DOCUMENTARY: SCRIPTING AND STORYTELLING FOR DOCS

- All programming is a lesser or greater extent scripted

Title
- Choose a title for your film - Usually you agree a 'working title' until the film is progressed to the point where a final title is agreed. Title is important as it-
- Sells your film to it's audience - 'Tease'
- Encapsulates what your film is about
- Focuses you as a producer/director on the real meaning of your film
- Adds meaning to your film – ‘double entendre’ common e.g. One Born Every Minute – new conventions re: blunt literal titles e.g. The Boy Whose Skill Fell Off

The Treatment

A treatment outlines HOW we intend to tell the story and will include main characters or interviewees, locations or planned locations, style/format/narrative structure and whether or not we intend to use a reporter/presenter and how that benefits the documentary. 

A treatment doesn't need to be more than a page but won't be any more than 3 or 4. Unless you're sending it through the post don't make it more than 1 page. 

A treatment can also include:

- Transmission ('TX') Time and channel/platform

- Target audience

- Whether it is stand alone film, part of an existing strand or series or split into parts to form a new series. 

Documentary Scripting

When you're writing a script for a doc, you can utilise the following:

- Sequences

- Interviews

- Reconstructions and dramatisations

- Actuality 

- Cutaways/GVs 

- Sync 

- Commentary 

- Music

- Archive/stills

- Graphics 

- NB documentary films should be as much about the pictures as any other film – SHOW ME AND TELL ME, DON’T JUST TELL ME! 

The script needs to be done prior to the filming just like for a drama, series, etc. as this forms a template for your finished film. It should be informed by your research and allow you to effectively think through your film's picture and sound content and a basic structure. 

It is know as a A/V Script (Audio and Visual Script)

- e.g. Write COMM or V/O for commentary 

- Write SEQ for sequence 

- Write ACT for actuality 

- Write C/A for cutaway 

- Write SYNC for interview clips 

- Write SFX for sound effects 

- Commentary – is usually made distinct by being written in italics/in bold – also helps during voice over record if they are numbered 

- Line and a half spacing – makes it easier to read! 

- Finding a narrative for your documentary is essential ¡ 

- A central thread of some kind which will hold your story together e.g. Day in the life/Journey of exploration 

- The central thread could involve the process of investigating the answer to a particular question or theory 

- The film’s narrative is influenced by the characters, location, period of time it is covering and the events presented. 

- BEWARE – time based narratives cannot be fractured – ensure you check the logic of your story and keep to it!

Documentary Structures, 2 types

Actuality driven

- This is a term used to describe more observational type films whose structure and storytelling develops around what happens – the developing of events drives the story and provides the narrative e.g. One Born Every Minute/Cops with Cameras 

Sequenced documentary films 

- Have a more ‘polished’ feel and are typically more formatted pieces e.g.Who do you think you are?’ (although this also is driven by the “actuality” of a journey of discovery) 

- The choice as to whether your film is entirely actuality driven, partially actuality driven or completely scripted depends on the subject, type of programme/series and audience

- The filmmaker will also potentially have their own views on this based on preference/style/’morals’

DOCUMENTARY: OUR IDEA LECTURE

We started the lecture by naming some of the things we've learnt over the last 2 units. I chose:

Casting - Working with professional actors on Students projects can be difficult as you can't afford to pay them. Being polite and friendly as well as selling the project best to them helps to get them onboard and being really friendly and professional while during the production. Feeding them on set and covering their travel really helps to keep them onboard and make sure they're looked after and happy working for you.

Locations - Saying 'I was hoping you could help me' is a really good way of starting a conversation when wanting to film at a location. This makes the landlord, land owner, etc. feel a bit more important and shows that you really want them onboard with the project.

Paperwork - With 'Shaun of the Dead' the shoot went really smoothly because I had done tech runs for the equipment, shot lists, risk assessments, etc. and this helped make the shoot go really well with no real stress.

Got the idea, What's next?
- Test the viability of the story
- Develop the script and rough schedule and a budget (if needed)

Where to begin?
- Research online, journals, etc.
- Get a better picture of the idea and the background
- Establish key contacts
- NEVER call any of the contacts until you have an understanding of the basis of the story.
- You can then prepare some basic questions which you would like to ask your contact.

Relevant background info:
- Legislation/regulations
- Organisations and experts
- Existing research - up to date as possible, if unpublished better - exclusivity
- Case Studies
- Previous coverage on TV/archive as appropriate

A 'Journalists nose'
- What makes your story worth commissioning?
- WHAT IS NEW - YOUR ANGLE
- Find a USP (Unique Selling Point)
- Who/what/when/where/why/how

Ethics and Representation
- It is important to realise that these are more than the subject for an essay or discussion
- There are groups which you need to be careful on, such as people with disabilities, old people, young people, etc.
- Representation refers to issues like:
Disability
Income/class
Values/culture
Ethnicity & Race
Religion
Sexuality (gender)
Issues e.g. crime
TOKENISM!
Youth/middle/old age

Relevant organisation
- For TV and Radio it is Ofcom
- Press Complaints Commission (independent self-regulatory body deals with complaints about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines (and their websites)
- Broadcasters - have their own guidelines and regulations e.g. BBC has Producer Guidelines

Where to you find characters?
- Via Experts - E.g. Doctors/scientist/professor/etc.
- Always meet the potential case studies in person, a safe public area with another person there. Take your questions with a pen and paper to take notes. Ensure to take details of your employer (or University).

Essential questions to ask
- Name/age/contact details - write down and keep it safe!
- Their availability - e.g. work, holidays, etc.
- Potential locations for filming
- Potential sequences
- If under 18 ALWAYS NEED PARENTAL CONSENT FORMS

CONTEXTUAL STUDIES: SEX AND SEXUALITY

What is sexuality?

- This is where you distinct from gender or biology.
- Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual, asexual, etc.
- The expression of sexual identity through internal feelings and external behaviour

- Visual presentations of sexual expression (eroticism and pornography)
- Identity representations of sexual expression (LGBT, asexualism, pansexualism)

Visual representation
- Eroticism
(erotica) - aesthetic depiction of sexuality; may not involve nudity

- Pornography - Explicit depiction of sexuality; usually via nudity and graphic sexual activity

Media censorship
- Depictions of sex & sexuality in media traditionally mediated by external censors
- UK Broadcasting legislation, watchdogs (Ofcom)
- US FFC (Federal Communications Commission)
- Broadcast networks also have individual editorial guidelines
- 'Moral Majority' also act as external watchdogs (Mary Whitehouse, national press)

Sexual representation
- Sexual representation in TV and Film historically tightly controlled until 70's liberalisation
- First portrayals of nudity and gay characters

Stereotypes
- Libertine
- Camp
- 'Butch'
- Asexual

Ellen (The Puppy Episode, 1997)
- Ellen DeGeneres sitcom persona 'onscreen outing' towards the end of the 4th season
- Right-wing Christian groups pressured to drop; advertisers pulled out
- Drew 42m viewers. Series dropped after 5th season but paved way for other shows

Freud and sexual theory
- 'The Unconscious' repressed or sublimated sexual desire expressed through 'subtext'
- Polymorphism - existing in different forms (sexual deviancy outside herero-normative)
- Scopohillia/voyeurism
- Oedipal and Electra complex

Girls (2012-2017)
- Sitcom (?) written and directed by Lena Dunham
- Female-centric depiction of sexuality
- HBO Series

DOCUMENTARY UNIT: COMING UP WITH IDEAS

With the lecture with Zoe, we covered coming up with our ideas for a documentary.

- Zoe explained that working in Television, you should watch as much as possible as this can help you so much with developing ideas and keeping up to date on what is happening in the industry.

- Zoe showed us her documentary series 'Are our kids though Enough? Chinese School' which was a 3 part series for BBC2. Zoe showed us that she had to right up a pitch document, which in detail, explained the entire project and she also had to make a small sort of trailer for the programme to get an idea of what it would be like for the commissioner.

How do get an idea:

- Curiosity, As Media students, we are already looking for stories. Especially after doing our first unit 'Storytelling' where we would look for a fictional story anywhere. Now, we just have to look for a real life story

- Anniversaries, not like your parents or partners. Very interesting Anniversaries like the first Aids case, the anniversary of the end of wars, etc.

- READ. Reading the news papers and local stories can help you find a story which you might want to go forward and tell the world or help you find a topic you want to talk to.

- Sources. Contacts that you've made through your life which could help you so much with this. This could be people who specialised knowledge in something such as a lecturer, doctor, etc. or maybe someone to help get your film made such as Directors, DOP's, etc.

- Other Media such as radio, articles, etc.

- Get behind the headline. scoop up all the interviews and footage you need but don't do the film straight away.

- TED TALKS

- Brainstorming with people. Talking about your idea with people about how the topic can work and everyone gives their own opinions and ideas towards the ideas. To get a good idea you need to hear different voices and opinions rather than the same over and over.

- Location. Do you know an interesting location? Working from a location can give you a great place to make a story, documentaries have come about from Victoria Bus Station and there was also a documentary on High Royds Mental Hospital which turned into a history of the old mental asylums.

- Investigate. These days, not many documentaries are investigated into and investigations aren't really done much these days so this is a key way to stick out.

- Amazing footage. Remake footage or get archive footage if you can. This helps push the documentary further.

- A good title or well worn format

- Walk around! Go look and see the world and find the stories. Come Dine with Me was thought of by someone who was at a Dinner Party.

- The Hook. Once you have an idea, you need to make sure you have something that's going to make them stay from beginning to the end.

- You need characters. eyewitness or people who you want to hear more from.

- Universal theme. Audience want to relate to the characters. This helps make the story go further and keeps the audience interested throughout.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: DIRECTORS STATEMENT

When I chose to redirect the scenes from Shaun of the Dead. I had a very clear outlook on how I wanted to do this from the start. I knew I wanted to work off the original script as it was available online and I wanted to put my own spin on it. From the beginning I knew if I was to remake the scenes in my own style I would need to avoid watching the film too much but one technique which I wanted to stay away from was the close up sequence which Edgar Wright is so well known for having. But from this I wanted to find a new way to do it that still showed the comedy of the script. Once I got the script I read through it over and over. What I wanted from it wasn't the sarcastic Shaun that we see in Shaun of the Dead. I read this script and saw straight away a different way I could have done this. My script breakdown helped me to plan out all the sections of the characters dialogue that were the biggest delivery and helped me to decide on what sort of mood I would want in each scene. It specifically helped when planning the scene with Shaun walking to the shop. In the original script the scene is laid out like this:

This allowed me to really get creative and really decide in my own vision how I would go about this scene.

Casting
With no actors applying for my advert I went ahead and found actors myself. Since I knew budget would be an issue as well I looked for professional actors through Casting Call Pro and got the extras through my friends and classmates. 
When looking for actors I came across Jamie Terry. Jamie's showreel got my attention with the way he really brings out his characters. His interest in comedy helped me see that he could be good for the role and then it helped that he was recommended by Chris Thomas. A short film Director from London who cast Jamie into one of his short films back when he studied Film Production at UCA a few years back. Once I called Jamie and I actually met him as well he is a very funny person and really loved the idea of giving his own adaptation of the character Shaun. It was from all this that I decided to cast Jamie as I felt he was more than suitable. 

Jamie's Showreel

Jacob Sherwood was the next actor that I went on to find on Casting Call Pro. Jacob's CV was amazing. His showreel then back it up, he's a very dedicated actor and good at what he does. He had played a variety of characters through his experience and is also a full-time working actor. What I needed from Ed's character was good delivery of lines as Ed's got the most to say in the first scene. Jacob was perfect for it. Once I spoke to him and explained the project as well he seemed more than happy to come onboard and he did not disappoint. His look was what I was going for as well. I didn't want to go for Shaun being skinny and Ed being fat since that was just a classic Simon Pegg and Nick Frost again. But because Ed is a very lazy and unbothered character, I wanted a very rugged look for him, unshaved, messy hair and Jacob is currently doing that look in preparation for another role in a Feature Film so this was another reason for casting him.

Jacob's Showreel

My choice for my zombies came from working with the actors before hand. Jemma Cotterell was one of my main actors in my first University project. She's a good actress, professional and also she was very interested to play a zombie and having been a fan of Shaun of the Dead she was happy to come onboard.

Jack Nix was already on my crew and has played a zombie before. He's easy to work with and got the emotionless stare right which I found hard to get from other people. He was reliable and also professional to work with.

Chelsea Douglas lives with me in accomedations and is a huge fan of The Walking Dead. I had seen her multiple times acting like a zombie in our flat and she always likes to go as one for Halloween. Since she was so good at acting as a zombie and as well could wear the white contact lens (which the other two couldn't) I asked her to come on board.

For the pub extras I decided to go to my friends for this. For John I knew I'd be better off getting someone who actually worked in a pub, so I got Oliver Freeman as he's the manager of the Golden Lion Whetherspoons in Rochester. Has worked in pubs for years and more importantly has got experience as an actor from side projects and stage productions in High school.

Locations
With the choice of locations. The easiest to sort out was the house and the shop. Patricia's house was ideal because of location, a house, long street away from the main city and a shop at the end of the street was exactly what I needed. The look wasn't new, it looked like it had been lived in for a while which is what I needed and the street looked like it could be in London as well. The street was nice and big and the shop was only a 10 minute walk away so travel from locations wouldn't be an issue. Obviously, this changed due to the shop dropping out on us but when looking for another shop I did think of Best One in Rochester because of how it looked. It's a small corner shop and looks perfect for what I needed.
With the pub I had a very specific look I wanted. I didn't want a modern, done up pub like you get with Whetherspoons. I wanted a classic, wooden bar stool, dirty bar, sort of pub. Somewhere that you would class as an 'old man's pub'. Like the photo below:

What I also wanted was the right type of lighting. Many pubs these days have converted to white light LED lighting to save energy and have changed from the classic tungsten lighting that you'd usually get in a pub. So when I found the Ship Inn and it has all of this, the wooden seats, worn down bar, it looked like it classic pub and it was exactly what I wanted. As well as having a large backroom which we could use for filming where we could easily fit the kit, crew and cast and the sound from inside was nice and clear. No annoying background sounds and it wasn't too echoy either. 

Production/costume design

With Shaun's costume I had a very clear idea and that was simply keeping it the same as the original film. Shaun wears a white shirt, red tie and black trousers and this worked for me because we never see him in work so I didn't see the point in changing the costume for him. 

As for Ed. I changed the t-shirt since that 'Got wood' shirt is just known as Ed's now but working with Jacob he had quite a funny t-shirt which was a rip off of toffee crisp which worked for him and for the character. 

With the zombies. This was one of my main focuses for production and costume design. After researching into the style of zombies that we've had since 'The Night of the Living Dead' I wanted the look of them to be pale with the blood stained clothes and a bite mark and cuts around to help make it more believable. However, I didn't want them looking like they'd been infected for months or years like we get in the Walking Dead.

Zombie planning

Camera approach

With researching into The Walking Dead series and seeing their camera work being very basic for the conversation between Shane and Rick, this was how I decided on my choice of camera for the pub scene. I wanted focus on the dialogue with this scene so I went for a still and locked off shot reverse shot for my scenes with Shaun and Ed and then with the footage outside on the street, I wanted to have focus on all the destruction and horror that has happened but keeping the comedy as well so I chose to do a mixture of hand held footage of Shaun walking to the shop, mixed with shots focusing on the horror such as a dead body. I chose to remove the blood from the window in the shop because I didn't find this very believable and changed it to a still shot from inside a car with the blood on the window. 

Original Shaun of the Dead

My version

The shot still got across the comedy which I wanted to get from the scene and for me, worked better and looked better as well. I prefer having the blood here and the shot from inside the car I wanted it to be like the camera was a zombie looking at Shaun as he walks past, not moving just watching... Waiting. 

The choice of hand held for the outside part was also due to movement. It was a better choice for us since we would always be on the move to go hand held with a Fig Rig rather than tripod and having to continually set up the kit. 

Sound Design

My Sound Design for the opening of the film changed once I got into the post-production stage. At first I was going to recreate the sound of Shaun walking but then I actually liked the idea of having the song 'Zombie Nation' playing over while the footage and titles come over and then once the titles have been change the sound to be coming from inside the pub. I did this mostly for the comical effects but also as a good kick starter to the film. 

With the pub being opened. I wanted the sound to fill the room. I wanted the pub to sound busy and I knew this meant adding in crowd sound effects. Then with a song originally composed by my friend Harry Evans but it didn't have the same effect so I used the song 'Soft' by Lemon Jelly which was used in the original film. 

My main Sound Design comes in with the last scenes outside of the house with Shaun walking to the shop. I added in a car alarm going off in the background with a fresh wild track of just open air, this to give the impression and atmosphere of no one around, Shaun is alone. Then as well I added the song 'You've got red on you' from Shaun of the Dead which is a surreal and atmospheric soundtrack from the film which adds a creepy and tension building feel to the film as the scene goes on. But always getting with the comedy more with the footage. I also added in the zombie noises here in post to ensure they were all clear and I could do more with them. 

My choice of sound design was to follow with the classic style of horror films. Although the film is a comedy zombie film. I felt that the sound should be the element of tension and fear whereas the footage would bring out the comedy of the scene more. 

DIRECTIONS UNIT: UNIT EVALUATION

Throughout this entire project I have had a huge amount of positives and negatives with all stages but this unit has given me an amazing experience as a Director and I feel I did the best I possibly could.

During the pre-production stage of this unit I had quite a lot of issues, specifically with cast.  Not having any cast apply for my advert on casting call pro meant that I needed to find my actors myself. Although this did take time and took me away from production planning for sometime. I found two actors who were perfect for the roles which I needed and worked well. As for my extras I used the people around me to my benefit and got my friends and work mates into helping with the production as well. But as well as cast I had other strengths which was not only my choice of locations but gaining them for free as well. But knowing I wanted a pub to film in and a street away from a busy road I worked around and spoke with my classmates to get the locations that I needed. I planned out everything that I needed and made sure I was ready for the shoot as well as making sure I knew what I wanted from the script. I got a make-up artist onboard who was both skilled and organised and I did serious planning and practice with the zombies as well to get the best possible look for my film. As well with researching into all different series and types of zombie to get a clear idea of how I could create this film differently. I feel was really well prepared for the shoot, especially with the tech run and make sure that me and my crew were all ready for the shoot.

During the production stage. I feel I did really well as a Director. I worked well with my actors and extras to get the right performance out of them. With my crew I had planned in advance and we worked well together to get through everything. However, with Production I could have done better with preparation on equipment since we had issues on the first shoot day at the end because I didn't have a spare battery or charge the battery during the break we had so the camera ended up dying and we had to change over to a DSLR camera because of this. We also had issues with the second shoot, with the shop dropping out on us on the morning of the second day, so I had to go around Rochester with my crew and find somewhere to film. Although we worked through these problems professionally and calmly. Without going too over schedule too much either.
On the strength side, the zombie make up worked better than during the practice and although we had to wait for cars to go past, this didn't take too long and we didn't waste time doing this either. I worked well with my crew and got it done quickly and effectively.

During the post-production I found another weakness from the production stage which was that all my footage was grainy. This was most likely from the camera having the gain on which was my fault for not double checking it. However, after colour correcting and grading my footage and using a noise remover plug in called 'Neat' to clean up footage that I couldn't fix with colour correction. As well I feel my edit went well. It worked well together and the montage sequence that I put together in the pub worked well including the audio that I got from my composer Harry Evans.

Overall I feel I did really well in this project and really enjoyed it as well. Although the work was stressful and difficult I believe I did good with researching into the meaning of being a Director, as well as adapting my script into my own version of Shaun of the Dead and I did excellent work with planning out everything which I feel I proved by how successful my shoot went.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was the 3rd film that he Directed and Wrote (First being Shaun of the Dead and Second being Hot Fuzz) however, this was the first time as a Film Director that Edgar worked with a cast that he hadn't worked with before. He would always work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost with a lot of the cast being the same such as Martin Freeman, Bill Nightly, Michael Smiley, etc. But with this it was a new cast and a film where Edgar began to test new techniques.

Edgar's style
In 2010 when this was released. Edgar had already developed a very well known style for Directing with his characters and camera work as I covered in Shaun of the Dead write up. With his close up technique, he had moved for ward with that to use it to make boring scenes such as paperwork much more exciting and actually made it more than just comedy but a way to make the film more exciting and really bring some life and action to sections of the script which could be written off as boring.
As well, with Hot Fuzz Edgar had kept the idea of characters being as realistic as possible with the whole point of being set in Britain, so where Sargent Angle is a policeman who takes his job far too seriously, that would be commonly known as a 'jobs worth' in Britain and is joked about in every work place. As well you get people who are 'half arsed' and won't care much about their job which was the rest of the police at the station.

Scott Pilgrim is based off the graphic novel series with the same name and tells the story of Scott who falls in love with a Amazon.ac delivery girl and ends up having to battle her 7 deadly ex's. This film is between a mixture of video game/comic style graphics seen throughout the film. It's a much different film to what Edgar had directed in the past and from this, although we still see his close up sequence throughout the film with things like writing and boring things like that which Edgar likes to do.

Lighting
Edgar's biggest development in this film isn't with his direction of the actors. Since over the top characters which this has, is something that Edgar has done before in Spaced and Asylum. The lighting was the biggest change for Edgar and the transitions between scenes. Edgar chose to literally cut the lights on set for a transition between the scenes. Just like a blackout on a stage production. Since this film is like a video game one minute and a comic book the next the black out works so well. As well we get a lot of track shots with transitions and montage sequences which work as the camera always works around. The camera is always moving and works with the action constantly.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: TIM BURTON

Tim Burton was another Director that inspired me and fascinated me as a Director. Having grown up watching 'The Nightmare before Christmas', 'The Corpse Bride', 'Coroline' and 'Alice in Wonderland' I've always been able to recognise his films just by the look of them. The dark and creepy, almost horror look that he brings to his work. But, never have I classed Tim Burton as a Goth or very horror fascinated man. His films always bring joy and happiness to them which I began to really think about with this unit. Let's take The Nightmare Before Christmas as an example.



Tim Burton didn't actually direct this movie but he wrote the script and was the production designer. From the beginning he had a clear look and vision for this film and this was the change the idea of dark and horrible themes have to go with a dark and horrible story and characters. But when you watch this film you will agree that the story and characters don't go with a horrible or evil feel. It's a loving and heart warming story.



All of Tim Burton's films go with this style, he loves to mix together this style with heart warming stories since this isn't the usual style for it and it makes him stand out from other Directors. Tim Burton has always been artistic having studied animation and always been interested in film making and drawing. He use to work for Walt Disney and worked as a storyboard artist but never had his work go forward as he always liked to give his own twist on the storyboards which were very Tim Burton but obviously not very Walt Disney.
But it's these reasons that made me interested in Tim burton as he didn't listen to the 'Rules' of filmmaking and directing. He didn't care for how things 'should be' he likes to do what he see's in his head. He has made this style work and brought some amazing animations to our screens and characters which Disney now happily push such as Skeleton Jack.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Shaun of the Dead. My chosen film to recreate from Edgar Wright and in my opinion, Edgar Wright's most famous film. Scoring 8.0/10 on IMDb and an audience rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Shaun of the Dead grossed over $13,000,000 with it's release and gave Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost their door way into the film industry.

But focusing on the directing. This film is were we see Edgar's classic Directional Style come to life. With his style having 3 main things:
- Close up montage
- References
- The beginning of a Trilogy

Edgar's Directing

What makes Edgar's directing different in this film compared to his TV directing is the choice of how the characters act. In Asylum and Spaced, Edgar chose to have certain characters acting very over the top and very classic 90's comical. Such as Daisy in Spaced how would always be over excited or the patients in Asylum who would always act VERY over the top with being 'insane' to bring the comedy forward. But, Edgar goes with a different approach with Shaun of the Dead and makes all the characters as realistic as possible and goes with the socially known type of characters in Britain which really made the film a hit in Britain. Ed, a classic lazy bum how doesn't work and simply can't be arsed. How he acts is very sarcastic and rude to his friends but this is how some people are in Britain and it worked for the comedy. Same with the character Dianne (Liz's friend who is a want-to-be actress), she acts very happy and talks as though she has been to theatre too much, all the time making little things a big drama which I can say from personal experience that this does happen with drama students and young actors first getting into the big world of acting.
As well, the situation of all of Shaun of the Dead is very much BRITAIN. The film is set to be how Britain's would be during a zombie apocalypse, although this comes from the script. Edgar takes it further, being both the Co-Writer and Director of the film he really pushes this to get the comedy out onto screen. For example, the scene of Shaun walking to the shop after the zombies have come about:

Shop Scene

In the original script, that seen was written as this:

There is never any mention of Shaun not noticing any of the destruction around him and nothing about how long that scene needs to last. This is a perfect example of how Edgar's creativity really grew with this film. How can you explain in 2 minutes that the majority of London has been killed by zombies and show that Shaun has no idea of this? He walks to the shop and walks past blood, smashed cars, dead bodies and simply doesn't notice anything because he's tired and hungover and people in Britain loved this because they said this is how it would actually happen in real life. The comedy worked and it explained the situation perfectly as well and showed more of what Shaun is like as we'd already seen that he never listened to Liz and is always in his own world.

Not only this but we also have Edgar's love of referencing seen in this film but with a small change. Rather than referencing classic films like he had done before. Edgar's references his own work inside this world. Whereas most Director's would cameo in their films. Edgar decides to almost connect all his works together by bringing in some characters from Spaced. The main reference we get from Spaced is the character 'Yvonne' who is an old friend of Shaun's. They meet and chat about how things have been and act like they are best friends. This is a reference to Tim and Daisy in Spaced who lived together and were the main focus on the series. As well we also see a zombie in the crowd wearing biker gear and a yellow hat (see below):

This is the same actor and character (but as a zombie) Tyre's from Spaced who was a huge success for the series and loved by fans for his comical music obsession.



Camera and Editing
This film is where we really start to see Edgar's Directional Style with close-ups. Below is a mixture of Close-up montages from Shaun of the Dead:

Close ups 1

This is one of the many close up montages we get right through the films. All with very boring or simple tasks like making a cup of tea, ringing a door bell, locking a door and turning a TV off for a lock in at a pub, calling a restaurant, etc. All these are almost mocking the classic way of loading a gun which is what a close up montage is classically used for. However, in Shaun of the Dead Edgar uses it to bring comedy out and has so many of these sequences until we finally get to the actual sequence where Shaun loads up the gun and the action really begins.

As well as close ups, Edgar begins to change around montage sequences, specifically with 'The Plan' of how Shaun and Ed are going to survive. Edgar begins to use more whip pans which he developed from Spaced. Moving the camera around from shot to shot and having it all edit together nicely and work with all the action of what's going on. As well it's very funny to watch and always adds to the element of comedy that Shaun of the Dead has.

The Plan

DIRECTIONS UNIT: FARREN BLACKBURN

One of my Directors that I researched into during this Unit was Farren Blackburn. The reason that Farren interested me as a Director is because he opened my eyes more to what it is to be one. Farren has directed Marvel's Daredevil, Iron Fist and also is going back to direct 'The Defenders', he's also directed Doctor Who, Luther and he has directed a Feature Film called 'Hammer of the Gods'. Farren didn't study film at University but went on to do a Master's Degree in film. Farren didn't start off as a Runner and work his way up. He was always determined to be a Director and made many short films until finally getting a chance to work with directors. He has built up higher and higher and now is a successful Director with Marvel.

After meeting Farren, he inspired me as a director, not only for his work but also with the way he works as a Director. probably that more than his actual work he has done. Farren worked on a series called Shut In which is a surreal series about Heaven and Hell. After watching that, I began to see a similarity in Farren's work. They're all very nitty and gritty and in some ways quite dark works. Even his episode of Doctor Who had a very dark feel to it with the monsters that were in the episode and the story behind it as well.
But what helped me as a Director with Farren was what he said about Directional Style, which was that he doesn't have one. Throughout this entire unit I thought that I needed to find my directional style and had to very seriously plan out my shots but Farren showed me that you don't. A Director works how they want to work, just making a shot list is planning and allows you more freedom with the shots which was why I chose to do a shot list over a storyboard. As well, he explained that Director won't find their 'style' until they have done lots and lots of films and productions, Farren himself still doesn't know what his style is but knows how to work as a Director.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: THE SHOOT

The Pub shoot
On the first day of shooting it went very well. Everyone arrived on set on time (10am) and we had set up a small section for teas and coffees while we set up. Since we had done the tech run on the 8th Feb where we got the lighting set up, I spoke with my DOP (Trine Hagan) and my Sound Operator (Jack Nix) to set up the lighting and the camera as they knew what I wanted and I went and began to block through the scenes with Jamie and Jacob. Following the shot list, I walked through how I wanted them to go through this, with Jamie sobbing, upset, feeling terrible and down and Jacob trying to get him over it, drinking, eating, doing the 'Clyde' impression and trying to cheer him up. I then went on to explain to the extras (Jason, George) that they simply need to act like they're in a pub but not to actually speak since we needed Jamie and Jacob's dialogue here and I could add in the background noise in post.

One issue that I faced the night before was Domenic, who was going to play Snakehips, canceled the night before due to illness. So I had to contact my friend Oliver Fidds and ask him to step in. I put together a costume for him which was a long black coat and the rings which I had borrowed for Domenic, although it wasn't as good as Domenic would have been it still worked for the character, he looked old enough and with his facial hair and the rings it helped to create this mysterious mystery of the character. So I placed all the characters into their positions, making them close to each other but making the scene look busier than it actually was. Once this was done I set up the table to look like Shaun and Ed had been drinking for a while with some packets of pork scratching on the table and we began shooting for 11am.

Once we'd gotten the footage from the pub being open done, we changed the lighting to make it darker, I thanked Jason and George and sent them off set as I was done with them and we moved onto the pub being closed. This was where Jamie (Shaun) and Jacob (Ed) had their biggest sections of dialogue so we talked through how they would deliver it and also what they would do while speaking it, we agreed on holding the pint, drinking every now and again, just always doing something rather than just sitting and talking. We also added more onto the table to help give the idea that time has passed. Here we also got Oliver Freeman (John), Kim (the woman) and Oliver Fidds (Snakehips) to do their roles.

Overall, inside the pub went really well and we finished inside at 3pm which was on schedule. We were organised and worked well through the shot list and the shoot went according to schedule. We came back to the pub at 6:30pm when it was dark and went to shoot the exterior footage, we got Zak and Victoria there as the couple but we encountered a lot of issues here. Firstly, the LED lights weren't bright enough to see both Morgan (Zombie) and the actors and we couldn't really see the couple either. Later, the battery in the Sony camera died, so as a last resort (since we didn't have another battery) we had to change over to DSLR and record the audio separately. Although we did get the shot in the end this was where the shoot went slightly wrong since I should have put the battery on charge during the break between shoots. However, we thought quickly and professionally and got the shot done in the end.

House, Street and shop shoot
On the morning of the second day we encountered a problem as soon as we arrived on set. I got a call from the manager of Spare Store and she informed me that we could not film inside the shop and we wouldn't be able to till the following week. I spoke with her and asked if we could film outside the store and she said that would be fine. My idea was that we could get all the footage we needed and later we would have to go and find another store to film inside and just change the store scene from one shop to 3 separate shots due to this issue. But I didn't let this get the better of me and we got the extras straight into make up when we arrived on set.

While the extras were in make up, me and my crew went ahead and got the interior house footage filmed with Jamie and Jacob. Jacob's was very quick and easy since he only had one line. We then moved into the kitchen (where make-up was still happening) and filmed 'Shaun' waking up and walking off.


























These scenes were easy to get and I worked with Trine to get the pull focus shots that I wanted for Shaun waking up. Once these were done I still had actors in Make-up so me, Trine and Jason went outside with Jamie and we began to block out the scene. We blocked out how we would do this scene, each time moving further up the street to help show 'Shaun' walking further and further from his house. I also chose to cameo in this like quite a  few directors have done such as Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino. However, rather than having focus on myself with lines like Quentin, I chose to go for a more Hitchcock style of just being in the background for a few seconds. So for the 'dead body' that I had Shaun walk past, I was that body. I like the idea of director cameos as it's the director being in the Universe that they are creating.

We also found a small turning down the road from the house I chose to use as the cut point, I wanted to have Shaun turn here and then cut where we could change to the footage at the shop. We recorded everything we could without the Zombie extras to keep to schedule and once we had filmed Shaun walking to the shop and walking past the body, we got our extras and moved over to the shop.
Since we had two actors covered in blood and make-up, we had Morgan as our runner and placed him around the corner from the shop just to warn people when they were coming close about the actors to ensure we didn't scare the public. This entire shoot was really difficult as we always had to wait for cars to stop going past in order to shoot since this was meant to be set after a zombie outbreak so there was a lot of cutting and re-takes in order to get the shot. As well, at the Spare Store there was a dog tied up outside and an old ladies shopping cart. We did the take of Shaun walking in and once we got that the woman wanted to move the dog. I saw this as a perfect opportunity for the film and because Jamie had acknowledged as Shaun when walking in. I had him notice the dog was gone when we walked back out but with the Zombies even closer now giving the idea that the zombies took it and adding to the comedy that Shaun still doesn't notice anything.

We finished off and got the final shots and the final shot for the film of Shaun going back into the house and the zombies coming closer to the house. Once we did this we moved on to get the footage of inside the car. We got the fake blood and covered the windows down to get the hand marks. I decided to get Shaun walking to and from the shop both in the same take but with the zombies coming back with him. The shot worked even better than I'd expected as we managed to get the zombies following seen in the mirror which gives this really nice effect. Once we did this me, Trine, Jason and Jamie got together and drove back to Rochester and after asking many different shops, we were given permission to film inside the store 'Best One'. We got the shot and wrapped. Although this wasn't very organised we had to work fast and find another location but we got what we needed and as well updated the risk assessment as we went along to ensure we followed health and safety regulations.

Overall, I feel my shooting days went really well. We had a few issues but I was very well prepared and had a clear vision of what I wanted from the film. I focused on my role and worked well with my actors. I made sure I made my crew understand what I wanted vision wise and with my actors I clearly explained how I wanted them to play the roles. Overall I'd say this was a success.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: MY SOUND DESIGN

With sound design in mind for my film. I wanted to focus specifically on the outdoor scene. However I'll explain my first scene.

The Pub
What I wanted from the pub was obviously the dialogue and the knocking on the window, although the knock I decided to re-record in post-production to get the best possible sound effect. With the dialogue I chose to record on set as that was more sensible to do rather that re-record. However, my biggest choice was on how to bring the pub to life when it's 'open'. Since a pub is never a quiet place until it's actually closed and customers aren't in there, I knew I'd need sounds of people to help bring the place to life. But other than people talking in the background and the knocking on the door I didn't need any other sound effects for this scene.

Music wise, in this unit we need to either use the original soundtrack from the film or royalty free music. I chose to use the original soundtrack for the song on the jukebox (Lemon Jelly - Soft) since that fits really well with the scene and adds to the comedy but for the montage I got in contact with a composer called 'Harry Evans' and asked if I could use his song 'Humans' he produced. My reason for this is I wanted a nice, lively song with a good drum beat and the chores for this song was perfect for what I needed. Harry agreed to let me use this.

Harry Evans - Humans

The Outside Scene
With this scene, I wanted much more out of my sound design. This is where both suspense and comedy come together. With Shaun walking to the shop but not realising what has happened or what is around him. I wanted to go with the classic style of horror and have the very eerie sound effects every now and again within the scene, like when Shaun walks past the dead body and doesn't notice them. As well as adding in a separate wild track so the street sounds really empty as well. Also thinking back to our sound design lecture with Simon, I decided to try and add in a car alarm going off and a dog barking in the distance, just to help with the sound effects, since you wouldn't really hear a dog barking unless there was complete silence and the car alarm is to add to the idea of a disaster has happened. Also what I want to re-record is the zombie sounds since they're easier to get during post-production and can do more with how they sound, as well I could make them sound further away as the zombies get closer.

With music, I wanted simple music but with a very eerie feel to it, I again looked at the original soundtrack and found a track that was composed for the original song called "You've got Red on You" which is used throughout the film during the zombie scenes, the opening is exactly what I want to add tension for the scene.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: BREAKING BAD SEASON 1 REVIEW

When researching for inspiration with TV Series. Breaking Bad really caught my attention with a style they went for.

Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White, an overqualified High School Chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with lung cancer and starts to cook Methamphetamine (Meth) with an old student Jessie Pinkman to help get money to care for his family when he dies. As the series goes on, Walter becomes mad with power and this actually changes him from the victim into the actual villain of the entire story. The writers for this series were very creative and clever with how they did this. They simply put someone worse than Walter into the story to take attention away from him, until finally you see the monster that he has become at the end. Breaking Bad is classed as the greatest TV series of all time with some of the greatest characters ever brought to our screens from it. What I took from this series was the montage style that it became so famous for.

Breaking Bad has a variety of Directors for each episode. However, it's creator Vince Gilligan, specifically had the idea of montages in mind within the script and left it to the directors (which he was one) to decide how that would be done. Although he would always look over the final edit at the end before it went out for airing. With the episodes I watched, each had a different style of montage but all gave the same effect which was the passage of time. The first I watched was in episode 6 of the first series, where Jessie is going around selling his and Walter's Meth.

Jessie dealing montage

The footage is a mixture of close ups, wides and mid shots. All hand held footage and even crossing the line at times. The montage sequence works as the music is relaxing and shows how easy Jessie can sell the drugs. As well this gets an entire day done in less than 2 minutes and it keeps the audience interested by everything happening in it. It's smooth, simple and fun to watch and really effective in getting time to pass.

Another example of the montage from Breaking Bad is from season 5 episode 3. This montage is classed as one of the greatest montage sequences of all time. This was directed by Adam Bernstein and this was much different from the first one in season 1. This focuses on the detail of the way the character make the Meth. Although this had been seen in previous episodes, this was such a creative way to get through the long time it takes. The process would usually be really boring but this is really interesting to watch.

Cooking Meth

What I took from this was that it was such a clever way to show the passage of time but keeping the scene really interesting and eye catching. This I wanted to do to replace the close up sequence that Edgar Wright used in Shaun of the Dead to show the passage of time in the pub and the pub closing down, I want to show Shaun and Ed getting more drunk before the lock in which can lead to the scene of them staggering out of the pub drunk. I like the idea of using this because it works so well to quickly get accross the passage of time and make it really entertaining and fun for the audience to watch.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: SPACED (1999-2001)

After Asylum Edgar Wright went on to continue to Direct in television on 6 different series, but the series that really got his name out into the industry and where he began to develop as a Director was the Channel 4 Sitcom series 'Spaced'. This is one of Edgar's famous works where he isn't the Writer and Director. With this sitcom, Edgar was purely the Director for both series of Spaced with each episode. I can see his Directional Style developing in this series, especially with the mixture of genres which he brings into his films. Spaced is about Tim and Daisy, two people in their 20's who live in London, they meet and agree to move in together. The series mostly tells the weird and awkward adventures of these two characters with their friends coming into the story such as Mike. Although during the first series we get them come to terms with their own relationships falling apart and within the second series we get more romantic tension develops between them.

Edgar's directing
Like Asylum. Edgar directs the actors in very different ways. Tim (Simon Pegg) is much more realistic and acts much calmer with his character, delivering the sarcastic lines at perfect moments. Then with Daisy (Jessica Stevenson), Edgar directs her to be very over the top with emotions very exaggerated to make her the very comical one out of the pair. She's always either very excited or very upset and Tim is always the one to call her out on it. You could argue that all the characters in this have very exaggerated performances to push the comedy forward as that was what was popular in the 90's. Edgar's love of film reference comes here,Edgar is known to be a huge film nerd and loves classic movies. He often pays tribute to them by having references in his films and in his TV Series. Although not a directional style, it is something that carried on in his following work and helped bring forward the comedy of the scenes they were in. Since these are such classics, such as the Shinning, most of the audience watching would probably get the reference and then get the joke so it works for the benefit of the show as well as respect towards the original film.

Camera and Editing
Edgar's choice of camera work and editing really develops and begins to become more unique in this series rather than his previous work which had very basic, still camera movement with the the odd steadicam/hand held shot in there to help with coverage. However, the camera with Spaced moves more and helps tell the story more. It works better than any of Edgar's earlier work as it changes constantly. Although we get recurring camera movements from similar situations in the sitcom as well.
Let's focus on season 1. Within the first series of Spaced we see a large range of camera work and editing styles. Going with the common camera work we see throughout the series, Spaced is mostly hand held with Edgar's love of track shots and whip pans coming into this series. When character are sat on the couch and watching TV, we'll always get this really nice track shot to start the scene. It's a brilliant way to move into the scene as if we're actually watching these characters.

Example of Pan shot

In that clip at was, at the end, we see an example of the hand held shots we get throughout the series. Although in that scene we get a lot of close ups on the characters faces to show the emotion and create the distraction ready for the punch line about jaffa cakes. Another example is in episode 3 with the zombie theme going, we see a very shaky hand held camera when the zombie section is happening, to work with the fear that Tim clearly has on screen. As well Edgar makes the camera move when Tim does with a really effective POV with the shot gun in shot, like a first person shooter game which the game Tim is playing actually is. All this works really well together and we can see Edgar's creativeness begin to develop here and aspects which he carries on to his Feature Films.

Zombie Example

Other than Zombies. Edgar really experiments with camera and editing in Spaced. Take the character 'Tyres' for example. A man who loves partying and loves House music, when he comes into Tim and Daisy's flat and the phone goes off. He can make all the noises around him into a beat that he can party to. The comedy of this works but the camera movement and the editing work so well to help this as well. The camera will whip pan and zoom on the items making the sound and the edit has been done to work with the beat of the song that all of these items are making. A really creative bit of sound, camera and editing on Edgar's side which he carries over with all of Tyre's scenes as it works so well a d really pushes the comedy. 

Tyre's #1

Tyre's #2

Tyre's #3 (18:30-end)

Edgar's directional style really began to develop through this series. Not only through camera work but with actors, choice of style and sound design which all led up to his first big Feature Film 'Shaun of the Dead' where his Style is really recognisable and really begins to grow and grow.