Permission to film in Tesco...

We wanted to film our next sequence at a supermarket and there is a large Tesco in Brooklands, Surrey. I popped in to ask who I need to speak with in order to gain permission to film. I was told to contact the store manager via e-mail and I sent him the following e-mail

Dear Chris,

We are a group of two A-Level students, currently studying Media Studies at Heathside Sixth Form College. As part of the majority of our A2 grade, we are required to construct a short documentary of our choice. Our documentary is about the success of entrepreneur, Levi Roots and after being given the chance to interview him, we are hoping to film a short sequence at Brooklands Tesco next to his sauces. With your approval it would increase our Media Studies A2 Portfolio grade and give us an overall, higher grade to aim for.

There is no budget for this filming sequence, as it is just a coursework project. The footage taken will solely be used for educational purposes and may also be featured on our media studies blogs, which you may feel free to visit at www.achoudhurydocumentary.blogspot.com or alternatively, you may ask our media teacher to find out more, via e-mail at the following the e-mail address, amichael@heathside.surrey.sch.uk.

Please let us know if it would be possible to film this sequence and we look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Amir Choudhury and Lauren Berridge

(A-Level Students)

Unfortunately we received no reply so I decided to pop in again and see if I could talk to him in person. I was very anxious to film in Tesco and Tesco is a two minute walk away from my house so I was very flexible in terms of popping in and asking for the manager. I popped in to find the head of security (Darren) who said he is able to give me permission to film after phoning and confirming it with the store manager. He said we were more than welcome to film at any time before 10pm. We decided to film our sequence a few days after gaining permission so we were able to execute a plan and create a storyboard. Here are some shots from Tesco...

Editing the footage..

To edit our footage from the interview, we had decided to use Microsoft Windows Movie Maker and VideoPad Video Editor which is a product of NCH Software. Both of these programs are designed to be used with Windows and as Myself and Lauren both own windows laptops, it made it more east and convenient for us to use these video editing programs. As well as being quick, easy and convenient to use, these programs are helping us achieve fantastic results.

Here are some screen shots of us using the software for our documentary:

Shots of the restaurant and the interview...

Here are some snapshots of the restaurant and the interview process...

Interview with Levi...

We arrived at the restaurant early by an hour and Levi had not yet arrived. As we waited anxiously for his arrival, we decided to start setting up our equipment. Everything seemed to be going as planned however when we came to testing out the Yeti Microphone, which was very problematic for us. Thankfully however, I had a tie-microphone which plugged into one of the camera's we were using and picked up all of the sound. We left the Yeti on the middle of the table to make the scene more engaging and add professionalism.

Here is what we used for the interview:

• 3 Tripods
• 3 Sony Handycam Cameras
• 1 Yeti Microphone
• 1 Creative Tie-Mic

Going to see Levi...

Myself and Lauren went to London's Battersea to visit Levi at his restaurant, the Papine Jerk Centre in Battersea. We went there via train and took various snapshots on our travels. Here are a few of these snapshots...

Levi Roots Interview Preparation...

Before filming Levi, we wanted to gain some first-hand experience when it came to filming an interview. This is because there are many different camera angles we could have used to portray various styles. Our aim was to identify the different shots we could have used and illustrate their various purposes. We have created a video of us interviewing a student (posing as Levi) to practise these various camera angles...

Class Presentation

Every group in our class had to produce a presentation of what we have done with regards to our documentary so far. We were filmed giving our presentations as well as receiving feedback. Below is the slide show which we had presented...

Levi Roots

Here is the video of our presentation...

Levi Roots, e-mail to gain approval...

Myself and Lauren had e-mailed Levi's PR agent, Natasha. Below is a screen-shot copy of the
e-mail which we had sent to her, seeking permission to film and interview Levi Roots at a convenient time and place.

Incase you were unable to read the text due to it's size, it is written below:

Dear Natasha,

We are a group of two A-Level students, currently studying Media Studies at Heathside Sixth Form College. As part of the majority of our A2 grade, we are required to construct a short documentary of our choice. We are hoping, with your approval to film Levi Roots for a short interview, for our documentary, which will be based on the success of Levi. With your approval it would increase our Media Studies A2 Portfolio grade and give us an overall, higher grade to aim for.

There is no budget for this filming sequence, as it is just a coursework project. The footage taken will solely be used for educational purposes and may also be featured on our media studies blogs, which you may feel free to visit at www.achoudhurydocumentary.blogspot.com or alternatively, you may ask our media teacher to find out more, via e-mail at the following the e-mail address, amichael@heathside.surrey.sch.uk.

Please let us know if it would be possible to film Levi and we look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Amir Choudhury and Lauren Berridge

(A-Level Students)

Further evidence of research, planning and editing

Here are some photos used as further evidence of myself and Lauren, researching, planning and editing parts of our final documentary. We found some time after school to do this. If you wish to view the photos in their full size, simply click on the images.

Documentary Opening Script

Myself and Lauren had both contributed to come up with the script to make it sound as realistic and professional as possible as we are filming a documentary that is aimed at a more serious target audience. The script is written below...

(Starts with Levi Roots' entrance to Dragons Den. He walks up the stairs singing and the music fades out in twelve seconds)

Singing his way to sucess, Levi Roots first appeared on the BBC television show Dragons Den' in 2006.

His pitch was to raise a £50,000 investment for a 20% share in his product, Reggae Reggae Sauce, which was made from a secret recipe, passed down from his grandmother.

Two of the dragons, Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh were both enticed by Levi's Pitch.

After recieving the investment that Levi was looking for, his life changed dramatically, and we want to know, just how far Levi's career has progressed....

(Fades to black, titles roll)

Levi Roots Archive Footage with Voiceover

Below is the Levi Roots archive footage, which we will use as the intro to our documentary. I had posted the video before the voiceover had been added and this is the one where it has been inserted. This video is also available in HD (High Definition) by simply clicking on the resolution on the bar at the bottom of the video and selecting a HD resolution...

Interviewing Levi Roots...

Myself and Lauren had come up with various interview questions that we thought to ask Levi when we meet him in October. We borrowed a camera from the media department and filmed a short inerview with a student from our school (Harry Witherell) who was pretending to be Levi. This was to get some practise before the actual interview. When we interviewed the student, we had used various camera angles to give us some insight as to how we would film the interview. Some of the techniques we used, include...

• Over the shoulder shot of the interviewer, showing on the back of the interviewer and the inerviewee
• A mid shot showing both the interviewee and the interviewer from a side on position
• A point of view shot (POV shot) not showing the interviewer but only the interviewee

I will post the videos of the interview questions once they have been edited.

Levi Roots Archive Video First Edit...

The archive footage that i had edited was finished i just had to insert some transitions and add a voiceover and that was it. Below is a video of the archive footage, which will be the opening to our documentary, without the voiceover being inserted...

Editing Footage

Not only did myself and lauren want interview Levi, we also wanted to include some archive footage in our documentary also. This footage would include Levi's pitch on Dragons Den'. Myself and Lauren had arranged to meet up after school and see what would be appropriate to incorporate in our documentary. We downloaded a section of the audition we wanted and started to edit it to make it as short as possible, as most of the footage from the documentary must be our own. We also put in a black and white effect to emphasise that the footage is in the past and we had decided that at the start of the clip we would have the original music for a couple of seconds, the music would then fade out and a voiceover would then begin.

Below is a screen shot of us editing the footage that we had to show as evidence, if you cant see the image clearly, then simply click on the image to enlarge...

The Final Prezi

Here is what our prezi looked like one myself and Lauren had finished working on it...

Levi Roots on Prezi

Creating a Prezi

Our media studies teacher informed us of a website called PREZI. It enabled us to create presentations which were much more visual and engaging, as opposed to a powerpoint presentation. Myself and Lauren had an attempt to create a Prezi about the rise to fame of Levi Roots. We took screen shots of us making the prezi to use as further evidence of our research and planning, if you cant see the images clearly, simply click on the image to enlarge...

Levi Roots Contd...

My mother soon after informed me that Levi will infact be able to be filmed for our documentary, sometime in october. They said that they would let us know of a specific date and time for the filming, nearer the time. This worked out well for us as it would allow us plenty of time to storyboard, create a script, rehearse and prepare ourselves for the actual event.

The video of levi's pitch at the Dragons Den' in 2006 can be found below...

Levi Roots

Whilst trying to think of more topics to base our documentary on, an idea suddenly came to us. We thought to create a documentary about the rise to fame of the chef, musician and songwriter, Levi Roots. He had made his fame and fortune after appearing on the BBC show "Dragons' Den" and receiving the investment he had asked for. He sells his sauce, entitled, "Reggae Reggae Sauce" in major supermarkets and had become a multi-millionaire almost overnight. We thought to produce a documentary about how he came from "rags to riches" was a brilliant topic. This is because it is very interesting and engaging for the audience and would appeal to a wide range of people of a varied demographic.

My mother knows the PR of Levi Roots and had spoken to her on my behalf. Whether Levi is able to be filmed is yet to be confirmed.

Ideas and Topics for our Own Documentary...

As we will have to start to think about our own short documentary, i needed to come up with various topics of which the documentary will be based on. In my group there are only two of us, and although this means that there will be a larger workload between us, there will be less error with regards to communication that can be found with larger groups. I had met up with my group member (Lauren) after school, to discuss some of the topics that would be interesting for our documentary, some of the ideas we came up with are as follows...

• A short mockumentary, viewing the lives of abnormal people


• Drugs in sport


• The effect of video games, related to violence


• To what extent does the media have an impact on our body image


• Fashion - then and now


• Global Warming


• Economic Crisis


• Recent Topics. e.g. recent wars, swine flu.


• Technology, then and now

Researching Documentaries - Expository Documentaries

There are many expository documentaries, many of which have arrived during recent years. As mentioned earlier, during my first post, the purpose of expository documentaries is to "expose" the subject. This involves many interviews and undercover footage to use to expose the subject with. There are many expository documentaries which are broadcasted on terrestrial television, and the storyline tends to be very serious (hard-news) as compared to something of a more story-like manner (soft news). The two main terrestrial television channels which broadcast expository documentaries are, Channel 4 and Channel 5.


One of the Channel 4 documentaries include a series known as "Dispatches". This series looks at exposing rather contreversial issues and range from a wide selection of topics. Some of the episodes include...

• Dispatches - Undercover Mosque



• Dispatches - China's Stolen Children



• Dispatches - Saving Africas Witch Children



• Dispatches - How The MoD Wastes Our Billions

The undercover mosque dispatches raised many complaints towards the program being broadcasted. There were allogations that the footage shown was very one sided and bias. A lawyer complained "they cut and cropped sentences to make new sentences", meaning the footage was edited and as a result of it was taken completely out of context.



There are other expository documentaries broadcasted by channel four. An example would be "Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too" which was a documentary exposing the condition of the chickens supplied by tesco, in order to try and make them change their way.

Researching Documentaries - Poetic Documentaries

As I had mentioned earlier during my first post, a poetic documentary is a style of documentary, in which the topic is portrayed in a "story-like" way. There are many different topics that poetic documentaries focus on that appeal to a varying demographic, over a wide area.


I had created a PowerPoint Presentation about poetic documentaries and had presented it to my class. If you find the pictures to small to read, simply click on them to enlarge...



























One of the poetic documentaries that i had taken the time to watch over my summer break was a Channel Five series, called, Extaordinary People. It is about certain people all accross the world who obtain unique qualities, physically or an extraordinary talent. The shows how the individual lives their everyday life and there is usually a number of interviews with the individual, as well as with the friends friends and family of the person.

An extract from this series can be found below:

The Diamond Nine

In class, we had produced a diamond nine, related to documentaries. A diamond nine is a diamond shaped table which we filled out. We put the most important aspect of creating a documentary at the top and the least at the bottom. I recreated my diamond nine on my computer and here it is below...




















Can't see the image clearly? Click on the picture to view the full size image.

Researching Documentaries - Observational Documentaries

Over the summer break i took the time to watch a few observational documentaries. This genre of documentary is whereby the subject is being observed by the camera, usually with a voiceover emphasising what is going on.














I watched a documentary on The Discovery Channel, called, "How its Made". In this documentary they take everyday objects and have a closer look at how the product was made, from start to finish.

Three clips from this documentary, are shown below...

Techniques Used in these Observational Documentaries:

• Very Sturdy Shots, No handheld cameras
• Voice of God
• Very short clips before the transition of the next clip is inserted
• Panning

This information will be very helpful and beneficial when i make my own documentary.

Researching Documentaries - Nature Documentaries

Nature Documentaries are very popular amongst many people all accross the world. The genre covers animals and wildlife as well as different climates and areas, all over the world. Some can be very old talking about how the earth has formed over time and others talk about more recent topics, such as pollution and global warming. Most of the time the subject is filmed in its natural habitat. Usually these types of documentay tend to be broadcasted on terrestrial television as well as on digital tv, there are some channels dedicated to nature documentaries, such as, Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel. Although most of these nature documentaries are broadcasted on television, some are also made for the cinema.

One of the most recogninsable figures, with regards to nature, nature conservation and documentaries, has to be, Sir David Attenborough. He has done many documentaries regarding nature and wildlife and is highly recognised by millions of people all over the world. One of the most famous series' that Attenborough has done is the BBC's "Life" series which covered...

• Life on Earth (1979), 13 episodes
• The Living Planet (1984), 12 episodes
• The Trials of Life (1990), 12 episodes
• Life in the Freezer (1993), 6 episodes
• The Private Life of Plants (1995), 6 episodes
• The Life of Birds (1998), 10 episodes
• The Life of Mammals (2002), 10 episodes
• Life in the Undergrowth (2005), 5 episodes
• Life in Cold Blood (2008), 5 episodes

The list, above was taken from the following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_documentary

An exctract of one of Attenborough's documentaries is shown below:

Another example of a nature documentary would be the work of Steve Irwin, (1962-2006). He had a number of documentaries that were and sre stil featured on "The Discovery Channel" and "Animal Planet", including:

• The Crocodile Hunter (1992–2004), 74 episodes
• The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002), Movie
• Crocodile Hunter's Croc Files (1999), 52 episodes
• Ten Deadliest Snakes In The World (2001)
• The Crocodile Hunter Diaries (2001–2003), 30 episodes
• New Breed Vets (2005), 6 episodes
• Ocean's Deadliest (2006)

The list, above was taken from the following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_documentary

An extract of Irwin's documentaries is shown below:





What Techniques Have They Used In Nature Documentaries?

• Voiceovers
• No Music or hardly any
• Some very sturdy shots
• Some shots with hand held cameras to make the audience feel part of the action, e.g Steve Irwin with the snakes on the video above
• Voice of god
• Very "to the point" and factual

Nick Broomfield

Nick Broomfield is an English, documentary filmmaker. Broomfield is known for filming with very few crew members, if any at all, giving Broomfield’s work a very unique and recognisable style.
He has achieved 8 awards and many nominations for his films and documentaries. The main types of documentaries that Broomfield produces are observational documentaries which focus on political issues in the contemporary UK and across the world. Just like Michael Moore, some of Broomfield’s work is known for being rather controversial.


Here is a list of the awards that Nick Broomfield has won, This list is taken from Broomfield's Official Website - http://www.nickbroomfield.com/

Awards:

• Best Director - San Sebastian Film Festival (2007)



• Golden Screen - Festival European Des 4 Ecrans (2007)



• Bafta Special Award for his contribution to the Documentary Genre (2006)



• Winner of the British Academy Award



• The Prix Italia



• The Dupont Columbia Award for outstanding journalism



• The Peabody



• The Royal Television Society Award

One of the most famous documentaries that Nick Broomfield had directed was an expository documentary, called, "Aileen Wuornos: Life and Death of a Serial Killer." This was about a phsycotic prisoner who was held at death row for twelve years before being executed by a lethal injection. The prisoner was famous because it was the first female serial killer, in the history of America. Not only did Broomfield direct this documentary but he also played a big part in it as he was with Aileen throughout a majority of the documentary talking to her and interviewing her. I had watched this documentary and found some points very useful and interesting, which i might use when it comes to producing my own documentary...

• Some sturdy shots and some are shaky with hand held cameras to make the audience feel part of the action


• Voiceovers


• Interviews


• Shots of newspapers headlines


• Interviews with the victims' friends and family


• Shots of the police with a voiceover of an interview, then later cutting into a shot of the interview


• Although there is little music used in the documentary most of the footage contains diagetic, natural sounds to make the audience feel more engaged and makes the footage sound more realistic and intense, rather than being too story-like.

Below is a trailer for this documentary...

You can watch the full documentary by following the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlGn9RDd-CE&has_verified=1

Broomfield has also directed five commercials for the car, Volkswagen Passat. A trailer for these commercials can be found by clicking on the links below:

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial2.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial3.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial4.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial5.html

Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux is an American-British filmmaker and journalist, who has created a number of documentaries which appeal to a wide range of audiences. His main two recognisable documentaries are "Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends" and "When Louis Met...". He has also appeared in a number of different BBC Two specials during recent years. Some of these would include, "Louis Theroux: Behind Bars", which was aired on 13th January 2008 and "Louis and The Brothel", which takes a look at the lives of prostitutes living in a legal brothel in Nevada, USA. This documentary was aired in the UK on the 9th November, 2003.

Louis Theroux: Behind Bars

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends:

Louis and the Brothel:

Michael Moore

Michael Moore is an American filmmaker who has written, directed and starred in a number of different books and documentaries. Born in 1954, Moore is a self-described liberal. He is known for his contreversial films and books who has criticized; globalization, large corporations, U.S. President George W. Bush and the American health care system.

A few of the documentaries and films Moore has direced, include...

Capitalism: A Love Story

Sicko


Slacker Uprising



Fahrenheit 9/11