Monday I re-read the brief and the to-do list to give me a better and clear idea of to make sure I don’t miss anything else, I will keep doing this as I go along to not miss anything at all.
The week before, I wrote up my proposal for this project, first it was kind of tricky deciding what I want to do for the assignment, I originally wanted to do another music video, but after just finishing one I don’t think I could do another one. I then wanted to do a trailer, but couldn’t exactly think of an idea I am happy with. So, I thought about ideas for a documentary and figured that the virtual photography subject is a very small, non-known subject that I could cover. I thought of ways I can structure it but I am still thinking.
I then went over all 7 units I have done and explained what I learnt and how I can add that into my final project. This helped me overview what I actually learnt from this course and how I improved over each assignment.
On Monday and Tuesday I did my original idea pitch, showing the 4 segments and how I can add them, although I will soon do another pitch as I have a few more ideas of how to structure this.
On Tuesday I was told more about the BBFC and how they rate films, what a film has to have in order to stay in that category. I learnt that films that are also around 12/13 age ratings can have certain things in them like violence, death, drugs but it has to be very obscure and is not the main part of the film. It also helps if it’s in context.
I also did more research by myself about it, learning many things such as an 18 ilm can be cut or censored into having a lower age rating. Which some companies like 20th Century Fox has done with Deadpool 2. This is just good to know for myself for future projects when I am deciding to make a more darker video.
Through-out this week, I had a think of what I wanted to tell in the story, what was the question? Who am I following in this story? Instead of it being all voice over with footage and other clips within it to engage a better story for the audience. I decided to follow my story, as the subject is very obscure and there aren’t any other people near me who do this, apart from myself – so it will follow me and my experience with the question “Why Virtual Photography?” which will explain itself by the end after talking about my journey, explaining some of my personal favourite photos I have taken, talking about the start of this journey, how I improved. And then by the end add a little segment that will be a few written interviews of a few people I know online who do this and give their opinions on my journey or their journey. Just to give a better reach with the subject.
I did the final version of the pitch and proposal, the first two being of the older story with 4 segments. It was too long and would’t add a lot into my documentary, making it boring. So in conclusion, I am happy with this story and I am sure it will work fine and make an interesting video.
I was learnt about the different modes within documentaries, learning about; Grierson “Voice of God” mode, where there is just voice over the footage. which I wanted to do originally.
Then there was Cinema Verite, where the filmmaker is present. Which is what I am doing now to engage to more people and make it interesting.
And finally, the Direct Cinema, where there is no filmmaker, no voice over, just letting the edited footage tell the story. Which definitely was not for me.
TV and Film Production 