Research

NOT USED

George Beattie & Henry Vinten

Treatment

The Minack Theatre

We will be investigating the historical background and current public interest of the Cornish Minack theatre. The purpose of the documentary is to explore all aspects surrounding the theatre, rendering an overall informative piece for the viewer. The history of the theatre will provide an initial insight to the complex in particular its creator Rowena Cade who planned, built and financed the project. Talking the viewers through her childhood from growing up in Cheltenham to moving to Cornwall and discovering the place which would then host the first production in 1932 'The Tempest'.

Following on from the initial construction of the theatre and Rowena Cade's dream we will then explore how world war 2 effected the progression of the project and how she managed to carry out maintenance during the constant threat of being bombed, also how Rowena Cade acted as a billing officer helping secure housing for hundreds of evacuee children and anxious mothers.

We will briefly introduce how she struggled to secure a funding for the theatre then later entrusting it to a trust organisation. Information will then be given about how the trustees have kept the productions going, finishing on what objectives the trustees have planned for the future.

In terms of editing of the piece we will use interviews with people that work at the information centre based in the grounds of the theatre complex, we will then use these as sync sound and voice overs when cutting away to relevant shots of the complex. If possible we aim to incorporate old footage of post productions and old photographs of Rowena Cade working on the site. Interviews with the public will be captured in order to add diversity to the piece, and how it differs from other theatre performances they have experienced before.

USED

George Beattie & Henry Vinten

Treatment

Castle Market

Our ten minuet expository documentary is centralised around Sheffield's castle market. The film will be an informative piece on the history, future and general day to day activities of both store owners who have made the old market their livelihood, and the customers who have come to value to the market not only as a place to shop but potentially a place to socialise. We feel it’s more relevant than ever to make this film now due to the fact that by the end of 2013 a brand new indoor market will be opening on the Moor. Castle market has a long history dating back an estimated 900 years. The market is built on the ruins of the old Sheffield castle and has therefore been an important place of trade for nearly a century. With this soon set to change our documentary will seek to find out how the current residents, as well as the regular shoppers, feel about the change to come.

The documentary will include contributions from at least two different traders who own and run completely different types of stores.  

Jeff Fearn is going to be our main contributor. A man in his fifties or sixties, he’s owned and worked his store, JB Tools, for the majority of his life. He professes to be ‘the face of Castle market’ being that when asked about the upcoming shift it’s him that’s leading the fight for the trader’s rights. He’s a strong minded individual that doesn’t mind speaking out in regards to the way in which the new market is to be set up.

Michelle runs a meat produce stall who when briefly probed about the new market replied that when it opens she’ll be out a job. Again she’s a trader in her fifties who’s been at the Castle market most of her working life so similarly to Jeff she’ll be able to a give good insight into the thoughts of not just herself but her fellow traders. The fact that she owns a food produce stall as opposed to a home wares one offers the opportunity to reveal whether different types of stores are getting treated differently.

Tony Oakes owns one of the bigger butchers’ stalls in Castle Market, again offering insight into the way in which different sellers could be affected in different ways, depending on size, popularity, duration trading and so on.     

The majority of the film will be made up of material gathered from interviews, however, rather than using a ‘Theruox’ style interviewer, through the use of planned questions we’ll be able to edit the responses in such a way that a story can be told and understood without the audience directly hearing the questions being asked. These responses will be a mixture of voice over’s and sync sound, allowing lots of space in the film to show footage of the market it’s self. Showing the decaying state of the market is crucial for the success of the documentary as it’s for this reason the new one is being built. Alongside these cut aways, we’ll integrate archive footage of the market in years gone by, showing the progression from what would have been an exciting new shopping experience into that of what we see today.  Lastly, to gain a sense of what’s to come we’ll use concept art work of the new 2013 ‘Moor market’, throwing into sharp focus the vast difference in aesthetics between the new and the old.

I will be using a lot of close-up inserts to highlight details of the market and use them as much as the dialogue to tell the markets story.  As well as this, long un-cut takes of traders and customers going about their business will be featured to give an honest look at the current state of affairs and general atmosphere of the market.

I’m taking inspiration from Sean Dunne’s The Archive. The seven and a half minuet documentary follows Paul Mawhinney and his collection of around two million vinyl records. The mixture of close ups and long shots that pan the stacked basement do a great job of portraying the space, a method I’ll be adopting in portraying the spaces within Castle market. The interview format works well too, by asking the right questions the interview responses tell a full story without the need of the audience to be given any context. Lastly, the subject matter of Dunne’s documentary and that of mine are linked by a common theme, an inevitable end, in Dunne’s case, the idea that vinyl is a dying medium and in my own documentary, the fact the market is soon to close. The Archive does well to create a tone that’s not overtly sad yet forces the audience to empathise with its contributors. This is the approach I will be taking; the audience will be able to identify with and feel for the interviewees without the film becoming a piece that strictly emphases the ‘doom and gloom’ of the situation.     

I want the finished film to have a personal feel, an account of the troubles facing these real people, a subject relatable by all retailers and shoppers alike given the current financial climate. Rather than highlighting the bad and giving the impression of condemning the place, I will create a warm piece on a subject that despite appearances is home to an abundance of humble, friendly and good natured people.

Outline

1.   Beginning: Introduce the contributors, get an understanding of who they are, what they do, how long they’ve worked at Castle market.

2.   Middle: Find out what the market means to them, introduce the idea that their current location is in jeopardy, how they feel about this.

3.   End: What they think the future holds, excited, nervous, why?

Track with Canon 600d

To give our documentary an element of movement we decided to hire out one of the tracks provided by the university store. Before heading to the market we constructed the track in one of the free study spaces so that we had a brief experience on how to achieve a smooth tracking movement with an efficient setup time prior to shooting, as this would be key when working around a busy environment. We believe the tracking motion helps to justify the markets dynamic surroundings providing us with a movement that would allow a single take to capture the exhibition of produce and stock. We aim to use a compliment purely of tracks in our 2 minute poetic piece combined with a voice over. With the variety of activity within the range of takes I feel we can illustrate how the the market has declined over the years and how the traders concerned perceive the construction of the new market wether it be positive or not. We understand that certain stalls in the market have managed to maintain steady business despite the decay of customers entering the mall contrasted with the traders that are straining, this distinctive difference will be lucidly evident in our poetic piece and full documentary.

Sea Change Film

http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/showcase/assets/showcase_items/sea_change

"Filmed on a caravan park at the end of the season, Sea Change reveals a landscape dramatically 

transformed by light and time resonating with the transience of human presence."

This short piece aided our inspiration for the poetic, we enjoyed the lucid transformation that follows the seasonal change on the caravan site, the simplicity of the tracking motion sanctions the way that the weather changes unnoticeably and without redundant abruptness. The locked off wide shot encapsulates the appealing rural backdrop, this feature we would replicate in our piece, either an 18 or 28 mil lens so that we could promote the vibrant colours of the neighbouring isles of the market. To complement the polished aesthetic of the film the tracking motion maintains a constant speed making the editing an easier task, we however will not be so fortunate to have the expensive equipment they bestow and so will have to take much care when utilising the track, the speed change tool in 'Final Cut Pro' will inevitably be used.

As "Sea Change" uses the motion to display the transience of human presence we will use the track to comunicate the lapse in time over a period of a day in a condensed mannor expressing the movement of people shopping with a crescendo in the mid section with the market at its peak then descending with the shots of the lower floor where the deterioration is most conspicuous.  

This piece makes use of cross fades in certain sections which work well as the the difference in the adjacent shot that is faded to has little contrast in terms of colour. This we feel wont work as well in our poetic and so will attempt to make the cuts work matching the speed will give us the best chance in achieving a cut that works. In the above shot a balloon can be seen floating in the distance which is revisited again in the piece, this idea of contrasting an object in opposing time frames to show progression is something that we may attempt to advocate such as revisiting a store in a busy time of day and the same one without customers to reflect the decline in business.