Production Roles and Storyboards

It is imperative to any well organised documentary production team to have clear and defined production roles these can include; Director, Editor, Camera Person, Audio Technician and Interviewer. After a discussion in todays meeting we arrived at defined production roles for one another and we briefed one another on exactly what that role meant to them and the team as a whole and what was ultimately their responsibility. Our production roles currently stand as follows:

Michael Moser – Director
Karen Jensen-Clark – Audio Technician
Chris Caswell – Interviewer
Grant Snaith – Camera Person

My role as Camera Person is to operate the camera on the day of shoot, in order to do this there are a number of factors I must master beforehand. I will have looked into the storyboards in depth and prepared a visual for each shot in my mind so that when commanded to do so by the director I can assume the necessary shot without having to double check the storyboard again. I must also learn to utilise the camera and it settings and the other various equipment associated with it (Shoulder mount, Tripod etc). This is imperative as time cannot be wasted in messing around with settings, the settings should already have been pre-determined before shoot to reach the optimal appearance for our choice of visual style and then only need slight tweaking to adjust to light levels on scene. In addition to this I should take the time to hone my camera movement skills as this is an area I have previously highlighted as a trouble zone for myself. I will be doing so by booking at a camera and shoulder mount/tripod every other day and practicing tracking, zooming, panning and other styles of movements.

1) What are we trying to say about our character?
Maurice is a fascinating person to talk to who simply has so many stories to tell that we could have honestly chosen from a hundred different subjects related to him, however the most interesting aspect is his history as a war evacuee. Our documentaries ultimate goal is to tell our audience just what it was like for Maurice at this tender age to be taken away from his parents to a strangers home who’s only motivation for doing so was money from the government. It should also be made apparent just how mentally strong Maurice was during this time in his life and how he has overcome such trying times to live a happy life thereafter. In some respects we think this is relatable to modern day society and the debate about people having children to receive funding from the government without adequate means of looking after them.
2) How will you gather and order your research information?
We are currently in the stages of research into our subject Maurice and his past as an evacuee during the Second World War. We decided that the first and best place to start was a group meeting with him without cameras and just a simple mic to capture the conversation. This took place on Monday and went really well. Not only did this help to put Maurice at ease and familiarise him with the group but we also all got a better sense of our story and we each got a better visual for the story at hand. Advancing on that we have decided to further research into other stories and the historical facts behind the Second World War evacuees and will be posting our research onto our blogs. We think this is imperative to our success as a better understanding of the subject at hand can only help us to better tailor our questions to manipulate our interviewee into an emotionally provocative answer. Our final piece of research will be to take a day trip out to Coalville and the countryside that Maurice was evacuated to during the war. We intend to take Maurice back here during our filming and so this would be essentially location scouting better allowing us to storyboard this section of the documentary.
3) What is the editorial hook or angel on your subject?
The emotion of this story is a key factor that we have decided to really focus on during our documentary. During our meeting with Maurice off camera there were several moments picked up on by our group and on audio recording where it was apparent that the memories were close to bringing him to tears. It was these little moments that we realised we must capitalise upon to evoke an emotional connection from the audience. We would like our audience to have watched the film and ask themselves ‘What would it have been like if this had happened to me?”. In order to do this we really want to emphasis the separation from his parents at an early age and the need to learn street smarts in order to survive.
4) Decide on a visual style for your film?
When we went to visit Maurice we all took note of how the natural light from the large windows created a warm and yet soft lighting to the visuals and we all agreed that this would be an ideal visual style for our piece. We feel that the warm colouring creates a more personal feel to the story and since Maurice is quite elderly a cold colour could create a more lonely and isolated feel.
5) What is the heart of the story that can be told in three minutes?
The nucleus of our story is the separation of child and family as Maurice was taken out to Coalville, Leicestershire during the Second World War to avoid the bombing runs. We would begin our story from the moment of evacuation to his first place of residence and the difficulties he encountered here with poor heating and little food and then follow him to his second accommodation and conclude with his return to his parents. Each act of the story will take roughly a minute of the three minute long documentary.
6) How are you organised as a production team?
See Above
7) Why would this appeal to our intended audience?
Our story is a timeless tale of the hardships of youth in the trying times of the Second World War. It is an area that many British people are aware of but rarely stop to consider the effects of and as such our documentary is centred around the principal of revealing this. We would class our intended audience in the stereotype of Middle Class parents and grandparents of an age range from 50 to 90. We theorise that younger parents would tend to be disinterested in subjects such as the World War where as 50 to 90 would encompass those who were alive during the war and had similar experiences who might wish to reminisce about the past. 

Presenting our early storyboards: %5bUntitled%5d (1) %5bUntitled%5d

Chasing the Story

Its term 2 of 160MC module and the wind is beneath my wings as myself and my group; Michael Moser, Karen Jensen-Clark and Chris Caswell, began our project by heading out into the streets of Coventry in search of a story. What ensued was a series of meetings and greetings that have opened more doors than I could have possibly hoped for. As an individual piece I chose my subject and with the help of the group set out to capture what would become my one minute pitch video.

Meeting Simil

During my time of lost hope, when I had given up on my pursuit of a media career, I had the pleasure of working side by side with many interesting people and one of them was a young chap named Simil Gurung. He came from Nepal at about the age of 20 years old. During his time there he would tell me stories about his youth in Nepal and always say to me that if I ever made a movie he would want to star in it. Before he left for the greener pastures of London to pursue a career as a chef, we shook hands and agreed that I had the exclusive rights to a film about his life story. It was all fun and games back then because I had no intention of picking up my own career goals back then. Fast forward a year or two to the classroom of 160MC term 2 and a light bulb went off in my head.

My vision for this piece was to tell an almost rags to riches story but based more around career success than wealth or finance or emotion. It occurred to me however that the restraints of three minutes might make this problematic. Visually I imagined shots of Simil working in a kitchen with some slow mo shots of flames blazing and food being tossed in a pan. Perhaps some close up slicing whilst the voice over was talking about the rough upbringing in Nepal youth society.

I arranged to meet with Simil on Monday afternoon with the group to shoot what would become my one minute pitch. We met in a pub restaurant named The Cedar tree. We found a nice large bay window to let in natural sunlight which also highlighted the unique fabric of the seats that created a warming glow. The difficulties came from the fact our subject would be shown in front of the window, creating heavy shadows on the face (something we attempted to correct using iPhone flash lights) and the loud noises of the locale which we couldn’t do much about. The interview lasted about ten minutes during which time I relived the stories I had been told those many years ago and discovered new things that had been occurring in his life since. It was an extremely productive day and I’m confident about my one minute pitch.

 

Advice From The Pros – Part 2

“Of all the Chris Foss paintings that inspired Guardians of the Galaxy, this may be the one that inspired us most. Yellow is an underused color in films, especially science-fiction and fantasy films. In Guardians, I used it as a signifier of change, rebirth, and redemption – the yellow prison uniforms, Drax drowning in the yellow spinal fluid, the yellow Groot spores, and the yellow interlocking Nova Corps net… I believe color is a part of what made Guardians successful. When so many huge, spectacle films have the beige color palette of Saw, the brain becomes thirsty for color. We were that technicolor pitcher of water at the edge of the summer desert.
This doesn’t mean all movies should be colorful, just that color in general is important, and too much of one thing is boring. If, over the next few years, films become oversaturated with bright colors, brains will be relieved by a film entirely hazel and gray.
Anyway, this painting, along with other Chris Foss works, was a part of my original presentation to Marvel when I pitched myself as director and I explained the visual direction I was going to take with the film. They were immediately on board, and we ended up hiring Chris Foss to help design some of the spaceships in the film. He was, of everyone, my biggest visual inspiration on Guardians.
He has a page here on FB – Chris Foss Artist Page. I’m not sure if it’s Official or not, but it’s worth checking out nevertheless.”

– James Gunn