Reflection 4: Personal Critical Evaluation

I think that the production has been a success, the team have worked really well together, been well organised and the end product just goes to show this – I am proud to say it is ours.

Although along the way there have been a few problems we have not had to overcome anything major that we could not reorganise or redo. The biggest problem we came across when filming the documentary for the first time was the weather when mid filming the rain overtook the visual aspect of the film, however after rescheduling we captured a clear sky and the end result was exactly what we were after. Another problem which was sometimes an issue was Abduls timing; often he was an hour or more late meaning the light (with filming outdoor) had began to change, but we stuck to it and in the end the darkened effect worked well during various angles in conjunction with Abduls speech content.

Initially we also came across a problem as to which route to take the documentary down – there were just so many aspects to Abduls job that we wanted to include it was hard to decide on the final ‘heart of the story’. In addition to this the group worked really hard, meeting up most days to discuss and finalise our ideas – deciding to concentrate on the working life and how each day affects him. This also became apparent during the editing process as when we looked over the captured footage we came to realise that Abdul had so much to say yet we had so little time to show the best bits. This was an enjoyable process and I was able to bring my editing skills to the group helping to teach Yasmin and Sam in particular the basics to editing. After numerous hours in the basement (mostly the three of us) we had completed the final edit.

The skills and contribution that the whole group had to offer was not always applied to its best as quite often members incidentally ‘forgot’ their research meaning they had nothing to offer during that discussion or were unable to attend (without a relevant reason). Nevertheless as an overall outlook I am glad that I was well-organised as this fell hand in hand with the groups’ general management of time, paperwork, research and the process as a whole. I feel like I am fully committed to the group constantly reminding everyone of the time left to do the project, organising meetings in conjunction with what needs to be done next, going away and researching, filling out forms and reflecting on the groups’ progress in order for the end product to be an absolute victory.

This has been an invigorating, inspiring experience and I am proud of the groups’ accomplishments. I have learnt that working as a team is sometimes stressful but at times extremely easy when each member wants to be as big a part of the final product as I do. I already had knowledge of basic editing skills which I gladly enlightened the group with but I have also gone on to further my camera work by changing shutter speed and programming the sound (which was never a strong point before).

Final Documentary

I am glad to say that I am pleased with our progress so far. Today Me, James and Yasmin finished editing the documentary, after adding some final touches in conjunction with speaking to Ken and Steve and discussing amongst ourselves – changing a couple of the shots as they go on for quite a while to something more suitable and shorter, changing the title to Coventry People – Taxi Driving Days and extending the beginning so that Abdul does not come in so soon. This also resulted in hitting the three minute target as seen below in the YouTube video of our complete documentary.

Also today we began to discuss in more depth the structure of the presentation ready for Thursday in order for us to fully be able to show our team work, the process, research and audience relevance in depth. We have split this up into sections for each of us to focus on:

1. Intro. how we found Abdul and what was it about his story that made him so interesting?

2. Primary/Secondary research and how they relate to one another – also how this affected our final product and helped us make changes along the way.

3. Choices – what influenced our decisions and why the final ones were important – location, edits, person, heart of the story etc.

4. Distribution/Audiences and what/where would be most relevant.

5. Overall summary team work, importance to us, final product.

Followed by the viewing of the documentary.

The almost final documentary…

Last night me, Sam, Yasmin and Aaron met up to flim the final night scenes. This was a success and we managed to get all of the footage we were after including shots looking over the dual cariage way at a slow shutter speed, close-ups of traffic lights and generally of Coventry.

The four of us met up again today to capture the footage from last night and then go onto edit what was left of the documentary. We perfected some of the sound levels, added titles and credits and added the slips from last night during the gun point explanation. This went really well and after a late finish I came home and uploaded the video onto YouTube (this can be seen below).

After looking at the footage on YouTube the sound seems different in places (rustly) and the footage is much lighter than on the monitor whilst editing down in Avid. Other than this I really like how the docummentary has come together and how we have edited the interview down into three minutes together with the footage. I am very proud of the work we have done so far and am looking forwards to the final week on this project as we prepare for the presentation.

Group Meeting 08/03/10

Today the group met up to continue with the editing process and making the changes we discussed from the workshop on Tuesday. This seems to be going really well as we have come away with the structure fully outlined, all sound clips we are to use extracted and two minutes thirty seconds of almost complete footage edited together.

We all worked well together deciding as a group which part to and not to include, in order for the documentary to portray Abdul as the believable interesting character he is.

Tonight we are filming the final scenes, following Abdul in his Taxi at night, to re-enact and to create more of a moving atmosphere during the Gun Point explanation part. This will then allow us tomorrow to add this in, check all of the sound/video for jump cuts and ‘noise’, check the structure/story and finally to add titles and credits.

Where to Screen/Audiences…

Ellen Terry ETG34 – this would be the most appropriate venue for a screening of the final three minute documentary, as it has the audience of ‘want to be future media makers’ who would have an interest in this sort of documentary, also being a student film. This would take place like the ‘Close Encounters’ screenings but instead of just one film a number of documentaries from all three academic years would be shown. This would give all students the chance to showcase their work and maybe a guest lecturer who works in the industry could give future advice after the screening.

YouTube – the next level of showcasing the film would be through the use of the Internet. YouTube is a great way of getting people you know, subscribers to your user and complete stranger’s interest in your work. Meaning that it would be an ideal way of distributing the documentary as a wide audience will be able to view the video at their leisure. In addition to this it gives you chance to get credit for your work and in some cases could lead to a prospect job.

Roots to Shoots Film Night – another ideal way to screen the film would be at this film night in either Coventry or Leamington Spa. This is close to home and brings together the people of Coventry/Leamington Spa to see what young film makers are producing today, this is also relevant due to the documentary being about people of Coventry and Abdul the Taxi Driver is probably one of the last people you would think about and therefore would be of interest to this audience. There is no judging or award just to bring together awareness of films and people of similar interests.

Showcase Cinema Coventry – here there are opportunities to exhibit films as part of festivals or events taking place in Coventry. A hyper-link from the title shows of various events taking place it does not indefinitely suggest that films can be part of this however it would be worth a try when the next event takes place if the theme is relevant to the documentary we have created. The audience at these events will have an interest in the topic and therefore the story about Abdul will be of great interest to them particularly with him being a man of Coventry as well as much of the audience. 

Bradford International Film Festival – on a more international level there is the huge film festival in Bradford which would be a great opportunity and experience if we were to screen the documentary here. In addition to this there are often company’s looking for people with potential who attend these events and if our film would be screened in front of someone like this it would be great. The public/audiences who attend these events are interested in film making and are often influenced by others works. Also at this venue on the day you can book appointments with Film Makers, Directors, Editors Etc who will give you advice on your films if they do not get through and the venue is open for exhibition to make sets, use simple green screen and be a news presenter.

REVIEW
An interesting exploration of Abdul Bader’s story, a Coventry Taxi Driver of 15 years. He loves driving and during the documentary comes to terms with various events that have happened on the job in the past, trying not to dwell on this taking each day as a new fresh day, looking at the positives.

Workshop Feedback

After creating one minute clip yesterday we looked over and analysed it as a group before Ken and Steve came over to take to us.

We came together in agreeing that we all liked the style in which we had edited the documentary and really liked how well some of the inside-Taxi shots worked. Also the sound element through one camera although this was not exactly apparent in the clip we knew we had the better sound available for perfection editing later. In addition to this there were a few things we did not like and had to think of a few of ways to improve these faults; in the long shot of Abdul aside his Taxi he is not very well aligned within the shot and continues to move over throughout the interview (this is a problem as it means the shot is ruined and would look back if used within the final documentary).

When speaking the Ken and Steve we began to think how we could improve what the audience sees from the footage/sound we had already captured. Below are a few pointers that we came up with:
• The content is really good as Abdul elaborates on his experiences however his repetitiveness becomes pointless at times.
• Some of the shots are slightly darker than others from outdoor to inside Taxi filming perhaps us light controller when editing to smooth this out.
• At the beginning ease the audience in a little more without him saying ‘I’m Abdul and I’ve been driving for 15 years’ – perhaps something where he says ‘I really like driving’ and some positives about the job. Also we could use a few general shots from around Coventry – on the ring road – as ‘space fillers’ but not so much that it takes the audience away from what Abdul has to say.
• Some of the footage is quite fast-moving this could be slowed down by 70/75% to give it a more natural feel.
• Another thought was to include some stills – like inside the offices and of Abdul with his boss.
• One major pointer was when we have re-used the same shot twice inside the Taxi – unless there is something new to show this becomes repetitive for an audience particularly as it is only three minutes long.
• Lengthen some of the inside-Taxi shots as at times they flash on then off almost immediately not giving the audience time to engage in the image and the relevance to what Abdul has to say.
• Insert something just before starts talking about gun point so that it does not jump so much from good to bad – when he talks about drunken customers and what he has to do.
• Think about atmosphere and where various clips are situated within the timeframe to enhance this.
• Finally, one of the major changes we came up with which will really make the documentary as it is one of the biggest parts is when he talks about being held at gun point. We should break his speech up so that it creates a timeframe/story that the audience can understand, we have done this below by using Toderov’s structure of storytelling (at this point we will also insert some night footage inside the Taxi to enhance the emotions he would have been going through):
- ‘I dropped someone off in Hillfields’ (Equilibrium)
- ‘Normally I turn around, but dropped them off facing dead end’ (Disruption)
- ‘I heard a tap on the window, I looked and someone was wearing a mask pointing a gun, another stood in front of the Taxi’ (Recognition)
- ‘I revved the engine and began to panic, the one with the gun was shouting ‘put the window down’, I revved the engine more and started to move the Taxi around’ (Attempt)
- ‘Eventually I drove away…scary you don’t expect what they can do’ (Enhanced Equilibrium)

I found today extremely useful in helping the group discuss further how we could improve our documentary, there is a lot of work still to do which I think will not be a problem as the group works really well together and everyone is willing to put in the hours.

RESEARCH: Distributing the Final 3min Documentary

When the three-minute documentary is complete the next step is to distribute/screen it. Below is my research into what different types of distribution there is and where the film can be distributed in terms of these types.

 

Broadcast: (through a medium, for example tv/radio, that a wide audience will see if viewing/tuned into that channel at a given time when the media is shown. This can also be done through online streaming.)

C4 3 Minute Wonder - a way for new budding Directors to show there work through a theme/moral each week which can then be seen in the film when shown on an individual basis.

Source TV – being part of the university this could be a good way to show the product to fellow students and also anyone who is interesting in the topic being presented.

Internet: (a website that allows videos to be uploaded.)

YouTube - this would be an ideal way of distributing the documentary as a wide audience will be able to view the video at their leisure.

Facebook – an up to date site where a lot of people are constantly online and if a friend of your profile or the video is linked to many a wide audience can see it, this would also allow Trinity St. Taxis to have a video based on one of their drivers on their page/profile. So that people interested who use these Taxis will be able to view it.

Cast Post - simliar to YouTube but not as well used or popular.

Festivals: (a way of screening short/feature-length films to a selected audience who have an interest in the product that is being shown, this will take place in a small/large theatre/cinema dependant upon the reason/type of film festival. Also the same film may be shown in several screening throughout the week/day)

Bradford International Film Festival 18th – 28th March 2010 – this would have been a great opportunity and experience if we were to screen the documentary here however the deadline for entering a film has already gone, with it started next week. Also at this venue on the day you can book appointments with Film Makers, Directors, Editors etc who will give you advice on your films if they do not get through and the venue is open for exhibition to make sets, use simple green screen and be a news presenter.

Bordlines Film Festival 26th February – 14 March 2010 – Again another great venue however the majority of films shown particularly at this festival are feature films meaning that our short documentary could not be entered other than this the festival is already ongoing.

London Independent Film Festival 15th – 27th April 2010 - we have also missed the deadline for this event as it closed 6th March however there would be a possibility of entering our film for next years film festival June time. This Festival is extremely well-known and mostly features works that meet professional standards or are professional. Again this would have been a great opportunity to get our names out there and for it to be seen by a wide range of audiences even well-known Directors etc themselves. 

Screenings: (similar to a festival but with a much smaller audience and quite often locally)

Ellen Terry ETG34 – being a student film other students doing a similar course will have an interest in this also this is on a local basis and with the documentaries being about people of Coventry this seems convenient.

Roots to Shoots Film Night - this takes place locally in Coventry and Leamington Spa. This seems like on on-going event that happens every so often and although the events for this month have already gone that does not mean that we can not enter next time when our film is complete. Also there is a film night on the last Thursday of every month to bring together young film makers productions.

Student Halls – this would be ideal to open students eyes as to what Taxi drivers go through on a day to day basis with Abdul being a driver for one of the most popular student used Taxi company.

Cinema: (where a short like this could be shown at the beginning during the advertisements and that would be relevant to the feature-length film being shown meaning that the audience would also be able to engage in the documentary)

Sky Dome Odeon Coventry – this could be a possibility providing we asked permission, but this screening would be advertised on a much smaller level compared to  Debbie Isitt’s ‘Nativity!’ as it would be a part of the trailer sequence due to it being so short.

Showcase Cinema Coventry - this takes the same role as the Odeon Cinema above however with this cinema there are links to various events that are going on in Coventry locally that the film could be entered into a competition.

Editing Begins 03/03/10

Today me, Sam and Yasmin met up and began to look through what footage we had captured yesterday. This was a very successful morning/afternoon and after some critical decisions about where to cut the film sequences from outside to inside the car and deciding which parts of Abduls answers from the interview were most relevant, we came up with a (what we think) good short video.

Below is the transciption of the parts of the footage we thought useful, the time frame and what Abdul talks about at this point:

TRANSCRIPTION
0 – 14   Abdul introduces himself
1.0   How he has made new friends, places etc on the job grown confidence and learns something new everyday
1.22   He got into Taxi business through a friend – he likes because can work when he wants
2.12   Positive job – likes driving, social able hours and work when want
2.35   Good/bad customer – 90% all good also body language
3.00   kids 18/19 worst (drunk) – trouble
3.30   Have to kick bad customers out
3.34   After a few warnings take bad customer to the police
3.48 – 5.05   Gun point
5.23   He takes each day as a new day – never know who picking up – always cautious
5.56   Panic Attack started from bad relationship – used to get when customers were in the bad and worried and on long journeys
6.37   Wouldn’t take up another driving job – suggests Bus Driver did think about it
7.23   Change about Taxi job today – less Taxis on road, license less and more work
8.55   Future – sees him being Taxi driver for longer
9.15   Good trade to be in
9.47 Best time is Christmas – more money

Although we only had one minute to produce the short video which would lead to the final documentary we found it difficult cutting it down from the two and a half minutes we originally edited together resulting in a one minute fifty-five second clip. This is a replica of the final documentary as all of the interview included we would ideally like to use later on. The only part we missed out was the positive outlook at the end of the film.

We already know that the sound in the short below is not at its best but when we produce the final product we will perfect this. The sound will be easy to perfect later on due to us having Abdul’s clip mic connected to the long shot PD170 and my clip mic (interviewer) and the boom mic connected to the medium close-up PDX10. We would also like to gain feedback on the film itself tomorrow during the workshop as the style will be the same for the actual documentary.

 

PAPER EDIT
From the transcription notes above and looking at the clip we edited together we then went onto create a paper edit outlining the structure for the final documentary;
1.   A short introduction to Abdul visually and outline what he does through audio/visual together. (2.12 – likes driving)
2.   Looking at positve aspects to the job (2.12 – social able hours etc)
3.   Good customer (2.35 – 90% all good) 
4.   How deals with bad customers (3.00-3.40 – kids drunk, kick bad customers out and police)
5.   Gun point (3.48 – 5.05 whole story)
6.   Panic Attack (5.56 – used to have when customers in cab)
7.   Each day new day  (5.23 – never know who picking up – always cautious)6.37   Wouldn’t take up another driving job – suggests Bus Driver did think about it
8.   Job good overall – enjoys (9.15 – good trade)

Reflection 3: Research Production

At the beginning of the research process we set ourselves the task of finding out statistics of attacks on Taxi Drivers and the dangers to the job. After looking at this in depth we came to realise that this would not be the true heart of the story, we really wanted to know as (would an audience) what made Abdul be a Taxi driver for so long. So to get some ideas together we produced a number of questions we could ask Abdul in a mock interview to get to know him better as a person and what makes him ‘tick’ whilst doing his job. This was part of our primary research which led into secondary research at a later stage once we had decided which key factors we would like to focus on.

From the mock interview we gained a number of aspects to the job that we had never thought about before and also Abduls personal feelings. This is where we started to look into Panic Attacks and the symptoms/triggers (he spoke about this and mentioned that it came about since being a Taxi Driver), body language of people – how this portrays them as a person (he spoke about good/bad customers and being able to tell the difference by their body language) and Trinity St. Taxis (Abduls main source of work).

The mock interview and prescheduled filming date helped with Abduls confidence in front of the camera which can be seen in the final footage through his arm movement, eye line and lack of ‘umming’ and ‘arrring’.

During the shooting of the production at first we were not so lucky with the weather however after a reschedule we managed to capture some really good shots. During this process we worked extremely well as a team each taking our separate roles within the group – James and Aaron Cameramen, Me – Interviewer, Yasmin – Boom Operator and Sam – Photography. I took it upon myself to be the Interviewer as it seemed from past meetings with Abdul he could engage with me and if he did not understand a question I could easily rephrase it on the spot. Also I took part in the filming whilst inside the Taxi along with Sam and Yasmin, and I felt that I could bring my true potential to the group from this with my ideas of the variety of shots to use and my steady hand (which was not so easy when the Taxi was moving). I found that when editing a lot of the shots I had captured were useful and just what the group was looking for as an extra visual element other than Abdul standing outside of the Taxi. I am proud of the groups work so far and am looking forward to see the final product.

The set up whilst filming, as the group works together as a team.

 

 

Me and Sam filming inside the Taxi, as you can see all of this footage was hand held and at times was hard to hold steady.

  

 

Double checking the sound is working well and the setting are correct and in place.

   

Trinity St. Taxis banner outside the location of the offices.

 

Filming 24/02/10 and 02/03/10

Day one of filming begins and the spirits of the group are high, the weather is great – blue sky and dry, equipment is set, Abdul briefed and we are ready to go. Only moments into filming the documentary and the rain begins to fall getting heavier and heavier leaving each of us cold and wet. This also meant that filming was difficult as our concentration was cast upon protecting the equipment as well as filming. Luckily nothing was damaged due to our care and attention through the use of numerous umbrellas. From this moment on we know that the footage we had captured was not going to be the best.

After going away and looking over the footage the next day it became apparent that very little if any of what we had captured could be use because of the rain and we also felt that Abdul was holding back due to this and cut many of his answers short. However we took this as a practice in setting up the equipment and we had certainly learnt how to set up the sound as even with the busy road behind Abduls voice could be heard loud and clear. This also helped to improve Abduls confidence in front of the camera which I will talk about below.

Here are a few pictures of the group working together:

 

The equipment that we had booked out for the original filming date we booked out again for the rescheduled date next Tuesday:
1 x PDX10, 1 x PD170, 3 x XLR Cables, 2 x Headphones, 2 x Clip Mic, 2 x Tripod, 1 x Boom Mic and 1 x Boom Pole.

Also our roles within the group stayed the same whilst filming as we had each become comfortable with the positions we had selected, in addition to this by keeping it the same we thought it would help Abdul be a bit more relaxed.
James – Main Camera Operator
Aaron – Main Camera Operator
Me – Interviewer and Assistant Camera Operator
Yasmin – Boom Operator and Assistant Camera Operator
Sam – Photography and Assistant Camera Operator

Day Two and there is a positive outlook within the team, weather – dry, clear sky and slight sunshine, equipment has been collected and the group begins to set up.

Together we set up all of the equipment before Abdul arrived to make sure everything was ready and I ran through the questions to make sure they flowed evenly when I asked Abdul. We also took the time to fill out a Risk Assessment Form and Interview Form so that Abdul would only have to sign when he arrived as he already knew the procedure from previous meetings.

During the filming we each stuck to our primary roles as labelled above and everything was running smoothly. We then went inside Taxi to film – at this point due to lack of space just Me, Yasmin and Sam went to film, at this point I had a strong idea as to which shots capture. At times it was harder to get the shot that I wanted when I filmed due to the Taxi moving so the shots were shaky and I sometimes forgot that there was a glass between passenger and driver which made it difficult to capture some parts. As a result from this I came away knowing that I had done my best in filming for the group and hope that everyone will be happy with the produce when we take a look at the footage tomorrow. 

We also took the time to visit the offices of Trinity St. Taxis which Abdul kindly showed us round. Here we captured film footage and photographs of the call equipment, Boss, Co-worker of Abdul, the advertisements they use, tracking devices for Taxis and general parts of the office. This was a useful experience as it gave us a chance to see the offices first hand and see how the Taxi system works from answering the call, to tracking a Taxi to the customer’s house and finally the journey to the customer’s location.

I am really pleased with where we are at so far in terms of the documentary and can see we are half way there to the final product. At the lower half of the images above, this is of the group working together on day two of filming (when the cursor hovers over the image from ‘Aaron film’ onwards).