Vanessa and Virginia

Before Christmas, myself, Mike and Ant were involved in some filming at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution as part of the Illuminate Bath Festival. What we were filming was co-ordinated by Ant from a contact through the university, a play called Vanessa and Virginia.
We filmed the whole play which totaled being over 2 hours long, however this is the 'trailer' for it, as edited by Ant:


Vanessa and Virginia from Anthony Sahdev on Vimeo.

Creating a Drama

Well this is a big project that I havent really mentioned much of on here yet, and that is our short drama that we are going to be filming in a few weeks time.

The project started before Xmas with the help of Sean Geogehan we were put into 2 teams and I was allocated director of ours.
We set about work trying to find a script, but as we didnt have much work set over the holidays I ended up writing one. It was inspired by the book The Pact by Jodi Picoult in which a girl who where everything seems normal and happy is actually really struggling and the story revolves around how she has killed herself. I took this and thought, what if she had written a note and someone found it?

This is where the 1st draft of the script came from, a mother finding her daughters suicide note and the consequences of this. I wont give any of the story away as I will share the film with you when it is done! But needless to say the script has gone through several re-drafts and though it is very different from the original, most of the elements and deeper meanings of the original are still there.

We are at the stage now of finding locations and actors with filming scheduled for the last week of February!
Will update this as we make our progress :)

Organising a Media Event

Sorry for the lack of recent blogging but I will catch you up to speed on things as soon as I can!

In our 5001 sessions we have moved on from the Behind The Scenes project onto Organising a Media Event.
These are the guidelines for our event:

• Suitable for 1st Year Media BTEC students
• Approx 20 16-17 year olds
• Friday 8th April 9.30-14.00
• £200 budget
• We have at least two rooms/spaces

So what is a media event?
We came up with a few things to do with the meaning/requirements of a media event:

• an occassion/celebration/event that will attract media or publicity
• workshop
• having a personality/celeb
• make an announcement, advertise/PR

When we broke off into groups we then came up with some ideas for what we could include in our media event. Without being bias I liked our groups one the best as I think it covers most of the above points including what would be the most fun which is getting in a 'local celeb'.

Our idea was to construct a newsroom atmosphere and get the students to create a short news programme, this would allow people keen to write to write a script, the performers could be the presenters and those interested in the technology side could see how the cameras, sound and editing works. The great bit of it would be to try and get one of the presenters of BBC Points West/HTV local news to come down and co-present it with them. Not only would this make it more interesting for the kids but also would give a chance for the presenter to give a talk about how they got their job etc so it would also be informative/educational to them.

Voice Over Tips

The Voice

An Overview

Without some form of commentary (be it in form of narration of captions) it's hard for viewers to connect with the film. With documentaries it is better to use a voice over as it does not detract from the image on the screen, if people are trying to read captions they will miss what is being said/shown on the rest of the screen.

However, there needs to be space for sound from the film and time for people to absorb what may have been said interviews etc so don't put too much into the voice over. Keep it simple and fresh obeying these 3 rules: simple words, simple sentences, simple grammar.

A voice over should compliment the picture and fit with the images on screen.

When should I write/think about the V/O?

You should be thinking about the voice over the whole way through and if you can go to filming with a draft of the voice over to get all images needed.

It should have a lot of consideration during the edit, so here communication between with the editor is essential. This is essential for shaping sequences and allowing the correct amount of time so voice over doesn't to be rushed.

It is of course important to bear in mind the whole way through about how the voice will fit in the general soundscape and as mentioned before the pictures and original sounds 'need to breathe'

The most important think to consider when choosing a voice is to remember if the voice doesn't fit it will kill the film. The person doesn't necessarily have to have a rich, glossy sounding voice, it's all about the delivery and making the script come to life. It is important that the words on the paper get across the ideas on the screen.

A good voice will be one that sounds interested and like they know the subject matter of the film. The best voice overs are from people who act normally and don't feel self conscious.

The Script

Analyse what you have written to avoid repetitiveness, there is also not much need for lots of adjectives. Make sure you aren't stating the obvious of what is on screen, the audience will feel patronised! For the opening of a film/section make sure you open with a fact or something that will grab and hook your audience into watching the rest of the film.

The layout of the script is also something to bear in mind, of course each reader will have their own preferences but generally speaking make sure your sentences aren't too long and everything is spaced well. Big font is also useful to most. Some people can read better off coloured backgrounds but this is of course different for everyone.

The Recording

There are many techniques to recording a good voice over, they are these:

• Pop shield: not always essential but will prevent explosive and popping sounds coming through in the recording.
• Project the voice!
• Sit up, relax and imagine you are talking to one viewer (your "personal listener")
• Make it more like talking than reading
• Smile!

Risk Assessment

Just found this great video on the Channel 4 website about risk assessments!

Documentary Research

Whilst looking on what I find a very useful website slideshare, I came across this powerpoint on the "Codes and Conventions" of documentaries and thought I would share it here!

Codes And Conventions Of Documentary

View more presentations from Catford High School.

Distribution: The Facts

For our Friday morning sessions we have been looking at all aspects of television/film making and so it is essential that we look at what happens after a programme has been made, not just all the stages before this. This is the process known as distribution.

One definition of the word distribution is "the process of moving a product from its manufacturing source to its customers", so in the context of the media it is getting the finished film/television piece out there to its audience. To do this there are several different routes you can take.

An independent film maker has the choice of going down the profit or non-profit routes.
Non-profit can include:

• The Internet (Own website with showreel, YouTube, Vimeo etc)
• Film festivals (Sheffield, Brief Encounters etc)
• Put up for Award/Specialist Award 

To make a profit you can look at doing the following:

• Sell to a channel via editing commissioner
• Sell to a distribution company

There are dozens and dozens of distribution companies in the UK (though of course their work can cover worldwide), however, the top players in the UK are:

• BBC Worldwide: Top Gear, Life, Planet Earth (£240 million profit 2009-2010)
• Fremantle Media: Merlin, American Idol, Hole in The Wall (£152 million profit 09-10)
• ITV Studios GE: Hells Kitchen, The Prisoner (£131 million 09-10)
• Outright (run by Shed): Supernanny, Waterloo Road, Who do you think you are? (£11 million 09-10)

It is important to remember there the sale of programmes worldwide covers both English speaking and non-English speaking countries. The arrangement of subtitles to sell to non-English speaking countries is known as packaging and is one of the other things distribution companies do. On top of this they also develop ideas and have their favourite producers e.g. Simon Cowell, and also try and establish successful 1st series of programmes.

As we can tell from the massive turnover of just the top 4 companies in the UK it is not surprising that through direct sales only, the revenue in distribution is around £525 million. There is plenty more to be made though in selling formats worldwide.
A format  is the structure of a programme, the most successful worldwide formats include:

• Strictly/Dancing with Stars (sold to 27 countries)
• Britains Got Talent/Americas Got Talent
•  Millionaire
• Big Brother
• The Office
• Footballers Wives

It is important to remember is is not just non-fiction formats that are marketable worldwide, it is also dramas!