'Amy' Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2yCIwmNuLE
I have always loved the documentary 'Amy' which is about the life of the singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse of how she grew into fame until her tragic death. I have always been a fan of Amy's music so I was very interested into watching this documentary so I could find out about her life. This documentary was made after her death so they used videos and images that were taken of her before she passed away. However, to get the information about her life, they interviewed her friends, family and people she worked with and then used the sound of the interviews over the videos/images so the interviewees are not seen.
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This documentary has won ten awards, one of them being 'BAFTA Award for Best Documentary' which shows the documentary was very successful. From reading some of the reviews, one caught my eye as it quotes 'The artistic life and awful death of Amy Winehouse at age 27 has been so exhaustively chronicled that we think we know everything about her. Think again.' This is written by Peter Travers on 'Rolling Stone'. The full review is here: https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/amy-248378/
This quote caught my eye because it means that the fans of Amy Winehouse think they know a lot about her life but really they don't which is why they made this documentary to show behind the scenes of her whole life. I love how this documentary explores in depth of Amy's life to let the audience discover facts about her and visually see (with the videos and images taken of her by friends, family, paparazzi, interviews and at concerts/festivals) of what she was really like in her good and bad times. This allows the audience to feel connected to Amy on a personal level as they find out a lot about her life which normally only friends and family would only know.
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I noticed while watching 'Amy' the editors inserted the videos and images of her at a fairly fast pace so there is a lot to see in a short amount of time. The images are shown for a matter of seconds where as the videos can be shown for either a short amount of time or for a while where they want the audience to listen in to the audio in it as it is important. As this documentary was made after the death of Amy Winehouse, they can only use old footage of her that they haven't taken themselves. The interviewees with her friends, family and old colleagues were only filmed with audio so they use that audio to go over the footage and images of Amy which means that they would have had to find a lot of videos and images of her as the documentary is two hours and eight minutes long.
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From this documentary, I will take away the use of videos and images because my aim is to make the audience feel connected to the interviewees so I feel that by inserting videos and images of them before and during Lockdown, it will make this happen. However instead of recording the interviews with just audio equipment, I will also film with with video equipment as I want to show the interviewees answering the questions so the audience can see their facial expressions and body language. This will let the audience visually see how the interviewees feel and they will also like to see what they look like as it will make them feel like they know the interviewees more. I will also edit my documentary so that the images and videos of my interviewees before and during Lockdown that they sent me are shown at a fast pace.
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Genre
There are many different types of documentaries out there to watch, many of them being an interview style. I already know I want my documentary to be an interview because as an interviewer, I want to talk to people and ask them questions about their life's. However, I want to put my own twist on it by editing it so that the audience can't see or hear me. This will make the audience feel like the interviewees are directly talking to them which will make them feel more connected to the interviewees.
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I found this website https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-documentary-guide#what-are-documentary-modes which made me expand my knowledge of discovering more types of genres there are of documentaries. According to this website there are six genres which are:
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Poetic mode
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Expository mode
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Participatory mode
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Observational mode
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Reflexive mode
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Performative mode
The genre that I think my documentary ideas will relate to the most is the Expository mode. The genre is described in this way: 'Expository documentaries set up a specific point of view or argument about a subject and often feature “voice of God” style voice-over. For expository documentaries, the cinematographer is responsible for collecting footage that supports and strengthens the spoken argument of the film, including stock footage, archival footage, b-roll, or re-enactments of historical events. The Dust Bowl (2012) is filmmaker Ken Burns’ historical account of the disastrous drought that occurred during the Great Depression. Burns uses photos and facts to supplement the causes and impact of one of the worst droughts to plague North American farmland'.
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As I am planning to use photos and videos that the interviewees have taken before and during lockdown, it will be the genre expository. I watched the preview to the documentary 'The Dust Bowl' by Ken Burns on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYOmjQO_UMw
This constantly uses images and videos taken in the past with a narration over it so no new/raw footage is filmed for it; only audio.
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I want to take the idea of having a narration over the videos and images by using the audio from the interviews I film so the interviewees are talking over the images/videos they have taken themselves before and during Lockdown. However, I will also film the interviewees and show them talking to the camera so the audience can see them to feel more interacted with them. This means my documentary will be a interview style.
How To Make a Good Documentary
As I have never made a documentary before I want to research what makes a good documentary. I found this website How to Make & Edit a Documentary Video Online (kapwing.com) and I read there are 'five important tips for creating a high-level documentary'. According to this article, the 'five important tips' are:
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I looked and read through this website and gathered more knowledge for what each of the subheading meant.
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For number one 'Think beyond video', it means that a documentary isn't just made by filming with a camera. You can also use audio footage to use as a voiceover/narration, graphs and data to use as evidence, pictures and text as a still image. These all can be used to get over to show the audience the information as some might be more clear to show and easier for them to understand. For example, the documentaries by Mark Brown and Grace Lee use infographic and text to convey the information to their audience.
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The image on the left, is a infographic style image which allows the audience to visually see the information which can be a easier way for some people to understand it. Where as the image of the right, is just text so the audience have to read it. There can be a narration with someone reading it out loud to the audience. This usually is done when it is an important fact or a quote a person has said.
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With 'Use music whenever possible', it is saying that having music in the background can help set the tone and atmosphere of the documentary. By not having music in the background it can make the audience feel bored and uninterested in the documentary. When there's narration you will want it the background music to be quiet so the narrator is well heard.
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To 'Work with your own visual style' you have to be creative and original to achieve a unique look for your documentary when it comes to text and graphic elements. By having a unique look to your text and graphic elements, it will set your documentary aside from others which will make people remember it well.
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The quote 'Navigate permissions ahead of time, if you need to' is stating that if your documentary contains 'found or repurposed' footage or audio then you need to gain permission to use it. If the documentary is for a school project or just for fun for you and friends and family to watch then there is no need to do this but, if its for a competition or to be put it online then getting permission early on before creating it, is the best thing to do.
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It is important to 'Voiceover everything' because a lot of documentaries contain still images, text slides and videos so a voice over would be the crucial time to have over this so there isn't a long silent pause. However, it can be good to have a silent pause if you are trying to creating tension or it send your message across well, but too much silence will make the audience bored. It's good to add subtitles to documentaries so it is accessible to everyone and if people don't want to have their sound on, they can read the subtitles instead.
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From this, I have learn that I need to think beyond of just filming so I will use text in my documentary saying quotes of what the interviewees say that are powerful or meaningful. Having music in a documentary makes it more interesting for the audience to watch so I will create my own music that is soft and gentle to play throughout the documentary quietly in the background. The title of my documentary will stand out a lot as I want it to attract young adults/teenagers. I have been using the website DaFont https://www.dafont.com/ for many years and it has thousands of different fonts. This will help me to find the perfect font that will suit my target audience and will also be unique. Luckily I won't need to ask for permission for footage that isn't mine because I will be filming footage myself and also ask the interviewees for photos/videos they have taken on their phones before and during Lockdown which doesn't require permission. There will be a lot of talking in my documentary so there won't be any awkward silent moments. I have taken away the idea of adding subtitles to my documentary so it is accessible to everyone and will make it professional as all famous documentaries have these.
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Practical Research: Lighting
To ensure my documentary is at a high standard, I want to see which lighting is best for when I film the interviews. To do this research, I booked the following equipment at my college: camera, large LED key light and two reflector panels (one white, one silver). I used these three lighting equipment, as well as natural light (both inside and outside) and took photos of my model to compare which lighting I liked and didn't like.
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I first went outside and took a photo in the shade, facing the sun and facing away from the sun. This required no lighting equipment as it was all natural lighting. After I took these photos and looked them, I realised I really didn't like the shaded photo. This is because it looks very dull and not very inviting. This might make the audience feel negative if I was too use this lighting which I do not want to happen. However with photos in the sunlight this does the complete opposite as it looks bright and positive. I preferred the photo where the model was facing the light compared to where he is facing away from the sun. When he is acing the sun, the sun is shining on his face so he is well seen and brightens him up. Where as when the sun is behind him, it creates a bright edge around him then is darker on his face so it would be hard for the audience to see the interviewees facial expressions if I were too have them facing away from the sun.
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Shade
Facing the Sun
Facing Away From the Sun
I then used the white and silver reflector panels to see how much of a difference they would make. To use these I got my classmate to hold them to the left of the camera facing towards the sun so it would bounce of the reflector panels, then he would tilt them until the light would reflect onto the model. With the white reflector panel, I didn't notice a big difference from using it as not much light reflects of it. However with the silver reflector panel, I noticed a big difference as it made the model stand out a lot more as the contrast is higher and it is brighter. I much preferred the silver reflector as it made the model glow more and the brightness was the perfect amount. On the other hand, the downfall of the silver reflector panel is that I noticed it 'blinded' the model as he had to squint his eyes because so much light was reflecting onto his face. If I were too use this lighting equipment I will have to consider the problem that it might make the interviewees squint which wouldn't look great for the audience to watch.
White Reflector Panel
Silver Reflector Panel
After getting all the shots from outside, I moved into a building to test out the large LED key light. I had the lights of in the room and made the model sit away from the window as the blinds were up. I placed the large LED key light in front of the model so that it was next to me to my right when I took the photos. I was able to change the setting of the LED light as it allowed me to make it more warm or cool toned by turning the dial. With having the LED light on full with the warm tone which was yellow, and having it on 0 for the cool tone, which was white, it didn't look very appealing to see as it didn't look natural and it looked pretty dull. To change it up, I did the complete opposite by having the cool toned all the way up and the warm toned all the way down. This was my least favourite lighting as it made the model look flushed out. If I were to use this lighting in my interviews it would feel unwelcoming to my audience as it looks very serious and doesn't give off a good vibe. As both these lighting setting didn't work well I set the LED light so that it had both the yellow and white lighting on full. I found this a lot better as it wasn't as harsh on the eyes as the other lightings. I tested out what this light setting would look like if the blinds were shut so no other lighting was included and I found it much better as it made the model glow more. This means the audiences eyes would be drawn to of the interviewee more if I were to use this lighting, which will make them engage with what the interviewee is saying well. Lastly, I tested out what the natural lighting from the window without the large LED key light. I really didn't like this lighting because it created a lot of shadows on the model which isn't very flattering so I will defiantly not use this lighting for my documentary.
Yellow/Warm Toned LED Key Light
White/Cool Toned LED Key Light
Yellow/White LED Key Light
Yellow/White Toned LED Key Light in the Dark
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Natural Light by Window
In conclusion, if I were to film outside for the interviews I would want to be in the sunlight and use the silver reflector panel so the light bounces of it onto the interviewees. This makes the interviewee stand out and there are no shadows on their face which would make it easy for the audience to see their facial expressions. Where as if I were too film the interviews inside, I would do it in a dark room where no lights from the ceilings are on and the blinds are shut. I would use the large LED key light with the warm and cool toned colours equally on so the lighting doesn't look too harsh on the models face. This is my favourite interior lighting because the interviewee would be in a bright setting which can set the mood for the audience and also it didn't make the model in my photo look washed out or dull as that did happen with some other lightings.
White Reflector Panel
Silver Reflector Panel
Large LED Key Light
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Fonts for Title:
I have already taken into consideration that the title of my documentary will need to stand out to catch my target audiences eye. As the title is the first thing my audience will see in my documentary, I want them to be drawn to it and feel excited for the documentary.
To make the title suitable for my target audience I need it to be bold and quirky. By having it bold it will make it stand out a lot as its so big and peoples eyes are always drawn to bigger/bolder fonts rather than small/dainty fonts. However it has to be easy to read as some fonts can be difficult even though they look good, so I will use a font that is clear for my audience.
I also want the title to be quirky because my target audience are teenagers/young adults. This age group are into trends and in the recent years it has been trendy to have their own unique style by wearing vintage clothes that not many other people may own. Trends change very often but very recently neutral colours like brown, beige, white etc. have been the trendy colours to wear or use for designs. This has inspired me to use these colours in the title because I know my audience will find it visually pleasing. It will show them that the documentary is aimed for their age as the title symbolises trends and youth. These are some examples of colours I made in Adobe Photoshop which I will use in my title.
To be prepared for editing my documentary, I selected a few style of fonts that I like so I have a selection to choose from for the title of my documentary. I simply went on the website DaFont - Download fonts and browsed through the fonts under the titles 'Groovy', 'Old School' and 'Retro' as I thought these would have the style of fonts I was looking for.
My least favourite fonts are 'Maraton Personal Use' and 'Hazel Deco Light' because they aren't as bold as I would like them to be. However they caught my eye because I liked how they both have extra lines in the letters which I thought was interesting to look at. The fonts 'Lemondrop' and 'Bondi' are very similar as they both have bold lines at the beginning of each letter. I think this is a unique style which is eye catching and as they are bold, they stand out even more. The font 'Tostada' caught my eye because I liked how there are slight gaps in small parts in the letters but they are still easy to read as the letters are still clear and it is in bold. With the font 'ChemyRetro', I liked that it has a vintage look to it which would suit my target audience well as they like the style vintage. My favourite fonts are 'Lemondrop' and 'ChemyRetro'. I think these two fonts will attract my audience the most because they are bold and clear to read. They both have a style to them which makes them interesting to loom at as they have a vintage style to them which would make them classed as cool according to teenagers/young adults.
