The Miracle of Crowdfunding: Update #2.1 - Getting the ball rolling and filming it! (07/06/2014)

It was good seeing your yesterday, George. I hope you are recovered - there is much work to be done.



Treatment

On it. It's a coming...



Practice filming - a project that is good to go, sort of

It occurred to me yesterday that I have a project that is ideal for getting a bit of practice filming in - my Masters crowdfunding project campaign video.

I had an initial idea for it a couple of weeks back that was quite ambitious.

Then I scaled it back into something more simplistic that I could create on my own.

Now, or rather last night, I figured out a way of doing it ambitiously and simplistically at the same time. It also transmits the exact message I need it to transmit - it is absolutely bonkers!

The idea is literally about getting out of the box...

On Monday, I am going to very quickly bash out a script that can act as a rough guide for the visuals and a definitive script of what I need to say.

The reason why this is going to be a good practice shoot is because it is going to require a great deal of gorilla style filming in Bath and up at the university. Maybe some in Bristol as well, but I might be able to do the Bristol filming on my own - tell me what you think when you have read the script. 

The video needs to have a ferocity in its film form that can only come from a spontaneous approach to the filming. 

But it does need to have a high stylistic and artistic value - the reason I am not doing my campaign video as a web cam job is because I am asking for funding in a course in which I am going to be doing filmmaking at a premium level - it's all about image.

Additionally, as much as this is campaign video, I want it to stand as an example of our work that we can flaunt.

I will also need help editing it and, again, this needs to be done in a relatively short space of time.

The idea is to have my crowdfudning campaign going while we start to do the initial filming for the doc, so as to take advantage of all the new contacts (and donators) being made through the process of enquiry and filming. It's all about making everything work for everything else.

In terms of when - Thursday and Friday this week and some more filming the following week if necessary. 

It needs to be about 3 minutes, but maybe with some more... I'll send you the script.

If you help me with this, so that I can get funded, AND I will get funded, I will help you fund any further study you may decide to undertake.



The Masters I was telling you about

MA Documentaries and Features




For part-time work

I am deadly serious about this

Jobs at Lovehoney

Based in Bath, it is the UK's biggest and may even be the world's biggest distributor.

The chap who started it up is a graduate of the University of Bath. I was at an Entrepreneurship talk he gave up at our university in December and I was hugely impressed with his personal approach and business acumen - he really does think outside the box!

At the time, he was also saying that he is usually short of warehouse people.

The worst you could do is send them a copy of your CV and an appreciative email.

The whole business has just gone from strength to strength since it was first launched.

I have been keeping an eye on Lovehoney, because the nature of its business does have a strong baring on the web series idea I have been developing.



Contacting the Bath Film Festival

Get on that and get in there! Think long-term...

Anyone can apply to do something and most people do, but the ones who really stand out and gain entitlements are the proactive ones you can think on their feet.



Watching docs and Studying docs

Searching for sugarman, etc., ect., etc...

Don't forget to give the following a read:

Digital Storytelling: The Digital Video Documentary

Look at, read, share anything else you think may be of use.



George's projects

Get on them!

Bring all of your ideas together.

Quickly bash out one outline, put it aside - do this 5 times over.

Take on outline - quickly bash out a script, put it aside - do this 5 times.

Film them ferociously at the same time - use the summer to get all of the footage you need.

Then spend all of final year editing and perfecting them.

Simple.

Technically, my crowdfunding video counts as a project, so now you need to cough up 1, but 6 ideally.



Remember - time is more valuable than money!

I have to work tonight and tomorrow night - that's 20 hours of my life I will never get back.

You're a student (and any graduate will tell you this) - you really do have all the time in the world, more than enough time to get 6 micro films made BEFORE your final year.

The Miracle of Crowdfunding: Update #1 - Intro and ideas [03/06/2014]

The blog is up.

I have been gradually pulling together all of the research resources collecting them together here - see the links either side of this post. 

My aim is to have this blog be its own little self contained database for the documentary.

Not everything is here yet and new things be added along the way. 

But feel free to have a look around.


Cinema Theatre Association - link

I came across this and can see that it will be of MAJOR USE - an organisation that is concerned with the cultural heritage of cinemas in the UK.

It even has dealings with the Whiteladies Picturehouse here in Bristol. 

I am going to invest in a membership. 


Vlogs

As I did for EYES, I am going to be recording video logs for this project. They were invaluable when I was orchestrating EYES - they allow me to get my head in order.

We worry so much that the ideas in our head are not any good or do not make any sense; then you record yourself saying them out loud and watch yourself back... and then you realise: "I've got it spot on there."

The EYES vlogs saved me many sleepless nights, as I am sure the Breaking Cinema ones will as well. 

You don't have to watch them, but you are more than welcome to.

It is up to you, if you want to do some vlogs for the project. If you do, do it via an unlisted video on YouTube.


Documentary filmmaking

I have bee re-familiarising myself with documentary filmmaking and this is why I have been gradually reposting the Fencing wiki posts on my blog - build on what you already know.

Research, planning and preparation is key!

If you have not already done so, have a look at:

Visual Storytelling: The Digital Video Documentary

It is only 44 pages and is a concise overview and introduction to documentary filmmaking. 



Proposal and Treatment

To be clear:

• A proposal - is a portfolio package that contains the treatment, budget, sechedule, research, showreel test footage, etc. Basically, it is the planning portfolio for the creative enterprise project module (see EYES Planning Portfolio) or, if you want to get a little more ambitious, the entirety of EYES is a proposal - I described it as being a web series concept proposal package (see EYES Concept Proposal Package).

• A treatment - is a descriptive overview of the narrative spine and visual style of the documentary. Very similar to a treatment or outline for a fictional film.

I am going to be putting together a very strong proposal package together over the next couple of months, because:

1. It will get the entirety of the project thoroughly organised.
2. It will show that we mean business and that we are goddamn serious about this undertaking.
3. We can use it to win subjects over (subjects being the buildings and people we want to film).
4. It will assist with the planning of the crowdfunding campaign
5. Funding. Getting traditional funding for this project is not entirely out of the question, but you can only get it if you have a strong proposal. I am not anti-traditional funding, I am anti-getting-fucked-in-the-arse! So we'll see.
6. It will show that we mean business. Did I already mention that? Well, I am going to keep mentioning it, because I do mean business!

The filming I am keep to get done this summer and autumn, I very much want to cut together into a showreel/microdocumentary that can be included in the package - we'll come back to this.

I have been giving the treatment of the documentary some serious thinking. It helps that I have a slight throat infection, so I have been quite delirious at points throughout the last couple of days.

In order to warrant this project being a feature and not just being a documentary where:

this cinema and this is its history and this is another cinema and this is its history and this is another cinema 

The documentary needs to transcend that and it needs to tell something bigger and something vastly deeper and it can only do that with a fully realised narrative.

Having a fulling realised narrative, as laid down in a treatment, will allow us to narrow down and sharpen the focus. I can see now that this project is going to supply us with a plethora of material - way too much for a single feature documentary and the narrative will enable us to find the signal in all of that noise.

I have had many ideas about the narrative - nothing definite and nothing fully cohesive yet - but it is definitely coming. Things that I keep posting in the facebook group and in the pinterest boards are very much mirroring what is on my mind in regards the narrative spine - we will discuss this in due course.

Once I have a strong narrative treatment is done - that is when I will reach out to filming subjects.



Offshoots of this project

Obviously,  have been going on about the short subjects we need to make in conjunction with this project and we need to get on top of those - get those outlines done, the only time is now!

However, as this project is going to generate a plethora of content that the feature won't cover all on its own, I have had a few ideas about some smaller projects that we can spin-off of this project and use to promote and strengthen this project.

The whole point of this passion project is to put us on the map and it stands a hell of a lot more chance of doing this if comes out with an army of guns blazing in different shapes and affiliated forms.

I will discuss some of the other Ideas I have had later on, but suffice to say that my research over the last nearly-year has not been in vain - this project is goldmine in terms of empowering us to do what we want!



Practice filming

We need to go into uni, get the equipment out and re-familiarise ourselves with the kit.

Nothing to intensive, just get the kit out on campus and do a bit of observational filming to wake up our documentary eyes and practice at our handheld camera work.

Projects like this - where everything is always against you - only ever work when you relentless keep the momentum moving and building.

I am thinking:

05/06/2014 - Thursday
or
06/06/2014 - Friday

Let me know if you are free on these days, we can also use them to discuss other ideas about this project and other projects besides.

We HAVE to keep the momentum moving - it is the only way this is going to work.

There are busy and exciting times ahead... and the best part?

We've already started!

The Miracle of Crowdfunding: The two lines of thought - Breaking Cinema: Pete vlog 1

You don't have to watch this, but you are more than welcome to.

The EYES Vlog Updates

The Miracle of Crowdfunding: Brief v.1 - Let's get this ball rolling (again)...

"You know, it might be just this one anonymous glory; of all things, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this grand choiring shout of affirmation, which we choose, when all our cities are dust, to stand intact: to mark where we have been, to testify what we had it in us, to accomplish." - Orson Welles, F for Fake, 1973

A feature length documentary exploring the practice and heritage of the cinema.

Breaking down the cinema

Breaking Cinema - working title

Documentary treatment and proposal -currently in formation

The documentary is less about fact and more about form.

This brief will evolve as the project progresses and I will post up a new version of it as it does, that way we will have a record of how the brief evolved - the making of a documentary is just as interesting as a documentary itself. 

"Right, let's get this ball rolling... it'll be an avalanche by the time I'm finished! Mark these words..." - Pete, Facebook Group, 20/05/2014

It's a comin'...

My POV: for the fencing documentary and in general

Visual silence, repulsion against the shackles of boredom, the compartmentalisation of a person, narcissistic appraisal, old in young, young in old, suspicion of structures/institutions/traditions, the paradoxical self, a hatred of complacency, the central drive of anger, a yearning for knowledge and an appreciation of the intellect.

Defining your point of view is always an incredibly tricky business, but if you want to be successful in your approach to any endeavour  - gaining a thorough understanding of your own motivations and inclinations is paramount! 

Presented here are all the POV posts that I generated for the documentary module of the final year of my BA (Hons); in which I co-created a short documentary about fencing and a reflective wiki with my colleague Thomas Wiltshire. The project was orchestrated between October 2012 to April 2013. For a more detailed overview see Fencing: an examination of the sport and an exploration of the documentary medium.

"The impression I get from you Pete is that you want to change peoples' points of view." 

- Mike Johnston, Senior Lecturer in Creative Media Practice

While I did find my POV quite daunting to define - objectifying yourself is never easy - gaining that knowledge has ultimately proven to be invaluable in all of my creative and non-creative pursuits.

 

Something to do with Film is very  much about my POV, even though it has taken me a number of years to realise that fact.

I was immensely pleased with the reflective POV material I generated and, looking back at all that material now, one year later, it is amazing how integrally it still holds true. 

If you are interested in defining your own POV, then what I have presented here may be of some use.

My POV post is comprised of the following:

• my POV in visual form - a short video montage using my photography to demonstrate my POV.
• my creative identity profiler results - an exercise devised to define your POV in relation to your creative inclinations.
• My Land of Puddings - another short video montage demonstrating my POV in regards to juxtaposition and my national identity.
• a few bullet points provided a slightly more thorough explanation of my POV.
• a conclusion that sums up my overall POV in regards to the fencing project and how my POV has informed my approach to making the documentary.

If you want to understand my POV, this post is a pretty thorough explanation...

My POV - my point of view in visual form (1:26).

My creative POV a.k.a. my creative identity

This is actually the third time I have gone through Rabiger’s Creative Identity profiler (see Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger) so my answers should be pretty conclusive! I apology if my summary seems a bit abstract, but I felt the best way for me to draw together my creative Identity was through stream-of-consciousness writing.

My Creative Identity Summary

• The themes that arise from my self study are visual silence, repulsion against the shackles of boredom, the compartmentalisation of a person, narcissistic appraisal, old in young, young in old, suspicion of structures/institutions/traditions, the paradoxical self, a hatred of complacency, the central drive of anger, a yearning for knowledge and an appreciation of the intellect.

• The changes for which I want to work are an illumination of the intellect and an understanding of the subtext.

• The kinds of subject for which I feel the most passionately are one’s that offer self-reflexive viewpoints and that expose the underlying pulse of a situation or establishment. Conflicting ideologies/institutions/temperaments is another area that offers me much intrigue; as does the subject of juxtapositioning completely different ideas to create a result that represents something greater than the original constituent parts, and which forces the spectator to question their own assumptions and beliefs.

• Other important goals I have in mind are to maintain the visual imperative of telling something that should be told visually and not to be fearful of using a lie to represent the truth. If a film lies then it is only presenting a truth of reality - everyone lies!

My POV on Great Britain: My Land of Puddings

"This exercise experiments with music editing and meaning/association and ironic images counterpointed against them. Find or shoot images that contrast it’s lofty ideals with an alternative ironic reality. 

Use found footage/stills or shoot your own. Edit to the beat points in the music. Work with ironic juxtaposition 

If you want to music edit the verses so that you can work with less familiar verses/sections, then do but you might find the edit tricky." 

- Mike Johnston, Short Documentary Making tutor 

With this exercise we had to use the Land of Hope and Glory backing track, as performed by Clara Butt, to produce a video montage that experimented with juxtapositioning images and ideas of the British national identity; in relation to our own POV of Great Britain.

I have always found the subject of the British national identity a tricky subject - mainly because it does not actually exist.

This country has been invaded so many times throughout its long history that, in terms of genetics, the "British" people of today are European. Additionally, pretty much every cultural tradition that is practised in this country was at one point "borrowed" from another cultural and country - we acquired the cup of tea from China and I have even heard some people refer to the curry as being British!

If there ever were any true-born-and-bred-British-people, they no longer exist, genetically or culturally. Britain, or Great Britain, is just the name of a landmass that houses a vast multicultural collection of peoples and traditions that we have come to associate with the identity of "British" - Britain is and always has been a multicultural nation, embrace it and celebrate it!

My Land of Puddings (1:50).

As you would have seen from the video, my montage was quite dark and I intentionally made it so, because I knew everyone else would produce a highly positive portrayal of Britain and I wanted to leave a lasting impression.

While I think it is always good to have a positive outlook, it can lead to wilful blindness in regards to the more the negative aspects and I very much wanted to point out the fallacy of the "traditional-stiff-neck-British-national-identity" and the social problems we sometimes/almost always try to hide behind it.

I kept the subject matter quite current: 

• the country was still buzzing from the London 2012 Olympics.
• the Jimmy Seville scandal had just become public knowledge and was causing a mass condemnation throughout the UK.
• the financial crisis was still causing ripples.
• the 2011 London riots.
• Baby P was still being discussed as a major example of how "the system" was failing this county. 

Additionally, I also touched upon some of the more deeply ingrained historical aspects of this country: Guy Fawkes and the crimes of the British Empire.

My Land of Puddings was very much about challenging the established and commonly held point of view. When we viewed it in class, it was evident to see that it made an impression on everyone who was present, there was silence and unease after my video ended. 

However, My Land of Puddings was also about reinforcing what is truly great about this country. This country may borrow from other cultures, but that is what make it great, because it is an amalgamation of so many different cultures and a strong promoter of multiculturalism. 

AND out of all that amalgamation, this country sometimes does bring something original to the table, which in this case is a Yorkshire pudding (or, sub-textually, the rather odd British sense of humour). 

Ultimately, through presenting a dark portrayal of this country I endeavoured to remind people of the small things that truly do make Britain great.

My POV (up until late 2012) explained...

Below I've attempted to explain some of the themes in My POV video, from way up above, I apologise if some are a bit abstract. 

While my explanations would probably be much clearer as a mind map, here I have recorded them via stream-of-consciousness writing...

Seeing and Visual Thinking

• I’ve always been a visual learner/thinker and I think this is one of the reasons I tend to be quite plain-spoken. I don’t rate human verbal interaction that highly; to me, it distracts my attention from what I’m looking at.

• I promise you, you will learn so much more about a person by watching them than you ever will by listening to all the stuff that spiels from their mouth.

• My attitude has always been: show me you can do it, don’t tell me you can do it (anyone can say they can climb a mountain).

Films and visual storytelling

• I love films! I appreciate them as they’re visual (the really good ones are) and, I suspect, I get my visual thinking from films, because I couldn’t really read or write when I was younger. Films were always there as a fixed frame of reference that I could always go back to, that I was always able to understand and they’ve always helped me to better understand the world.

• At the moment, as they provide the most stimulating experience for the senses, films are one of the preferred means by which Humanity likes to indulge itself in stories. To me, like all means of telling stories, films are Humanity’s way of rationalising the world; If we didn’t have a means to rationalise the world – we would go insane. But, more important than rationalising the world, films allow us to escape the boredom of everyday life (which can also make you go insane). Therefore, I have a great respect for films and the power they exert over the Human race and I have always bee hugely interested in exploring how they have this power.

Photography and Contexts

• Taking a photograph is the same as making a choice. Once you have a photographed a framed composition in a particular way you have locked it into a particular context. Likewise, once you come to a decision you have taken a set of pre-thinking that frames your decision in a particular context. Once you realise this, photography becomes a great way to open your eyes and become very open-minded.

• When I take a photograph I do externally what my brain is visually doing internally. The rewarding thing about a photograph is, as much as it is a photograph of something separate from yourself, it is a photograph of something very familiar to yourself – your internal thought patterns.

Structures and Compositions

• Physical structures and architecture have always fascinated me. I like how particular arrangements of shape and form can be manipulated to generate specific emotions.

• Even re-arranging already established arrangements can generate a greater effect, such as with Film Noir. Film Noir turns the conventions of lighting, shadows and framing on their heads to convey an impression that intensifies the story being told.

• When I was younger I loved to play with Lego. For me Lego allowed to take these already fixed pieces of structure, which I could then add together and arrange into new compositions that we’re always more fulfilling than their base components.

• Video editing taps into my appreciation of structures and compositions and it allows me to exercise this fascination. This is why I enjoy editing so much; it’s an adult equivalent of playing with Lego - it exercises the same mental discipline.

• I've always been fascinated by the structures of trees and the pattern that their branches make. That pattern, it turns out, is actually a fundamental pattern of nature; its called Constructal theory and it's the reason trees, water tributaries, lung airways, lighting, brains, etc, all share the same basic pattern. It is argued, the reason for its continual recurrence is: "For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live), it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier access to the imposed currents that flow through it." I find this absolutely amazing (see Motivations and Subtexts).

Motivations and Subtexts

• I’ve always been interested in psychology (it’s the one area I regret not taking academically). For me, psychology makes life much more interesting because it exposes the subtext and subconscious of everyday life. If I can’t pin down the psychology of a person, I find it increasingly hard to trust that person.

• As much as I’m interested in psychology, I’m also interest in biology and how human biology interacts with psychology, and vice versa.

• The nature of what reality is and each of us construct our own realities has always intrigued me.

• Why and how things work has always interested me.

Knowledge and Studying

• At the moment, my degree is the single most important thing in my life. Everything else is secondary and I am, literally, investing everything I have into my degree!

• I hate not having anything to do or to work on and this is why I enjoy studying so much (as long as it is in an area that interests me). I just like to have things that I can pull apart and put back together again (see Structures and Compositions).

• I respect the power of knowledge and the advantages of being open-minded. I wouldn’t say that I have always appreciated these, but I certainly do now!

Habits and Principles

• I’ve always been absolutely stunned by how a person can pick a principle and then through determination of sticking to specific habits achieve what is seemingly an impossible outcome, such as Bruce Wayne does with Batman (the Nolan films perfectly demonstrate this).

• I’m big on habits and on nurturing the better ones. Sticking to strong habits strengthens character, as I learnt from my swear sock. I went a whole month without swearing (well I swore 23 times) and, amazingly, I don’t swear at all now!

• I can’t stand people who say they’re going to do something… and then they don’t do it. I have a strong principle of sticking to the things I say I’m going to do. Then If I’m not going to do something I let it be known, opposed to sticking my head in the sand.

Time and Favourites

• There’s the saying that time flies when you’re having fun and, equally, you could argue that if you’re doing something very benign, such as walking down the road, time seems to slow down. But time doesn’t slow down or speed up; it ticks at the same rate regardless of the situation. Time is very important to me because we really don’t have a lot of it and you would be incredibly foolish to waste it.

• I’m also interested in what time is and how it can be manipulated.

• I can't stand the question: "what's your favourite...?" I try not to have a single favourite in something (I have forty favourite films); I think to have fixed singular favourites in every area of your life is to be very narrow-minded and will stop you from trying new things. However, when it comes to food I can hands down say that my favourite food is pancakes! I allow myself to have pancakes as my favourite food because there are SO many different things you can have pancakes with and, therefore, they don't stop me from trying new things.

My POV on fencing

A spur-of-the-moment recorded exclamation of how I viewed fencing (5:37).

Essentially: 

• I have a completely different POV to Tom's - I'm on the outside looking in and Tom is on the outside looking out. 

• My POV is closer to the audiences POV and I am able to ask the questions the audience would ask. 

• My POV has evolved as a result of filming the documentary. Observing and interacting with the subject matter has made me less ignorant towards fencing. 

• My artistic approach on the documentary is also different to Tom's. I'm a realist: I'm interested in capturing the subject matter as it happens. Tom is a formalistic: he's interested in using the assembling of the film form to represent the subject matter and the themes of the subject matter. 

• While making the documentary, I have discovered I have a deeper connection to fencing. For me, fencing has many parallels to skiing. Skiing is something I am very enthusiastic towards and which I want to refine. Through this parallel I am able to essentially identify with a fencer’s POV.

I'm sure there's more I could say, but this is all I'm going to say.

However, why not check out the rest of the Fencing documentary project that all this material was originally generated for...

Fencing: an examination of the sport and an exploration of the documentary medium

Facing Fencing: reflecting on an unfinished character study

Like all intensely focused individuals, Tim has a very pronounced abnormality and because of this I was immediately sold on him being the focus of the character study.

Fencing is a short documentary and reflective wiki that I co-created with my colleague, Thomas Wiltshire, for our final year BA (Hons) documentary project. The project was orchestrated between October 2012 to April 2013. For more detailed overview see Fencing: an examination of the sport and an exploration of the documentary medium.

The fencing character study was a practical exercise designed to get us in the swing of documentary making - essentially, the character study was our practice documentary.

The character study was filmed and edited in January, 2013. 

The character study was something that neither Tom nor myself could devote a great deal of our time and attention towards. Both of our final year schedules were pretty busy and most of our time and attention was directed towards the planning of the main Fencing documentary.

The focus of the character study is Tim Miles, a coach and member of the Bath Sword Club. 

What follows is the original reflection and deconstruction I posted on the project wiki.

The post includes:

• the two rough cuts I did manage to complete
• details on the planning 
• details on the process of filming and what we learnt from that first practice shoot
• an overview of my thinking behind my editing approach
• a brief description of what the completed character study would have been like 
• what we learnt from the overall experience

If you want to understand the challenges and logistics behind formulating (pre-production), orchestrating (production) and re-formulating (post-production) a documentary subject, then reading the following reflection about our practice project is a pretty good place to start...

The Fencing Character Study

The editing of the character study was undertaken by Pete, as Tom did not have any time to devote to it. 

The video below is what Pete was able to edit and is really testament to the brief amount of time he was able to devote to it. 

This edit is still incomplete and is missing a final segment that would have focused on Tim fencing and what he ultimately gets out of fencing. With this final segment, the next cut of the character study would have been around 3 minutes in length. 

The next step would have been to trim it down to about 2 minutes 30 seconds. Then the colour correction would have done with the final sound fixes and titles implemented. 

However, both Pete and Tom have now abandoned the character study in favour of concentrating on the main documentary.

Subject and Planning

I think Tom had more enthusiasm for the character study exercise than I did. To me the character study exercise was just a hindrance I didn't want to deal with. For this reason, I said to Tom that we should absolutely try to connect the character study with our main documentary idea, because then it would at least be a productive venture. 

To this end Tom suggested that Tim, one of the coaches and the chap which the above video is about, would be a good subject for a character study.

My thinking was to film the character study before Christmas and, to this end, I nearly suggested another idea for the study. As Tom was taking a while to get back to me about Tim, the idea I had was to do a character study on the chap who runs the new East Wing cafe that has opened on Newton Park campus. 

I know the guy who runs it, it's on campus and it would also have helped my colleague Matt Coot out because he has been trying to do a video on the cafe all year and hasn't yet managed to get footage of it. I figured this would have been a safe bet for a character study, but I decided to wait for Tom's reply on Tim because, ultimately, it would serve us better to go down that route. 

Ultimately, Tom did get back to me and said we could do it in the beginning of January.

Tom singled out Tim because Tim is someone who has been fencing his whole life and who takes fencing extremely seriously. As with the rest of the documentary, with the character study I was very much the outsider but as soon as I met Tim I could see that he was everything Tom had told me he was. 

Like all intensely focused individuals, Tim has a very pronounced abnormality and because of this I was immediately sold on him being the focus of the character study.

Following on from this, Tom and myself worked out a rough structure for the character study (essentially, this is still retained in the rough cuts) and then drew up a number of questions that would allow us to draw from Tim the information we needed to fulfill the agreed structure.

Filming

The filming of the character study was fairly straight forward and was achieved without any problems. For myself and Tom it was simply a case of following our plan and shot list

Character Study shot list 

• Tim Interview 
• One on one coaching with Tim Footage of coaching 
• The children warming up with Tim
• Tim fencing
• General footage of the Bath Sword Club 

Tim had agreed to come in twenty minutes earlier to film his interview which we managed to do in about ten minutes. Then, when Tim's student arrived, we filmed the one-on-one coaching and then did the final filming of Tim fencing, as Tom had to see to his usual fencing duties.

We did encounter a brief problem with the sound where we thought we were picking up interference on the radio mic. It was in fact nothing more than the rain on the roof of the sports hall. 

However, it did necessitate me to ask Tim to re-answer the third question again and I'm glad we were able to ask him again because he gave us a much more detailed second answer. We didn't need a more detailed answer but it did give us a little bit more material to play with in the edit and material to use if we found ourselves at a loose end.

Editing

I took on the task of editing because, due to other upcoming assignments, Tom had no time to devote to the task. However, as I had minimal time to devote to it I made it clear to Tom that my edit was never going to be perfect.

With my edit I’ve followed our agreed structure as much as I could and when we were discussing the structure Tom even went so far as to talk about the actual arrangements of shots and the cuts between them. 

However, I knew it would have been impossible to follow it to this level of detail and the footage we had shot would not allow me to anyway. By this, I mean it’s all very well wanting to start the video with a long tracking shot but if the only tracking shot you have suddenly and quite obviously dips at multiple points throughout the shot then I’m going to want to edit around those dips and probably disregard the whole shot all together.

When we were filming the character study we very quickly abandoned the tripod just because it was easier to follow the action with the camera hand held. However, we both needed to have a bit more practice with handheld because we let ourselves down at points in the footage. That said, it was just as well that the character study shoot was also a practice shoot for the documentary.

The thinking behind this comes from my and Tom’s POV on fencing. 

When we were talking about how we were going to edit the study I suggested that we each produce our own cuts. Tom wasn't so keen on this idea because he really wanted to get the character study done as quickly as possible. However, I felt it we had produced our own cuts they would have been very good indicators of each of our POVs on fencing. 

To this end I think the first 30 seconds are very indicative of my POV of the outsider. If Tom had edited it he would have instantly established the presence of fencing; whereas I’ve gone the other way and gradually introduced the concept, I’m editing it for people who are ignorant towards fencing.

The first shot is of the warm-up but unless you’ve seen a fencing warm-up before you don’t know it’s a fencing warm- up so as soon as you see the feet moving in unison and the members standing in a bizarre position you ask: what is this?

Already, in the first shot, I’ve got the spectator asking a question, so they’re going to keep watching because they want to know the answer. I also selected this as the opening shot because I wanted something I could stay with for a while without cutting away (and because the first thing you see is feet and I’ve always loved the opening to Strangers on a Train). 

As I could stay with the shot for a while I could introduce the testimony of Tim over it opposed to cutting to him sat down in front of the camera which would have been the wrong way to start it. It’s better to pick a much more interesting shot bring Tim in over it and THEN cut to him sat down and establish his presence as an interviewee.

Also, what I loved about Tim’s testimony about why he does fencing is initially he doesn’t actually mention the word ‘fencing’. Therefore his testimony acted as a perfect backbone for the visual opening/introduction I was creating, so I went along with it. 

For me, the ignorant person, I had to start with this information: what do you do fencing or why should I, the spectator, who has no interest in fencing, spend some of my time watching a video about fencing? 

However, Tim starts talking about dancing so I cut to Tim doing a sort of star jump like exercise, here I visual elaborate on what is being said and make the connection that fencing share many attributes with dancing.

This shot was the only piece of footage that I captured from the character study shoot that I was happy with because I felt like I had actually captured something worth capturing. Tom later commented that it was good that I caught this because he Tim never smiles!

However, in addition to elaborating on what is being said I’m also visual saying what Tim is essentially saying that fencing shares many attributes with dancing so to make this visual connection I cut to Tim as full fencing iconography...

... and pulling his hood down which allows me to set up his presence in the later shot, as soon as that hood comes down he could be anyone!

Then I cut back to man himself saying the punch line: the reason why an ignorant viewer should watch a video about fencing and why someone would want do fencing: “Give a small boy a sword and invite him to hit his friend - what you going to do? You’re not going to turn it down.

Naturally, then you have to follow this up so you cut into Tim going full pelt and as he does so we zoom out to reveal the full ferocity of his action and of the other fencers in the background. 

I’ve gradually introduced the different elements of it: the footwork, the posture, the elegance, the iconography, the ferocity and the reason why anyone could be tempted to do it. 

In the first 30 seconds I’ve introduced the concept, I’ve made it clear this is about Tim and I’ve got the spectator even more intrigued. That was the ‘way in’ I assembled and I figure it's a pretty good ‘way in’ for any ignorant audience member.

Once I had established this ‘way in’ for the audience and ‘way in’ for myself I found the rest of the study pretty much edited itself. 

The only part I haven’t done is the final segment and there are two reasons for this: 

1. Lack of time.
2. Lack of a final definitive point by Tim.

From 0:46 – 2:10 we’ve already established that one of the things Tim gets out of fencing is the pleasure to pass his knowledge on but, ultimately, what is the single absolute thing he gets out of fencing? 

Essentially, Tim did answer this question. The problem was he gave us a very general answer and didn’t really define in simple terms what it is he gets from fencing. 

When we were interviewing him we should have pushed him further. Unfortunately, this didn’t occur to me until after I had watched the footage back. 

If I did have a final definitive statement from Tim it would have given me a backbone around witch to create a fitting ending.

I have no doubt that I could have assembled a similar and, perhaps, less satisfying ending from the material I had. I even toyed with using some of the other footage we had shot from the later shoots. 

Ultimately, I refrained myself because I wanted to stick with the footage that had been specifically filmed with a character study in mind. I wanted to remain pure to the task and maintain the challenge of the task. 

My ending would have brought together all of the best bits of Tim’s fencing to demonstrate his ferocity and skill. Then joining this footage together with some of Tim’s general replies I would have attempted to demonstrate ultimately what he has attained from fencing.

However, I ran out of time, so the character study remains unfinished. If I had finished editing the final segment of the study I would have then gone back and trimmed it down. Then I would have colour corrected it, finalised the sound and added titles.

Music is an option, but I would rather have had the music from the start and used it to influence my edit. 

Really, I just was more interested in presenting an ‘unfiltered’ realist presentation of the fencing and music would have detracted from this. 

On the other hand, if you were going for a more formalistic approach, as I’m sure Tom would have done, music would work with it. 

Again, it would have been great if Tom had produced an edit because it would clearly demonstrate his formalist approach in comparison to my realist approach.

Perhaps, if I can clear some time up later on in the year I will have another crack at finishing the character study.

Below is the initial rough cut that was screened in the character study documentary session.

Key Things Learnt 

• Be more careful with our handheld camera operating.
• Encourage interviewees to generate a final definitive point on the subject they have been questioned. 
• Keep the/an ending in mind so that your subject is leading towards something and, therefore, being narrowed down. 
• Be more selective towards the general footage we shoot.

Why see how we took this practice exercise and initial research and factored it into the planning of the main documentary...

Focusing Fencing: the preproduction of Fencing