Final Documentary and Presentation

The final export of our documentary project can be seen here.

Michael's Feedback

Solo emailed a link to our finished film to Michael Holmes (our interviewee), who responded with very positive feedback. Though not exactly practically useful towards the project, it was pleasing to hear such positive comments from our interviewee.

Self-Assessment Form

Click here for my self-assessment form.

Logging Sheet - Shots We've Taken

Click here to see our logging list.

Problems With Kelham Island

After Michael Holmes made reference to The Kelham Island Museum during his interview, we felt that it would be a good idea to contact them and arrange a time when we could gather some shots of their exhibits; similarly to the process we underwent with The Millennium Gallery. However, unlike the gallery who responded almost immediately, Kelham Island were annoyingly unresponsive to us. We checked their website for their e-mail, contacting them this way 3 times over a period of more than a week; not receiving any response. We began to grow impatient after this and decided to contact them via phone, alas however, they were still unresponsive. Finally, we decided we needed to contact them in person, where they would have no choice but to interact with us. There, we learned that the member of staff that handles emails and contacts had been on holiday for the past week or so, meaning that the museum's emails and phone calls regarding special bookings were not being answered. We were told that the earliest appointment for filming possible would be the morning of Tuesday the 28th of February; just a day before our presentation. Unable to film the exhibits and not wanting to leave empty-handed, we instead decided to shoot several exterior displays from a distance, thereby not legally being on their property yet still being able to obtain some useful shots to be coupled with Micheal's references to the museum. 

Despite allowing ourselves well over a week to arrange an appointment with the museum, our attempts were to no avail, much unlike The Millennium Gallery, who gave us permission in just a few days. This sort of situation however, is a frustratingly common issue in documentary film-making. Unable to obtain permission, we were forced to improvise. Hopefully, this will not detriment the overall quality of the film. Unlikely thanks to our deliberate habit of always shooting more footage than we feel is necessary; thereby always allowing ourselves an safety net. Despite our precautionary habits however, Kelham Island's poor responsiveness was indeed a frustrating obstacle; one that we were thankfully able to overcome.

Rough Cut - What Next?

We have completed a rough cut of our film at just under 3-minutes long. Personally, I am mostly happy with the way the documentary currently sits, at least in terms of style and tone. We have been able to effectively match together shots of the interview and our b-roll footage. We have also been able to create an opening that sets that the tone of the film before diving into an interview. What the film lacks however, in my opinion, in a sense of variety. What we have so far is good, but I feel that dragging it out for around 5-minutes is likely to get repetitive. As it sits, the film is mostly a few introductory shots, followed by Michael's interview along with its b-roll. What is really necessary at this point I think is another interview, a voice-over, or both. For the second interview, we have emailed Kelham Island to enquire if we would be able to film their exhibits and perhaps find someone to interview. They are yet to respond. Currently, Michael's interview spans across a majority of the film's soundtrack; currently being the only part of the soundtrack other than the diegetic sounds from some of the shots. Hence, I feel it is necessary to fragment his interview into parts, allowing for voice-overs, other interviews, and periods of no speech in order to maintain a good variety of information delivery. The film, I feel is also in need of some music not only to maintain its cheery tone, but also to act a sort of 'glue'; a part that ties the fragments of the narrative together by being a constant throughout.

In addition, it is important to note that judging by the positive feedback we have received about the film's style and tone, as well as the suggestion we received to maintain this style throughout, we have decided as a group to drop our previous idea of having a tonal shift around halfway through, after which we would begin to talk about the decline of Sheffield's steel industry and its possible incoming death. After reading through the transcript of Micheal's interview, we realised that he maintains a rather optimistic tone. After speaking of the industry's decline, he goes on to say that it has actually started to grow in recent years; ending his interview on a positive note. This, coupled with the suggestions to maintain the film's lighthearted tone, allowed us to agree that we should abandon our tonal shift idea; an idea that seems to be becoming increasingly difficult as we struggle to find a second interviewee.

Behind The Scenes

 

Camera Problems

We have made several shoots thus far, most of which we have been able to execute successfully. However, in the process, we unsurprisingly encountered a few problems with our cameras. We of course made attempts to rectify these issues; with varying levels of success.

One small issue was some grainy footage we encountered when initially shooting at The Millennium Gallery. We hadn't noticed that this was the case until we began post-production, where the noisiness of the shots became much more visible. Thankfully however, this was only the case in the first few shots as after around 5 or so shots, I realised that I had forgotten to white balance the camera (which was especially foolish since the room was rather dark). After white balancing, the images thankfully became much sharper and much more usable. As a result of our deliberate overestimation of how much footage would be required, this issue thankfully did not cause us many problems as we were easily able to replace the grainy footage with another shot. Unfortunately however, there was a point in the interview with Michael Holmes in which he mentions the cutlery made in the Sheffield steel industry. The grainy shot above would've been ideal, but we were unfortunately unable to replace it with another version. Though its graininess is not particularly noticeable on the above small image, it is indeed very visible when viewing the clip on a full screen.

We also had another issue when filming outside Forgemasters the following week. We found that the camera was shooting at an incredibly white exposure; obscuring most of the image. This would normally be fixed by manually changing the exposure, although strangely, the camera vision was still very white even when the exposure was set to its darkest setting. Unfortunately, I am not particular experienced with many of the camera's functions, meaning that I was unsure of how to fix the problem; as was my group. We were able to provide adequate lighting by changing the camera's shutter speed; not finding any other solutions (as seen in the comparison above, the left being the one with the altered shutter speed). Fearful of what consequences of changing this setting might incur, we shot every shot that day in the camera's normal settings, and again with the altered shutter speed. It is likely there was a solution to this problem; the problem likely being caused by some incorrect settings. However, my lack of experience meant that I was unsure of how to fix the problem; being unsure of the effects that changing the shutter speed would have on the overall shot. Nonetheless however, seeing the shots in post-production, it seems that the shots with the tweaked shutter speed provide much clearer and sharper shots that those on the settings the camera was already one, hopefully meaning that my risky solution was successful.

A New Approach

We recently considered our documentary as it currently stands and realised that if we were to maintain our current approach towards the project, it would be significantly lacking in terms of narrative structure and emotional investment. We came to this conclusion upon realising that we hadn't really determined which direction we wanted to take the project, what do we want the project to say? What is it's style? What tone or atmosphere will it have?

Originally our plan for the documentary was to provide a more optimistic outlook towards Sheffield steel industry. We were intending to provide a brief history, followed by a larger section concerning the present state of the industry, concluding with its speculated future. This idea was built upon the basis that Sheffield's steel industry still thrives despite such intense competition from secondary industry overseas. After speaking to one of our clients Michael Holmes however, we learned more about the grim truth concerning the current state of Sheffield's steel, as well as it's even bleaker looking future. Maintaining an optimistic attitude would therefore seem rather inappropriate considering the true circumstances surrounding the issue.

We therefore attempted to draw inspiration from other documentaries in order to perhaps find a way that we could still undergo our ideas, while still presenting the necessary information accurately and respectfully. I mentioned to the group the previous analysis that I had done on "The Archive" (Sean Dunne, 2008). The opening sequence of The Archive adopts a rather cheerful and optimistic tone; the music providing the heart and the vibrancy of the piece; as is the theme of its subject matter. However, around half-way through the film when we learn that Paul, The Archive's owner, is being forced to sell his store, his passion for music along with it, the film takes on a massive change in tone. Instead, it now becomes much more sombre and depressing; acting as a metaphor for the death of Paul's passion for music. A magnificent collection acting as a time capsule for over a century of music somehow, over the course of the years, becomes practically valueless. Though the actual value of The Archive is incredibly high, Paul has been unable to find a buyer, effectively making his lifelong collection worthless.

This kind of tone is something that we could definite emulate in our documentary. Similarly to The Archive, the opening would be rather cheery; and optimistic recollection of the many centuries that Sheffield spent ruling the steel industry of Britain, and perhaps even the world. This would be showcased through the exhibits at the Millennium Gallery, chronicling almost 700 years of culture and heritage. However, at around the half-way mark, the film (like The Archive) will take a noticeable tonal shift when we learn that Sheffield's steel industry is in a severe state of decline; from which it may never recover. Similarly to The Archive, this section of the film will provide commentary on the power of time: many centuries of incredible manufacturing power, practically wiped away in just a few decades. The film will become much more sombre to act as a metaphor for what is likely to be the death of Sheffield's steel industry, similarly to the death of The Archive, along with many years of history in both cases. Hence, by adopting this approach to our film, we will be able to provide a much more emotionally gripping and narratively strong piece that would otherwise have been possible with our original intentions.

Sync Sound

Sync Sound refers to process where sound for a film or documentary is recorded simultaneously to the visuals. For instance, dialogue between two characters may be recorded by an overhanging boom mic slightly out of shot, which will later be synchronised up with the shots taken in post-production. While most cameras come equipped with microphones, it is often the case that these microphones do not record at particularly high quality. Using them is often also not practical given their relationship with camera position. As a result, filmmakers often record sound separately using boom mics. These allow the microphone to be as held as close as possible to the sound being recorded without disrupting the shot. Furthermore, as a result of the microphone being directional, sound is only pick up from directly in front of the mic, meaning that it allows for clear, crisp recordings with only minimal unwanted noise; if any.

There are also certain microphones that are more useful in certain situations than others due to their direction (where the microphone can and can't pick up sound).

Omnidirectional Microphones: Microphones that record sound equally in a 360 degree radius of the microphone. They are equally sensitive in all directions, so can therefore be useful if the filmmaker intends to record the overall sound of an area, or people speaking from multiple directions.

 



Cardioid Microphones: Microphones that are sensitive to sound from the front and rear, and can record good quality sound in these directions. However, they record sound poorly from behind. These are the most commonly used type of microphone as they allow for sounds to picked up clearly from whatever the mic is pointing at, while also rejecting unwanted sounds from behind the mic.


 


Directional Microphones (Rifle/Shotgun): As the name suggests, this is a particularly directionally sensitive microphone. It provides a very selective recording of sound, making it ideal for precise recordings in noisy environments. It has narrow but sensitive recording at its front, some additional pickup at its sides, and a small level of sensitivity at its rear.


The clap from clapper boards is used to create a distinct spike on the waveform of a scene's recorded sound. This is used to act as a marker that allows synchronisation of sound and images to be done much more easily. It is also common practice to make two recordings at different bit-rates, such as making one recording at -12db, and another at -18db. This allows for the maximum amount of usable sound as it allows the filmmaker to avoid having to dispose of sound due to overloading.

Michael Holmes Interview Transcript

Shooting Agreements

We have been able to secure two clients that have consented to be involved in the production of our documentary. The first is Michael Holmes, the director of Sheffield-located engineering company Burner Solutions Limited. Holmes has been working in Sheffield's manufacturing industry (especially steel) for several decades in both managerial positions, as well as more hands-on manual labour. Judging by some brief interactions we have had with him over email, seems to be particularly knowledgeable on the subject and thus, we have arranged an interview with him at his office. Since we aim to provide perspectives on Sheffield's steel industry in terms of past, present and perhaps future, we hope that Holmes will be able to provide us with useful information on the past and the present, and perhaps even provide some speculation towards the future of the industry. We have completed a contributor letter of agreement with Holmes that we sent to him via email. He has returned it to us with his signature. It can be seen here.

It should be noted that depending on our intended approach towards the documentary, we may decide to prioritise Holmes' interview specifically on the present, with only brief mention of the past. The historical significance of Sheffield's steel industry will be covered in more detail by our other client: The Millennium Gallery. The Millennium Gallery is an art gallery and museum located in Sheffield. Our interest in the establishment lies in its "Metalwork Collection" exhibit, which provides a very detailed history on Sheffield's manufacturing industry with a particular focus on steel. Of course, given our time constraint of just 5 minutes, we don't intend to dwell too much on the historical value; though it will provide a basis for the topics of the documentary. The history of Sheffield's steel industry is far to extensive to effectively condense into such a short period of time. Hence, we will mostly be using the exhibits as a means to present some of the impressive steel-work that has been manufactured in Sheffield for almost 700 years. Similarly to Holmes, we emailed the gallery with a location agreement document, granting us permission to film on their property. They returned the document to us with the necessary information provided. The document can be seen here.

Camera Techniques

In order to allow our documentary to seem more vibrant and aesthetically pleasing, I feel as though it is compulsory to research into certain camera techniques that are used in documentary film-making. These techniques are used not only to create more interesting and visually appealing shots, but are also commonly used to enhance the emotion of a scene or to establish a certain location or idea. Of course there are countless techniques available, however given our time constraints, our lack of advanced equipment, and my personal lack of professional cinematographic experience, I feel it is important to only focus on a few relatively simplistic techniques rather than getting carried away with something beyond my own capability as a cinematographer.

Slider Shots

As the name suggests, these are achieved by attaching the camera to a slider, then sliding the camera along its length in order to obtain some rather graceful sweeping shots. The static camera, while capable of obtaining some very compelling shots, will only be able to hold the viewer's attention for so long. Overuse of the static camera will eventually become dull and repetitive, meaning that other forms of camera movement will be necessary. While handheld shots would be the more obvious solution, they are (in my experience) very difficult to effectively execute; often seeming amateurish and poorly shot. Slider shots, to an extent, bridge the gap between handheld and static camera movement; allowing for visually pleasing camera movement without the detrimental lack of quality that a poorly-executed handheld shot will incur. Instead, sliders allow for subtle, elegant movement of the camera that is capable of maintaining the viewer's attention, without being too distracting from what the shots are actually trying to present. A notable example is in the clip below (left) from "The Archive" (Sean Dunne, 2008). Here, sliders are used to create a few elegant sweeping shots of the aisles of Paul's collection; allowing for more vibrant and energetic cinematography that allows the viewer to develop an emotional connection with the collection more quickly; making the bombshell dropped around halfway through the film all the more powerful. This an effect that we hope to emulate in our documentary. The other clip gives an explanation of how sliders can be used to make an interview more visually interesting. Often, an interview is shot using a static camera; meaning that it is often rather uninteresting to look at for long periods of time, leading to an over-reliance on b-roll. Using sliders allows attention to be kept on the interviewee for longer before losing the viewer's attention; thereby reducing the risk of being detrimental to the film's pacing with the use of b-roll.











 





Depth of Field

This is a very common camera technique used in both films and documentaries alike. Specifically, a shallow depth of field (where only a certain area of a shot is in focus) is very frequently used not only to draw the viewer's attention to a particular part of a shot and prevent distraction, but also create a rather rich, cinematic visual style to shots taken. The Canon XF100 (the camera we will be using) is indeed capable of executing shallow focus; which I know from my experience with a previous project. Though from my recollection, it can be rather difficult to implement. To achieve a cinematic shallow focus, a large aperture is required, meaning that the camera often needs to be as zoomed in as possible in order to increase the aperture. As a result, the camera often needs to be situated a fair distance from the subject of the shot in order to guarantee that it adequately lies within the frame after zooming; which can easily cause problems when shooting in certain locations. It also largely restricts camera movement when shallow focus is active, meaning that some types of cinematic shots may be difficult, or even impossible to implement given my personal inexperience with cinematography.

Shallow Focus in "Skateistan: To Live And Skate Kabul" (Orlando Von Einsiedel, 2011).

The above image demonstrates the use of shallow focus in documentary film-making. Most documentaries will make use of shallow focus at some point or another as it is, to some extent, a fundamental part of cinematography. Its aim here, as well as in most documentaries, is to draw the viewer's attention to a particular part of the shot; in this case the woman's face. The area out of focus behind her is not completely obscured however as it is still visible, it has simply been demoted to the secondary target of attention for this shot. Often, actions being performed in the out of focus regions of the shot may provide some illustration for the regions in focus. In this case, the woman in the focus of the shot is the manager of the skate-park seen out of focus in the background. Hence, the out of focus areas of the shot are able to provide some context for the in-focus areas of the foreground without being too much of a distraction from the the main subject of the shot. Shallow focus of course also has the secondary impact of creating a rather aesthetically pleasing cinematic effect that is more likely to maintain the viewer's attention.

Establishing Shots

Once again, this a technique that is frequently used in both documentary and film. The main intention of an establishing shot, as the name suggests, is to establish the setting that a forthcoming scene will be taking place in. However, it can also be used to establish a certain style or idea to the viewer, and can also be used in interesting ways.

Four screenshots from "The Apology Line" (James Lees, 2010).

Interestingly, the first few minutes of "The Apology Line" (above) uses establishing shots several times; or at least what seems to resemble establishing shots. It does this however, not to establish or lead into a following scene, but rather to establish the setting with regards to tone and style. The narrative of The Apology Line is delivered indirectly, in that voiceovers provide most of the narrative, which are then subsequently accompanied by some rather ambiguous visual illustration. Establishing shots are used, for the most part, to demonstrate the style and the atmosphere of the film; with the shots making up around the first third of the documentary.

A photograph of Sheffield taken by us.

We have considered using a similar style of cityscape establishing shot in our film; one that would be similar to the photograph above that we took as a point of reference. In this case however, the shot will be used less to establish a certain style of film-making and more in its natural purpose: to establish a setting. I feel at least one establishing shot would be certainly be beneficial as it rather effectively illustrates our intended presentation of Sheffield: a city built from steel both literally and metaphorically.

Shot List

Click here to see our shot list

Treatment - Camera Notes

Click here for the treatment with notes on cinematography.

Team Roles

In order to commence and efficient production of our documentary, we needed to assign ourselves specific role to play within the team in order to prioritise and maximise work-efficiency. With each member of the crew specifying themselves into a particular category, we will each be able to carry out our work more specifically and effectively; thereby augmenting the overall quality of the teamwork within our production. I volunteered to specialise in camerawork, meaning that I will be specialising my activity within the group towards cinematography and shot design. This will need to be considered with regards to the film's intended overall narrative arc, style and tone; characteristics that we are yet to determine. Hence, before my shot-listing can begin; we need to develop a clearer overall vision of what exactly we are intending to create, which will be our next objective.

The camera that I will be operating is the Canon XF100, seen below. In truth, I do not have as much hands-on experience with this camera as I would prefer; I am therefore not massively familiar with its functions or intended usage. Regardless, this role should allow me to sharpen my skills in using this camera; as well as camerawork and cinematography in general.

The Canon XF100

We also intend to make use of a slider (something similar to the one seen below). Using a slider will allow us to ease our reliance on the use of static shots without the need to wander into the risky territory of handheld shots: a technique that is difficult to execute in good quality. It will allow us to create some rather graceful sweeping shots that will provide the cinematography with a little more energy and vibrancy.

A camera slider