Directing

Consolidation journal

AC1 – Informing ideas

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Week 1

Throughout this project, I will ensure my Netflix documentary trailer follows industry standards and expectations. I will focus on the purpose; to inform and educate as well as offering insight into an aspect of life that views would not usually have access to. I will focus on entertaining. To make a successful trailer I will have to include elements such as interviews, cutaway footage, cinema verité and exposition. As a director, it would be my responsibility to decide how production should look and where it should be filmed as well as shaping the overall aesthetic and tone. At this point in my project, I expect to produce a non-fiction film that aims to document reality while creating a sense of drama and mystery.

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Week 2

Critique and Insights of a Netflix Trailer

As part of my research to make sure my trailer meets industry standards, I have chosen to analyse the following trailer crip camp, paying particular attention to the visual elements, the storytelling techniques, and how the music contributes to effectively communicate the documentary subject matter, as well as how the trailer establishes an emotional connection with the audience. Here is the link to it: https://boaacademy-my.sharepoint.com/personal/tanya_thomas_boa-stageandscreen_co_uk/Documents/crip%20camp%20documentary%20trailer.docx

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Week 3

Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story

In 2022, Netflix released the documentary trailer for ‘jimmy Savile: A British horror story’ and I thought the music and storytelling added to the overall effectiveness of engaging the audience on an emotional level.

The music was a key factor for me. At the start of the trailer, the music does not immediately start. This stood out to me because it does not build tension straight away. It allows the audience to get comfortable before rising the tenseness. It later fades up in volume, gradually getting louder. I noticed the tempo also increases which adds to the uncanny tone of the trailer. This fits perfectly with the genre: true crime. Personally, the music was used effectively as it contributes to the rhythm of the trailer and enhances the impact of the story.

The other key factor that stood out to me was the storytelling. The main techniques this trailer used were drama and emotion. It had dramatic elements like conflict and tension which engaged the audience. The story also evoked an emotion response from me, causing me to feel empathy and disgust. The dialogue was used extremely well as it revealed emotion through subtext and word choice. Overall, the story telling was used effectively, pairing with the music to create an inciting trailer.

 

AC2 –Problem Solving 

 

Week 4

Currently we are in the development phase of our documentary trailer. We have created a logline and synopsis that we created as a group and then have individually written up character profiles for the contributors we will be playing. Producing contributors was an arduous task. It was hard to create characters who were equally impactful to the story line, however we overcame this obstacle by communicating with the group and brainstorming ideas until we had agreed on the characters.

 We looked at exposition and story arcs. I learnt that the exposition is the beginning of the story that gives context before the main conflict and introduces the settings and main characters. We also looked at story arcs and learnt that to have a successful arc you must have an intriguing set up, intro to main characters and a build-up of conflict. Rising action is vital for a successful trailer. To do this you should add events which complicate the main conflict, raise the stakes, and introduce main characters. The other key terms we focused on were ‘climax,’ ‘falling action’ and resolution. It is important that our trailer has a high point of tension which then relaxes to provide closure for the audience, giving them a sense of completion.

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We explored different ideas and experimented with various characters when writing our log line. We initially wanted to focus on a man with an addiction to alcohol, but we decided that it was too overdone and common. Instead, I suggested doing a trailer on addiction to pornography as it is quite common but much less talked about. Documentaries are created to educate and entertain, and I feel that by creating a trailer on this topic, we can bring awareness to the addiction and explore the lifestyle impacts it has. I also plan to use the trailer as a mouthpiece to reduce stigma and embarrassment at the mention of pornography. Many people find it uncomfortable to talk about a topic as such hence the title ‘the p word.’ Although we had come to an agreement on the synopsis, it was difficult to write up an intriguing logline. To help us with this obstacle we looked back at our lesson and remembered that to write an engaging logline, you must use action verbs. Using verbs such as ‘redemption’ and ‘self-discovery’ allowed our logline to become more vivid, engaging, and memorable.

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Week 6

I think this week our group has experimented, tested and reviewed new ideas. Finding the right music was a difficult task. Music plays a huge role in emotionally impacting the audience, so we had to make sure our choice fit with the genre as well but also helped tell the story. Some group members suggested we use ‘Relax’ by Frankie goes to Hollywood, but we ended up agreeing that the tempo was too upbeat and created the opposite atmosphere to the one we wanted. Instead, we settled on the song ‘Linger’ by the Cranberries as its lyrics and tempo resonated with our creative vision.

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A key element of a documentary trailer is high stakes. To help us with this we created a story arc; this consisted of the different scenes for the B-roll as well as the interviews. Through doing this, we were able to plot the different points of tensions. This impacted our shooting script as we changed the angles of the shots, dialogue and logline which overall improved our work. We also were able to decide on the settings of the shots alongside costumes, props and professional equipment needed.

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Based on my knowledge on documentary trailers, I know of the many elements such as music, storytelling, B-rolls and interviews all make a successful trailer. I remember to include this in my project alongside following the industry standards; this includes creating an appropriate call sheet to stay organised and focused, filing out filming permits and other forms as well as completing a risk assessment. We also had to book out the required equipment and room which we would’ve needed to film in.  

 

AC3 Technical Skills   

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Week 7

This week we looked how to use cameras and its different features to film our trailers. One feature we looked at was ISO. ISO is the cameras sensitivity to light. We were taught how to change the brightness to either high or low. Aperture is the size of the opening in the camera lens. This determines how much light enters the camera. Finally, shutter speed is the speed of which the shutter closes. The faster the shutter speed, the shorter the exposure. These features have a huge influence on lighting, for example the shutter speed and aperture control the amount of light entering the camera. The ISO affects how much light is needed for the correct exposure.

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Framing is the process of composing a picture. It involves deciding on what will be in the frame and what wont. The aim of framing is to draw your audience’s attention to your main subject which also comes hand in hand with the other features. We want to ensure that in our shots, the framing focuses on the main subject. We plan to change the ISO to create a low exposure shot for the interviews but keeping the shutter speed and aperture controlled throughout. We will need to use light Sabers and a broomstick mic meaning we need to make sure they are not in frame.

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To film our documentary trailer, we used a black magic camera, broomstick and headphones, a tripod, a road shot gun mic and boom mic alongside light Sabers to assist with lighting. We had to film a variety of shots including wide shots, high angles and closeups. To film these shots, we had to use specific lenses such as a 12-35 wide lens and 45-175 close lens. These shots allowed us to create tension and engagement by filming shots close to the characters faces and establish an awkward yet emotional setting. My technical ability helped in the role of managing time and organising the equipment needed for each shot. By also playing the role of a director, I assisted the camera in choosing what would be in frame to capture our desired shots. We faced a few technical challenges on filming dates however we overcame them. For example, the battery on our camera kept dying so we had to go back and get extra batteries and charging ports. In the end we were able top successfully film all our needed shots. In my opinion, one area I developed in was becoming adaptable. I was prepared for any mistakes and ensured that I learnt from any so that it wouldn’t happen again in the future.