the fact that we may need to edit our music in the project last week. As other elements of the project change it will affect other segments and as such the music and visuals may need to change as to continue the feel established throughout.

We started the week with editing the project. This was to refine it and add some of the last significant parts we wanted to the project. Next week we needed to show a final cut so as such we needed an accurate skeleton of the project to be done this week so the last touch ups could be done for next week. We ended up completing a version of the documentary which we showed to some people which got a good reception however it was said by a few that the middle section of the documentary could be reshuffled slightly along with changing the beginning to make it less jarring.

With this feed back we decided that this was probably our last chance to drastically change any part of the documentary and as such we began to alter the beginning section. We completely changed the beginning section from starting with a fade from black to an interview to a pov go pro shot of downhill riding into some more action which fades into the interviews much better. We also decided to overlay or music at a lower level in this beginning segment as to set the theme but also to foreshadow the ending segment.

Minor touch ups were done along with some visual effects put in place such as time mapping on certain jumps. We also added the credits and decided to edit the changes in names to the beat of the music as it lent itself to doing this quiet easily. As it is there is still work to be done but we are definitely on the home stretch and our work reflects this.

Blog 12

Week 12

We made it to the final week which had no readings so we could fully focus on our production.We had previously gotten some feedback on it so our goal was to make these adjustments and finish any last effects and colour grading needed before submission.

We had been told that the clips needed to flow a bit better and that they were in good positions they just needed a bit more of a flow to them. This was our first main goal to complete. This actually was quite simple to do as we experimented with slight changes which worked well. This involved shortening clips slightly and having music fade in and out over voice over a bit more naturally. This changed the feel of the entire segments that where talked about and as such gave the doco an added feel of fluidity to it.

With this we began to experiment with some colour grading which we thought might be a bit difficult due to the amount of different locations with different degrees of sun along with the range of cameras we used throughout the production. We began this process and realised it would take some time but that it wasn’t overly hard to get a similar match between them all and as such we began this. Some small minor this need to still be cleaned up, but these will easily be done by the due date next week. I’m extremely proud of what our group has accomplished along with the others that we have worked with along the way. I think this dedication will be shown when our end results are shown on the big screen.