Update:

Editing the final video with the last bit of advice from the group on where the narrative should go. Final thing to do is export and transfer it over to them!

DVD Cover by Sophie:

Cut Away Ideas:

IDEAS:

Show the art work she has done over lockdown and before when she discusses being creative etc.

Show cut away footage we took in her house, i.e guitar, picture....

Show the beach and the sea and environment as she mentions this multiple times in the doc.

Show a room or a setting with a window with blue shading and a darker feel to it, later in the doc shoe same room but much brighter more yellows for example.

Show her looking at herself in a mirror

Her at beach?

Update:

After discussing in an online zoom call, we have decided what we want to add for cutaways and will look to do this when corona virus has past. But for the submission we have decided the narrative of the documentary and what bits need to go where.

My job is to complete the edit for the submission while still keeping in mind what the final project will look like when we finish it in our own time. This was difficult at first when i was still unaware of what was going in as cutaways. But after discussing on the call we have confirmed a few things that I will discuss in a later post. Overall were all on track to have an edited down interview to post. 

Edited drafts of the documentary:

Slowly cutting down the full interview. Edited two drafts that we have looked at and made changes too. The full interview was 50 minutes but have now managed to cut it down to 15 minutes then to 13 minutes. Slowly cutting it down and reordering the interview to be the most coherent and to hit around 7-8 minutes. 

Taking Inspiration:

Tell Me Who I Am: 

Documentary on Netflix about two brothers where one has lost his memory in an accident and entrusts his twin brother to tell him his past. The documentary uses colours and poetic metaphors to depict the emotion of the documentary in that current moment. We have decided to take some inspiration from this and implement it into our documentary. With the story developing from finding out having cancer to coming to terms with her new body, we could very easily show a progression in the colouring we use or cut aways we show.

From watching this documentary we decided that this is how we will make the interview into an engaging documentary. When Caroline depicts and emotional moment, when everything seemed like it was all 'doom and gloom' we will present a scene that represents those emotions. But, when she discusses a new lease of life with her new body and being cancer free, we could depict the same scene but with altering colours to present her more positive emotions. Overall we believe this will be a very beneficial metaphor for our documentary.

Zoom Meeting

Messenger Chat Updates:

Although COVID-19 has meant we are unable to meet up to discuss our project, we still discuss rather frequently on our FB messenger group on new ideas and things we need to do to further our documentary on the little material we were able to record. 

Corona Virus Update:

Due to Corona Virus we are now unable to meet up to film anymore for our documentary. Fortunately, we filmed the main interview footage of the documentary very early on, allowing us to have some footage to present for the final assessment. After being informed that the assessment process has changed, we have opted to send in an edited version of the interview with a written treatment on what we would have added in if it was a completed doc. So we will discuss over the internet the changes we should make to the interview and what should stay or go.

This is very disheartening as we were all looking forward to completing the project. However, the safety of everyone in the group and Caroline herself (an at risk person) is far more important. We have decided to complete the project as we hoped after the lockdown has passed later in the year. 

Process of cutting down interview:

Below is a list of what was said throughout the interview. I cut up all of the 50 minute interview into around 45 different segments and labelled each clip with what was said in the scene. This was extremely beneficial as I was able to delete certain parts, reorder segments and keep all the clips with the best parts of the interview. It took a while to go through at the beginning, but in the long run it will be very beneficial for the editing process. 

Start of editing process:

Day of the Shoot:

Shooting Plan for Shoot:

Questions Sent to Caroline for Confirmation:

To make sure Caroline is comfortable at all times during the interview we will give her the option to remove any questions below:

Documentary Questions:

What was your life like before having cancer?

Do you remember when you first thought you had cancer?

When were you diagnosed with cancer?

How did you feel when you were first told you had it?
How did it affect your life?

How long did it take to properly come to terms with the diagnosis?

What was the hardest thing during that time?

Not many people ask this, but did you find any positives in that time? (Anything you took for granted that you valued more?)

Did it change your outlook on life?

How were your family affected?

At what point did you decide to get a double mastectomy?

Was it a tough decision?

Was it the first choice or a ‘plan b’?

Did you know of anyone else who had got that surgery done in the past?

Were you certain, did you have any doubts or fears with the surgery?

How did you feel before surgery?

How did you feel after surgery?

Was it easy to come to terms with your new body?

Is there anything you miss about no longer having breasts?

Have you had any negative messages or comments directed to you since the surgery?

Have you had any positive messages or comments directed to you since the surgery?

If you had any advice for somebody who was in the same situation as you what would you say?

Do you feel any less feminine than you did with breasts?

Why did you opt to live flat and not have a prosthetic of any kind?

If you could go back would you have changed anything?

Recce Images

Recce Images:

These are the images of Caroline's living room that she sent to us via email. This is the area that we have decided to film the main segment of the interview. Of course we can see that the space is very limited so we have had to adapt some of the equipment we are going to bring to film the interview. The main thing we had to change was the lights we are bringing. At first we thought the 300W Lighting kit from the University store would do just fine. However we have now decided to use ledgos as they take up less space and are more mobile so we will be able to set up the shoot a lot quicker than with the 300W lights. 

They also give the option to alter the light colour depending on how it looks while were there on the day. For example we can make it a whiter light or a yellower light depending on the natural lighting on the day.

Three Point Lighting Task:

Three point lighting -

Key light - main light that brightens subject
Fill light - removes shadows created by key light
Back light - distinguishes the backdrop in comparison to the foregorund

Emails with Caroline:

Ethical concerns:

This is of course a very sensitive topic that we are going to discuss with Caroline. Therefore, we must ensure that we inform Caroline on everything we are going to ask her so we can make sure nothing is asked that is too personal or off limits. On top of this, throughout the process of editing the project we will need to keep Caroline informed on how we are presenting her story, as we don't want to make a project that doesn't truly represent her experience and her story.

Consent Forms:

Official Project Idea:

The final project idea we are going to do is the double mastectomy documentary.

It will be a performative documentary, as we will be interviewing Caroline, with features of a poetic documentary, with cut aways from the main interview. We will use colours and darkness to depict her emotions at the beginning of her story and contrast them to the end. We will portray a lot of her emotions through different visual metaphors. This will be something to assist the main interview and give it something other documentaries don't have.

The story will follow a deductive model. At the start we will let her explain herself and when she first got cancer, then the climax will be the hard decision to have a double mastectomy and finally the conclusion will show her come to terms with her new body and be comfortable in her own skin.

Lift Documentary:

The Lift documentary is a 2001 short documentary made by Marc Isaacs where the director himself installs himself in a lift in an English flat building. People start talking to him out of curiosity and we get to know about peoples lives. As the documentary goes on we begin to hear the director ask these individuals questions and we get to know about these peoples beliefs, struggles and day to day experiences. 

I personally really enjoyed this documemtary as it took something so simple, standing in a lift all day talking to those who got in, and showed us a really strong message. That a place such as a lift, where many people stand side by side every day in silence, can actually be a place to make someones day or be there for somebody. As you don't know how that person standing next to you for those awkward few seconds is feeling or experiencing in their lives and that short interaction can make a big difference to their day.

The Lift documentary follows a inductive model of narration as we, the audience, don't know the purpose of this documentary until the very end of the film. This model has a narration that develops over time and as more information is revealed the meaning behind the documentary is too. This can be very rewarding for the audience that have spent their time watching the documentary. 

Finally, we see the documentary follow two modes of documentary films. For the majority of the documentary the mode followed is the participatory mode as he himself is talking to the people that enter the lift, like in the two images below, and they are getting involved in the filming. However, from the final image, you can see he is showing his feet in the actual documentary. Similarly he shows himself through the mirror in the lift. This therefore means this documentary is also following a reflexive mode as he is acknowledging the documentary is even taking place. 

The fact two modes are being used so seamlessly and effectively, this may be something I look to do for my documentary. 

Narration - Bruzzi Reading

Bruzzi claims that narration is an indicator that you're documentary has failed, as the use of it ruins the documentary and the images shown. This is an opinion that has taken a lot of criticism as narration can and does in fact link all of the images together. It is a great tool to make all of the scenes, archive footage and shot to be coherent. As without them what are you left with, a bunch of clips that don't necessarily tell s anything.

One issue mentioned with narration is it can be seen to force the audience into one way of looking at the situation. However, this could allow the viewers to be more engaged as they have the choice to challenge what is being said. The narration also tend to be objective rather than subjective, so what they state are normally facts to contribute to the footage.

Finally in this reading the issue of representation of who is the narrator is explored. The norm of it tends to be a white, middle class, male who does the narration, the narration that is referred to the 'voice of god'. This of course has implications to society if who you believe the 'voice of god', the truth speaker in society is one demographic of people. This could contribute to social issues, to prevent this issue it is important to have diversity within this area. For example female narrators provide a breath of fresh air to the more common norms.

Workshop - Interview task

Brief - We had to film a small interview discussing clubbing but film it in three different ways. One was a tracking shot from behind the two, the second was a pan and the final one was a shot on the tripod of the two walking towards the camera.

This task helped us learn a different way of interviewing somebody rather than it being a static headshot. This helped with getting a better understanding of different techniques, how to handle the sound and to refresh our memories on how to do white balance etc.

Below are some images of me editing the sequence and a screen grab of the shots themselves.

Workshop Task - Glastonbury

Brief - The bref for this task was to take the glastonbury footage and present it in a completely diferent way, with the use of editing and narration. My group opted to create a horror trailer using the footage; below are some pictures of me editing, the timeline and a link to view the final piece.

Modes of Documentary: