Finishing off the Edit

Now that we had the rough cut done Olivia started to edit the sound. She imported the sound bites into Soundtrack Pro and started to use Compression and Noise Reduction to get rid of back ground noise.  Once she had completed this she re imported the tracks into Final Cut Pro and re synced them.

When watching back the Piece both Joe and I felt that the previous tracks sounded better with background noise rather then having the edited ones that have a slight echo to them. Joe then imported the acoustic tracks that he had recorded of his friend to have as a backing track. We both sat and went through adjusting the levels and adding fades to the sound bites in order to keep the piece flowing. 

As producer Hannah had been letting us get on with the edit so came in so that I could have her opinion on the progress of the edit. This was helpful as we had a fresh look on it and she had pointed out a few changes that would improve the piece. Once this was done we exported and burn the discs.

Overall I think from having such a poor start to this project we managed to create something far better then I thought we could have, even though I don’t think it’s the strongest it could have been. Many of the shots could be improved and by having better planning and communication we could have come out with a much stronger initial footage to work with and therefore stronger documentary in the end. In the end we all did pull together and it could have ended a lot worse then it did. It reminds me of a typical commercial documentary that you'd find on the tv, where nothing really exciting happens and it doesn't challenge you in any way. I didn't really want to create a documentary like this but I proud with the fact that we even had one at the end of the day. 

Post Production

Once I had produced the Transcript I made a running order of the interviews as a basic layout for Fiona and Joe to work with. This is what i produced:

Each contributor answer the same questions so I want to have each of them all contribute to each answer. This is so that then what they are saying is then backed up with the other contributed, this is going to be done by having the beginning of one answer, middle of the next and end of the last answer.

To help with the edit i organised the clips into bins and labeled them all to help with the editing process. After Leaving the editors with this outline and explaining what I wanted from the edit on Monday and Tuesday they didn't seem to progress much. Olivia had managed to sync up the recorded sounds with the correct interviews. So on Wednesday afternoon after my seminar I sat and directed Joe and Fiona as to what interview to place when, where to cut of the speech and the visuals that we could place as cutaways in order to create the outline that I planned. By wednesday evening we had the basic rough cut finished leaving the finishing touches and all the sound to be edited on Thursday.

Transcript

To help with the edit I produced a Transcript with all the content from the interviews. this would also help me for when I direct the edit as I know what exactly is being said, by who and at what point. Here is a copy of it:

Cavern Club

Why do you think The Beatles left Liverpool?

They had too, the music scene was not like it is now. You needed to be in London, that’s where at the places to bee seen and that’s where all the studios were. They had to go, there was no facilities in Liverpool or the North of England to accommodate them.

Are you proud to be from Liverpool …

I’m Proud to be from Liverpool anyway never mind the musical heritage. There is so much else, cultural heritage, maritime history and it’s just the greatest city on earth.

Do you think the Beatles made rock and roll or killed it?

They invented pop music. Pop music evolved after they had their career into what we class rock and roll to be now.

Would they still be popular …

I think they had their time to be honest. The four members had grown up, had families and drifted apart. Their musical tastes and appetites were drastically different.

Do you think there are other things in Liverpool …

Errr, obviously football that brings in a lot of tourists, people come for the architecture and the maritime history. But I think if you mention Liverpool to some body the first word they are going to say is Beatles.

As a Liverpudlian has the success of the Beatles influenced you in any way?

Yes, being from Liverpool inspires everybody. It’s given me a living for the past 18 years. It inspires me every morning when I walk in to here and if they haven’t existed we wouldn’t be sat here.

Would you have taken the gamble …

Absolutely not, I’ve heard recordings from before they were signed, spoke to people who have seen them, listened to them in those early days before they went to Hamburg, and they were awful.

Do you think that the music industry would be different … john Lennon?

I think the music industry would be better off if John Lennon hadn’t had an early death. It would be interesting to see what and who he will be recording with.

If Paul McCartney handt written Helter Skelter you would never have had Punk Rock. Without Punk Rock you would never have the Sex Pistols. Without the Sex Pistols you would have never had The Smiths, and without The Smiths you would never have Stone Roses, Oasis, Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, any of that modern, indie, rock pop. Music would be drastically different without them existing.

Cavern Club

Favourite Beatle?

My Favourite Beatle is John Lennon, as you could probably tell be looking at me.

Favourite Song?

My favourite song it Don’t Let Me Down and I don’t know why I like it, I just love it.

Paddy

Favourite Beatle?

One of my favourite Beatles when I was young was John, but now will probably be George Harson be cause he is a very humane as a person and he did a lot to help people. He was unselfish and he wasn’t into the whole … . He was pretence of himself, just went sort of private after the Beatles. He didn’t like aviation, he was a very private person.

Favourite Song?

Probably Penny Lane because it brings alive a time that someone has seen in a place. You had all the busses and everything in the background  and when you look at the video you see them talking. Its just basically brings everything alive and you can visulise it even if you’ve never been there and I know for a lot of Beatles fans this is a big thing.

Industry be different if John Lennon …

If John Lennon hadn’t had an early death I imagine it would have been a lot different. I don’t think we would have all this X Factor garbage for a start. I don’t think Lennon would ever consider looking at that stuff.  It’s a joke really you know, its not proper music, it’s a manufactured industry and Lennon, The Beatles and a lot of other Bands aren’t about that. I think he would have spoke out for a lot of artists and I would have been a lot more radical. He was due to go on his first political march 5 days after he was shot. It was that first one he had been on in years so I would have imagined he would have been involved in a lot of green peace.

Paddy

Different if John Lennon hadn’t had early death? (Take 2)

If John Lennon hadn’t had an early death, definitely it would have been different ermmm it wouldn’t have been as manufactured I don’t think towards things like towards the X Factor, as I suppose that is just the way of the worldnow, its quite gimic, get them in, get them out and make the money. Where as the Beatles were totally different, I mean once they went past the boy band stuff and it became Lennon Harrison and McCartney on their own they were really radical and they changed music forever.

Paddy

Would you have taken Gamble?

Ermmm, if I had seen them in the Cavern all those years ago. When you hear covers like mike bonny and all I don’t really know. But when you listen to the sort of stuff they brought back from Hamburg which was very raw for its time and very pure I would have took the gamble based on that. To me that was the real Beatles. And Hamburg and the long hours they played in the star club and that, with Pete and all and Ringo playing with Rory Storm that what’s made the Beatles and game them that unique sound and the stamina that they developed to keep going forward.

Made rock and roll or killed it?

Ermm The Beatles made Rock and Roll or killed it. I think they had a massive influence I don’t think they killed it. You look at the roots of Rock and roll and where it came from, because Elvis took a lot of his music from the coloured and black music traditions in the south of America. Ermm, there was a mixture of a lot of things but it think we definitely took it forward massively with the sergeant pepper, Abby road, The white album, let it be. And everybody has been influenced so massively from the Beatles and if you think about what they have achieved with the instrument’s they had, they didn’t have the technology we have today. I mean I was in Abby Road studio two last week and when you see it and you see some of the stuff they used and what they achieved with it is absolutely incredible.

Tourist

Favourite Beatle?

John Lennon because he was different, raw, brilliant .

Favourite Song?

The first one that made number one was Please Please Me and that was the song that brought everything to me when I was going to work. That was the best, that was the beginning of it.

Effect on society today…

Well they are still going now, for they are not playing or making music, but the music is still the best there ever was and it takes some beating. I don’t think another band ever top what they did and the effect on young people even when you go see tribute bands in the audiences you see kids, of 10 or 11 listening to the Beatle music. So that’s the effect. There are generations just finding out about them now

When that first song came out Please Please me, and actually when you start thinking about the song please please me. At the time when people were saying please please me they have looked at it in different ways, because when you listen to the words it can be said in two ways. You know, it was absolutely brilliant music that they brought out. Imagine when they brought that out.

I’ve just been to the museum, have you? I tell you they have his actually glasses there and actually guitars that they used. It’s absolutely brilliant.

We just travelled down because some times they have bands playing live in august here

Tour Guide Interview

Proud to be from Liverpool because of musical heritage here?

I am very proud to be from Liverpool not just the musical heritage but whole city.

Made Rock and Roll or killed it?

I don’t think you can say the Beatles made Rock and Roll or Killed it. As the impact they had on popular culture has brought Rock and Roll ermmm it converted into something for the masses rather then a specific age group of genre of music.

Continued being successful

I think the Beatles have continued to be a success because of what they left behind. Breaking up really didn’t have anything t do with it, they have still gone on to be the most successful band in history with sales, even thou they stopped performing live

Other things in Liverpool

Yes, the whole city itself has become very successful. The Football, the historical aspect of the city in general is a success. And tourism is a success; the only growth industry in Liverpool is tourism.

Their success inspired you in any way?

Ermm, as a Liverpudlian I think the success of the Beatles has mad it easier to make success of my own career cos I’ve been a Beatle Tour guide for 11 years, I’ve been a DJ at the Cavern for 17 years. No matter where I go in the world they say where you from, I say Liverpool they say awhhh love Liverpool and the Beatles. They just go hand in hand together

Why they left

I think they had to leave Liverpool, I think the music business was run out of London. The facility to take over the world wasn’t in Liverpool, it was in London so the main record and recording studios were in London, they had to go.

Favourite Beatle

Paul would be my Favourite Beatle because I grew up listening to not really Beatle music but from influences form my mum and dad, and Pauls solo career and wings?? At the time I was born in 74 it was wings that I was growing up listening to as much as the Beatles. And Pauls Solo career was obviously far bigger then John, George and Ringo’s at that time.

Favourite Song

Its hard to say a Favourite Beatle song growing up my favourite song was honey doubt which was obviously sung by Ringo but id say later in life my favourite Beatle song has got to be come together. Because it was just … lyrics of none sceptical lyrics, just sounded good.

Take 2

Favourite song growing up was Honey Doubt because of Ringo. As a child Ringo was more fun, but later on in Life come together has become my favourite Beatle song because it has non sentical lyrics that just sounded good.

Musical industry be different if John Lennon hadn’t had early death?

No. no I think John Death had an impact on how music was changing at the time but the influence he left behind had influence a lot music that comes out today.

Taken Gamble?

I think it’s a question you cant really answer unless you actually saw them playing in the cavern club. Obviously I’m far to young to have seen them but I think the raw energy that they had at the cavern proved that they were going to go on and make great things, so yeah I probably would have signed them after seeing them at the cavern club

Effect still today?

I Think the Beatles Influence everything about music to this day, you hear any band who’s out in the charts now. Every single one of them will say one of out major influences were The Beatles. Because they grew, you know, writing songs about real things and life in working class areas. It just proved that you can go on and make a big success of their lives.

Production

During filming in Liverpool we were really lucky to get chatting to Paddy, who works in a Beatle gift shop on Matthew Street as he knew people from Cavern Pub and someone who's does the Beatles Tours so kindly gave them a ring and we went from having no interviews planned to having some really helpful and willing contributors.

As Joe had no group to work with he joined ours and assessed Mari-anne with camera work and is going to be joint editor along with Fiona.

I think as a group we could have worked better at listening to each other. Everyone was very opinionated with what they wanted to shot so personally I think we missed out some good shots due to bad communication. Due to not being allowed to do the same roles as the previous project not everyone was doing what their strengths are in so everyone started taking over each others roles and going back to what they feel is their strengths. As the Director I think that after not being the strongest director initial ideas I tried hard to direct during the shot but found myself being ignored and spoken over to the extent where I didn't get half the shots that I wanted and planned.

When looking back at the footage I feel as thou the GV's are much stronger shots to the Interview as we didn't get the tight framing I wanted and for one of the interviews the colour is completely out due to the lights on location so we are going to have to keep that specific contributor as a voice over. Here are some stills of the shots that we have captured:

Interviews and Pre Production

Prior to the trip both Hannah and I tried to plan interviews with contributors that works at The Cavern Club, The Cavern Pub and surrounding Beatle souvenir shops. I managed to get in contact with The Merseyside Beatles who were until the other year The Cavern Clubs mains Beatles tribute band. As they didn't play there any more they suggested that we contacts the Cavern Club directly but if we were unsuccessful in contacting them and sorting something out then they would help. After Hannah didn't get a reply from the Cavern Club I tried to contact them again but didn't hear anything back.


Here are the questions that we planned to ask the contributors:

• Who is your favourite Beatle and why?
• What is you favourite Beatle song and why?
• Are you proud to be from Liverpool because of the musical heritage here?
• As a Liverpudlian, has the Success of the Beatles inspired you in anyway?
• Do you think there are other things in Liverpool as successful as the Beatles?
• Do you think the Beatles made Rock and Roll or killed it?
• Why do you think the Beatles left Liverpool?
• Do you think the music industry would be different if John Lennon didn't have an early death?
• Would you have taken the gamble on signing the Beatles had you seen them playing in the Cavern Club in their early years?
• Do you think the Beatles would have continued to be as successful had they not broken up or do you think they had their time?

Some of these question were based around news articles that Hannah had found involving both good and bad views on the Beatles. 

"Beatles hit to be played in space"

(Click to view full article)

"The man who rejected the Beatles"

(Click to view full article)

"Did the Beatles Destroy Rock 'n' Roll?"

(Click to view full article)

"Liverpool named top musical city"

(Click to view full article)

"Historic Beatles stage saved"

(Click to view full article)

For the production folder we needed a treatment. As the Director I produced this as have sent to Hannah to place in the Project Folder.

Inspiration

I want our documentary to be personal and have people from Liverpool tell the story about The Beatles and this success rather then have a narration and voice over telling it. I think this can help make our piece seem more personal, like Pockets.

While trying to think up ideas for shots I looked at several of Channel 4's short documentaries, 3 Minute Wonder. I think by looking at these that they keep things very simple and to the point. They don't have time to fill up space with shots that are unnecessary. I really want to have some shots of Liverpool to set the Scene but will have to make sure that we don't waste time getting to the point of our documentary, The Beatles.

Link to 3 Minute Wonders webpage

As I hadn't been to Liverpool before i found it had trying to visualise the shots and locations that would be good to film out so i had to do a lot of research into Matthew street and what it looks like here is a few images that i found from the web:

Further Development of Ideas

Straight after our Presentation we discussed the possible ideas that we could have for our Documentary. The idea that we all agreed on was The Beatles. As the director I feel though I hadn't fulfilled my role to the most at this point as I hadn't come up with a strong idea, but I had said when I agreed to be director that I'm not the most creative so do need help to come up with the idea, once we have a god idea I could happily go and plan shots and order of which we would go about telling our story. During this discussion I feel as the others in my group then started working better and bouncing around ideas which lead to The Beatles.

Here is a Shot List and a few ideas of Story Boards that I produced in order for Hannah to make a schedule for our time in Liverpool.

At the start of the Documentary I want to show a few shots of Liverpool in general before mainly focusing on The Beatles to help set the scene, this would involve shots up and down Matther Street, the Street sign. I also want shot of people to show the popularity of this street, I think that i would be interesting to get shots of a loads of peoples feet as they walk past like a time lapse. People are more likely to carry one walking and not focus on the fact that there is a camera there if we we to have the camera down on street level at their feet. For the Interview I want quite tight framing around the Contributors faces and have them slightly of centre. each contributor would be slightly off to each side so then when they are cut into each other you have a variety of angles. I also was a lot of Cut away to the show the setting in which the interview is taking place and the scenes around Matthew Street. This was when they are on scene you focus on them, not their settings.

At this stage in Pre-Production we felt that Fiona was struggling with the scheduling and organising. Also due to personal reasons Fiona was going to be absent from the shot in Liverpool so we felt that Hannah would be able to fulfil the role more sufficiently. This then meant the roles were as follows:

• Director: Myself
• Producer: Hannah
• Camera: Mari-anne
• Sound: Olivia
• Editor: Fiona

Idea Development / Pitch

The starting point for our idea for our Documentary was If Questions so i decided to mind map a range of If questions to see if there was any that I thought would be able to link into one another in order to make some sort of structure.

I liked the whole concept of If questions but was trying to think practically about it and i couldn't see a clear structure to this idea. I tried communicating this to my group but no one seemed to understand where I was coming from. As this was the day prior to our Pitch Presentation I spent a considerably long time trying to get inspiration as to what direction that I could try and bring our Documentary towards. i didn't want our documentary to turn out into something commercial that has been done time and time before. I want it to have some sort of meaning and thought process holding it together. But unfortunately I am not the most creative of people so kept coming to dead ends.

Hannah helped and together we managed to try and make a structure to the concept of If Questions as this was the angle of which the other group members seemed to want to do. Here is a copy of the idea Hannah wrote to present and some initial shot ideas that I  thought up:

I wasn't that happy with this idea but it was this or nothing at this stage.

The Presentation couldn't have gone any worse. Hannah and I meet the others before the seminar in order to try and explain this idea to them. During the Presentation everyone seemed to talk over each other and no one was really sure as to what our exact approach was. This then made everyone realise the fact that we had no strong idea or structure for our documentary.

Erics Secrets

This is a 3 minute documentary by Lucia Ashmore about and elderly man and his secrets about life and cooking.

I really enjoyed watching this short documentary. I think that way that it has been put together is very well and highlights the simplicity of the character. The majority of the shots show him talking about his life, meeting his wife and cooking and each time he's very casual in the way he address the camera and audience. I think the fact that he's like this helps that audience feel as thou they are just sitting in his house with him, having a cup of tea listening to his stories as you would with you own granddad. This really appeals to me as its such a simple subject and very simply done but you feel so sympathetic toward him so want to listen to his stories and find out what else he has to tell.

Unlike the previous one, about skating, it doesn't feel at all set up, even thou the interview and pieces to camera would have been. I think I would want to bring this approach into our documentary, i don't want it to feel like your being forced to listen and except what is being told, I think it is so much more of a powerful story to have the audience wanting to listen and find out.

The piece as a whole just flows really smoothly even thou there are jump cuts of him doing things in the same position that he is being interviewed in and the cutaways. I think the constant subtle melodic song that plays throughout helps connect the pieces and shots together. I also think that is it very clever how the story flows smoothly even thou the character changes locations several times through the piece.

Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul

This is a 10 minute documentary by Orlando Von Einsiedek about a project that has been set up in Pakistan to teach Kids how to skate.

In this piece I like how they have managed to portray a very unique subject that people don't really get to see in areas such as Pakistan. This piece is based on the children and how learning to skate has managed to improve their quality of live. I think the bas of this piece is very personal but no way near as personal as Pockets. The shots feel very set up, such as the opening shots of boys skating around the town, in and out of shot. I don't really this aspect of the piece as I as a viewer don't want to feel as thou they are forcing the story upon us rather then it just naturally unravelling.

One of the things that I do like thou is the fact that this whole subject area is very unknown and not shown. there are many documentaries and programmes about the war and fighting in deprived countries such as Pakistan but it always shows the adults point, never really about how the children are affected when they can't change or choose anything, they just have to get on with growing up in these circumstances. I think by having the shots of the solders and derelict building that we are al use to seeing in amongst other shots of the kids learning to skate helps portray that the media only show aspects of what is happening when there is so many other things happening around these areas that get missed out. they focus on the negative, rather then look at the positive things around them.

Overall, I wouldn't go out my way to watch this again. it reminds me a lot of adverts trying to get people onboard with their project where as i prefer documentaries that teach and show us things that we may have not thought about before.

Pockets

This is a 3 minute long Documentary by James Lees that looks at the content of peoples pockets and what the objects say about them.

I really like the way in which this is shot. He has used a lot of depth of field when filming the shots of their hands having the background of the shot out of focus. I really like this effect as brings all your focus onto their hands, not what you can see in the background. It also gives an artistic feel to the piece using very simple shots of their hands and faces but together they build up small stories about them. 

What is inspiring from this piece, and what I would like to bring into ours is the how personal it is. when watching it doesn't seem set up of fake in anyway. The stories are very personal to the contributors and the narrative as a whole comes from them, not a voice over or someone telling the story for them. I want to bring this into our documentary by having the general public in and around Liverpool to tell the stories rather then us tell their story for them. 

Something else that stands out when watching this is the way in which James Lees has framed the shots. In many of the shots showing the persons facial features he has decided to crop aspects out. such as having an extreme close up on the mouth or by having the contributor half off screen. I think this is some sort of signifier for the fact that the contents of their pockets and what they have said only build up a part of their entire story, showing only a part of their appearance. 

Documentary

We were recently given our next brief, This is for a 5 minute Documentary which will be filmed in Liverpool and based on Liverpool Stories. We had initial discussions about ideas of which we came up with the concept of If questions, for example If you only had a day to live, what would you want to do? We are thinking that we want to make the piece quite personal and use a range of people and ages from the  Liverpudlian community.

We also allocated out the roles for this project, as we were not allowed to do the same role as the previous project we were unable to do our strongest roles and decided the following

• Director: Myself
• Producer: Fiona
• Camera: Mari-anne
• Sound: Olivia
• Editer: Hannah