Location

My filming will take place in New York as i am going there for a week in October. However there are difficulties with filming in a location that i am not able to re-visit. The sound quality may be poor or filming shakey or blurred, to help me avoid this i am shooting my clips several times so it allows me to choose the best one. I aim to shoot a variety of differnt places in New York, choosing iconic places such as Central Park and the top of The Empire State Building, but my main focus will be shots and filming of Ground Zero and gathering as much infomation as i can.

 

Inspiration

We have been asked to find three texts that have either inspired us or that have given us ideas for our chosen brief.

Even though my chosen brief is a documentary, one of my three texts is a music video.

Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

This video has so many different shots of New York, in a wide range of camera angles and shots. I liked the use of black and white. Also a convention used in the music video is a montage of pictures, i would like to use this in my documentary using stills of New York.

Photographers

We have been set a task to research some photographers that would help us develop our idea or that link with our chosen brief.

Seeing as some of my filming will be in New York i searched for photographers that specialize in taking pictures of New York. I found one called Andrew Prokos. He has taken some amazing skyline photos, and photos of induvidual builings.

http://www.andrewprokos.com/

I then found a portrait photographer which i liked.

http://www.chrisgloag.com/

This photographers have helped me visulise my shots and have helped me develop my idea.

Mood Board

We had to create a mood board on our chosen brief and subject.
This was mine containing images and infomation about 9/11

Devloping My Idea

After watching all my documentaries, i have now developed a new concept. I am still doing the subject if 9/11 but have re-thought my idea so the majority of filming is taken plave in the UK. Instead of focusing on 9/11 i have decided to focus more on the people, and their opinions on how it changed our world and more importantly, how it made them feel.

I can do all my interviewing in the UK but would maybe like to include some people from New York in there to. I have asked a friend who has been to New York and Ground Zero if the people who work in the mermorial and the museum are happy to share their experiences. He said they were so now i would have to see if they would be willing to let me film them talking about it.

This means only 20% of my filming would be done in New York, that consisting of shots of the city, shots of Ground Zero and hopefully some interviews.

9/11

As we are in September and have just passed the 9th anniversary of 9/11 there have been alot of films, programmes and documentaries on 9/11. I recorded them, watched and studied them. They are very honest, emotional documentaries. Alot of them had people being interviewed. This inspired me to change my idea and helped me develop it. There was not a voice-over in hardly any of them, and one of the most frequent concepts used was inter-titles. A wide range of shots were used. Close up's for the interviews, panoramic or establishing shots were used when showing the events of 9/11 or when showing the skyline of New York. Long shots were also used when showing New York.

Documentary Conventions

After watching things like the news and other documentarys, i have noticed certain conventions that i would like to use in my coursework. Watching the BBC news and looking at their interviews i have noticed the person being interviewed doesn't look at the camera, they look in the direction of the person interviewing them. I will use this convention in creating in my documentary. Documentary (clips of interview style) 

Also, the use to titles, they are very subtle as to not draw away the attention of the documentary. When people are being interviewed, their names and ages are also displayed across the scene as an information convention.

Research/First Idea

I have spent time watching and studying documentaries. I prefer to watch Channel 4 documentaries, however i have been watching ones of Channels such as BBC1/2 and Five. I prefer the style of Channel 4 documentaries and the way they are presented.

A subject that has always had my interest has been 9/11 and seeing as i am going to New York in October i thought doing and extract from a documentary about 9/11 would be different and challenging but rewarding and exciting. My initial idea was to focus the majority of the documentary around 9/11 and do 90% of my filming in New York. I pitched my idea to my teacher and she loved it, but she did have one problem. She thought i shouldn't do 90% of my filming in New York incase it didn't come out right, for example there was too much background noise or the lighting wasn't quite right.

I had to go away and re-think.

Documentary

Even though the coursework demands alot of time attention, not forgetting the fact it is a lot of work, we have been given the choice to work in a group of two or on our own. I have chosen to work on my own. I feel i'm more focused and commited, also i feel like i have accomplished more.

The brief i have chosen is Documentary, with my Ancillary tasks being a double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary and a newspaper advertisment for the documentary.

The first thing we have been asked to do is to research our chosen brief. I have been asked to watch and study documentaries. I have to look at different styles, genres, concepts and what appeals to what audience. I also have to decide on what i would like my documentary to be on and the audience i would like to aim it to.

Brief

For my A2 coursework this year i am required to complete one of the following three briefs.

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

- a website homepage for the band

- a cover for its release on CD

- a magazine advertisment for the CD

2. A promotion package for a new film, including a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

- a website hompage for the film

- a film magazine front cover, featuring the film

- a poster for the film

3. An extract for a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five 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 advertisment for the documentary