Poetic Documentary inspiration and planning

For our short poetic documentary, our intention is portray the theme of contrast between both derelict buildings and dull demolition in the city and lively, independent and bright, quirky areas of the city - where the independent businesses lie. Through doing so, we also want to evoke a sense of contrast in moods in the viewer, between positive and negative, depending on the content they are viewing. The main themes we want our film to explore are a sense of community and realisation in terms of the way that we shop on the high street in comparison to the independent shopping experience.

Research

Whilst walking around Sheffield, mostly in the city centre area I have noticed recently the amount of demolition work going on and how unappealing it is making key parts of the city appear. I took the following photos to reflect upon in group meetings and get a sense of where these buildings are and also to further research their purpose for taking place in the city:

One of our main influences for our poetic film is Blight (Dir. John Smith, 1996.), as the themes explored in the film are similar to the ones we wish to express in our film - the sense of community in the film is put across in an interesting way; through the use of repetitive key words and phrases from the people who the story affects the most - the viewer is able to pick up on the tone of the story whilst watching the demolition visually unfold. Our film could follow a similar structure, although we would like to make it different by also including background sounds repeating, such as supermarket till beeps and other everyday, high street sounds and then a busker on the Devonshire Quarter independent area of the city contrasting this alongside shots of close up details within the independent stores, ones which make them unique and appear to capture a sense of their history and uniqueness.

Transcribed interview - Lucy (Syd & Mallory) - Wednesday 29th November 2014

Interview with Lucy - Syd and Mallory - Wednesday 29th November 2014 - 1.30p.m

Can you please briefly introduce yourself and your business?

Hi...yeah. I'm Lucy Jo Newell and I run Syd and Mallory's Emporium on Devonshire Street with Kirsteen Hardy who's upstairs sewing, so it's a partnership but she's upstairs, busy.

Could you please describe the current demolition plans on Devonshire Street?

Yeah..well at the moment it's just going to planning to the council, so we've got a petition running to hopefully fight that but that's just the stage that we're at at the moment, we don't know what's happening until next week I believe.

What are the plans that are being proposed?

Erm, well, we found out via social media to start with which was the worst thing, so our landlords didn't even send us a letter or anything to tell us. Just that they're knocking down the last three buildings which is us, Rare 'N' Racy  and The Natural Bed Company and proposing to build A3 buildings which is cafes, bars, restaurants, etc. and flats above. So, er, no more independent businesses.


If you could give a message to the people behind the plans, maybe something that they might not necessarily already know about what it will mean to Sheffield, what would that be?

yeah, well I think its slowly getting less and less independent around this area and well, the whole city. Everything's getting knocked down and built into, well like as I say there's so many coffee shops and flats and empty like glass fronted buildings 'cause people can't afford the rents. So inflated rents in buildings like that...there's just not..there's going to be no one like us, like in future generations or well, in now,  like independent businesses can't pay that sort of rent so it's just going to be sterile, A3 units with coffee shops.

Do you have a favourite memory of the store?

Erm, of being in this building? Well we've only been in this building for a year and a bit but we've been in business for eight and a half years. So we've moved around the city. We started off down near the train station, then we got to The Forum - we had a shop in there for five years and then when we got here we finally thought this was, you know, the building we needed to be in, we need to be on Devonshire Street it's the independent quarter. We've got a studio on the top floor so everything is made in house, so everything that we do is in this building and it's great and we don't want to leave...but yeah I suppose that's it at the moment we just..we thought we'd found the place that we'd stay.


What do you like about the Devonshire Green area?

It is the independent quarter, it has been since the seventies. Rare 'N' Racy opened in sixty nine or something like that and it's just..this area's always been for this kind of retail, but it is smaller and smaller now and there's only about five shops on this road really so we don't want to lose any more.

So a lot of people have already signed the petition online already..

Yeah..(agreeing)

Do you think that people will be put off Sheffield as a city if the plans do go ahead?
yeah I think so, I think it's going to be more of a, I dunno like a.. LEGOLAND sort of city, like the same as every other city. Like, everyone's high street looks the same doesn't it? People come to this area for these shops and if there isn't any then they probably will just go to Manchester and other places.

What kind of positive feedback do you get from your customers?

Yeah, just that they love what we're doing, they love the label - they love that they can see that we're making clothes as well hand picking vintage. It's just there's not many shops like this is there? so there's always good feedback.

Why was Sheffield a good place to set up the store for you?

Erm, well we're both from Chesterfield so only down the road, but then also we always came as younger teenagers to The Forum  we'd always shop in there, cause they always had loads of independent business and basically we just thought we can do this and we shouldn't move to London to do it, as everyone does, so we need to do it in our city and so that's what we've tried to do.

Filming Day 1 - Interview at Syd and Mallory

Today we filmed the first of our interviews for the documentary at Syd and Mallory's Emporium on Devonshire Street. We arrived at 1.30p.m and spent around 20 minutes setting up the equipment and choosing where the best place to film was, both in terms of being able to get a background that established the location well, as well as being set up in a way which was still convenient for the store's customers to browse.

I think it really helped that Sarah and I previously visited the store last week to take recce images and see what the space available to us was like, as this became clearer when we were setting up in such a small room. As we had already planned ahead for this and had a good idea of the possible issues we may face in advance, this meant that it became much easier to organise ourselves and the positioning of the equipment and interview set up, and took a lot less time to do so.

The interviewee, Lucy Jo, is one of two of the store's owners and agreed to be interviewed when we visited the store initially two weeks ago. Whilst the interview was not at all rushed, we did agree to only take up about half an hour of her time yesterday as the store front needed to be manned by her whenever possible and we did not want to interfere with the needs of the business. She is happy for us to come back next week to gain any more footage and audio we need and told us we could just come in with our camera at any point during the week as well. I think another aspect that is going well for us is this working relationship that we have established early on with our contributors. We are working with them to discuss the best ways to overcome the issues with the location that we had whilst filming and working around their schedules so as not to interrupt with their daily business. We have recognised that they are currently getting a lot of press coming in who are interested in the story, and so we are working as a group to problem solve in getting the right balance between not being too intrusive but also not wasting any free time that we have to film as much content as possible.


Test shot for the interview set up

The interview itself went very well and we learnt a lot from the responses that we did not previously know or even expect to capture. We kept the camera rolling all the way through instead of cutting after asking each individual question, and after reviewing the footage I think this was a very advantageous choice as we have captured small details that we would not have got if we had cut in between questions. The interviewee was very passionate about the story which helped to drive the narrative of our film, and it is clear it was an emotional topic. The questions that we asked were quite open ended, and we also asked one about what their message would be to the people behind the plans, but maybe something that they might not necessarily already know. From this, we captured that the store itself was not directly told about the demolition threat plans initially, but instead found out via social media, which shocked us all.

One thing that didn't go so well in our interview was the eyeline between myself and Lucy. Because the room was quite small and the equipment had to be set up close to her, it felt like it was quite a nerve-wracking interview and so there were times during the filming in which she would look down or away. As Producer, I feel this was my responsibility to ensure the eyeline stayed focused and I think I could have maybe tried to put her at ease a bit more whilst the camera was being set up which could have made this less of an issue during the filming process. However, I have now learnt from this and as a group we know that we arranged our interview for very early on in the semester and that now we have had the experience of filming one, we have a stronger understanding of the logistics of an interview set up and will employ this in our next and upcoming interviews. Luckily, we did manage to get some good quality interview footage where the eyeline is kept focused and which will be useable, and overall we do share a generally positive perspective on how today went and the information that we managed to capture on both film and audio out of the interview.



Production issues

After the interview, we spent some time around the Devonshire Street/larger Devonshire Green area to try and collect some sound bites from the public about their views on the area. This did prove to be quite problematic as there weren't many people around the area at the time and many of them said that they weren't from Sheffield and didn't know the area. Although we spent some further time there and did gain one or two interesting responses, we decided that the best option would be to return to the store next week and whilst there, try to gather some possible customer contributors. That way, they will definitely know the store and hopefully be willing to give us an insight into the perspective of the customers themselves, which will add to our film as we want to capture a variety of views surrounding a wider community issue.

Another issue was that we intended to go out and gather establishing shots for our poetic documentary in the city centre, however along the main busy street that we planned to film on, there are currently large and high up fairground rides which line the street and block the view we wanted to capture. We tried to work around this the best that we could by filming from a number of different angles around the sides of the rides, but in the end we want this shot to look a particular way that just is not possible with all of the attractions taking up the street at the moment, so here we decided the best thing to do would be to check online to see if we can find out how long these will be up for, and come back next week if these are no longer here, to capture our city centre contrast shot.


 

Production File - Location Release Form - Syd & Mallory's Emporium

Production File - Contributor Release Form - Syd & Mallory Interview

 

Production Meeting - 28/10/14



We held a group production meeting this afternoon to discuss the content for our poetic documentary and also share our visions for the filming tomorrow. We have a scheduled time slot for filming in Syd & Mallory on Devonshire Street from 1p.m until 3p.m, which we will spend the first hour filming interviews and the rest of the time capturing footage of smaller details of the store, which then also can go on to be used in our full length documentary film. After the time spent filming within the interior of the store, we intend to make the most of the rest of the day and evening by capturing general establishing shots around Devonshire Street, to try and capture the vibrancy of the space. In contrast, we also aim to film some city centre footage, around areas such as Fargate.

 

Generating ideas for the poetic documentary film

 For the poetic documentary, our current idea is focused on the theme of contrast between two different parts of the same city. One side of Sheffield - Fargate - is a busy area filled with chain stores and restaurants, just like any other city. Just a short walk up the street is Devonshire Street- an area which is filled with quirky, independent businesses that make Sheffield unique. Due to the fact that our full length documentary is tackling a broad subject and current story, the poetic film will instead narrow this down to portray the idea that people in the city centre (Fargate area) are so accustomed to the familiarity of chain stores and brands that they don't notice what else is around in their city and what makes it unique. To visually show this, we will be incorporating black and white sped up timelapse footage from the Fargate area to show how many people rush through without paying much attention to what is around them. To contrast this, we will then show colour footage of Devonshire Street, possibly with  a slowed down pace, and the surrounding green area, to show a sharp contrast in the atmosphere and environment; to showcase it's individuality. Our poetic film will mostly consist of this contrasting imagery, of two very different places shown to the viewer in a new way.

The sound for our poetic documentary will be segmented and taken from larger interview audio pieces that we gather from the public, in which we will be asking their views on the stores along, as well as the streets that we will be filming on. In doing this, we hope to capture a variety of contrasting views on both Devonshire Street and Fargate. We then hope to all get together and review the audio, before selecting out key words and phrases that we can repeat in our poetic film and place alongside the contrasted footage from the two areas. This will allow the film to hold quite an experimental approach and follow an angle which suggests different viewpoints, which informs the larger aim of our broader documentary.

 

Group Availibility Document

At the start of this week we began planning a production schedule for the coming weeks, which  gives us three days filming a week, but is subject to change based on the replies from the interviewees and the convenience of our chosen filming days for them.

I created a production team availability sheet, to further plan out when the best times to film will be and to make the rest of the group aware of dates and times to keep free in the next few weeks. At the moment, we are planning to shoot on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and also the next two Mondays. Where some group members may not be available, we will all contribute to their job role, as we feel that we need to use every opportunity that we can to film - especially as our subject matter deals with an ongoing issue that more people are being made aware to and that changes relating to it are being implemented quite regularly.

Visit to Location and Update - 24/10/14

Today we visited Syd & Mallory to discuss the outcome of the pitch, confirm with the owners that they were still interested in being involved and take some recce photographs of the location. Sarah and I had a brief look around the store to establish possible places for interview set-ups and also to find any smaller details that could be interesting to film in terms of our poetic film. We also recognised some of the early problems with filming, such as each room in the store being quite small, which won't necessarily be too much of a problem if we plan out the positioning of the camera and ourselves before our first day of filming. However, this will mean that we won't be able to fit lighting equipment in the rooms, so we will have to make use of the lighting made available to us there. The store has a row of light bulb style lights along the front window (as shown below), which we discussed the possibles with visuals for, as one of the shots we aim to get is from across the road, a full-on view of the store (second image below) with the two owners standing next to each other outside, in the late afternoon/ early evening (just as it starts to get dark) and also one of these in the daytime for a back up too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Establishing Location

In store petition - Save Devonshire Street independents

Overall, we still feel positive about the idea and after having explored the space a bit more today, we feel that there are lots of interesting objects and small details that can add to our documentary and make it a bit more unique.

Location Recce images

Inspiration - Sound It Out (Dir.Jeanie Finlay, 2011.)

One of our main inspirations for this film is Sound It Out (Dir. Jeanie Finlay, 2011.), a documentary focusing on the final remaining vinyl record store in Teesside.

 

 The film influences our own in many ways, but in particular in the style and approach the filmmaker is taking. The trailer alone does more than tell and show us, the viewer, about the store itself and what the positives of keeping it open and thriving are. It also gives us a unique insight into the emotional story of the subject.

One element to this film I personally find very interesting and enjoy the idea of, is that instead of focusing purely on the negative impacts that would come around if the store was no longer to survive, the feel to the film still remains quite positive and upbeat. I think this is a unique and interesting way to approach what could have had the potential to be a sad, quite moving documentary - by choosing quite light-hearted content that does the opposite and shares positive emotions of the contributors, whilst still being reflective on the memories of the store, helping to keep these alive.

Another area to the film that works well and that I feel we should take influence from when creating our own documentary is how the area is portrayed.
Personally being from the North East of England, I know the area well and feel the film captures the friendly community side to it extremely well. Within our own film, we wish to express the feel of the community around the independent Devonshire Quarter area in Sheffield, and I think we could achieve some of this by showing a variety of close ups of sights around the area that make it what it is, as achieved successfully in Sound It Out (Dir. Jeanie Finlay, 2011.).

I think we can learn a lot from this film and after watching it a few times and making a list of notes, I am looking forward to producing content for our own documentary and capturing a community of interesting people who hopefully will be able to share many positive memories of the area with us, turning a current sad story into something that instead captures the heart of the area and which once captured, will have caught on film the memory of how it stands today.

Pre-interview questions for pitch

Prior to the pitch and shooting dates, we sent an e-mail to the owners of Syd & Mallory outlining our idea and including some pre- interview questions, which we were originally hoping to go on to review the collected responses from and take a selection of quotes to include in and strengthen our initial pitch. Although we did not get a reply before our pitch, in our interview we re-addressed some of the below questions and were actually able to use feedback that we gained in the pitch in order to create additional questions which was a positive benefit of pitching before the filmed interview:

Initial pre - interview questions

1. Can you tell us a bit about the store and why you think Sheffield is a great location for it?

2. What are your views on independent stores and what do you feel that they bring to a city like Sheffield?

3.  We’ve read the news recently about  redevelopment plans to demolish the row of independent businesses along Division Street, in order to create bars and restaurants and apartments. Can you tell us a bit about your perspective on this please?

4. Why do you think that these plans have been proposed?


5. If our film could be shown to the people behind the plans, what would be the key message that you would want it to highlight, and is there any specific visual content that you feel would be beneficial for them to see?

6.  We want our documentary to be focused on celebrating what independent businesses like yours mean to the local community and the negative change and effects that will be brought about if the redevelopment plans get the go ahead. Do you know any regular customers that may be willing to be involved with the film?

7. Are you aware of anyone else who has commented on the negative impacts of the redevelopment plans  in the media that we may be able to get in touch with?

8.Do you have any upcoming events that we may be able to film at, to form part of our documentary?

Documentary Pitch - 'Made in Sheffield'

Today's seminar was a pitching session, which our group found very helpful in terms of gaining initial reactions and feedback. The main idea that we pitched is 'Made in Sheffield' (working title); a documentary about the importance of independent stores in Sheffield, at a time where their future is unknown due to a threat of demolition plans.

The film will focus on the current redevelopment plans that are in question along Devonshire Street; an area of the city known for its independence and originality.
Through documenting one successful independent vintage clothing business, Syd & Mallory, the views of those on other independent businesses around the area and incorporating their story amongst a range of interviews and sound bites taken from discussions with a few selected regular customers and comments from the general public backing the campaign for their survival,  the documentary aims to be a collaborative film which discovers why these businesses are vital to Sheffield and  will uncover why so many local residents and  even one time visitors are fighting so hard for its survival. The documentary will capture a community of Sheffield residents and lovers of the city, and capture the vibrance of the area as it is today, and as it will hopefully remain in future.




















As filmmakers, and also from our perspective as students who only moved to and got to know Sheffield as a city last year, we believe that the independent businesses and areas to the city are integral to making it a unique place. Because we are passionate about the subject, we really want to create a film which captures this collective view amongst the people of Sheffield, and create a film which the viewer feels they are able to connect with the subject and the sense of urgency surrounding it.

(comment taken from: http://publicaccess.sheffield.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=neighbourComments&keyVal=NC1WIKNYFY000 )


We have been keeping a close eye on the progress of the plans online, through noticing
new news articles appearing and the rising numbers of signatures on fresh petitions to save the area, such as the one below. Reading the comments on these pages has provided us with insightful research into some of the reoccurring reasons that people have for their desire for the area to remain untouched. This research is on-going amongst the group and we will continue to monitor  the progress and any developments within the planned proposal throughout the production process. We understand that the nature of documentary filmmaking lends itself towards remaining open and adaptive towards change and being prepared to take risks and pick new parts of the story up along the way, and with such a current story this is something that we are aware might happen with our film.

Further plans

We have access to both the store and a few early contributors, but in order to develop our idea further we are going to visit and spend a lot of time around the Devonshire Green/Devonshire Street area over the weekend with a camera, taking photographs of interesting images that interest us in terms of thinking about the poetic and visual approach to the film. We have agreed with the store owners to take some recce images tomorrow afternoon and have a chat about the film in further detail, before writing up a schedule for the next few weeks. Overall as a group, we are all very passionate about this idea and organised in terms of planning our time at this stage. We will be holding a group meeting early next week before we begin filming to determine exactly what we aim to collect footage and sound wise and gather everybody's ideas and availability. We are also going to do some further research into similar documentaries and their styles and approaches, and spend some more time around the area at different times of the day in order to gather further inspiration.

Developments of Initial Idea - Gaining potential contributors

After a week of planning towards ideas for the documentary film, Heather and I met up to go into the key stores that the story will affect on Devonshire Street, to introduce ourselves and try to gain any initial potential contributors.

We first went into Rare and Racy, the book and record store, as the interior of this store is really visually pleasing and we were looking forward to hopefully being able to capture some of its uniqueness. However, after speaking to the owner he was not keen to be involved, as the story was still quite new and he did not want to say anything he shouldn't - therefore although this was  a shame to us, we had to accept this and respect his views.

We weren't really too sure what to do next, as we'd only researched Rare and Racy fully and weren't too aware of the other stores at this early on stage, however we decided to just go in to Syd and Mallory's Emporium next door and again introduce ourselves and our idea. The owners were friendly and showed us a positive interest in the film and so we exchanged contact details and agreed to stay in touch to arrange future dates for filming etc.

Initially, this did sidetrack us from our original concept a bit, however after researching further and collaborating as a team, we realised that our story was still very much there and that we were pleased to have gained one contact so early on in the process and before the initial pitch, as this meant that there was still time to gain further interest  as well as advice and feedback, and we would be able to structurally plan out how we were going to approach the film in further detail following this.

Documentary Week 3 - Practical Documentary Filmmaking

This week, we discussed the practical elements and approaches to Documentary filmmaking, and the idea that documentary is essentially all about "something worth telling that the world wants to know".

Through looking at four different approaches to pitches and treatments for documentary films, Dreams of a Life (Dir. Carol Morley, 2011.) , The Baby Maker (Dir. Angela Morrow, 2003.), Osama and U.S  (Dir. Jamie Campbell and Joel Wilson, 2003.) and Homeland (Dir. Jeanie Finlay, 2007.), the idea was introduced that each film has a different pitch and unique treatment , however there are several essential elements that all should have in common:

• The purpose of the treatment is to visualise the story that the filmmaker is trying to tell. Therefore it should be regarded as a realistic guide for the process, and as a tool to clearly communicate the vision for the film and the idea(s) that the filmmaker wishes to express.
  
• Pitches and Treatments should be about the character, and the realisation of ideas.
• In terms of character - questions should be answered about who it is the audience see and their development in relation to the narrative arc of the film.

Tips for building character and story in Documentary filmmaking

- Pre - interviewing contributors can be a helpful way of establishing the story and communicating the types of character and angle that the film is taking. Including quotes from key contributors within a pitch may help to communicate the idea more clearly and generate further interest or raise questions about the subject.

- Pre planning - plan interview questions and visualise shots - to avoid losing the story along the way. Remember that Documentary filmmaking is about chance, so be prepared to take risks. There does tend to be a sense of unpredictability when allowing the camera to be locked off and observational; sometimes it requires more than this observational approach to tell the story solely.

-  Recognise the value of the writing process as a tool; keeps filmmaker, story and project focused, and gives them something to aim towards achieving.  A realistic approach to an idea helps to keep the story 'real'.

- Prepare for the unexpected - e.g. during questions in interviews. Try to ask different questions to the ones which the interviewee is expecting, to gain an original and unexpected response.



Example - 'The Solitary Life of Cranes' (Dir. Eva Weber, 2011. )

The Solitary Life of Cranes is a documentary that has quite a poetic feel to it. The film explores a city, taken from the view of the crane drivers who work above and have a distinct and unique perspective of the city on a daily basis. The documentary takes an observational view of the city from high above, and communicates to the viewer the way in which we live in relation to our environments. One of the main themes in the film is contrast; that we rarely look up and notice cranes or think that there is somebody watching from them, however the people up there notice even the smallest of everyday occurrences, and have a unique insight into detailed everyday occurrences that we rarely get to see or notice.

In the following interview, Eva Weber discusses her initial inspiration for the film, what she discovered along the way and the challenges that she faced when creating the documentary. I have highlighted some of the key phrases that I find to be interesting and I think will be useful to reflect upon in terms of thinking about the challenges our own documentary might presented with during the filmmaking process.

" I originally got fascinated by the idea that there is almost another world above London (or any other city); yet most of us never look up to notice cranes or their drivers. The drivers, in turn, can see everything going on below them, yet their only way to connect with the world they are building is by watching it from a distance.
In many ways, the film builds and expand on themes touched upon in my earlier film, The Intimacy of Strangers--the conflict between being intimate yet distant, and how our lives are shaped by our urban environment. As one of the drivers says in the film, their work and the enforced closeness to some of the buildings around them means that it is difficult for them to not look at the lives of the people working and living around them. I feel this is definitely also true for many of us living in modern cities; there is almost an enforced intimacy in our lives.
 
Once I started researching the film, I was blown away by the sheer beauty of being up on a crane and seeing the world from such a different point of view. There is something about being so high up above the ground and removed from the world that puts everyday life into a very different perspective and lets you see the wider patterns of a city. Yet, in many ways it has been the small observations of the drivers that have really stuck with me: the way people walk differently at certain times in the day, the different way couples look before and after a long and stressful Saturday afternoon shopping trip, or the way office buildings in our financial districts change at night-whereas during the day, mirrored glass keeps the outside world out, you can suddenly see clearly inside at night.
 
When I set out to make the film, I didn't realize that it might actually take longer than for the drivers to put up a 50-story building. Getting access to construction sites proved to be an incredibly slow and difficult process, not helped by the fact that at the time there were a number of accidents involving cranes in London. As a result, the period during which filming took place turned out to be a very difficult time for the construction industry in the UK. In the end, it took months of e-mails, phone calls and meetings to build the trust with the companies to allow us access, albeit limited. "
During the filming, my producer and I got obsessed with weather forecasts, checking on them every few hours to see whether the following day might be suitable for filming. We were not only worried about rain and visibility but also about wind speeds, as cranes stop working when the wind gets too strong. We turned up plenty of mornings at a site, only to be told that we would not allowed up the crane that day. On one particular morning, we actually climbed up a 43-meter crane with all our equipment, only for my cameraman and sound recordist to arrive at the top and decide they could not take the weather conditions. Ironically enough, when we were finally trying to film on a rainy day, for the "weather" sequence in the film, London seemed to go through a dry period, and we had to wait for what seemed like weeks to finally film these shots. 
However, regardless of the difficulties of organizing the filming and carrying the equipment up on the crane, there are still very few moments that beat being up on a tower crane for the first time. Even now, endless climbs later, I am still amazed at the view of the world you have from up there. Walking down the back jib and looking through the thin, perforated metal floor at the ground below is both exhilarating and nerve-wrecking.


When I set out to make this film, I had a very clear idea of the themes I wanted to explore, and this informed the whole filmmaking process--from the interviews, to the visual style, to the way I approached the sound design. For instance, I decided very early on that I wanted to divorce the image and sound in the film to reflect the way the drivers are separated from the world they are building below. My aim was to make a film that transcends individual stories, and for me, the detached, stylistic approach invites the viewer not only to engage in the portraits of individual people, but to recognize in them bigger, more universal emotions and experiences. So, while this film is told from the drivers' perspective, it is obviously also shaped through my own experiences and interpretation of their situation. 
However, I always try to keep an openness to change my ideas about a film or a subject during the interviews, the filming or in post-production, and to respond to what is actually unfolding in front of me. I love being surprised by what I see and the way this changes the way a film develops. For instance, at one point during the film we see a small scene played out between two young kids on a playground. Moments like this are why I love documentary filmmaking--there is no way I could have ever thought or planned for this scene, which for me is now one of the most magical moments in the film. "

(Original interview in full can be found at : http://www.documentary.org/content/meet-filmmakers-eva-weber-solitary-life-cranes )

Documentary Week 2 - Poetic Documentary

In this week's seminar, we looked at the Poetic form in Documentary filmmaking, and how different creative techniques can be applied to a Documentary, in order for the filmmaker to be more experimental in their approach.

Poetic Documentaries are often concerned with the aesthetics of a film, are personally stylised and often follow a non-linear narrative structure. The Poetic form is mostly concerned with evoking emotion and communicating a particular tone through the imagery used. There is often quite an authored feel to a Poetic piece, and they commonly deal with quite universal issues.

Examples

Regen (Rain) , (Dir. Joris Ivens, Manus Franken, 1929.)

Experimenting with Montage Editing, Regen (Dir. Joris Ivens, Manus Franken, 1929.) takes the form of a cine - poem; it is purely visual. The film follows a simple concept; filming the transformation of a city when it rains, and capturing reflections and the rain in many different lights. It captures small fragments of the everyday, and the essence of the now; a lived experience. Small moments of the everyday are shown to the viewer in a way in which they may previously never have viewed in the same way.

Night Mail ( Dir. Harry Watt, Basil Wright, 1936.)





















Night Mail (Dir. Harry Watt, Basil Wright, 1936.) follows a more literally poetic approach, through the use of spoken poetry, which matches the rhythm of the visual content. Ordinary lives are also showcased in this film; a universal story has been created out of the small, everyday drama of ordinary lives.


La Jetée (Dir. Chris Marker, 1972.)

Prior to Cinema Verité, Documentary filmmakers were used to exploring issues, in a similar way to those seen in a documented essay format. La Jetée focuses on the juxtaposition of images, and what this brings about. It follows an experimental style which draws on the theme of reflection, in several different places.

Night and Fog ( Dir. Alain Resnais, 1955.)

Dealing with a serious and tragic subject, the filmmaker focuses more on exploring the 'why?' 's and 'how?' 's of the horrific events shown, and takes more of a personal approach to the film as their viewpoint is communicated to the viewer through the use of  a voiceover asking questions about collective responsibility, over a series of archive material, which essentially drives the story. An interesting experimental approach is employed, as black and white images are used to show the past and colour images represent the present. This allows the audience to rethink and readdress the viewing material. The film has a matter of fact tone, and the language used is emotive and powerful, creating the desired effect by evoking emotions in the viewer.


Blight ( Dir. John Smith, 1994-6.)

This film takes an experimental approach, exploring the concerns of local residents wanting to protect their homes during the M11 Link Road construction process in East London. Spoken and repeated fragments of  memories of their homes are replayed, against contrasting footage of the demolition process. There is a strong juxtaposition of sound and image, which allows the audience to reconsider the meaning and interpretation of the presented images. The fragmented sound works alongside the contrasting imagery, as the audience are never given the full story, but rather pieces, like the pieces of the buildings the viewer is shown being demolished progressively. The overall mood of the film is reflected within the content and the flash colour frames are foreshadowing.


Wisconsin Death Trip (Dir. James Marsh, 1999.)

Wisconsin Death Trip (Dir. James Marsh, 1999.) is inspired by a book written by Michael Lesy, which consists of an archive of black and white photographs, taken in a small town in America, Black River Falls, beginning in the 1890s. The photographs were matched up to extracts from the local newspaper. The film consists of news reports and extracted clips taken from an Asylum, and the story is told in seasons. The film consists both of  a dramatic reconstruction set up, using actors, as well as genuine archive material, to capture the sense of time and place and allow the viewer an insight into character. The film takes a personal approach, as the content is based upon the filmmaker's own choice of the selection material and archive images. The viewer is therefore able to see the filmmaker's perspective of the town. The film is pre-occupied with memory and presents one representation of the truth.