“Documentaries take us inside worlds we never knew existed”

      -Hillary Burridge

I made a documentary about a man who is an extremely motivated and hardworking person and can be an inspiration for many people that is why my group chose this topic. However, it was not our first idea. During my teamwork, we had to overcome many obstacles such as finding the right idea for our movie or planning how to organise it. After finishing the documentary, I feel so much more experienced but there’s always room for improvement as there were still some small mistakes.

Researching

Firstly, my group was considering making a story about the tunnel in Greenwich because this place was interesting for us and we wanted to discover it more. In the beginning, we thought that making a story about a tunnel was easy. However, when we searched the internet we could not find anybody to do the interview with, that is why our idea turned out to be impossible to make. I think that on our first meeting, we should have checked everything properly to avoid wasting time. Instead of it, we discussed our idea in general without details.

Planning

We met again with my group to find another idea for our documentary. This time we prepared Plan B, C and even D to make sure that some of them will be possible to make and we will not waste any more time.

When we were searching the internet in order to find a unique place in Greenwich, I found the Greenwich Theatre. On their website, I discovered that their pantomime is the best in London and this year they have their 50th anniversary. Everyone in my group also liked this idea that is why the same day we went there to ask about some details. We met the receptionist who gave us the contact to manager because he did not have time to speak with us in person. Unfortunately, after one week of contacting a manager by mail, it turned out that he did not find any actor for us. We were running out of time and we did not even start shooting yet. I think one mistake we made was to wait for so long, we should have given the manager, less time to find actors for us. We met with my group again to talk about our plan D. Fortunately, one of my group colleague, had an idea about an interview with the manager of the gym. At first, I was not convinced if this is the right topic for us but surprisingly it turned out that this guy is an incredibly special person. The guy was running the gym, training for a powerlifting competition and he was also a parent at the same time. Seemingly, he looked like a strong guy on the gym, but it turned out that he is also warm-hearted because he helped people to recover after injuries. This contrast showed me that people can make an unexpectable story.

“Stop making documentaries. Start making movies. You’ve chosen this art form — the cinema, this incredible, wonderful art form, to tell your story. You didn’t have to do that.” This quote also made me realize that the gym is only a background topic because the guy is such an inspirational person.

We met with my group earlier before an interview to discuss everything and check if we had what we needed. Our presenter prepared questions but we realised that they did not make the story. That is why we decided to change them to have a clear beginning, middle and end. We started our story by asking how our guest started his sports journey, then the biggest challenges he had during his work, and then we wanted to ask about his future. I think we should have prepared the structure of our story so much earlier, not an hour before shooting and discuss our roles more precisely before as well.Our camera operator booked equipment before so when we met with my team we took the kit and delivered it on set together. I think that next time we should book the equipment together to learn how to do it. I was responsible for a sound which I have never tried before but I really wanted to learn it. I was always interested in being a producer as well. That is why I wanted to cooperate with a camera operator and help him to find a good camera angle and organise everything on set.

When we entered the gym, we initially started to look for a perfect spot for us. I was checking with the director if the background looks good on camera and our presenter took on the role of the guest to help us imagine it.

It turned out that we need a chair for our guest because he was really tall and he had to sit down to fits to the camera. When I was looking at some chair I found an idea that we can use a bench instead of a chair and it fitted perfectly. This made me realise how important is to act quickly on set and sometimes find the non-standard solution. 

“The first stage was for me to build up trust, for them to get to know me and to know where I was coming from”- Asif Kapadia about making Amy Winehouse documentary.

To break the ice and build some trust our presenter started a small talk with him. At the same time, I was checking the sound and our camera operator was setting the camera for the perfect angle. My colleagues always helped me when I needed it and I was trying to do the same thing for them. Our interview was quite smooth, our guest was friendly and he easily answered our questions almost without hesitation. We used close up shots to show our guest’ emotions and facial expressions clearly. After that, we checked the sound and the shots from the camera to make sure that everything is alright and then we did an interview once again to have a copy in advance. 

When we finished our talk, our guest allowed us to film him during training. This was not easy to find a good camera angle but our camera operator was always focused and followed our guest with everything he did. We wanted to make a variety of shots to have a lot of footage.

Sound:

I was not conscious of how important is sound in the movie and how easily you can do it wrong before. This role taught me to be always precise and focused, I was constantly checking if the sound is not too low or not to high. Before an interview, I also monitored it many times because I knew that I was the only person responsible for that. Fortunately, everything went good and when we checked the sound it was how we wanted. However, I think that I should not choose sound because I was not really experienced in it so it was risky to practise it during a real interview. What is more, I was not aware that a sound kit can be heavy for me and sometimes I had to struggle with keeping it all the time in the same position. I should have chosen to be a presenter because during a workshop in tv studio I had a chance to practise it. Anyway, I gained a new experience and the next time I am sure that I will do it better.

Editing:

During editing, I realised how much more I should practise it to make my movies better. When I was editing my videos in the past I did not have to put so much effort because I have never recorded the sound separately. However, during the interview, we recorded it individually so I realised that synchronising music takes time and might be challenging. Another thing I was struggling with, was editing on a different computer than MacBook which I was used to. Even though I used to edit before, I had the impression that I need to learn everything from the beginning. 

Working on my documentary made me realise that film production is so much more challenging than I expected. Planning and discussing details takes time but it is extremely important. I have learnt that meeting with people many times to talk about the production is necessary. Before this project, I thought that I had everything under my control but I did not. First of all, it was incredibly tough for us to find a  person to make an interview with. People were not willing to take part in our film, even though we tried so much to convince them. I did not expect that looking for people can be that demanding. Now I think that it is crucial to have plan B in advance because things always can go wrong and we have to be prepared for that. Communication with the group and supporting each other is also incredibly important to work effectively. This teamwork made me realise how much it takes to organise every certain thing including finding the idea and shooting on the set. Things which seemed to be easy turned out to be pretty hard such as recording the sound or editing. However, after this project, I feel so much more aware of aspects I should improve and I hope that next time my movie will be better.

1. Nichols, B. (2001). Introduction to documentary. 2nd ed. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, p.10.
2. Desktop-Documentaries.com. (2019). Making Documentaries: A Step By Step Guide. [online] Available at: https://www.desktop-documentaries.com/making-documentaries.html [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].
3. Nast, C. (2019). Director Asif Kapadia on His Moving New Amy Winehouse Documentary. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/amy-winehouse-documentary-director-asif-kapadia [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].
4. Moore, M. (2019). Michael Moore’s 13 Rules for Making Documentary Films. [online] IndieWire. Available at: https://www.indiewire.com/feature/michael-moores-13-rules-for-making-documentary-films-22384/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].