Dissertations, documentaries and such

Reading Time: < 1 minute I’ve been reading about documentary makers and it’s interesting. Today I read about several of them, took notes, and explored the ideas that they demonstrate. The one that has confused me is Kossanovksy and his ideas of Dogma. I’m wondering how you do a documentary without having interviews or cutaways. Does he mean that we…

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First time directing a multicam

Reading Time: < 1 minute Directing a Multicam is easy, after being a cameraman at many conferences. it’s a matter of knowing which shots you would like to have had with just one camera but couldn’t get. It’s easy, switching from one source to another and making sure the pacing is right and that there are not too many screw-ups….

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Sunday afternoon

Reading Time: < 1 minute Soon I may have internet access in my halls again and at that point the writing will begin again. it’s hard to be inspired in a library. On the positive side I’ve watched up to three new documentaries since last night so I’m wondering whether to look at the origins of french and English cinema….

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Multicam work

Reading Time: < 1 minute There’s a studio, three cameras, four female dancers, one male. It’s a cabaret show yet no one is in costume. That’s because it’s a practice session for those who will be using the studio in two weeks. I don’t like having a prompter on the front of the camera because it makes smooth movements harder…

Project progression

Reading Time: < 1 minute I’m only a few words away from the completion of the dissertation but over the past two nights I haven’t had as much sleep as I would like to have had, thanks one night to myself and thanks the next night, to the people I’m living with. It’s a problem when you’re kept awake till…

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Nick Broomfield

Reading Time: < 1 minute Yesterday I bought a series of six of Broomfield’s documentaries and I watched one of them today. Chicken Ranch is interesting because Broomfield lets the camera appear in shot, through mirrors and more. He also allows himself to appear, although only fleetingly, at least in this documentary. He makes observational documentaries and allows the viewer…

Bad organisation

Reading Time: < 1 minute When you’re the producer one of the first things you do is make sure that the person you’re meant to be filming is at the location where you want him at the time you would like him to be there. A few days ago though, when someone else was producing the talents did not show…

Fresher’s week is over

Reading Time: < 1 minute Fresher’s week is over and lessons start this week. It means being serious a little more of the time than over the past week. I’ve been patrolling the flats already, going from room to room and seeing lots of people, lots of new faces.  This is an easy and a hard job. It’s easy because…