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.