The final edit of our 2 minute poetic piece, Made in Sheffield, has been published onto Vimeo and can be viewed via the link below:
https://vimeo.com/112400276
Thursday, 20 November 2014
Treatment for Made in Sheffield
Made in Sheffield
Production Group:
Hannah Grencis (Producer)
Sarah Cooper (Cinematography)
Emily Spokes (Sound)
Heather Hall (Editor).
Length: 7 minutes
The Tagline: A unique area with a story to tell, before it is too late.
The Devonshire Quarter of Sheffield has always been known for its striving independence since the 1970s. Current demolition plans propose to knock down unique independent businesses in the area, leaving owners out of business and an empty, generic city in their place.
Made in Sheffield captures a community of Sheffield people; independent business owners who have grown up in the city and whose venues allow visitors and residents alike to experience a different and unique side to the city. They are the ones directly affected if these proposed plans for demolition get the go ahead. They are the ones who believe in their businesses and are passionate about doing something different and bringing it to a city that is creative and benefits from an independent sector. The film allows the people of Sheffield to voice their opinion and gives them a chance to openly express how much they care about the issue; how much the city benefits from these businesses and the truthfulness of the impact that it will have if the proposed plans do in fact go ahead. The film goes behind closed doors and delves into the smaller details of the stores affected, showcasing the unique work that they do on a daily basis, and the passion that they put into it.
Made in Sheffield captures a community of Sheffield people; independent business owners who have grown up in the city and whose venues allow visitors and residents alike to experience a different and unique side to the city. They are the ones directly affected if these proposed plans for demolition get the go ahead. They are the ones who believe in their businesses and are passionate about doing something different and bringing it to a city that is creative and benefits from an independent sector. The film allows the people of Sheffield to voice their opinion and gives them a chance to openly express how much they care about the issue; how much the city benefits from these businesses and the truthfulness of the impact that it will have if the proposed plans do in fact go ahead. The film goes behind closed doors and delves into the smaller details of the stores affected, showcasing the unique work that they do on a daily basis, and the passion that they put into it.
Our contributors tell us their own stories, expressing their passionate opinions, but they also show us. Lucy has worked at independent vintage clothing store Syd and Mallory for eight and a half years. Her business has already had to relocate three times in the city and she feels strongly about not wanting to leave, as she believes the store has ‘finally found the perfect place to stay’. Lucy found out via social media that her business was under threat of closure, and is currently fighting back by setting up an in store petition opposing the plans, in which hundreds of customers have already and are continuing to sign. The film captures Lucy creating items for her store and openly discussing how the demolition plans will negatively impact on Syd and Mallory as both a successful online label as well as a local Sheffield brand. Her passion and determination to keep her business up and running in the building which they have grown to love is clear; ‘there aren’t many shops like this are there?’, and her fight in the struggle to keep it is an emotional one – ‘everything that we do is in this building and it’s great and we don’t want to leave’.
Kane is the general director of the Forum, a small independent shopping centre, café and bar on the corner of Devonshire Street. He has grown up in Sheffield and seen his business strive in the independent quarter area, and very passionately believes that independent businesses contribute to the public’s positive perception of Sheffield. He understands and feels unhappy about Lucy’s struggle, as he holds fond memories of when Syd and Mallory was located in the Forum, before being moved across to the opposite side of Devonshire Street. He believes that the independent quarter ‘draws people into a different side to Sheffield, a side which forms part of the city and which caters for people who may not enjoy city centre life’.
Steve works at The Green Room, a small independent pub on Devonshire Street, which regularly holds live music nights and supports local talent. He is disappointed at hearing of the plans, as he is proud to call Sheffield his hometown and does not want the city he knows and loves to become just like any other. He worries that if the plans do go ahead, business may be affected at The Green Room, and that the community of people around the area may well change into a similar environment to the city centre – something which he believes should be firmly kept there.
The film documents how each of the businesses in this quarter of Sheffield are unique in their own way, creating an exciting atmosphere around the area. It captures memories of those who have grown up in the area and have seen it develop, and who are trying desperately hard to save it.
Made in Sheffield captures a side to Sheffield that sadly may not be around in future generations, but which needs to be captured as it positively stands today. It will celebrate the importance of independent businesses in a creative and unique city, and visually highlight why they need to stay.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Bill Nichols: Mode of Documentary
Bill Nichols was the author of Introduction to Documentary and proposed 6 different modes for documentary films:
1) The Expository Mode
2) The Poetic Mode
3) The Observational Mode
4) The Participatory Mode
5) The Reflexive Mode
6) The Performative Mode
We learnt about his proposals in our seminar and I also went on to research his 6 modes in more detail (referenced at the end of this post)
Expository:
Also known as the 'voice of God'
What we identify most documentaries with
Uses a narrator to give a 'preferred' and 'direct' address to the audience
Often associated with TV News programmes
E.g - works of John Grierson, nature programmes such as David Attenborough's 'Life Story' (2014)
Poetic:
Subjective expression from the artist/filmmaker
Uses poetic manipulation to reach an 'inner truth' rather than the objective
Mood, tone, texture and visuals are emphasised
E.g - Leni Riefenstahl's 'Olympia' (1938); glorifying the Aryan olympians during the 1936 Olympics
Observational:
Like a 'window' into the subject
Captured with the filmmaker as a 'fly on the wall'
Exemplified by Direct Cinema in the late 50s/60s
Often the camera rushes about following action as the filmmaker doesn't provoke any action
E.g - Soho Stories (!996),
Participatory:
Direct engagement between the filmmaker and participant
E.g - works of Michael Moore, Living with Michael Jackson (2004)
Reflexive:
Aware of the process
Constructed natue of a documentary and showing it to the audience
A version of the truth but not 'the' truth
Audience aware of the editing, sound recording etc
E.g - Dziga Vertov's 'Man with a movie camera' (1929); we see part of the film being constructed in the film as it shows the mechanization of Soviet life in the 1920s
Performative:
Shows the subjective nature of the filmmaker
Filmmaker is the participant
E.g - Morgan Spurlock's 'Supersize Me' (2004)
http://www.godnose.co.uk/downloads/alevel/documentary/Doc%20Modes%20nichols.pdf
1) The Expository Mode
2) The Poetic Mode
3) The Observational Mode
4) The Participatory Mode
5) The Reflexive Mode
6) The Performative Mode
We learnt about his proposals in our seminar and I also went on to research his 6 modes in more detail (referenced at the end of this post)
Expository:
Also known as the 'voice of God'
What we identify most documentaries with
Uses a narrator to give a 'preferred' and 'direct' address to the audience
Often associated with TV News programmes
E.g - works of John Grierson, nature programmes such as David Attenborough's 'Life Story' (2014)
Poetic:
Subjective expression from the artist/filmmaker
Uses poetic manipulation to reach an 'inner truth' rather than the objective
Mood, tone, texture and visuals are emphasised
E.g - Leni Riefenstahl's 'Olympia' (1938); glorifying the Aryan olympians during the 1936 Olympics
Observational:
Like a 'window' into the subject
Captured with the filmmaker as a 'fly on the wall'
Exemplified by Direct Cinema in the late 50s/60s
Often the camera rushes about following action as the filmmaker doesn't provoke any action
E.g - Soho Stories (!996),
Participatory:
Direct engagement between the filmmaker and participant
E.g - works of Michael Moore, Living with Michael Jackson (2004)
Reflexive:
Aware of the process
Constructed natue of a documentary and showing it to the audience
A version of the truth but not 'the' truth
Audience aware of the editing, sound recording etc
E.g - Dziga Vertov's 'Man with a movie camera' (1929); we see part of the film being constructed in the film as it shows the mechanization of Soviet life in the 1920s
Performative:
Shows the subjective nature of the filmmaker
Filmmaker is the participant
E.g - Morgan Spurlock's 'Supersize Me' (2004)
http://www.godnose.co.uk/downloads/alevel/documentary/Doc%20Modes%20nichols.pdf
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
Editing the 2 minute poetic piece
As we sat down to begin the editing process for the 2 minute documentary, we felt that we wanted our film to feature a combination of grey, mundane looking shots of the city centre in comparison to vibrant and quirky scenes around the Devonshire Area. We didn't think it could be too difficult to put our vision into a 2 minute structure but we struggled at times to figure out which footage was best left for the 10 minute piece rather than this brief.
As we played around with different pieces of footage to fit in with our narrative structure we decided to begin the film with Lucy; our contributor from Syd and Mallory, talking about the repetitive and plain lifestyle of the city centre. We played her voice over footage of the centre and also included sounds usually associated with high street chains, for example the self scan services in a supermarket. We didn't want to show any contributors' faces in this film so that viewers are keen to find out who the faces are behind the voices in the extended documentary.
As Lucy talks about the Devonshire Area we then showed footage of the independent shops with close ups of old books and records; signifying the variety of style each shop represents. We used these scenes at the end to see a brighter and more vintage theme throughout the area in comparison to the mundane, 'legoland' city buildings. Overall there weren't any major problems with the editing of this 2 minute piece, only difficulty we came across was exporting our final film but we asked a member of Stores for help and they managed to sort out the error for us.
Saturday, 1 November 2014
Research: Blight (!996) and Sound it out (2011)
One of our influences is 'Blight' by John Smith, where the demolition of houses in East London to be replaced by the M11 caused an uproar by residences living there. This film uses audio recordings, repeated constantly over scenes of houses that have been demolished and graffiti/road signs in the area. The voiceovers of residences recalling memories were interwoven with sounds of natural objects such as building work and cars. This created a poetic approach to the film while telling an emotional and real heartfelt story about the residences' homes being taken away from them. This is similar to the story we are wanting to present; with the demolition plans of the independent shops affecting those who work in the businesses, as well as the community who have grown up with the beloved shops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil33Hb9BpM
Another major influence we had was 'Sound It Out' by Jeanie Finlay, a documentary about a vinyl record shop in Teesside that is one of the few record shops still left open. The film provides a warm and friendly image of the shop to the audience as we see the customers who visit the shop, as one of the workers calls them 'random' but claims that is one of his favourite parts of the job. It shows scenes of a large collection of vinyl records and those working there comment how they are passionate about where they work, as well as their shop being the only vinyl record shop in Teesside. We feel a warm, empathetic bond with the characters and the faint sound of old retro music in the background also signifies the friendly themes. This is one of the approaches we would want our film to be inspired by and follow in the steps of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8RkLfJEHIE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil33Hb9BpM
Another major influence we had was 'Sound It Out' by Jeanie Finlay, a documentary about a vinyl record shop in Teesside that is one of the few record shops still left open. The film provides a warm and friendly image of the shop to the audience as we see the customers who visit the shop, as one of the workers calls them 'random' but claims that is one of his favourite parts of the job. It shows scenes of a large collection of vinyl records and those working there comment how they are passionate about where they work, as well as their shop being the only vinyl record shop in Teesside. We feel a warm, empathetic bond with the characters and the faint sound of old retro music in the background also signifies the friendly themes. This is one of the approaches we would want our film to be inspired by and follow in the steps of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8RkLfJEHIE
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