Resources- Documentaries

Throughout this experience within class we were shown a number of documentaries all with there own style, mood and story. So by watching all of these documentaries it actually helped me decided what type of style I wanted my own piece to be done in. Some helped more than others but I guessed that was good because it was it still educated me in all the different forms a documentary can take and how shooting a documentary has developed over time.

So to begin I will introduced a 2010 piece called Nostalgia for the light by Patricio Guzman

This documentary is a piece that Guzman linked his country's hidden history to the secrets of the stars. This documentary involves the story of those who disappeared during Chile's 17 year dictatorship under Pinochet and the work of the global astronomy community in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile.

This was something that appealed to my passion for history's hidden stories as I always love to know how people where treated and the living conditions people use to live in so my first thought when I heard what this was about was good positive thoughts. Then whenever I began to watch it I found it very hard to get in to partly because it was in subtitles which I sometimes find that the emotion or mood that is trying to be created is taken away simply because you have to concentrate on whats being said you don't have time you think more deeply about it. Another thing that put me of this was the science clips which to me at the time I found very odd even though he was talking about the secret of the stars I just thought the different in footage from the science to the people being interviewed and their search in the dessert was just too much as a simple shoot of the stars at night from the desserts view would have been enough.

So by the end of this documentary my search for the right style was still on the go.

The second documentary which I found a lot easier to watch and engage with was the 2012 Malik Bandellou documentary called Searching for Sugarman.

This story line is more or less given within the title and it was about the search for a very gifted singer- songwriter from Detroit who disappeared and was rumored to be dead. Only for Bandellou to found out that Sugarman was actually still alive and was kind enough to appear within the documentary for a interview to tell his story.

This piece was interesting as it was almost seen as a mystery, was he alive? was he not? what happen? etc. The style within this piece was very smooth the scenery and quality didn't change much and it was a good look into the past and an inside look into what the music industry was like. The fact that even within the interviews with the recording people and people from the music industry the question of was Sugarman still alive was kept throughout. Now whether the people knew at the time he was alive is a different story but the way it was done I liked that the suspense was kept until near the end when he was found.

Searching for Sugarman was at the time a starting point in whether the old footage mixed with the new footage was a rout I wanted to take.

The third documentary was a piece by the Oscar nominee Sarah Polley and this was called Stories We Tell.

Stories We Tell was a personal piece about the secrets within Sarah Polley's family. It  looks at the relationship between Polley's parents, Michael and Diane Polley, including the revelation that the filmmaker was the product of an extramarital affair. It incorporates interviews with Polley's siblings from her mother's two marriages, interviews with other relatives and family friends, Michael Polley's narration of his memoir, and Super-8 footage shot to look like home movies of historical events in her family's life.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the whole thing but from the clips on the internet  I thought this look brilliant as it was something personal to Sarah Polley just like my documentary was personal to me, of course in different context. But from watching the set up of the interviews with her family it gave me a clear idea of the type of shots and set up I needed. During the pre-production stage I did plan to us her style of having two camera so it would show me recording them but when developing the plot and realising I would need to be interviewed I decided against because having someone else to film me while they were being filmed would defeat the purpose of it be a personal family piece.

So at the end I did take the style and structure from this documentary into consideration when filming and editing my piece.

The final documentary was a student piece called Stephens Journey. 
Link: http://vimeo.com/4436209


The plot within this was basically a middle aged who suffers from a disease known as Antitrypsin Deficiency. Stephen lives in Buncrana, Co. Donegal and receives treatment for this disease in the Mater Hospital, Dublin to which he travels every week and has been doing so for the last thirteen years of his life.

Now this documentary really inspired my documentary. I liked how it always cut from Stephen talking about the journey and his condition to actually seeing him carry out what he says. It made you feel like you went on the journey with him making you connect more and feel sorry for the character. A part I found inspiring was whenever the student got footage of Stephen actually having to stop in the street to catch his breathe and how he would pretend to be on his phone so people wouldn't stare or think anything. 

So at the end of them all Stephen Journey made the biggest influence on me as it was a disease you never really hear about on the tv and it involved normal people that you could relate or sympathies with which was what I wanted to betray in my own piece.

Eczmea post 7- Overall expierence of Project

When it came to filming this documentary I found it a lot easier than what some might have as it was a family based project, in my eyes, but I was still able to up hold a good level of professionalism. For starters I organised my shoots correctly making sure all the interviewee were in the place they needed to be at the correct time. I set up to location before calling the interviewee to place meaning I was able to start right away without wasting too much of their time. I prepped my interviewees beforehand which I found to be helpful as it gave the interviewees a rough idea of what they had to talk about.

I thought all the interviews were a great success as I received all the information I needed to create this documentary and for a bonus I only have to hold the interview once meaning I had more free time to film my pick up shots, find to best songs to match my piece and edit it all together.

Another success I believe is the actually idea so as to I was able to turn into a story. I was very comfortable and found it quiet personal and easy to work on as it was a family issue, it is something I have lived with my whole life and know most of the ins and outs off. The fact that other members of my family had it made it even better as I know they wouldn't mind or feel uncomfortable with tell their story and the fact there are a hand full of us that have eczema gave me a number of ways to go with this idea.

When I first started this project I was parted up with a partner and had a completely different idea but due to complications I had to go off on my own which was when I came up with my current idea. So after sorting out all of that I faced another problem which was in the pre-production stage when I actually had to try and get my interviewee during the Christmas break which is the busiest time of the year. Also the fact that my little cousin lived far away did cause a bit of an issue. 

Considering this was my own individual piece I found it a lot easier and quicker to get the filming done as it meant I didn't have to rely on others I had total control of this piece which meant a great deal to me considering it was a personal piece. It would have help though when it came to the pickup shots of me as it meant I had to try and get a good angle and stay in frame as I carried out different actions, for example when I am applying my makeup I had to set up the camera within the correct lighting and try to stay in frame which was difficult due to the limited amount of space.

Eczema Post 6- Editing

When it came to the editing stage my first problem was the software I had to edit on which was Premiere, even though it was similar to Final Cut I still had to take a day or two to get the hang of things.

After having uploaded my clips and get everything cut and into a rough order I match the clips to the song I had chosen and was very happy with the results. I feel this adds a lot to the piece as the music gives off a mood and engages people a lot to the story being told.

I had planned to add in titles between a few clips to give more details of the whole concept and I wanted to add in some facts to really make it hit the audience as statistics seem to make people believe  more in what their watching.

I also added in some photos of the three interviewees to show that we are a family and that it was a personal piece which I think added a little bit more to it as you see us in our daily life and shows we all like everyone else.

I think at the end of it all,  yes it was a personal piece but I wanted people to see that even if its not eczema, people who have any sort of illness/ condition isn't really different from everyone else. They aren't some form of alien that we should avoid or make fun off or even laugh and talk about. They are human beings with the same feelings, hopes and dreams as everyone else. They may need a little bit more extra care and attention but its not something that they have a decision on.

Eczema post 5- Music

A big part of this production which I had trouble with was the background music as I wasn't sure which mood I really wanted to betray.
I didn't anything too sad or too happy and the only other thing I could find sounding like a twinkly fantasy which was definitely not what I wanted.
Considering it was an instrumental piece that I was looking for I decided to use youtube and spend two days listening to a number of tracks until I came across this.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxbu8dkvdQQ


To me its a mixture of both sympathy and happiness. Its almost like a peacefully resolution to something which I felt could possibly be the thing to match my piece.

Eczema post 4

Had my first look of my footage last week and when I started to cut and piece the footage together I realized I still had work to do. To make the documentary more interesting and show more of the interviewees off I realized pick up shots of them in their daily life where needed not only to give a background of the person but also to help in the editing process. 

So the pick up shots were are followed:

Elderly woman: knitting, her applying cream and her walking down the stairs so show the difficultly of walking caused by the eczema

Teenager: Washing dishes with rubber gloves, applying cream, applying make up

Younger girl: Walking home from school with her friend, doing her homework and applying cream 

Even though its not much this will show that each three females, within their separate, daily life, all have one thing in common, they all must applying their cream.

Eczema post 3- Filming

So I've finished all three interviews I planned to do and they went pretty well and considering they were related to me made it feel a lot more personal and easier to carry out. 

The questions I asked all three were:

1) where would you get it?

2) tell me a time where is was really bad

Then considering who they were, I asked questions related to their age and experience. Such as:

1) Child- would anyone in school ever say anything or ask you about it?

2) Old lady- Did anyone else in your family before you have eczema? When did it start occurring for you?

Then for myself because it was my piece and I knew the things I wanted to tell I was able to give a lot more and having 19 years experience with this i had a great deal to tell. 

A good part when filming this was that I didn't have to relay on anyone else because I carried out the interviews myself, I set up the equipment and made sure the lighting was right. I also went through the questions before hand just so they had time to think of their answer without being put on the spot. 

However now that I need to get some pick up shots of everyone carrying out their daily rotations I will need an extra part of hands especially when it comes to myself.