Primary research

Paris research

04/03/19 – 08/03/19

 

Conclusion

On my visit to Paris I visited 7 locations, 3 of which were art museums. Despite this I got very little inspiration from the art and architecture itself, however I did find the poverty of the area we were staying in quite interesting as it is something that is not shown or mentioned outside of France. The thing that stood out most to me was the amount of crime I witnessed like harassment, reckless driving and pickpocketing.

Around the tourist attractions, especially the Sacre Coeur, there were tonnes of small businesses, I found the thought of these small businesses being the lifeblood of the city very intriguing as here in the UK there is not a lot of support for small businesses and they’re quite rare.

After this I think I want to focus my FMP around either crime or small businesses.

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Documentary watching

12/03/19

Today I watched the beginning documentary called ‘Benefits street’ and took the following notes.

• Mostly follow around and hand held filming
• Stable tripod camera for big Dee’s sit down interview

Conclusion

Different filming techniques for different situations. I plan to use handheld and tripod styles, handheld for showing the workshops and tripod for interviews.

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Documentary watching

13/03/19

Today I watched the documentary ‘being mom and dad’ and from it I got the following notes.

Technical codes

• Establishing shots
• Nature over interviews
• Empty shots
• Conversations and handheld feels more real
• Contrast
• Close ups to amp up emotion
• Zoom in on emotions
• Cut aways to hide cuts
• Spy shots that always have a barrier between the subject and camera to make it like a more private moment
• Interviews composed of 2/3 empty space and the subject is kept to one side of the screen
• Symmetry

Symbolic codes

• Loneliness
• Emptiness
• Tears
• 2 -> 1 motif
• Happy vs sad tears
• Show things mom did before death that other people have to do now
• Show coping mechanism (exercise and work)
• Music changes with the content
• Media involving people in similar situations is showcased
• Light close ups get lighter the closer he gets to the solution

Narrative structure

• Problem – death
• Context – family
• Exploration – statistics and outsiders introduced
• Need – chaos of the situation shows need for change
• Solution – realisation
• Root causes – figure out the root of the problem to find effective solution
• Apply solution – conclusion

Conclusion

Along with this I was inspired by some of the moments in the documentary and have chosen some to incorporate into my own documentary. The part where Rio Ferdinand visits his old house with his father inspired me to do a similar thing with the owner of KDM Frames as he has an old location that he was forced off of. Also, I hope to use cut aways in a similar way but by using features of the workshop or the land around it instead of just tree leaves.

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Documentary watching

20/03/19

Today I watched a documentary called ‘Bowling for columbine’ and took the following notes.

Information communication method

• Goes to the bank and gets a gun
• Archived footage to show attitudes
• Comedy to belittle opposition
• Interviews with users
• Voiceover with clips
• News and police materials
• Show games and toys to show how engrained in culture guns are
• Visits weapons facility local to columbine school
• Show Americas violent history with civilians and foreign countries
• Contrasting music too show ridiculousness of violence in the clips
• Show hypocrisy by ordering clips back to back that have comedically opposing views
• Show CCTV of shooting to evoke emotional response and investment
• Adverts
• Interview pop culture ‘scape goats’
• Animation and comedy
• Show fear mongering news
• Interviews experts
• Skits
• Record news crew to show how they show fake emotion and don’t belong there
• Participatory (bank scene)
• Discussion lead interview
• Interviewee lead interview

Theme and link to Columbine shooting

• Gun people shoot bowling pins for practise
• Weapons are transported past Columbine school
• Columbine shooters went bowling before they did the school shooting

Bias

• Interview pro gunners and mock them
• Show anti gunners through protest clips and ads
• Acknowledge other viewpoints and destroy them
• Interview experts for neutral viewpoints
• ‘Harass’ style interviews to get people to answer questions they don’t want to

Structure

• Ridiculous situation, guns are just there
• Shows he is well versed in the subject and has some authority to talk on the subject
• Introduced to threat
• Introduced to message
• Speeds up with montages and interviews
• Explore solution
• Empowerment of victims

Different documentary same subject

Methods

• Recreations
• Interviews
• Shows time frame of incident
• Unbiased

Important documentary features

• Accuracy
• Balance
• Impartiality
• Objectivity
• Subjectivity
• Bias
• Representation

Conclusion

I decided to use a technique that features in the introductory voiceover of this documentary. To explain how he is qualified to tackle the topic he explains his background with guns and the state the documentary is filmed in to show that although he doesn’t have a qualification he still knows a lot on the subject. I chose to do this for my introductory voiceover because I selected the subject I did due to my personal connection and knowledge of it.

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Asking KDM Frames affiliates for Laws that most greatly effected the company

Conclusion

From this I have a key fact that could be highlighted in the interview and shown as a contributing fact to the financial struggle that comes with owning a small business.