FIRST CUT - Feedback

Construction Criteria	Comment
Holding Shot Steady	Excellent
Framing of Shots	Excellent
Appropriate Material for Task	Yes! Very clear storyline and good use of documentary conventions.
Selecting Mise En Scene (colour, lighting, props, setting)	Nice variety which suits your chosen storyline well.
Editing for Meaning	Good, but not clear what the main event is yet.
Varied Shot Transitions and Post Production Effects	Great verisimilitude achieved and a sense of professionalism.
Use of Sound	Quality of dialogue is excellent, music needed but only subtle.
Use of Titles	Nice titles to introduce your characters. Opening titles and end credits needed.
Overall Comment	I predict this will be a very high level 4 when finished girls, you just need to continue to keep up the high standard of footage, and edit it together in the same minimalist and professional manner.

 

0-14 = Level 1

15-23 = Level 2

24-31 = Level 3

32-40 = Level 4

 

FIRST CUT

Due to the technical difficulties we have experienced recently regarding my laptop, we were only able to present 4 scenes/interviews today as our first cut.

Fortunately, my laptop was returned to me after we had presented our first cut today and therefore I was able to edit the 4 scenes together for the purpose of uploading it to my blog.

We were able to get a lot of good feedback from just these 4 scenes and will use this feedback to make our work better.

Filming & Editing Update (20th October)

Unfortunately we have still been unable to edit anything as my laptop is still being repaired.

 

However, we did manage to film the first scene at Alex's house. We are happy with the footage we have got, although when we edit it we may find that we need to re-film some shots.

 

Obviously, due to the technical difficulties we have experienced, we are now behind schedule however we feel that we can catch up and continue to produce professional, high quality work in the weeks to come.

In-Depth Analysis of 'Steve Jobs: The Billion Dollar Hippy'

Steve Jobs: The Billion Dollar Hippy

 

The Billion Dollar Hippy is a highly intellectual documentary that explains how Steve Jobs rose to the top of the technology market, including both the ups and down of his life long career. It starts by showing various different shrines in Job's name, and the voice over explains what the documentary is about and starts by stating that Steve Jobs died in 2011. Immediately we as the audience develop the impression, from the mourner's reactions to his shrines, that he was a very important and influential person to many people. After these initial shrine shots, we see close ups of the inside of an old Ford Mustang as it is driven along an old country road in America. this reinforces the 'hippy' theme to the documentary. As the documentary progresses, we see more and more about how motivated and determined he becomes as a person and we also learn that he is not in the business purely for the money. He wants to change the world.

 

The editing is purely quick cuts, swapping from compilation footage of Jobs to talking head interviews with many of Steve Jobs' colleagues. The compilation footage depicts Jobs in various different interviews and photoshoots and also shows footage of his previous Apple presentations, where he would present the brand new products that his company are about to release.There is background music throughout almost the whole documentary and all of the songs featured fit the 'hippy' genre, for example Bob Dylan. Not only does this fit the theme of the documentary but also it makes it more entertaining and easier for the audience to watch.

 

We wanted to create a documentary in the same layout as this, however ours would be more sarcastic - more like a mocumentary. The main points that we wanted to take from this documentary was the talking head interviews (of which we have 4), the voice of God (in the strong British accent, similar to the one in Steve Jobs' documentary) and the idea that Steve Jobs was almost like the 'mesiah' is what we wanted Alex's character to be like to the people of Ware.

 

Our documentary is only the first 5 minutes, however the narrative structure is similar to that of the Steve Jobs documentary. Our documentary follows Todorov's narrative theory, which includes 5 steps. Although we only see the equilibrium stage in our documentary, if we were to make the rest of the documentary, it would include the other 4 stages of the theory.

 

There is also evidence of Propp's character types in our documentary:

 

Alex = The Princess

Alex's Dad = The Princesses Father

'Greg' = The Protector

Carlisle (manager) = The Doner

 

And so on.

 

There are many techniques used in the Steve Jobs documentary that we hope to incorporate in our own documentary, although we will have to change them slightly in order to fit our more sarcastic theme.



Filming & Editing Update (15th October)

Earlier this week, my laptop had to be sent away for repairs. Due to this, we are unable to edit (as Final Cut Pro X was downloaded on my laptop) for up to 3 weeks. Although this is a massive inconvenience for us, we are going to continue to film throughout this period, as we feel it is important to keep up the same level of motivation and dedication even if we are unable to edit our footage.

 

Due to the fact that the repairs could take up to 3 weeks, when we present our first cut we will simply present the scenes we have got so far and get feedback on those.

Filming & Editing Update (6th October)

We did intend to film today, however due to the weather and our body guard's broken foot, we were unable to do this.

We hope to be able to catch up on our filming during this week, however if the weather continues to be as bad as it is, we will have to do it either over the weekend or sometime next week.

Filming & Editing Update (3rd October)

Filming

At first, we were really happy with the shots we managed to film today, as it was enough to compile a whole scene. We filmed the part in town where Alex was swarmed by fans. However, in reviewing what we had recorded, we realised that Alex's body guard was not in any of the shots - this being an essential part of our idea. Due to this, the only shots we are able to use from today's session are the establishing shots, which we are still happy with.

Editing

Due to not filming an entire scene today, no editing was done in this session. However, we have a filming/editing sessions scheduled for Monday 6th October, where we hope to re-film these shots, including the body guard, and edit the scene together in order to start piecing the documentary together.

Alex's Magazine Feature

The Plan

During the scene when Alex is signing autographs for his fans in the town, we thought it would be good if we created a double page spread in a magazine about Alex and his rise to power for the fans to have for him to sign.

We have taken the photos that we will feature in this article and I will be putting it together using PhotoShop and will then print around 7 copies and stick them into random magazines, ready for filming on friday (if all goes to plan).

The Magazine

The front page: