Filming City building blocks - 29/11/14

This afternoon, Sarah and I went out with the camera to collect a wide range of shots that all looked like building block shapes which make up the cityscape of the city buildings.

We did find this interesting, as whilst out we discovered for ourselves that we had never really looked up whilst walking around the different areas of the city and that they was actually quite a contrast between the high rise and tops of buildings in the city centre area when compared to the outskirts and independent quarter area. We used this to talk about ways of further developing the part of our film where the city centre is briefly shown- concentrating on the idea that people focus purely on brand names and images rather than the overall area that surrounds it.

The timing of our first interview was positive as we had managed to interview Lucy at an extremely early on point in the process, so we knew and recognised key parts to the interview that we wished to use, such as the LEGOLAND city comment, which we were able to match to suitable visual content whilst out today, keeping our documentary feeling real and true to the subject matter from the beginning.

Documentary Update - 28/11/14

 

 

Following a helpful tutorial this week, we have put a plan together as a group for the remaining time left on the project schedule. Last week, I spoke on the phone with Kane, the General Director of the Forum, who has expressed his opinion on the story and an interest in becoming involved with our film. He has arranged to meet us for a filmed interview on Wednesday next week (03/12/14), and I have also sent him a list of pre-interview questions which he says have helped in preparing for this.

Other than this interview, we have also had gone into and had a chat to the manager at the Green Room, who has agreed that some staff will be willing to be interviewed and the best time to do so will be a Thursday afternoon. Because we do not want to turn up unannounced, we will visit again early next week in person to double check their availability for next Thursday. They have also agreed to let us use a back room area of theirs for any interviews, even if they are with outsiders of their business.

This has helped us a lot, and from a Producers perspective I have found it a lot easier and more convenient to go in person to places and talk through projects rather than emailing or phoning, as it is easier to discuss the project in depth and introduce ourselves in person to start an early established working relationship with contributors.

In terms of our plan from now onwards, we will be spending the next week very involved in the project and aim to get the full film content complete by the end of next week. This is to allow ourselves a few weeks in the edit, as we feel this can sometimes be the hardest part and will be a challenge with our film, especially in certain parts of the documentary - such as the contrast between the 'legoland' city visuals and those that capture the difference and independence of the Devonshire quarter area. We are aware that we have a lot of work to do as a group within the next week, but are all looking forward to putting the full length documentary together as we are enjoying the project and find the story interesting and one which is current as it is continuing to crop up in local news articles etc.


Email contact I have had with potential contributors:

 

Documentary Treatment - Made in Sheffield

Made in Sheffield

Production Group: Hannah Grencis (Producer), Sarah Cooper (Cinematography), Emily Spokes (Sound) and Heather Hall (Editor).

Length: 7 minutes
Tagline: A unique area with a story to tell, before it is too late.

The Devonshire Quarter of Sheffield has always been known for its striving independence since the 1970s. Current demolition plans propose to knock down unique independent businesses in the area, leaving owners out of business and an empty, generic city in their place.

Made in Sheffield captures a community of Sheffield people; independent business owners who have grown up in the city and whose venues allow visitors and residents alike to experience a different and unique side to the city. They are the ones directly affected if these proposed plans for demolition get the go ahead. They are the ones who believe in their businesses and are passionate about doing something different and bringing it to a city that is creative and benefits from an independent sector. The film allows the people of Sheffield to voice their opinion and gives them a chance to openly express how much they care about the issue; how much the city benefits from these businesses and the truthfulness of the impact that it will have if the proposed plans do in fact go ahead. The film goes behind closed doors and delves into the smaller details of the stores affected, showcasing the unique work that they do on a daily basis, and the passion that they put into it.

Our contributors tell us their own stories, expressing their passionate opinions, but they also show us. Lucy has worked at independent vintage clothing store Syd and Mallory for eight and a half years. Her business has already had to relocate three times in the city and she feels strongly about not wanting to leave, as she believes the store has ‘finally found the perfect place to stay’. Lucy found out via social media that her business was under threat of closure, and is currently fighting back by setting up an in store petition opposing the plans, in which hundreds of customers have already and are continuing to sign. The film captures Lucy creating items for her store and openly discussing how the demolition plans will negatively impact on Syd and Mallory as both a successful online label as well as a local Sheffield brand. Her passion and determination to keep her business up and running in the building which they have grown to love is clear; ‘there aren’t many shops like this are there?’, and her fight in the struggle to keep it is an emotional one – ‘everything that we do is in this building and it’s great and we don’t want to leave’.

Kane is the general director of The Forum, a small independent shopping centre, café and bar on the corner of Devonshire Street. He has grown up in Sheffield and seen his business strive in the independent quarter area, and very passionately believes that independent businesses contribute to the public’s positive perception of Sheffield. He understands and feels unhappy about Lucy’s struggle, as he holds fond memories of when Syd and Mallory was located in the Forum, before being moved across to the opposite side of Devonshire Street. He believes that the independent quarter ‘draws people into a different side to Sheffield, a side which forms part of the city and which caters for people who may not enjoy city centre life’.

Steve works at The Green Room, a small independent pub on Devonshire Street, which regularly holds live music nights and supports local talent. He is disappointed at hearing of the plans, as he is proud to call Sheffield his hometown and does not want the city he knows and loves to become just like any other. He worries that if the plans do go ahead, business may be affected at The Green Room, and that the community of people around the area may well change into a similar environment to the city centre – something which he believes should be firmly kept there. The film documents how each of the businesses in this quarter of Sheffield are unique in their own way, creating an exciting atmosphere around the area. It captures memories of those who have grown up in the area and have seen it develop, and who are trying desperately hard to save it.

Made in Sheffield captures a side to Sheffield that sadly may not be around in future generations, but which needs to be captured as it positively stands today. It will celebrate the importance of independent businesses in a creative and unique city, and visually highlight why they need to stay.

Poetic Documentary - Legoland City.

Legoland City from Emily Spokes on Vimeo.

Progress & Tutorial - 13/11/14

This week we spent some time listening back to all of the audio and reviewing the footage we have collected up until now, in order to plan out the structure of our poetic documentary. An early established aim for the poetic film was for us to show two or three simplistic, static shots, placed over brief audio sound bites which give the viewer an insight into what our main film is about and the topic in which it is exploring. Showing two different sides to the city of Sheffield in very different lights intends to inform our viewers of our full length documentary film and as such will act as a shortened trailer in some ways for our film, without giving away too much information but still showing the ideas that our film wishes to express.

On Thursday, we had a tutorial which I found to be very helpful as although we feel positive about how the main documentary is going and have been working hard on gathering more potential contributors as well as filming in any spare time we have, there was a slight concern over what our poetic would consist of. This was due to the majority of the footage that had already been shot consisting of mostly interviews and close ups of unique items within independent stores and the general outdoor Devonshire quarter area. Whereas for our poetic piece, we want to keep the focus on simple shots which introduce the viewer to the concept behind our documentary, our subject and an insight into how the story will unfold.

After taking on board the following feedback, as a group we have agreed that although we have a lot of work to do in the next week, we feel confident enough to be able to go out and reshoot, experimenting with a new concept in order to create a poetic film which we can visualise as working a lot stronger than the initial rough cut we put in place for the purpose of the tutorial.


Tutorial Feedback:

• The static shot down Fargate (city centre area of city) is stronger than footage taken from Devonshire Street area. When showing Devonshire area, the viewer needs to see and establish a clear difference between the two parts of the city; something that makes it obviously unique and that reflects the overall atmosphere and independence of the area.
• Think about what could be done to strengthen the visuals in the film; perhaps consider using a slow tracking shot down Fargate, then gradually getting darker as it merges into another tracking shot which shows Devonshire Street in the evening (a time when it looks visually different and has more going on around the area).
• Consider removing pieces of different soundbites and instead focusing on one or two people's voices - the ones which express their views in the best way and capture the idea the film is expressing well.

Plan for the next week
Friday 14th November - Film tracking shot along Fargate - early morning city centre. Full group available for this. Make sure to capture as much as possible and experiment with showing street in different ways, take shots from a number of views and angles to ensure we have extra footage than required to work with in the edit.

Saturday 15th November - Sarah/Hannah to cut down Lucy's interview into small segments that will work well alongside poetic footage.
Monday 17th November - Meet with John at the Forum at 11.30a.m, to discuss the requirements for the film and filming in the Forum area. Take notes from this on availability of interviewees and location recce images. Afternoon - record atmos. and general city sounds - repetitive, mundane sounds e.g. tramlines, cash machine sounds, small details that all form part of the same concept; that capture the idea of the mundane, everyday high street shopping experience. After this, move on to Devonshire Street and capture contrasting soundbites; exciting details such as skateboards, bicycle wheels and bells, etc.; details which capture the vibrance and independent atmosphere of this side of the city.
Tuesday 18th November - Full day of filming. Early morning start on Fargate - setting up tracking shot and spending time ensuring we get the correct shot. Late afternoon/early evening, move on to Devonshire Street and gain tracking shot of area, focusing on involving as many unique details as possible. Take time to set up and gain shot, ensuring that where the previous tracking shot down Fargate will end, this one will be able to follow on from smoothly.

Wednesday 19th November - early morning - Full day of post - production for poetic documentary film.

Sound Recording - Public opinions - 11/11/14

This afternoon we met up as a full group to go out and gather a further collection of sound bites from the public, with the intention being to collect a range of opinions to capture a shared community view on our story.

Having had little luck on Devonshire Street in stopping people previously to explain the project and ask if they were willing to answer a few recorded questions - we decided to go to the Moor Market, as we were aware there are also a lot of independent businesses within the area who may be more knowledgeable about the plans and have stronger opinions on the importance of local independent businesses. 

This worked out very well, as once we started a conversation with one of the stalls, the owner then showed us around the Market and pointed us in the direction of other stall owners that are passionate about independent businesses and who would be willing to talk to us. We spent around 45 minutes gathering various people's opinions within the indoor market area, and began to realise that a lot of them were sharing the same opinions and had a lot in common - most of the people expressed that they find Sheffield a "friendly city" and that "keeping it local" needs to happen in regards to the importance and benefits of shoppers choosing to go to independents. 

Originally our plan for today was to also include a trip to Devonshire Street to set up another static long take - similar to the one we gathered last week in the Fargate area of the city, showing the contrast between the two areas. Although we did capture one of these last week, our time was limited and after reviewing the footage we decided collectively that we needed to reshoot in order to gather as much footage as possible to choose  what to work with in the edit. However, because the weather today was rainy and by the time we had finished recording sound bites in the Moor Market it was beginning to get dark outside, we decided to reschedule this filming for early next week (Monday/Tuesday morning).

Current project strengths and improvements

After finishing up today we all agreed that we feel like the group project is going well, we are pleased that we are organised and are managing our time well and that the further we get with the development of the project, the more people in the area seem to be interested in what we are trying to achieve and are wanting to be involved.

An improvement could be to move in closer on the affected area that our story is centered around. The reason we went to the Moor Market area of the city today was purely because we needed to capture some opinions in order to have some content to work with for our rough cut next week, however for the full length piece our intention is to visit the Devonshire Quarter area on a busy day, probably a weekend, in order to get the opinion of those who know the area and are very aware of the plans. At the moment, our idea is still in a fairly early form, and I have organised a few group meetings within the next week to allow us to sit down together and work out where our poetic film idea is going and to plan out  visually and with audio  how we are going to achieve this. Our group is very organised and we are all communicating well with one another, relating to both the project filming dates but also finding content that is relevant to our story. We have set up a Facebook group to post links of articles and share interesting online responses to the story that we have all individually come across, and this has also been a good place to share influences and new ideas for the production.

Filming Day 2 - Street scenes and Sound voxpops

This morning we met up as a group and went to record some long shots around the Fargate area and also Devonshire Street to contrast this. The weather was good and clear all day so we made the most of the full day by starting early and gathering as much footage- both close ups as well as long, static shots - as we could until late afternoon when the shops began to close and it began to get dark. At first, we did encounter a few issues with the shots we set up, such as market stalls and vans being set- up in the middle of the street, meaning it was difficult to get the full long shot straight down the Fargate area that we initially had planned out. After discussing the options for this as a group we managed to relocate to the side of the street which meant that these stalls were no longer in view whilst also ensuring that we had the a similar intended shot re set up.

After sorting out the camera settings as it was a bright day, we let the camera roll for about ten minutes to get a variety of people walking past and capture different types of scenes happening on the same busy street. The intention for this shot is to show how fast paced life in the city centre is, and present the idea that people go about their day to day lives, generally in a rush and not really paying attention to what is around them.  When contrasting this with the similar scene on the Devonshire Street shot, we intend to show the difference between the people in the area as well as the place itself; how people choose to go into independent stores and generally explore the area with more interest than the majority of the shoppers who are rushed around in the city centre area, where the stores that stand are no different to any other city.

We also made use of the full day and time that we had free as a group to record a selection of soundbite vox pops from members of the public during the busier early afternoon time around the Fargate city centre area. As well as asking them the more general question of their views on Sheffield as a city and the shopping facilities, and if they knew anything about independent businesses and where to find them in Sheffield, we also asked them to describe the city in one word.
The purpose of this was to gather as many words as we could to put into our poetic documentary and, if at all possible, joining words that different  people have said together to form an almost poem out of spoken words from the public. Our intention for this soundtrack is to put it alongside the footage of the busy city centre street scene, possibly in black and white and possibly as a timelapse - the words being those of shoppers who find the city like any other, boring and a nice place but not unique. In doing so, our intention is to capture and portray the fast paced city life that rushes through this part of the city every day, and contrast this alongside street scenes of Devonshire Street, where people in general take in their surroundings and aren't so rushed around - enjoying being around and noticing the smaller and more unique details of Sheffield; those that make it unique and what it is.

At the moment, although our idea is not fully formed, experimentation is the stage we are at - trying out early ideas and reviewing our own footage and sound on a regular basis, as well as the work of others that we take inspiration from, to establish how to strengthen the film and visually present the idea which will be fully explored in our main length documentary.

Establishing further contributors

As Producer of the documentary, I have been keen to establish contributors as early on in the filmmaking process as possible. Because this is a very current issue, I initially carried out some research online to find out what other businesses in the area have been commenting on in the local media as well as their own social media pages. From this, I noticed that a lot of the independent businesses around the whole Devonshire area, and not just Devonshire Street specifically, have been spreading the word about their disagreement on the demolition plans, and seem to form a very strong community around the area.

Because we already have vintage clothes store, Syd & Mallory contributing to the film, I thought it might be a good idea to gather a few different types of businesses as our main contributors, so that they all have different comments on the area and the situation, and are different types of people, although sharing a shared view. I sent emails introducing myself and the group and outlining our current documentary project to Moonko, an independent gift store, The Great Gatsby, a unique bar in the area and The Forum, a small, independent shopping centre and café on the corner of Devonshire Street. A few weeks after doing so, I had not heard back from any of the venues, so decided to chase them up via social media, as I understand that emails can often be misplaced or not caught up with at times. Within a few days, I received a reply from Moonko ,who thanked us for asking and said they will try to get back to us soon, as they are dealing with a busy time of year at the moment.

I also received an email back from John Hamilton at The Forum, who expressed a keen interest in our film and agreed to allowing us full access to the building as a space for any filming we need to take place, as well as expressing an interest for the staff there to help in any other way that they can. I have since arranged a meeting with John for Monday 17th November at 11.30a.m, to discuss our requirements as a group for the film.

At this stage, I feel quite positive and confident with the contributors that we have managed to gain interest from so far, and will continue to try and generate further interest amongst a few more people. I think visiting the stores and bars might be more effective in some cases, as having a one to one chat with somebody feels like a more genuine approach than an email conversation. After the meeting with John on Monday, I have organised a brief production group meeting to discuss the progress of the film, how the group members feel it is going, and everyone's views on what the next stages from here that need to take place will be, in order to move the production process along as effectively as possible.

Filming day 3 - Establishing shots in Syd & Mallory

Today Sarah (cinematographer) and I (Producer) revisited Syd & Mallory's Emporium on Devonshire Street, as previously agreed with the owners, who offered for us to come in at any time to film around the store. We both feel grateful that we've had such a positive experience with contributors and managed to already build up an early established working relationship with them. We were allowed access to the full building, other than the top floor studio space due to health and safety restrictions.

The purpose of our visit today was to gather a selection of close ups, capturing small details of the store that make it so individual and unique. This was a very useful and worthwhile experience as we were also allowed to explore the store ourselves in further details - really get a sense of the place and the hard work and passion that goes into decorating the store as well as picking items which hold meaning. For example, we discovered a lot of historical items, old photographs and keepsakes that made us as the filmmakers ask questions - about who these people were and where these items had originally come from. Our visit today helped us to also establish a theme of our film - preserving an area of the city which holds history and is different to any other.

One issue we did encounter is that because the room spaces in the store are small, we could not set up a tripod due to us not wanting to get in the way of customers and interrupt the daily running of the business, therefore some of our handheld shots will be too shaky and unusable for our film. However, we did manage to get around this in some cases, by using nearby window ledges, tabletops and other surfaces to steady the camera on, and spending enough time reshooting any strong shots a number of times until we felt comfortable with their appearance. We also agreed that we can return to the store to reshoot and gather further material for the full length documentary film in a few weeks time - being prepared enough in advance and booking out a shoulder rig from the creative media store in order to strengthen our panning shots further.

After spending a few hours in both upstairs and downstairs rooms in the store, gathering a large collection of shots, we noticed that Lucy, who we had previously interviewed, was sewing in the store entrance and so we asked if it would be possible to film a few minutes of this, which she was more than happy to agree to. We also had a chat about the current  stage of the demolition plans and how much further the petition had raised awareness, and found out that there might be a debate due to the number of signatures the campaign has attracted. We thanked Lucy for her time and letting us spend so much time in the store again, before agreeing to stay in touch.

After today, I feel like our idea is really beginning to take shape and come together, and I am looking forward to producing the final documentary film. There are some group concerns about the two minute poetic piece at the moment, which are mainly due to us having shot more footage and audio for the actual film than for the poetic film currently, however we have arranged a group meeting to discuss this in further detail and have all agreed that this could actually work in our favour, if we take parts from what we have gathered for the actual film and use these in our poetic film - as it is intended to inform our main production.

Contact with Syd & Mallory and Planning for further filming

After last week's filming we got together as a group to review the footage and sound that we collected and to generate ideas for our next filming date within the store (Wednesday 5th November). We thought about some of the key things we gained from our interview with Lucy; how we learnt about their side of the story on the current situation - the fact they found out via social media and that we all feel like we got a sense of understanding that this is a store that has passionate owners who love Sheffield and bring something unique and of their own to their city. We also found out that everything that they create and sell in store is made in house, and so we thought about the creative possibilities within this. After attending the practical workshop session on Friday in the workstation studio, we feel we could get further interview footage and that it could be really beneficial to our film to include footage of the contributors talking to us as they make items and are comfortable in doing something that they love as they talk about it.

Because we previously had already interviewed Lucy and agreed to come back in next Wednesday (5th November) to film closer up details of the store and general establishing shots, we wanted to stick to this as we understand that there are only a couple of members of staff in the store and we do not want to be interrupting the needs of the business. However, due to us rethinking the store interviews and how we could better approach these, I sent a message to Syd & Mallory thanking them for their help and time for the interview and explaining the process of us reviewing the footage and our query about if filming them at work would be at all possible. Within a few days I received the following response:


Hello! No problem at all, I'm happy for you to come in and film around the shop and even a bit of sewing downstairs. But unfortunately we won't be able to film up in the studio as it's a very small (and chaotic!) space which we can't really let public into with the industrial machines and big rolls of fabric, and heat press, it's just not safe to have many people up there. Also we have a big order to get finished and shipped this week so it's pretty full on up there!
See you in the shop in a couple of days.
Cheers. x

Taking this into account, we are happy as a group to film the work that goes on downstairs due to the health and safety restrictions that the upstairs of the building has in place. We think that even just small details could work quite nicely and fit within our film, such as one of the owners on a sewing machine or making some jewellery. We are also glad as a group that we have established a positive working relationship early on with our contributors, as they have agreed to let us go into the store with cameras to film any time we want to during their opening hours, and told us to e-mail them if there is anything else that they can do to help.