Sleepless in Sheffield - Log sheet

Log sheet:

• Time lapse – the evening sky outside of University, the daytime sky outside of University 
• Establishing Shot – Busy midday outside of City Campus, the hill and city lights at night time
• Close Ups – hands typing on keyboard, reading a library book by the shelves, writing in a notebook, Tom sipping coffee (pull focus has been used in most of these)
• Mid Shots – for each interviewee 
• Vlog Shots – taken by Tom of himself
• Extreme Close Up Shots – words in dictionary 
• ‘Jib’ Shot, high angle, panning across Tom’s body – green screen shot 

Edit progress and feedback

The feedback we received for our first rough cut was very helpful in order for us to progress with our documentary, we were at that point only half way through editing so there were a few adjustments and improvements to be made. As we wanted our documentary focused around students specifically and the effects of sleep on them, we gathered a lot of research on the subject as well as including students in the footage when we could. However Tom was our subject who we put to the test so it was suggested that we focus more on him and specifically his experience to make it that bit more personal. One specific aspect that we wanted to experiment with was green screen, specifically a shot of tom laying down with the camera at a birds eye view angle, in order to do this we needed to use a piece of equipment that we hadn't used before called the ‘jib’. We received help and guidance in order to use the equipment effectively and it worked quite well. Also we waned to get an interview with a specialist who specialised in sleep and/or student health in order for us to have professional input and to give it more authenticity, this was a little difficult however so we were given some tips on how to contact someone to help us. 

Sound recording session

Sync sound allows you to record sound simultaneously with recording video, Lavalier microphones are something that we experimented with and learnt more about in our sound session. They are especially useful and mostly used for interview purposes as they are quite small making them easier to conceal than ordinary microphones. However despite this there can sometimes be trouble with sound coming from the interference of clothing traveling up the wires, this can be avoided with a few tricks. Tieing the wire in a loop helps to help create strain relief so that noise cant travel up the wire in to the microphone, also gaffer tape is the best way to stick the wire down to clothing or the skin without it leaving a residue or causing pain when peeling off.The microphones are quite small as it is however there are some good techniques used in order to conceal them under clothes, for example behind the tie, under the collar etc., in terms of using this in our documentary it will be very useful as we are hoping to film some student interviews along with an interview with a sleep specialist to help back up the points in our interview with a professional source.

Documentary style research

My Beautiful Broken Brain (Directed by Sophie Robinson and Lotje Sodderland,2014)

• Begins with David Lynch quote
• also begins quite disorientating visually
• In and out of focus, mostly out of focus/ fuzzy
• cloud shots, city time-lapse..
• words on screen, no voices as of yet
• lots of handheld continuously (walking through park, streets, into cafe..) very point of view
• Still haven't been introduced to main ‘character’/ person of interest until about 10 minutes in 
• First introduction of main woman Lotje Sodderland (co-director) is blog footage at hospital
• close ups of medical reports/hospital records 
• First interview with Lotje starts normal, sound then distorts and echoes  
• Vlog footage dominates a lot of the documentary, mixed with family/friends interviews
• quite a few P.O.V shots 
• minimal added soundtrack throughout, quiet almost relaxing and dreamlike background sounds
• some sharp cuts from blog footage, P.O.V shots walking and interview footage with added distortion from editing (over saturation, colours heightened…)

Timelapse shot

Lotje's first appearance in vlog format

overhead shot of Lotje re-practicing spelling

one of the over saturated shots, a technique used a lot throughout

Grizzly Man (Directed by Werner Herzog 2005)

• Narration throughout entire documentary
• heavy use of Timothy Treadwell’s actual footage living amongst wild grizzly bears
• family/friends/doctor interviews
• increased immersion and sense of reality due to real footage
• no happy outcome as audience is aware of Timothy’s death prior to documentary
• Herzog likes to leave the camera rolling after finished interviews in an attempt to capture more authentic actions  
  
  Timothy Tredwell's own recorded footage
  
  
  
  Director Herzog and friend of Treadwell listen to the audio recorded from Treadwell's camera during the fatal bear attack

Gimme Shelter (Directed by the Maysles brothers, 1970)

• Handheld ‘fly the wall’ tactic (wild horses scene) in studio with band members and others, as if audience was there with them
• Stones re-watching documentary scenes with directors, allows the audience to re-watch certain events creating a further understanding (e,g Altamont stabbing scene)
• lengthy concert videos footage of the Stones
• lots of close ups
• no voiceover (reinforcing ‘fly on the wall technique, just filming them and their audiences as if the cameras aren't there 
• not a lot of interaction with the Stones and the camera
• footage of other interviews but not specific for the documentary (press interviews etc.)
• lots of stand alone footage (especially in Altamont scenes) basically letting the camera sit there and capture anything

Mick Jagger on stage performing

Press interview with the Stones

Mick Jagger in the studio listening back to their song 'Wild Horses'

Footage in the studio being watched by the Stones, directors and other crew

Sleepless in Sheffield - storyboard

Filming Process - Sleepless in Sheffield

Here is some evidence of a small portion of the filming process for our documentary. At this point we were gathering some establishing shots from our shot list before we gathered our main bits of footage, them being the vlogs from the star of our documentary Tom as well as interviews with students and a sleep specialist.

Sleepless in Sheffield - short documentary planning

Sleepless in Sheffield - short documentary

Roles

Camera - Giovanna

Director/ Star - Tom

Producer - Jodie

Sound - George

Editing - Hannah

Shot list

• Timelapse (midday, afternoon to evening)
• side on shot of science book/pictures of brain *experiment with focus*
• Walk through uni 
• walk outside uni (hallam hill, near entrance)
• Interview (students, possibly health specialist)
• Vlog (Toms bedroom, his experience, check ins throughout process)
• Green screen + text information
• Clouds (timelapsed if wanted)
• through window/ walking towards window (vlog style or handheld)
• high angle shot Tom doing brain activities/word games after no sleep
• students working (in library, cafe..) (try capture people looking tired)
• slider running past bookshelves (possibly)
• close up shot of dictionary/ online definitions of key words (sleep, brain….)

Equipment list

• XF100 camera
• tripod
• steady cam rig (possibly)
• zoom

Pockets directed by James Lee - short documentary

The short documentary Pockets directed by James Lees is an abstract piece based purely around what members of the public obtain in their pockets, the subject matter hasn't been broadcast before (in my knowledge) so therefore it is a very fresh and new concept in trams of documentary style. This documentary deals with themes of identity and personality focussing directly on each individual person and reaching into their pockets which, in ordinary circumstances, would not be allowed. Along with their possessions the director decides to show their faces, some speak, a small amount only show their hands filled with their pocketed possessions. Throughout this the director likes to experiment with varying camera angles an occasionally experimenting with going in and out of focus, a close up on the individuals hands is used continuously however he also likes to use close ups, extreme close ups and slightly off angle shots of faces in order to obtain the interest of the viewers so that the content isn't all the same. There are no introductions to these people however, we are just presented with them, what they have in their pockets and sometimes they will describe what it is and where it came from, however this is not necessarily a bad thing as it allows us to merrily focus on the basis of this story which is what do people carry in their pockets?