Author: annabelfenn

Bel’s Film write up 17.6.24

annabelfenn Cinematographer, Documentary

For our day of filming we predominantly focused on gathering a range of establishing shots for our documentary. In order to acquire these frames, we began our day around Cliff Street in Town, filming the stairs and houses from a variety of angles and with a diverse array of compositions. To film these shots we primarily used the tripod with a phone mount attached in order to achieve steady footage. However, for a couple of shots, we instead chose to use the shoulder mount fitted with a phone in order to create a push in tracking shot following the leading line of the stair railing. This was one of my favourite shots as I was very proud of how steady I kept my hands with the shoulder mount in order to capture this properly.  As a cinematographer I found this a valuable experience as it helped me push myself out of my comfort zone, and also helped me learn all the different ways to use a tripod and establish different angles and practice pedding, to help get high angles.

 

 

 

 

 

After we all had completed this we then moved on towards Tower hill down the bordage. At Tower Hill we took static shots of the steps and the plaque located there stating information regarding one of the burnings that took place within Guernsey. For the shot of the steps, we took one at a canted angle as well as a regular one, unfortunately though as the cinematographer I faced quite big difficulties trying to get the shot as the weather caused huge glare and it was hard to get the shot to the correct brightness, to help this we then dulled the brightness on my phone however some of these shots will have to be repeated in order to make sure our edit is of the best quality. Finally, we concluded the practical filming at the Priaulx Library, mostly taking footage of the exterior building before going inside to scout out areas for our interview, taking place on Thursday – 20/06/2024. 

Due to unfortunate circumstances however, getting our establishing shots of the Priaulx was extremely difficult. This is because as the cinematographer I had to make sure I framed our shot up correctly in order to cut out the scaffolding that was around Priaulx, along with that we had difficulty with the setting around the Priaulx as a lot of scenery was getting in the way, therefore meaning that some shots had to be repeated or cut by our editor. One shot in particular that we need to re-shoot is the footage of the stained glass window. This is due to the lighting being too bright and because of the angle of the light, created a huge glare in the video, therefore meaning that on Thursday I will try my very best to recreate these in better quality. 

 

 

Although we were unable to do the interview on Friday 14th due to short staff, our visit to the library was very beneficial as it allowed us to get used to the setting and also helped us pick up lots of important information and context for our documentary. One of the staff members in particular helped us find a whole list of information on witch burnings, which we then discussed would be beneficial for the end credits of our documentary. 

Moonlight Textual Analysis

annabelfenn Editor

Annabel Fenn (SFC) – Moonlight Textual Analysis Framework (1)

Here is my Moonlight textual analysis essay, I believe that I did well as I have included all the different features and also tried my best to include contextual knowledge.

In the future however I will need to be careful with my wordcount as unfortunately I was 2 words of 1500.

teacher feedback

I’m really glad you focussed on the scene in the bathroom in which he re-emerges from the water and is transformed. Remember water and the sea are a motif throughout the film. Chiron has many of his formative experiences by the beach and in water. He is baptised (by Juan) and here transformed again into the regressive figure of Black.

Some really good use of terminology, at times, especially in relation to camera, but there were opportunities to use terms for sound, editing and mise-en-scene, which you missed. Remember a Film Studies essay relies on use of terminology to identify the techniques being analysed by you and reveals that you understand film production decisions.

Your introduction to the context and film is strong, but there was some moments in your close textual analysis when you could have gone back to those ideas explicitly and specifically.

You’re right it was a pleasure to read and your strongest textual analysis essay so far. Very well done indeed! 18/28

 

Documentary Pitch

annabelfenn Editor

For our documentary we have decided to do ours based of guernsey folklore on witchcraft, we have indluded ideas in our pitch such as different shot types,structure and also different modes. The Documentary modes which we selected were expository and also poetic, we start with what steryotypical views of witches are and then end with the reality. This documentary will be a wonderful experience as we will visit locations such as le trepied and also castle cornet. We hope to include different types of sound such as foley and we also hope to include interviews with professionals therefore making it factual.

For my role I was assigned the cinematographer, being the cinematographer for our documentary is of huge significance because it means that I plan the structure of our documentary and how different shots are filmed, as a cinematographer I aspire to cooperate with my team members and also make our shot types as good as possible and in the certain focuses we choose. Being the cinematographer will be an amazing experience as it will mean that I will go outside my comfort zone and learn about how to strategically make a good documentary for an audience.

Main Targets:

– Adjust and refine the logline to better reflect our documentary intentions

– As a group, we need to find people to interview, such as a historian and someone who is currently a practicing witch or Pagan. We will then film these interviews prior to the rest of our documentary as these may influence our future cinematography plans. Before conducting these interviews we will – as a group – come up with questions to ask them.

 

documentary analysis

annabelfenn Documentary

There are 6 different Documentary modes: poetic, expository, observational, performative, reflexive, participatory.

Documentary films approach their subject matter in a variety of ways.

“John Grierson’s definition of documentary filmmaking – ‘the creative treatment of actuality’ – summarises its overarching fallacy. The fallacy being that documentaries often purport to reveal truths, however by the very act of documenting actuality, the director inadvertently alters its ‘truth’.” (Arielle Richards)

What Are Documentary Modes?

In 1991, American film critic and theoretician Bill Nichols proposed that there were six different modes of documentary—poetic, expository, reflexive, observational, performative, and participatory—each containing its own specific characteristics. Each mode is a category that can be boiled down to a few specific elements.

*No Place to Hide (2019) Leibovitch is a short expository documentary which provides an insight into the workings of a Michelin Star kitchen.

Expository documentary definition –

Expository documentaries are created with the intent of showcasing the ‘truth’ about a subject. These often showcase some form of omniscient voice-over and one or more interviewee. In expository documentaries, the cinematographer gathers footage to strengthen and support their ‘truth’, including re-enactments, archival footage, historical events and more.

Throughout this doc It features montages throughout, typically showing them at work, cooking. The documentary as a whole was a blend of rythmic and eliptical montages. These montages are quick and short, representing the fast-paced nature of the kitchen environment of a Michelin Star restaurant. These montages are paired with fast-paced percussion music which can be used to evoke feelings of stress within the audience and reflect the atmosphere being shown. 

 

 

The documentary ‘problem.’

annabelfenn Documentary

This documentary was watched in lesson and we discovered the concept of objective and subjective truths within a documentary. We spoke about the fallacy of documentaries and also the manipulation used within shot types and also with music and voiceovers. All documentaries are also biased and cannot be objected and leave an impact on the documentaries audience. A documentary’s aim is also to manipulate and emphasise issues.

“John Grierson’s definition of documentary filmmaking – ‘the creative treatment of actuality’ – summarises its overarching fallacy. The fallacy being that documentaries often purport to reveal truths, however by the very act of documenting actuality, the director inadvertently alters its ‘truth’.”

In the documentary Hanging on, we see all sorts of emotion and the extended metaphor of the people within the documentary “hanging on.”  We experience different emotions and also with the use of archival footage and photos we empahise with the people, we are introduced to a sense of suspense and sadness for these individuals.

www.mediafactory.org.au. (n.d.). – ‘the creative treatment of actuality’ |. [online] Available at: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/arielle-richards/2018/03/05/18-1-the-creative-treatment-of-actuality/.