DOCUMENTARY UNIT: GO-PRO HERO 4 TESTING

Myself and Jordan did some testing with Jordan's Go Pro Hero 4 outside in the car park of the studios. We used 3 different point of views using the Go Pro: Head, Chest and on the rugby ball. So here is a video of the testing which Jordan put on Youtube:


It was really successful and we will definitely be using the Go Pro for a lot of the real rugby footage. We streamed the footage live to Jordan's phone so we could see some of it as it took place, this is also a great thing to have when shooting.

When we filmed the head and chest shots looked great and we were really pleased. However we were not that confident with the shot on the rugby ball at first, because when we were throwing it between us it didn't look like the Go Pro would get good footage. Now that we look at the footage on the video it looks brilliant and we will most definitely be using it.

UNREPORTED WORLD: KICKBOXING KIDS

I found this incredibly relevant documentary made by Channel 4's unreported world series. It is all about kids as young as 8 kickboxing in parts of Thailand. They do it for money, but at huge risk to their own health as they are still growing. There is a dilemma throughout the doc as to whether the kids should be fighting at that age. The reason they fight is because they can gain huge amounts of money for their family and village, however the long term effects can be huge especially to the head.

DOCUMENTARY: SCRIPTING

I have spent the last few days writing a script out that I think will be how we do our doc. I will take each of the boxes and with Jordan use post it notes to work out the right order of things. I have done what I can with the material I know we can get and what we may be able to get.

Here are the 2 pages I have done thus far:

I find this quite a nice way to lay out plans and to visualise ideas on a page.

This is what I have so far, but as I say I will be sitting down with my partner and going through it before we star filming.

Now that I have written out the answers we need for the doc I need to come up with questions that will attain these answers. So for each person have a list of questions that will get the closest thing to the answer required.

QUESTIONS: 

Mark Howell - Director of rugby at Sutton Valence

• Can you tell us about concussion and how it affects school rugby as you know it?
• What do you need to know as Director of rugby in terms of concussion?
• Can you recall what happened when you had a dilemma over whether Sam Noss could play in the last match of the season and his career?

Medical Staff - at Sutton Valence

• What are the symptoms of concussion?
• What are the protocols and correct practices when someone gets concussion in rugby, at Sutton Valence?
• What is your attitude towards boys who hide concussion because they don't want to let people down or show weakness to other boys?

Hugo L-B - Boy who hid concussion

• Why did you hide you concussion from people?

Other players playing in the match with Sam Noss

• What did you see?
• Did you do anything to help Sam or Charlie?
• What was your reaction to what had happened? 

Sam Noss - U6th 1st XV school rugby player

• Tell us about what happened on the day you suffered concussion?
• What do know about the other concussion that day?

DOCUMENTARY UNIT: UPDATE ON PLANNING

Unfortunately the U16s Rugby tournament we were supposed to be filming was not available to film at. We contacted the schools involved, but did not get support from them to film at the matches. This was a real shame as it would have been a perfect opportunity to get impact footage.

However what we did get out of today was a talk with Sam Noss our primary subject for the film. We sat down to talk and to discuss the incident he had when he was concussed towards the end of the rugby season. We got some great information perhaps the best thing being that they have footage of the match that we could get access to through the director of rugby. If we could get footage it would be a brilliant aid to our other created shots from GO PRO and DSLR.

He also gave us a very detailed account of what he could remember from before and after the incident. The other thing is that there was conflict with medical staff and coaches on whether he should play in the final game of the season and his school career.


I found this film here (although it is American Football not rugby)and I really liked the tone and feel of it all filmed entirely on a GO PRO Hero 4:


The parts that show haziness and dizziness are very effective and are what I had in mind when writing out the script.

DOCUMENTARY UNIT: SHOOTING METHODS

POV Shots

So I have been looking into ways of shooting the project. As well as general sideline rugby footage and standard interview footage myself and Jordan have been really interested in using POV as a way of portraying some rugby action.

I had the idea to use POV as the way to show the effects of concussion first hand to really draw the audience in. This is especially relevant for people who have never played or seen rugby as a way to make them aware of what the game is like. My idea specifically was to show a POV head shot of a rugby player going through the actual concussion on field. Not that we would actually force someone into concussion, but we would use techniques to suggest the act of concussion from hitting a player and then the ground hard.

A couple clips from the internet that I found which have turned out quite successful:


GoPro HD Rugby Teaser from Ed Ratcliffe [Slender Films] on Vimeo.




As well as the player view another option for getting game real game footage is ref cam. This is something that has even been used in professional rugby today very effectively I think. I think it would be much safer being on a ref. From the clip above I keep thinking that the camera could end causing damage to other players. A ref cam is the closest you can get to seeing the sheer force of the game without actually being a player.

Here is a little ref cam clip:


We would use a GO PRO for these POV shots, most likely Jordan's Hero 4 (the most recent Go Pro) as it is best quality and also smaller than the one at studios and my own one.

DSLR and Sony Ex1

From the start of this project I have been pushing to use the DSLR in our project as I think in general it is a much better camera for what we have planned on our shoot. 

I understand that it may be easier to use the Sony in terms of sound synching, but I think in terms of manoeuvrability the DSLR is obviously more adept. This is why I believe we should use them at least for the sideline rugby footage. 

I would be ok with using the Sony for the interview shots, but they are heavy and difficult to lug around. Also during the rugby we thought it would be more beneficial to have 2 camera's and seeing as I already have a DSLR available at home which is the same specs as the 7d we could get more coverage and therefore be more successful for the film. This would also mean that we would not have to hire out 2 Sony's as that would be difficult logistically. 

Sound

For sound I think we should use the clip mics as I have tested them thoroughly and found them to be incredibly useful and appropriate for the film we would like to make.


We need to be ready to film with the Go Pro and either the DSLR's or the Sony by Wednesday the 18th March. This will just consist of game rugby footage.

DOCUMENTARY UNIT: SCOUTING

Today myself and Jordan went to his old school Sutton Valence to speak to the headmaster about shooting the documentary at the school.

The things we had to ask him were:

1. Would we be able to film any rugby footage
2. Who we could interview at the school staff or pupils
3. What the rules are for concussion at the school

We spent about 15 minutes talking to him and I have to say he was incredibly helpful to us. He told us that only in the last 2 days he had received a new list of advice about concussion for 11-17 year olds and obviously understood that concussion is in the public eye.

An article from the Guardian asking the question of whether it is too dangerous for children to play rugby.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/sep/28/is-rugby-now-too-dangerous-for-children-to-play

The Headmaster Bruce Grindlay was very helpful and he gave us the email of the Director of Rugby who we will hope to speak to sometime before next Wednesday. As Wednesday is the day of the u16 Kent rugby sevens tournament we hope to film as part of our rugby footage. We need to meet with the director of rugby so that we can get consent to film the rugby, because as well as getting footage for ourselves Mr. Grindlay suggested the footage could be used to show off the tournament for the school.

Kent Rugby Logo

Once we had discussed what we could do with Mr. Grindlay we were able to go and talk to members of the PE department as well as Jordan's old Media teacher who was very willing to help. Whilst doing this we met a boy (Sam Noss) who experienced concussion at the end of last term. He described the incident very vividly and we feel he would be a great person to follow for the doc, he says he cannot remember much as he was knocked out cold.

Our plan of action is to follow him or another student of our choice, depending on the circumstances. This would mean doing the first part of our production focussed just on the school, then once we have finished this we can go onto to Sevenoaks rugby club and find another person to follow and interview to compare the way concussion is treated in schools compared with a rugby club.

DOCUMENTARY UNIT: SOUND WORKSHOP

So today was all about learning the post production stages of sound editing as well as getting an opportunity to have a go at using the clip mics. After testing them out I am pretty sure I would like to use them for our documentary. They are convenient and they actually provide really good sound quality even before a bit of editing.

So here are some of the results of the days workshop.

I have taken some footage from today and gone into Adobe Audition to attempt to get rid of some background noise so here is 2 of the same clips before and after editing:

I have to say this was not that succesfull and I got a sound like people talking in a corridor rather than outside next to a running engine.

This next clip is unedited on the sound front, I think this was something to do with the car, but it does show me how much interference you can get from the clip mic:

So I have taken part of that clip into Audition and edited it (below), I think a bit more effectively than the exterior shot. The challenge I find is trying to find a happy medium where there is some buzz track, but not too much to interfere with the voices.

As well as the above I wanted to test distance as myself and my partner are possibly going to film a referee and this could be a possibility for sound. However I did have a little jog with the clip mic and there was quite a lot of noise from the action of running. The standing and walking at a distance was very clear.

So all in all I have to say quite a fruitful day in which I learned a lot about editing sound as well as sound during production.

I will be taking all of this on for the continuation of my documentary project.

Original Footage and sound in Premiere

Then being transferred to sound edit in Audition.

DOCUMENTARY UNIT: IDEAS LAB

The second part of today was a bout brainstorming and getting feedback on our idea thus far.

Here is an article I just found about the statistical increase in recent years of concussion, however I would look at this and say that It could just be because of people being unaware of the issues. This is one of the main issues we would like to focus on in our Documentary:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/11/rugby-concussion-tripled-three-years

As far as ideas and structure for our project goes:

Interviewees:

• Director of rugby at Sevenoaks Rugby club Roger McKerlie 
• 1 of 3 physio's who work at the club
• Someone who has had first hand experience with concussion

Footage:

• General rugby footage
• Use of Go Pro as ref cam and on a scrum machine to show effects of a rugby hit. 
• Interview footage (and their surroundings during the interview

We will hopefully be working from one persons story about first hand concussion, and then have views from the other people interviewed.


I would also really like to campaign for the use of a DSLR in our shoot, as I think I will be doing a considerable amount of the shooting. There are certain reasons why I feel it would be more appropriate than the Sony: 

1. I'm more use to it as a camera.
2. It is much more mobile and I think this would be an advantage especially for use on Rugby footage and for general getting around. 
3. It's much much better quality and I prefer that as I would like to produce things that are powerful, but also striking in the way they look.
4. There is more versatility in terms of lens use, as I myself have a Canon with lenses as well as the lens on the 7D.

I have been looking into slow motion and the use of the programme 'Twixtor' to create this effect, as I believe this would be a good way to go when taking footage of action sports. However this is all still in the pipeline and I will continue to work on ideas and developments as we go along.

DOCUMENTARY UNIT: DAY 2

The morning was all about learning about the history and tradition of documentaries. This meant finding out about people like John Grierson the founding father of documentaries and the man who coined the term Documentary. I now know that he ran the Empire Marketing Board(EMB) film unit which had such members as Edgar Anstey, Humphrey Jennings and Harry Watt all young up and coming directors. Through this organisation he and his team made over 100 documentaries (Drifters, Industrial Britain and The Song of Ceylon) until it was closed down in 1933.

Screenshot from Drifters (1929)

The other thing from this morning was the different types of genres found in documentary making. 

Main Types:

1. Observational - Meaning the director will just go somewhere and the documentary will play out, how events played out in the situation involved.
2. Participatory - Means the people involved can have a say in the final outcome and what hey talk about, this means they can have honour and not be humiliated by cruel presentation.
3. Reflexive - Where the maker of it is also seen in front of camera providing narrative. It's the kind of doc that the audience will be interested for not just for the subject, but as much the process of making the doc.
4. Expository - Talks directly to audience with voiceover portraying a certain view on something.
5. Educational - Teaching the viewer about a subject.

Hybrids:

1. Drama Doc - Features dramatised re-enactments of real events e.g. Touching the Void (2003).
2. Docu Soap - Form of unscripted reality show following people round in a documentary style e.g. Ice Road Truckers.
3. Reality TV - Show which often highlights drama between people who may not have been famous prior to show e.g. Geordie Shore. 
4. Factual Entertainment - e.g. Undercover Boss

CITIZENFOUR (2014)

This mesmerising, tense and real life dramatic documentary is one of the best I have seen. The oscar winning documentary is a brilliant inside look into the incidents that happened when Edward Snowden released information to the world that claimed the intelligence agencies of the world are monitoring people's phones, computers etc.

I have to say I found it very filmic and I was hanging on to the tension of the real life situation of Snowden and the journalists involved in this release. The way the stress of the situation increased and the way the director held shots more and more as the film went along was brilliant. The director held shots for so long whilst in Snowden's hotel bedroom and I found this to be a really effective way of making me feel like the I was in the room.

Really griping brilliant film that has made me so much more aware of the issues that Snowden brought up from the depths of the secret services. I can clearly see why it won the Oscar.

DOCUMENTARY UNIT - DAY 1

Receiving the Brief and Choosing a subject

Theme: Teen Spirit

So the unit's theme is teen spirit and we will have to make a documentary similar to the style of channel 4 docs. 

I will be working in a pair with Jordan Parker and with him we have already decided on a subject. Because we are both former players and avid watchers of rugby we are going to focus on an issue right in the public eye at the moment. Concussion which has been a big talking point in the past few years in all sports not just rugby, so we feel that it is something we can focus on. Although the rugby season is coming to an end, the rugby sevens season is just starting so we are going to look at how concussion is dealt with in schools. This will also give us people to interview like physios, players and coaches. 

Rugby player George North during recent match against England

Because Rugby is a sport that experiences a lot of concussions we believe that it is the right way to go. As well as the fact that there is accessibility there through Jordan's local school. This is a modern issue that is now getting more and more attention so much like the film we watched earlier 'CitizenFour' it is up to date and in public interest.

BBC article concussion in F1 racing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/31654193

F1 Racer Fernando Alonso crashed at recent car testing in Barcelona