Amy Styran's film blog!

Showing posts with label Documentary. Show all posts

UPDATE: contributor confirmed!

I am extremely pleased to say that Sam Briggs won the Crossfit Games 2013 competition, and is officially titled the fittest woman in the world.... AND Sam has kindly said yes to being my contributor!

This is a fantastic opportunity for myself and my crew, as we will be able to interview and make a short film about the fittest woman in the world - bet you can't say you've ever done that before?! She is recognised world wide and has a huge fan base in America, so no pressure, eh?

I'm extremely excited and cannot wait to get started in the pre-production over the next few weeks. I've already started with idea generation and some research. You can never be too prepared!

I'll keep you all updated in the near future, but for now, here's a picture of Sam doing what she does best...winning!

It's never too early to start planning, is it?

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I should use my summer holidays to go out, party till I can't feel my feet and eat everything in sight, but nope, I can't help myself but to think of more film ideas for my first 3rd year film!

These are all brief and need lots of improvement, but these are my thoughts so far...

IDEA 1:
My mums friend, Sam Briggs (American fitness fanatics will know her), is currently taking part in the Reebok Crossfit Games in USA, and is ranked #1 in the WORLD for women's fitness.
If she wins, she will win the title of 'worlds strongest woman' (and just to think a few years ago she was helping my mum put a fence up in my garden!).

At university, we get taught two main things: network, and use your contacts, so I think this would be the perfect opportunity to use my contacts and get a fantastic film out of it. Let's face it, no one else can say 'I know the strongest woman in the world'.

Audience wise, the primary target would be fitness fanatics, and fans of Sam. Bob Harper (trainer on The Biggest Loser USA) took a picture of himself at the Crossfit games whilst he was watching the events, so you never know, if he's a fan of her, he might become a fan of the film!

At the moment, I haven't decided what the short film will include, and what you'll see. Maybe some staged exercise routines, maybe some creative shots of the food she eats to stay in shape. Who knows? But as stated previously, it's just an idea.

IDEA 2:

Chocolate! A bit of a difference from the first idea, I know. But after seeing the recent Tesco advert of the strawberries and summer, I was thinking about other foods that connect us as a nation, and can make you feel happy.

One of my biggest downfalls in my challenge to be healthy is my love of chocolate. I love it. I love chocolate cereals, cake, chocolate drinks, dark chocolate, white chocolate, all of it. And I know there are millions of people like me. As a nation, we love chocolate! (except the odd fellows who are savoury lovers...weird). So why not make a feel-good film about it?

What would it include? On a recent trip to York, I found a little shop called 'York Cocoa House'. It was stunning: such an old and traditional place with a chef in the back making the chocolate by hand. Everything had a vintage feel to it, including the decor. So when I got home, I googled the place. The person that owns the shop is a young woman who started the business herself due to her chocoholic obsession, and decided to spread her love around! The story behind it is lovely, and so is the shop, so I think I'd like to use her story and the location to narrate my film.

I think this film would be a visually driven film, which draws me to making it. I really want to focus on my cinematography skills and play with different lenses, and this idea would give me the opportunity to do so. But would it make an interesting film? I guess a lot of development is needed for me to say so. But as a chocolate lover, I'd say yes!

So they are my most recent film ideas. They're basic and need some work, but a great starting point and both have outside connections, meaning the production value will be high. I don't know which would be more interesting - maybe I could make both!

editing, editing, and more editing.

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Here I am, trying to develop my cinematography and camera skills for the 3rd year, and I decide to film my mum making Tapas. It's an easy, simple idea that can literally be stitched together in post production, except for of course.... my lack of editing software!

I'm stuck with iMovie. Not even the HD version, which I used in sixth form. You'd think it would be easy, especially because I work on Final Cut Pro to edit my films at university, but for some strange reason, I'm finding it ridiculously confusing and tedious to do.
I love editing, and I love the process of it, but oh how I wish I had a laptop new enough to install final cut pro! My macbook is so old I'm having to delete precious photos and all of my work from previous projects to make room for the new ones. *sniffles*

So whilst I try learn how to use this bloody software, here are a few screenshots of what I'm doing. Some shots need a little colour correction (if I ever find out how to do it on iMovie), but other than that, I'm really happy with the outcome. The quality of my cinematography has improved greatly, and my thought process whilst filming is more productive! Instead of thinking 'I'll just film it like this and hope for the best', I found myself thinking 'okay, the lighting is a bit dark, so I'll do this, oh now it's a bit grainy, so I'll lower that' and so on.
Watching shorts on how to use my DSLR and researching things has helped me so much in my journey to becoming a DOP - and I'm hoping I'll get to develop those skills even more in my 3rd year at university!

4Talent: a day of free stuff, education, opportunities, and more free stuff

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So I applied for a 4Talent day in Lincoln, and to my suprise, I got it!

For those who don't know, a 4Talent day is the only way you can get work experience, placements, apprenticeships and internships at Channel 4. There are only a few talent days a year, and a limited amount of spaces.

Both me and George got a place, which made the whole experience less nerve-wracking. Thank god!

The day started by registering, choosing your workshop (out of four options; the art of documentary film-making, acting, presenters and standing out), then we got our goodie bags! I love free things... who doesn't?

The day itself was a bit like Industry Week at my university. We spoke to people in the industry, had a Q&A, learnt about how to get into Channel 4 and more. In the workshop, we were taught by Rad Miller (a fellow Yorkshire man!), who lectured us about documentary film making. Then, 5 camera ops were given an old style video camera, and they chose people for their crew. In our crews, we had to make a 3 min documentary, not to be edited, that had specific shots in it. I took the role as Assistant Director, and came up with the idea for the film. We used Theory books to find out whether people who have passed their test still remember the answers, and whether they think it's relevant. It was a simple but do-able idea, which was vital as we had just 1 hour to film it. It was successful - we learnt that people still do remember their theory, and think it's vital for driving.

So, now what happens? Well, we get to sign up for any work experience, crews and placements we want. We get to see what happens at Channel 4, and get internships. Basically, by going to a day full of education, fun and free things, we now have opened the door to hundreds of opportunities! Woooohooooo!

(Spot the George and Amy!)

I'd highly recommend all aspiring film makers to go to a 4Talent event, you just never know who you might meet!

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

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One of my ideas for a module I did in Year 2 has made me think that it could actually be a brilliant production.

Amelia Dyer - a sadistic woman who killed around 400 babies in the 19th Century - was dubbed as the Angel Maker. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283302/Britains-worst-serial-killer-The-Victorian-angel-death-murdered-400-babies.html)

She managed to carry out her plans for years, killing innocent babies unknowingly to their mothers. She preyed on single mothers who had no money or home and led them to believe she was adopting them to give them a loving home. She then strangled the infants and disposed of their bodies.

The story of the Angel Maker is gruesome, heart breaking and tear jerking - henceforth, why it would be a brilliant narrative for a short film or one off documentary.

But who would watch it? Pretty much everyone. Parents, teachers, politicians, bin men...quite literally everyone. It's a story that not many people have heard of (the records for Dyer were only published a few months ago, so not many people know about her yet) and it's a story that will stay with you for years to come. Even in modern society, you do not hear of people killing over 400 babies without anyone noticing.

What would the narrative be like? In my eyes, I can see it either being a documentary or a biopic. A documentary would be a bit more watchable for the viewers, as they would simply see archive footage/photos, interviews with historians etc. However, a biopic would be dark, dismal and unforgettable. In a style such as Mrs Biggs (a recent ITV production), the viewers would watch the biopic in disbelief that anything like this could actually happen. You could make the storyline heavy with brutality (although you couldn't show the children actually being killed, you could use the power of suggestion to make it seem more real).

I think this production is slightly out of my reach at the moment - if you're going to do it, you've gotta do it right. High production value, a great crew and brilliant actors are just a few of the things you'd need to make this a successful production. It's definitely something I'd want to do in the near future!