RTS TALK (DOP RESEARCH)

RTS Futures put together a panel talk on Observational Documentaries which students and film makers could attend at the BBC Television Centre. Myself, Jemma and Victoria attended the panel talk. On there were documentary makers Peter Dale (Head of Documentaries at the Channel 4) and Documentary makers Havana Marking, Lizzie Kempton and Pete Beard.

Through the talk we watched small extracts from each of the film makers works, Lizzie had produced a documentary called How to Die: Simon's Choice following someone who was undergoing Euthanasia:

Pete Beard is a Director, Producer and Self shooter for documentaries and had worked on many projects. One of the main which caught my interest was Bedlam which follows individuals with mental disorders and sees them for how much they struggle through life. All of this is very fly-on-the-wall style of following the contributors but also there are times when they'll speak to the camera while moving or taking on a task. Below is episode 3, in which we saw from 32:00-36:00.

Finally there was Havana Marking who is best known for her award winning film Afghan Star which won her the Best Director and Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary is like a behind the scenes of the Afghan X-Factor/talent shows, below is the film, the extract we were shown was 26:00-30:00:

PRE-PRODUCTION - STRUCTURE CHANGE

Jemma and Victoria called me into a Production meeting to explain that the structure of the documentary is changing. One of the main changes is that we are no longer having the contributors from the straight community. Jemma wants the documentary to tell Tanya's story and follow her as she has the story and she should be the focus. I questioned whether or not the performance will still be happening and Jemma and Victoria explained that instead of seeing if Tanya is being accepted by regular people from different communities, we're seeing whether she can be a Drag Queen and whether well established Drag Queens would agree. From this, they want to bring in 3 experienced Drag Queens to 'judge' Tanya Drag act Miss Zodie at the end of the film.

Through the rest of the film we'll be following Tanya and leading up to her first performance in front of these Queens. Potentially interviewing her family as well. From this, I'm aware that the reveal will not be a big secret so I will need to change the idea I've had for my interview, both with Tanya and also with the straight contributors (as they're no longer in the film)

PRE-PRODUCTION: SONY A7S ii TEST

The next camera I tested was the Sony A7S ii. This is a camera I've been using a lot lately for personal projects and so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use these as my tests for filming the documentary.

First test I did was another interview for the Behind the Scenes of Last Night which was with Ru Gilfillan who was the third character in the film. This interview was done in a small corner of a office which had no relevance and didn't look very pleasing either so to add drama for this interview (as Jon Stapleton told me) I threw on my 50mm Prime lens to blur out the background. This helped as Ru's character has the biggest twist of the film and his character literally snaps with angry towards the end and how intense it's played made me want to add in drama to the interview. Annoyingly, the camera didn't agree with the lighting, from the screen shot below you can see black lines across the footage which is due to the lighting at the location (I believe). These move up and down the footage, although slowly and can be hidden with cut aways and archive footage and could potentially be fixed in post, it didn't put me in huge amounts of confidence with the camera.

Below is all the camera tests with the Sony A7S ii:

RUN Footage

All the night footage is from my short film RUN (currently in Production), this shows how good the camera holds up in Low light, the quality of the footage is brilliant and even with the ISO at 800 you're getting clear quality and no noise. As well as this, the camera is nice to operate with the shoulder rig as it's so light weight. Easy to get nice and stable footage even on a rig instead of using a stabiliser. There are only 4 LED lights being used on this shoot and the camera is bringing out all the detail both foreground and background. 

Harry Evans - Tinfoil Arms footage

As I have to film a performance with the the chosen camera, I took the opportunity to film a music video with this camera. The video was a basic performance video covering the entire band, the clip I've put in the test video is just an extract as the footage is mostly the same just different band members. The lighting is C.T.O (Colour Temperature Orange) with 3 Red Head tungsten lights behind the band to add to the set. Annoyingly, with the location of the performance still unconfirmed I'm unable to test the cameras with lighting for a theatre/club so I used this as an alternative. My main practice here was with the rig. Which from the footage can see it's nice to operate, the follow focus works nicely and the weight isn't too much either. 

The issue with this camera is the same with Canon 60D and Canon 5D in that audio has to be recorded separately as a microphone can't be attached to the camera. This normally wouldn't be an issue but as it looks like we won't be having a sound operator I'll need a camera where I can have the sound being recorded into the camera both for actuality and interviews. As well, the black bars on the interview footage have made me sceptical about using this camera as the main one.   

Decision: Not to use this camera

JON STAPLETON INTERVIEW (DOP RESEARCH)

When contacting DOP's, I was able to get in contact with Jon Stapleton who is Freelance lighting and cameraman (my tutor Helen informs me that this is a DOP but for Television), who has worked for BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Sky, MTV and others since the early 2000. Jon started photography as a hobby back when he was in his 20's and when leaving school he got a job as an electrician and was lucky enough to be hired by the BBC, meet camera crews and end up getting taken on as a Camera Trainee and the rest followed after that. Jon explained to me that the reason he went into this job is due to his Dysleixa, at the beginning of his email to me he wrote "Firstly I am dyslexic so please forgive any mistakes. That’s why I got a job where I can do pictures :-)" (Jon Stapleton).

Jon explained "Anyone can learn to operate a Camera but to become DOP I think you need some artistic flare in the first place. If you like art, design or photography you can become a DOP. You must have confidence in yourself, don’t expect others to have confidence in you unless you have confidence in yourself. Don’t be arrogant! Know a good idea when you hear one regardless of who says it. I am still learning to be a DOP after entering the industry 30 years ago. Creativity has no point where you know it all, we are all practicing our art." (Jon Stapleton)

The main things I asked from Jon was for setting up interviews and the right way to do this. He explained "There is no right way or wrong way to shoot an interview" (Jon Stapleton) explaining that with interviews, you need to understand who the contributor is and what they're telling the audience and work from there. Not only their story but the details about them, their job, is there a location that's important to the story, do we need to add drama or urgency to the footage for the story? He explained that there's no 'one size fits all' approach with interviews and all this needs to be considered and looked into.

"When you make those decisions depending on circumstance, situation and message you are a DOP" (Jon Stapleton)

Jon suggested that I work closely with my Director and the script to decide how this interview should be set up and looking at the locations helps to decide on what sort of lighting and lighting set up is required as well. He did say not to just shoot a beautifuly light interview if it doesn't help tell the story of the character. Jon was the DOP for the documentary The Story of Fools and Horses which is the documentary about the classic British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Below are a few screenshots from interviews in the documentary;

The background is completely relevant by adding in props, sets and aspects of the original series into their as the original set would have been taken down and destroyed as the show had been off air for sometime. Jon ended his email with some simple tricks to keep in mind;

• To add urgency shoot handheld. 
• To be more considered use a tripod. 
• To add drama turn the fill light off or use side light. 
• To give sense of place consider your background and what you want to see behind the interview. 
• Adjust your depth of field accordingly. 
• To direct focus use a short depth of field. To add warmth or chill adjust colour temperature or lighting 

LEE THOMAS INTERVIEW (DOP RESEARCH)

Lee Thomas is a London based Cinematographer who specialises in TV commercials, narrative, music videos, promos and aerial cinematography. Although Lee hasn't shot documentaries, I found him to be an excellent help during me Transitions unit where I spoke to him about Lighting.

I contacted Lee and asked him about how he goes about choosing the kit for each project and also which he feels is better, Handheld/shoulder mount footage or stabilized.

Lee explained that he's used a range of different cameras but each DOP does have a favourite. "Choosing a camera is like choosing a tool, it's got to be right for the job" (Lee Thomas), he explained that an experienced DOP will have used a range of cameras and equipment and will know what works better for each project. Lee predominantly uses Arri Cameras but has used a range of different ones including 16mm film cameras. He continued to say that each offers a different a unique look which you need to consider but it's also what you're confident using, he advised me not to just jump in with a complex camera I've never used as this could lead to the footage being ruined due to lack of knowledge. Go with what you know and what gets the job done. "Your job is to tell the story visually" (Lee Thomas) explained, telling me that while it's the Directors job to tell the story and bring it together, the DOP needs to be the one to get the visuals across.
Lee also explained the importance of communication with Directors. "You're their right hand man. No communication means no film, or at least no good film" (Lee Thomas). Lee has done many projects with his brother, Chris Thomas, a Writer and Director. The two have often worked together on projects as DOP and Director and he explained that this helps a lot as it's not only given them a good relationship to work off, but they've already got a good level of communication. Lee explained that the DOP and Director will need to communicate throughout the project, any issues and they know and discuss. They work off each other.

In terms of handheld footage. Lee is a HUGE fan. Working with him on a number of different projects myself, I've only ever saw him bring in a steadicam/stabilizer once and that was down to the Director requesting a specific camera movement which couldn't be achieved handheld. Lee explained "If you can do it handheld, do it. The footage looks and feels more natural and it's less kit and less budget spent" (Lee Thomas) he explained that depending on the project is dependant on the rig, below is Lee's latest commercial for the RAF:

All footage through this commercial is with a shoulder rig. Lee explained that this worked better as it's all hands on the ground and fits better with the tone of the commercial as it's for the RAF. It works with the story to tell the audience about this job role and with the scenery and performance as well just bumps up the quality even more. 

When I asked Lee whether or not I should do shoulder rig for my documentary, he replied "Shouldn't docs have handheld footage anyway?" (Lee Thomas) Lee explained that although he hasn't filmed documentaries, he watches them and regularly sees handheld footage, it's a given for the genre. Like horror films have moonlit scenes, action films have car chases, documentaries have handheld footage. It's more natural and brings you closer for the audience. 

PRE-PRODUCTION - CANON 60D TEST

My own personal camera is the Canon 60D EOS DSLR. I've owned this camera for 4 years and love shooting on it. The colour quality is exactly what I look for, nice vibrant colours which Canon is known for but I've even managed to remove this in post-production on projects when it's been required. However, the issue with this camera is that it isn't full frame and so the quality of the image is reduced compared to the Canon Full Frame DSLR's such as the 5D or 6D.
As I wanted to test as many cameras as possible and I needed to film 2 interviews anyway I took this as an ideal opportunity. I was brought on by Derek Boyes to film a behind the scenes for his short film Last Night and chose to film it all (minus one interview) on my 60D. The main interview which I shot with Jemma as practice as DOP and Director was with Natasha Rose Mills who was the leading character in the film.
Myself and Jemma traveled over to Milton Keynes to meet Natasha and interviewed her, the main aim for this was to ask Natasha about the film, her experience and her character in the film. With the filming I learnt very quickly that I can't change shot in camera with the matt box connected to the rig as it restricts the lens zooming forward more, as well I took one of my LED lights and a diffuser for additional lighting. Since I wasn't able to recce Natasha's house prior to the shoot, I had to quickly recce and evaluate the location for issues and the best place to film. Annoyingly, there wasn't a location relevant to the film (as it was all filmed in a forest) so we chose to go with a setting that was more appealing than relevant and went with Natasha's living room.

PRE-PRODUCTION - SONY EX TEST

One of the camera options that I've got for the documentary is the Sony PMW-EX1R XDCAM EX (Sony EX for short). These are the standard cameras for TV Production and we've been using them since our first year of University. I've worked with these cameras many times before and I'm confident with them. While testing the camera there were 3 main things I needed from it:

- Colourful and high quality footage
- Useable with my Rig
- Able to change the look for interviews (E.g. Zoom in and blur background)

When testing, I first started by trying to connect the camera to my rig. This caused issues straight away, first of all the matt box couldn't be connected to the rig without losing the access to the focus and zoom ring, although the camera does come with it's own matt box connected to the camera so this wasn't a complete put off by the camera.


I connected the rest of the rig together and then found that with the cage around the camera (added for extra support and to add on a external screen and microphone) and found that I couldn't connect the follow focus properly or use the camera LCD screen with the braces around the rig. All this together took me well over an hour to set up and ideally I wanted this to only take 10-15 minutes at most so that set up could be nice and easy for the shoot. 

Although I found that the camera doesn't work with the rig, there is a Fig-rig available through the Tech Store for me to use instead so I went on to test the operating and quality of the footage with this camera:

As you can see from the footage, the colour quality isn't as colourful as what I would like, although this could be fixed in post I'm aiming to have a camera which can get footage that requires very little grading in terms of colour. Also, I can't achieve the blurred background that I want for the interviews and also the footage does become rather grainy, after speaking to Fergus (technical tutor) he explained that the cameras are over 8 years old so the sensors have been used over and over every year so they are becoming worn out. However it is possible to change this and get high quality footage out of them. However, they aren't good in Low light conditions and this will become an issue as I'll be filming the performance and will require a camera which works well in low light.

Decision: No to this camera.