The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off

In class we watched a very inspiring documentary called 'The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off'. It is a moving story about the last four months of Johnny Kennedy's life and showed his suffering and long battle with the rare condition - dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (EB) it also shows his release, his death. To watch the full documentary please follow this link: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-boy-whose-skin-fell-off/4od


The documentary has many sensitive issues within it and in class we were asked to think about the following questions and write a response to them. Here are my thoughts on the programme:

Do we have the right to see this?
Whilst this documentary has been made to inform people and raise awareness I believe that some of what was shown shouldn't have been. Johnny clearly worked alongside E4 to create this documentary about his last 4 months and therefore I believe it was his wishes for us to see this footage. In some respects his day to day life and obstacles helped to portray the struggle he went through strongly however, some of these 'day to day' things were perhaps a bit too personal to show. For example seeing Johnny in excruciating pain, I personally found really hard to watch as my heart sank at the thought of him having to go through that on a weekly basis. Also, when Johnny's Mum mentioned being asked if she would have had an abortion I thought was a very personal thing to show to millions of people and was perhaps overstepping the line in terms of what they are sharing about such sensitive issues. Finally, although seeing Johnny dead in his wheelchair and viewing his funeral was deeply upsetting and emotional for us as the audience I feel we shouldn't have seen this not for our sake but the families. Us seeing this footage meant that they were not left to grieve at such a sad time but instead surrounded by camera men and crew member, this I felt was particularly insensitive. Having said this and stated some negative points my overall feel is that the documentary was an amazing opportunity for Johnny and other EB sufferers and that it was clearly made with the wishes of a dying man and I therefore agree that E4 should of and did respect what he wanted.

Should they be filming this?
The first time we are introduced to Johnny is in his voice over. The voice over has been scripted so that Johnny sounds as though he is speaking from the grave; to me this is slightly insensitive; however, I think maybe it is the tactfulness of the filming rather than the content. Having said this he may have decided he'd rather approach the touching story in a more informal way. Although my immediate thought was that some of the filming wasn't very tactful Johnny has clearly 'asked us along for the ride' and after seeing a little more I get the impression that perhaps Johnny worked with producers to create this feel as it helps to reflect the way he approached this awful condition. Obviously there are some aspects of the filming that are more upsetting than others (such as: when Johnny gets upset, when he's telling us of the worst parts of his journey and when we see his dead body) however, I think without some of these parts we would not understand fully the terrible ordeal Johnny had gone through.

Was it a valid documentary?
I believe the documentary was very valid. Not only does it help with the awareness of rare condition EB it also helps to promote his charity. Unfortunately, it is very rare that people donate to worthy causes unless they feel some sympathy for the cause; this was shown when £500,000 was raised through the help of the 5 million viewers. This documentary allows the audience to connect with Johnny and I feel that many people will both take something from it and give something back. I personally have learnt a lot about a rare condition that I previously knew nothing about and have acknowledged a worthy charity (DEBRA) through this documentary.

Did they take advantage of the situation?
I definitely think they took advantage of the situation because it is such a rare condition that it would be hard to find someone willing to help to make a documentary and that has put so much time and effort into helping others who have the condition. However, I don't think that taking advantage of it was all bad; through the documentary Johnny not only got to educate and inspire millions with his story but he managed to raise thousands of pounds and promote his charity. Obviously E4 made money out of the documentary but I think the morals and ethics behind using this story for their personal profits are completely thrown out the window when you think of the difference the documentary has made to: the charity through donations, sufferers through educating people about their condition and maybe the most touching outcome, Johnny Kennedy by telling sharing his story at such a hard and emotional time.

Brief Research - Documentary

The third and final brief I am interested in is:

• An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately 5 minutes, together with two of the following three options:

          - A radio trailer for the documentary

          - A double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary

          - A newspaper advertisement for the documentary

I watch many documentaries based around human life; many of the documentaries I watch are on e4. Because I have watched many different documentaries I understand the basic content that they need (such as a gripping, real life story or subject with a feeling of empathy and or inspiration) in order to attract the audience. However, I haven't seen any short documentaries and I therefore started my research by looking on YouTube for short documentaries. A few I found include:

Future Learning
Analysis:
- They had many short snappy shots, there was a lot of footage that was often shown whilst people were voicing there opinions. This made the documentary a lot more interesting than if it was just a single shot of the person talking
- They had opinions from many different people including young people who were the basis of the documentary. I think this gave the documentary even more feeling
-Finally, the whole documentary was filled with passion, making it inspirational.

Lost in Transgender
Analysis:
- The technical aspects of this documentary were quite good; there was a good variation in the shots and footage however, I didn't like the narrative feel of the documentary, as though it was more based on the reporter finding her true opinion rather than viewing what life is like for a transgender.
- I also feel that the reporter wasn't as sensitive to the issue as she should have been, this may cause some controversy and therefore if I choose to film a documentary about a sensitive issue like this one I will ensure I am careful about the peoples feelings
- Overall, I didn't particularly like this documentary as I don't feel it realistic and had the same criteria as successful documentaries.

The Janitor
Analysis:
- Although the subject in this documentary wasn't exactly inspiring or very gripping I think it had strong conventions of a documentary and showed varied sides to the story
- I think if I did a a documentary this may be similar to the style I would choose, it will be hard for me to find a very inspirational and 'deep' story to base it on without making it up and although I may and find something more gripping to film about I think it will be along a similar line.

After watching the short documentaries I analysed them as this will help me later on if I chose to go with this brief.

I also searched for previous A2 work that had used this brief, some documentaries I found include: Classics: Restored, Wasted Youth and Ten Years of Music

Although I commented in my first research post that I was thinking of making the music video I am now very unsure. From researching the three briefs I now want to do all of them because I think they all sound very fun. If I choose this brief it is likely that I will base my documentary around the previous A2 work and 'The Janitor' rather than more extreme documentaries because I think it will be hard to make an extreme topic effective.

Brief Research - Short Film

The second brief I am interested in is:

• A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options

          - A poster for the film
          - A radio trailer for the film
          - A film magazine review page featuring the film

As I only knew of one short film before I started my research stage I began by using YouTube to find a variety of different films. That meant I could start to specify my research towards the types of short film I wanted to create. A few examples of short films I found include:

 Awake
Analysis:
 - There was a good variation in the camera angles and shots used which helped make the film effective. It allowed the film to stay secretive and withhold enough information from the audience to keep them drawn in.
- The Foley sound used in the film help to make it realistic however, I should not be able to tell it was Foley sound. I know it was Foley because the sound of the young man walking on the pavement was the same sound as the young man walking on the pebble beach.
- Finally, although I understand that short stories have to have brief story lines I felt that the whole film was confusing up until the last shot which may have lead the audience to lose interest and therefore switch off.

The Desk
Analysis:
- The main thing I liked in this short film is that they managed to create a story using very limited dialogue. There is some script when the protagonist listens to a voice mail and then again at the end however, most of the speech is shown through written communication which gives the film a magical aspect.
- I also like that the protagonist is  relatable even though we know very little about him, his story is not built up and still I feel we know him very well.
- I like that the short film wasn't a horror/thriller. Many short films are scary genres as it is an easy way to attract the audience however this film was more a romance but still managed to capture me.

Bed Trick
- Overall I found this short film very strange!! However, it had some good technical aspects and will help me in my decision making process.
- I liked the twist in the film. Although I feel the audience got the sense that something was being held back the whole way through the film I think the ending of the film was very unexpected.
- I think the setting, costumes and characters worked very well in helping to set the mood of the film.
- Finally, I think the reaction Rachel ruined the reality of the film a little because I don't think someone would react that casually in that situation.

After watching the short films I made notes on what I thought of them and used the points to research this brief further.

I also looked at previous A2 work that had used this brief to help further my knowledge; some films include:
Twenty Pounds, Hell is Round the Corner and Never Judge a Book

Although this brief sound very fun and really interests me I don't think it will be the one I choose. If I was to make a short film I would want to move away from the generic horror genre they have. I feel it is very easy to make a scary short film look generic; although, I feel 'Never Judge a Book' was an extremely good attempt and definitely scared me. Therefore, for me I think it would be very hard to create a good short story that attracts my audience as I feel it will be hard to draw an audience into a film in such a short time without doing so through suspense.

If I were to chose this brief I may use 'The Desk' as my starting block and inspiration.

Brief Research - Music Video

The first brief that I am interested in is music videos.

• A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three option:

      - A website home page for the band 

      - A cover for its release on DVD

      - A magazine advertisement for the DVD 

      

As I was interested in 3 different briefs I started to research them individually to help me make my decision. I started researching music videos by watching a variety of videos for songs that I currently liked. A few examples included:

Icona Pop - I Love It (feat. Charli XCX)  

What I liked:

- The different editing techniques

   - Split screens

   - Bright colour saturation

   - Lyrics appearing over the video

   - Reasonably quick cuts

- Relatable and feel good factor

- Variety of camera angle and shots

- Large amount of footage

Passenger - Let Her Go 

What I liked:

- Seeing the Artist singing the song

- Wide range of close-up shots

- very casual feels

The King Blues - I Got Love

What I liked:

- Very relatable feel

- A variety of Artist and filming

- Slight story line

After looking at these videos I made notes on what I liked about them and used those points to research further.

I also looked at previous A2 music videos to further my knowledge of the brief a few I looked at include:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeKrR5Rjed0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rajf5yQZPRE

I also looked at a video which can be found on this blog; http://abibunceblog.blogspot.co.uk/

From my research I think this brief is likely to be the one I choose. I've decided the key things I would include in my video are flashbacks, a story line and a reasonably fast pace. 

The video I found which most suits this criteria is Same Love - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and this may be a video I use for inspiration if I choose to proceed with this brief.

Introduction to A2

Mr Buckmaster introduced the A2 course to us by taking us through this power point. On the slides there are the brief titles and a vague idea of what we will need to include. Sir went through each brief and outlined them in detail to help us make a decision on which brief we would choose.

Whilst going through them Mr Buckamster explained that they are not all video based projects, although I think it would be interesting use a different type of media I decided I wanted to stick with a video based project because that was the predominant media type we used in our AS project.

I narrowed down the briefs I want to do to 3 options:
- A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video.
- A short film in its entirety lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated
- An extract for a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes

I will now research each brief in detail to help me make my decision on which project I will proceed with.

Evaluation of Opening Sequence

Our AS opening sequence was a romantic comedy based around two protagonists waking up. There are many things that worked well in our production however, there are also many things that I would change if we came to doing it again.

I think one thing that worked well was our location. We took a lot of time into making sure our location reflected the themes of the opening and tried to include as many connotations of a rom com as we could. For example we made the girls room reflect her as being a creative, tidy, girly character and the boy was portrayed as a slightly messier, musical protagonist. We also chose a rural setting which we felt had a more romantic feel than a big, busy city. Although most of our location were successful there were a few things we could have improved (Lily walking out of a public toilet and their places of work could have been slightly closer together).

Another thing that went well was our soundtrack and voice over. I think they helped to convey our ideas and the voice over also helped to introduce our protagonists and the story lines. Although our soundtrack and voice overs contributed to our production in a positive way I think we could have added some Foley sound to improve it further.

I think the main thing that we could have improved is our framing and camera shots/angles. There are a few scenes where we have either cut characters heads off or given them too much head space. This distracts the audience from the significance of the shots. Also, on our final scene where the two protagonists walk past each other Lily and Joe aren't walking at the bottom of the frame and the store names are slightly cut off, by lining up the shot more precisely it would have improved the scene. Also, we didn't use a wide variety of camera angles and shots.

Also the continuity within our production could have been better. In the scene where Lily is walking down the stairs her hair is tied up, in the rest of the opening it is down. Also, there is no car when Joe first crosses the road and when shot from a different angle a car has suddenly appeared.

Finally, some scenes in our opneing had different colour saturations than others. For example the scene where Lily is coming down the stairs and putting her shoes on has an orangey 'wash' over it where as the outside scenes and other waking up scenece have more natural colouring. This meant that our editing wans't invisible, it was obvious that we had adjusted the colouring on certain scenes.



For a more in depth evaluation please visit my AS blog bethanyhutson.blogspot.com