We started planning this production on Monday afternoon, following an investigation into the work of Richard Hunter, who was a free-lance filmmaker from London. This blog post is available to read here: http://strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/930-review-work-of-richard-hunter.html. His ideas inspired the editing behind my personal production, in the sense it was clean and synchronised, giving it a classy end result.
I began planning not really knowing what to base my project on. I couldn't think of an every day object to make interesting? It took a while, anyway. In college, I came up with the idea of cutlery, and I would film my two-year-old brother using his plastic spoon and aim to make it quite comical. That didn't work, he kept hiding from the camera and it ended up a genuine disaster, so I then had to completely restart my brain and think of a new object. I was just gazing around the kitchen whilst eating my dinner when suddenly a lightbulb went in my brain; clocks. I'll do clocks. They're the most boring thing in the world to look at, but everybody uses them constantly. Whether it's a watch or mobile phone, we constantly check the time.
I began writing my ideas down in a notebook about how I could display the production so it wouldn't be boring, or people would loose interest.
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| My mind-bubble of ideas |
I figured that as I only had approximately half a day to film this, I should keep it short and sweet. Simple footage could lead to better editing, resulting in a clear final production. In the end, I settled for the interview approach. Seeing as I was the only person, in my house, that could work the camera, I had to be behind it. Kindly, my mum offered to be the interviewee for my production and it actually turned about better than I thought it would.
There were a few set rules we all had to follow during the process of editing this final piece. This gave me a slight guidance as to how I would film and compose the four scenes. The documentary as a whole had to be exactly two minutes long, and if it wasn't, we would be marked down. It was a challenge, as it restricted me on what I could do and how long I could do something for, but I worked around it in the end.
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| Our rules and shots we had to follow |
I had a rough outline of what I wanted to create during the process of making the production. I decided, for the opening ten-seconds of the video, I would have ten different clocks from around my house. I would then cut each mini-clip to one-second long, and put them all together. I then added a 'ticking' clock sound effect on top, to really emphasise what my final production was about, and by the end of the ten seconds, it was clear as day. Following on from the 'every day' subject, I decided to used clocks that, as a household, we used every day. The microwave, cooker, iPhone and laptop clocks were just a selection of the ten final clocks I chose.
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| Four out of the ten clocks I chose to film |
For the opening titles, we had to use a template which was uploaded to the college Moodle. This section had to be six seconds long, and could include two shots; the first being the title, and the second being my name. For the title, I called the video 'Clocks', and just added my name, 'Olivia Searle' as the second frame. This was a simple way of showing the audience the main focus of the film, and who it was by. We also had to use the font Times New Roman, which is a traditional font that most people would recognise when first laying eyes on it. Secondly, we had to use white text on a black background. This would make it much easier to read than any other way and give it that signature look which most documentaries have, even on television.
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| Proof of the Times New Roman and white font |
We then had to fill a 1 minute 40 second slot, which would be our main documentary. This was, in so many words, the meat of the production. The juicy stuff that gives you all the flavour. We had to cram in a whole documentary in under two minutes. This is why I chose an interview, because it would fill time in the best manor and include everything I needed it to. Before I started filming my interviewee, I gave her a slight run-down of what I wanted her to say. I did not, however, give her a script. I felt this would be too false and it would come across better on camera if I let it flow naturally.
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| The camera set up I had during filming |
Surprisingly, filming the interview was the easiest section to film. My interviewee, which was my Mum, did a superb job! I was really pleased with how it came out. During the editing, I decided that instead of having a full 1 minute 40 second shot of just the interviewee, I would add other sections in too. This way, it wouldn't be un-interesting to watch. When the interviewee began talking about calendars, I then cut to a shot of the calendar set-up on the computer. With this, it would be clearer to see, than it just being in the background. It also gave it a more personal touch and added depth to the production.
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| My final editing timeline - exactly two minutes long |
I was really happy with how the production finally turned out. I thought the editing went really well and the concept of the film was captured within the audience. On top of the existing sound I had used, I decided putting a song over the top would give it that extra depth it was missing. It's amazing how much difference a simple noise in the background can change a whole production. Eventually, after a long time of searching, I settled for Clocks by Coldplay. No particular reason, I just thought the name fitted in quite well!
I hope this production gives people a different perception on clocks!
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d020hcWA_Wg - accessed 11th-Feb-2014
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