Timeline

Timeline

22^nd Jan

This was the day we were introduced to the idea of the industry projects, and the different version. We formed a group of Cal, Ella, Louise and I.

29^th Jan

 We had our first meeting, and decided our initial ideas of timeline, and episodes. This organization contributed to our successful pitch.  

31^st Jan

We began to research, and edited our concept down, so that it was a soundscape, and had historical episodes edited together by a timeline.

KEY SUCCESS: Concept and working as a group.

4^th Feb

In this meeting, we decided our roles, finished a concept brief, started on a prezi, and found pictures to use in pitch and final piece.

5^th Feb

We finished the prezi and split it up so we could all write different things. Cal made a mood board, we finalized ideas for the pitch. Louise and I made a timelapse. This splitting up of ideas meant that we could cover lots of group and make lots of media. It also meant, however, that some areas were only covered by one person, which was a problem later on.

KEY SUCCESS: Organization was at it’s best here.

10^th Feb

We made some soundscapes, and finished the prezi, and practised. We had been exchanging emails with potential interviewees.

19^th Feb

This was the day we did out Pitch, but Cal was ill, and we had to say her stuff. We completed the Pitch, and got good feedback, saying that we were well prepared and creative.  

KEY SUCCESS: Pitch finished and great feedback, a success as we had managed to come up with a good idea and impress the client.

KEY FAILIURE: Cal is ill, and we had not prepared for this, so we had some frantic last minute scrambles. We were therefore badly prepared.

28^th Feb

We begin to prepare for shooting. I write an equipment list and shot list. We hand in essays for the first 30%.

4^th March

The dome tell us that shooting is limited, and only “possible.” We try to plan around this announcement. The Dome were often hard to contact and unreliable, this was a contributing factor to getting behind on our schedleue, and having to compromise ideas.

KEY FAILIURE: Our idea had relied on having access to all points of the dome. This threw us off and we had to change ideas.

5^th March

First shoot at the Dome, where we filmed interior, exterior, the roof and tunnel, the organ concert and the archive footage. We split into groups and worked in pairs to cover as much stuff as possible, this was a contributing factor to the days success.

KEY SUCCESS: We had some excellent footage from this, and we worked well as a group.

KEY FAILIURE: None of us thought to bring extra tape, and some of the footage was shaky because we didn’t know how to use the track properly. This meant we didn’t have as much footage as we wanted.

12^th March

We first log and edit our shoot. It is not that good, but some of it is OK, we just have to re-shoot some stuff.

14^th March

We are told by the dome that we are not allowed to film and that they don’t want to narrate for us. We write a narration.

KEY FAILIURE: We had relied on the Dome to give us an interview, and edited/shot to this idea, so we felt that we didn’t have enough footage. TURNING POINT.

18^th March

We do a new shoot at the dome. It is better than the first, which is because we are learning from our mistakes.

KEY SUCCESS: Equipment, tapes and group work is very good here.

KEY FAILIURE: We don’t check the spirit level and are film as much as possible instead of adhering to the shot list. This is a problem for logging clips.

19^th March

We get feedback from our tutor telling us to slim down our idea and re-shoot. We decide to drop a lot of our own ideas to make sure we still have a good video. Louise gets us a new interview with Paul Clarkson.

KEY FAILIURE/TURNIG POINT: We decide to drop many of our ideas and stick to a more simple idea. We do not have enough time or man power to do what we wanted. This was a failure but also a compromise, and shows our ability to work with what we have, to compromise and to pin point what is important for this piece. This is a success and worked because we gel as a group and have a similar vision. 

24^th March

We have an interview with Paul Clarkson interview, which goes well. This is a KEY SUCCESS as we have our roles sorted out and we each know exactly what we are doing under the time constraints, and get it done.  

26^th March

A final shoot at the dome, which goes very well. We have a paper edit done. A contributing factor to this final shoot going well and the paper edit is that we have learnt to plan and prepare.

Key Success: This final shoot is finally well prepared and executed, we know how to use the equipment and how to film within a time plan. This is a learning curve.

4^th April

We begin to edit and log. The problems we had while filming are making editing a problem.

KEY FAILIURE: We have made so many shoots that editing is a huge undertaking, with 4 hours of footage to shift through. If we had organized before, this would not have happened.  

7^th April

First edit is done, with no narration. This is done by Ella.

8^th April

Narration is completed, and the second edit is also.

KEY SUCCESS: Group work is brilliant, we are within our original schedule, and the film is looking good, which is partly because we have separate roles, and this allows the film to progress quickly.

Reflections

I was thinking about how our group worked together throughout this project, and I think that we had both good and bad aspects to how we worked. I think at the start of the project we were much more motivated and had our tasks sorted out. For example, in the pitch, we all were coming up with lots of ideas and each one of us had different ideas about how the piece should look. We all had different things to do- I had to research camera and stuff, Louise the history, Cal the visual, Ella the sound, and all of us different periods of time, which we brought together.
I feel like after this initial spurt of ideas, we then lost momentum. I think this was partly to do with Cal leaving, so we were very unsure which ideas would work, and it was partly to do with the dome writing to us and telling us that we weren't allowed to do quite a few of ideas- this just made us feel like all the things we'd came up with were for nothing, and so we lost motivation.
After this, it took quite a while for us to get back on track. We spent quite quite a lot of time still trying to do the ideas we had come up with at first, as we hoped to not have to change them. In fore site  this was a silly thing to do, as we knew we couldn't do them after Cal/the dome. So, instead of focusing on what we could do, Louise was looking for interviews, I was trying to do re-enactments, and Ella was trying to soundscapes. As a group, this was the lull/bad part of the project , and i feel like because we were unfocused, our shoots were also not very good. We all wanted different things and didn't have roles sorted out- we were all doing a bit of everything (which we thought was collaborative)
However, as a unit, we did realize that we needed to change, which happened around the middle of March. I would say Ella was the first to admit it. And we also got a boost to change after showing our work to our tutor. This was a turning point, and after this, we sat down and really decided to hone down our ideas. After this, we changed a lot, and became motivated and decisive, and decided to focus on our roles. This was when our roles really came into practice and this meant (strangely) less work for everyone, as each of us had our own things to do, and this meant that everything was done, as our roles encompassed the tasks needed. This meant that things got done faster, and we shot less (good for editing) and could feel happy to say "thats a wrap."
I think as a group, we did work well- with roles and collaboration, though I would say that non of us took a definitive lead, or decisions maker. This was in a  way good, but It did mean that we took a long time to make decisions. I personally didn't want to be the leader as I felt this would be imposing on the other members. I feel like I could have taken more initiative than this, however. I think we should have stuck to our roles more, also- I know I personally let the others do as much camera as they wanted. This was a pretty silly idea, as it took far longer to film, I wasn't in control, and we had lots of footage. Once Ella got to the edit suite, she was the one making all the decisions and had the trump card that she was editor, so we got a lot done quickly. I should have done as she did and insisted that as I was camera person, I should be mostly in control of the camera- so we didnt get repeated shots.  I will do this next time.
I think though, as a group, we did get the film done, and I am happy with it, which therefore we did know how to work together properly and how to create media together under pressure. Therefore, I was happy with our performance as a group and working together.

Notes of the finished piece

Things I like about the finished piece:
-The pace of it
-the Ken Burns effect on archive material
-the graphic match
-The starting shots
-the tracks we did
-the sections about the Organ concert
-The interview with Paul
-history is clear

Things I didn't like about the shoot:
-The narration is too quiet and not interesting enough
-the pans of the dome from the garden are kind of boring
-There are parts of the shots over the top that are irrelevant but we needed a filler
-the shot of the Indian gate (in the rain, bluergh)
-The timeline sections
-the final shots of Brighton

The finished peice is good in some ways (because it adheres to the initial task, and because it is clear and informative) and because our visuals are mostly relevant and interesting. I was happy with these aspects. The visuals also are never shaky, out of focus or wonky, which is good, and the sound is never too loud or quiet. Therefore, we have made a good piece of media. however, I do think we needed a better narration, and as we didnt have many shots of things we were talking about (for the first sections when there wasnt any archive footage and we didnt shoot any re-enactments) and this felt like we were filling space. I think some of the stuff we did feels weak to me because we had a lot of good ideas at the start which we didn't fulfill- the timeline, for example. However, I think that the dome can use this video and show it to their visitors, therefore it is successful.

Done, and reflections

We have finished our piece, we finished editing today. Instead of using external music, we decided to use what we had already filmed from the dome, as this was uncopyrighted and our own stuff, (which we were pleased to have.) We fixed any issues with sound (we had had some feedback with the quietness of the narration) and placed in titles at the start and the end. I had a few ideas which Ella disagreed on, but in the end as Ella was the editor, she got to choose what happened to the piece. Though this is how it works on real productions, I think that as this is a student piece we should be more cooperative and collaborative, but I can see that having roles makes disputes such as this easier to resolve- because the one in the role gets last say.

Looking at our piece, I would say I feel a number of mixed emotions.  The way it has turned out is very different to our original ideas. We had the idea to create soundscapes, a timeline, re-enactments and interviews for a personal touch- none of these ended up being done. Some of this was not our fault- we couldn't find anyone to interview (who would interview) and Cal had to leave our group (so no timeline, as the rest of us don't study digital media) while some of it not being included was based on the repeated feedback that we were doing too much. Some of the reasons that these things weren't included is also because us as a group were very disorganised, or at least did not plan as extensively as was actually needed. I know that I could have planned more, and the output would reflect what we wanted at the start more solidly. However, when I think about it, I agree with the feedback- we started with a far too big idea, (or too many ideas) and would have been better keeping it simple- this confused us and led to too much footage and confusing emails back and forth. Next time, it would be better to be clear and precise, in planning idea and carrying it out- something I really learnt.

On the other hand, the piece we have made is quite good still. It is informative and interesting, with a good narration and selection of images. We have used these two things, with music, to create a clear and informative narrative, with the pictures backing up what is being said. I think this is important and keeps to our brief. I especially like the interview with Paul Clarkson at the end, as this is the "personal" touch we wanted to get at the beginning. I also feel like the way Ella edited the oran bit is really good and evocative.

As a group, I feel like we all think that this piece is good enough to hand in now- it is polished and completed after many hours. I also feel like we feel like we have contributed equally, and are proud of what we have achieved. I drew a very strange mind map sort of thing to illistrate my ideas. I hope it makes sense- it tried to show how the contributing factors to what went wrong and what went right. Mostly this depended on if we were prepared and planned or not:

Almost finished

Today we all got together and did the narration for the piece. It is a lot harder than initially thought to write the narration, and we spent quite a lot of time trying to work out on the specific arrangement of words to make it as clear as possible. Louise and Ella wrote most of the script, and as i hadn't, I could tell them if it sounded right or not- this actually worked quite well. The narration had to be clear and interesting, but not too complicated, or to full of ideas. We spent a lot of time a few sentences trying to decide what word fitted best.

We then went down to the edit booth, and used a marantz, and a handheld microphone to record. We decided that Louise would do the speaking (as I had a cold, and Ella is the one who studies sound and knows how the marantz works best.) The speaking went well, though it took quite some time to get the emphasis right and make sure the sound wasn't too quiet. We had to break the script down into sentences and work on each section, which we repeated several times in case Louise had stumbled, or got the tone wrong. She was very good, and I helped to cue her and hold the mic.

After this, Ella and I edited the narration into the first edit she had created. This took a long time, as we had to pick each perfect sentence, place it in the right order, and then switch around footage until the things that were being said matched the picture. (as our initial edit had been based on the paper edit, which had been made before the narration had been written. Probably this wouldn't have taken so long if we had written the narration ages ago, and had shot/edited to it AND a  paper edit, however, as we didn't know from the Dome if we had an interview this isn't a 100 percent our fault)
The edit was on occasion difficult, as sometimes the narration was too long, and we had to search through all of our footage to get relevant material- which took ages, as we took so much footage. This is a downfall of our shooting, and next time we have to make paper edits and shot lists before, so that editing isn't such a hassle because of this.

We also edited in the music from the organ that we filmed, and created a start and end which placed the Dome in Brighton, in an interesting way. This looks much better than before, as it allows for a start and end. It will look even better when there is music on top of it too. I was pleased with the way it looking, though we still have to find some sound scaping and music. I am quite sad that we will not be able to have some of our ideas from the concept, (timeline etc) but these problems are very much affected by problems we couldnt control. (Cal leaving, the Dome not letting us film, etc) However, we have tried to follow these ideas as much as possible- we have made titles which look like a timeline, and we are trying to soundscape underneath the piece. I did try and find how to use after effects and made a timeline, but it was too complicated, and so we decided to just let it be, and use titles, which might not look as good, but still work as well.  This is the next version of the piece:

I have also been looking at our schedule which we wrote before, and noticing that we have not kept that much to it, but that we didnt do too badly in keeping to it.  If we had been more active, we could have made sure that things were done. I have learnt from this project that organization is everything. I am pleased that we have got so far already though- many other groups haven't finished shooting and we have a second edit, which I am very pleased about. I feel like we had a turning point and really pulled ourselves together to make sure we got everything done and ready in time. I feel like this is quite professional and good. We are hoping to have a final edit on Friday.

Editing

As we have finished shooting, we are now into the editing stage. Ella has made a first edit, without the music or the narration- so it's a compilation of tracks, pans and Ken Burns effect on archive material, in order of history. She followed the paper edit we created, so she edited this version in a linear film following the history of the dome. I think it is a really good start. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyboAnuYrV8&feature=player_embedded

My comments for her were about the end and the start. the first shot she used is a slightly uneven pan of the dome, whereas I think a good first shot would be the track outside, or the timelapse that Louise and I created a while ago. I also think a start with music and multiple shorter shots, is a common and professional start to such videos- this will make a bricolage of the dome as it now, and then slow down to start the history. This would look really good with music over the top as an intro.

I also had some feedback about the end, which I think Ella hasn't finished properly. Still, I think it needs like a sunset or a slow pan out, or a "bookend" which reflects the start (so a similar faster paced bricolage of the dome now.) Either of these might give the film a nice ending feeling, so it doesn't end so abruptly.

We have had some feedback about occasional places there is camera shake, and also about the direction of the Ken Burns (sometimes they pan in the same way, which looks weird) So we are all going to sit down together and make sure that these issues are dealt with.

The edit is good, I feel like we took on the feedback of our tutors, and made the piece simple, and clear.  Though this did mean giving up some of our ideas, I think with narration and music, the piece will be clear and informative. I was also very pleased that Ella managed to take out the sound problems with the interview.

Narration and Music

things have started to move on now. We finally had an answer from the dome, which was that they wouldn't do an interview. We were expecting this, and Louise (as our script writer) has written a narration, which is here:

For over two centuries Brighton Dome has played an integral part of Brighton’s cultural history. From cavalry barracks through to a music hall, the Dome has served as a multifunctional venue, and continues to transform to this day.
The Dome was originally used as elaborate stables for royal horses, and was built in 1803, along with what is now the Corn Exchange, on the request of the extravagant King George IV. The King was a regular visitor to Brighton and often lodged in a house in the Old Stein area.
He commissioned the architect William Porden to design the Dome’s elaborate structure; drawing on inspiration from (Jami Masijd’s) artistic works of Indian Mosques.
The Kings passion for the ornate came at a cost of £54,783; a sum that nearly bankrupted him. This did not, however, deter King George from commissioning a second stately building just meters away; the Royal Pavilion.
The two buildings are thought to be linked together via a narrow tunnel running beneath the pavilion gardens, with legend stating that King George intended to use the tunnel as a means to access his secret mistress, Maria Fitzherbert -until its completion, however- at which point the fickle King had grown weary of the furtive rendezvous.
After its completion in 1808 the Dome remained as a royal fixture for forty two years, until Brighton Town purchased it and in 1856, and converted it into Cavalry Barracks. (? what to say)
Phillip Lockwood remodelled the Dome in 1967 into a grand concert hall that could hold a capacity of 2500. The corn exchange was soon to follow, and began to be used as a market place every Thursday. It then turned into a military hospital in 1914, during World War 1, and The Dome itself was used as a major operating theatre. The make-shift hospitals in the three Pavilion buildings housed over 4000 recovering Indian Soldiers. The people of India consequently installed the Indian Gate, located in the Pavillion Gardens, in 1921, as a thank you to the people of Brighton for their benevolence and care.
In September 1943 thousands of Bombs rained down on Brighton, with one landing in the Pavilion Gardens. The Dome remained largely unscathed and during this incident, the aptly named ‘wonder-boy organist’ Douglas Reeve, a Dome Household name, was performing to a concert hall full of people. Upon the bombs explosion, Reeve famously continued to play, unfalteringly.

Douglas was well-known for his BBC Light Programme broadcasts and signature tune, Pack Up Your Troubles. (I have this downloaded) and he made history when entered into the Guinness Book of World Records, for achieving the longest seaside variety show in the world.

The Organ has been a fixture of the Dome ever since its reconstruction in 1856, and has played a key part in the development of its cultural Heritage. The original 4 manual Father Willis Organ was the feature of a suffragette plot to boycott prime minister, Herbert Asquith’s speech, in 1910. Mary Leigh and Eva Bourne were consequently arrested when they hid between the pipes of the Organ and tried to shout ‘Votes For Women.’ In 1936 a tailor-made Hill, Norman & Beard dual-purpose concert organ was installed in Brighton Dome to replace the original 1850 model. The organ is still in use today and, in memory of Reeve’s Tuesday performances, Organists such as Michael Wooldridge (man we have performing in footage) conduct monthly Tuesday afternoon recitals for the public.

The architecture that can be seen today in the Dome is reminiscent of the Art Deco era of the 30’s, during which the interior of the concert hall was sculpted into smooth circular curves and symmetrical shapes. Due to this reconstruction little of what made up the stables remains today.

1803 - 1808:The Dome was built for Prince (later King) George IV as stables, along with the Pavillion (his home) and asecret tunnel, rumoured to be for him and his mistress.
1850: BD bought by Brighton Town
1856-1864: BD is used as Cavalry Barracks
1867: Rebuilt into a Concert Hall
1910: Suffragettes attempt to boycott the Prime Ministers speech by hiding in the Domes organ.
1914-1916: 4000 Indian soldiers are treated when BD is turned into a Hospital during the war.
1921: Indian gate built as a thank-you
1934-1935: The re-modified concert hall is completed. Tea dances are held.
1934: The organ is rebuilt
1943: BD hit by a bomb but doesn't explode. Douglas Reeve plays the organ throughout air raids.
1944: More tea dances
1960: Pink Floyd play in BD
1969: David Bowie is banned due to his fans damaging the interior of the Dome
1972: "Dark side of moon" premiered by Pink Floyd.
1974: Abba win the euro-vision song contest at BD

 I like this, though we also had a meeting to go over what is being said. We discussed how much the project should be posed, whether we should be more story-like or factual. On the end we decided that facts should precede, as this is a factual piece. We are recording the voice over on monday. I dont know how to use any of the equipment, so this is going to be a learning day. I had some feedback on the some of the wording in the piece above (for instance, some of the ways the paragraphs start is quite unclear) I think that louise found this useful, as it's easy to get stuck into a piece and not read it as someone else. I also think it's good we're nearing an end, as our group are getting very tired.

Music

I have also been searching for music which is uncopyrighted online. There is a lot of music on sites such as Jamendo.com. After discussing with the group over what would be a good type of music  we decided a light classical background would be good. This is in line with other heritage videos we have found online.  I have been searching for this. Here are a few examples:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/33672/john-babbage-millennium-bug

This is by John Babbage. Its a classical piece, which struck me as good because it has different phases- clam, and then faster, and more interesting, before returning to quiet. I don't think the background should just be boring music you barely notice, it should move the story and narration on.

I also like this one (possibly more) for this reason:
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/19630/conquest-of-the-west-conqute-de-l-ouest
I was thinking that this second one could be narrating the changing of times between the old and the new, when the dome began to change. It gets a bit excited at the end, so we would only use the start, but I do think this could feature.

http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/556534/snowing
This one is also interesting. It's quite calm, but has some relaxing series of chords which speed up, and I can imagine looking good over some tracks and timelines. 

It's a wrap

Equipment:

Sony z7 Camera
Slider (which we learnt how to use, finally)
tapes
Tripod

Shooting time: 10am

We finally finished our filming. Our last shoot was a re-shoot with the track in the dome. This went very well. Having learnt from our old footage, we made sure to learn how to use the track from the tutors before we left, and we were very conscious of levels, and shake. We took out only one camera, which meant we were all watching what the other was doing and suggesting improvements  as well as helping steady and shift focus during rack focus so that we didnt wobble the camera. Once again, we had trouble with spirit levels (the building is very very wonky) but as we noticed, this meant that we have learnt to check for these things, and it meant that we could make the shots straight.

We took many tracks inside and out, and also did some rack focuses, so shots for graphic matches, and some nice close ups. It helped a lot that I had written and taken with me a shot list, and because we knew exactly what we wanted and the mistakes we made last time. because of this the shots are much better and the tracks are almost professional looking. We also tried hard to think about what Paul had said to us, about having focus and style instead of boring pans. Therefore, we were all trying to find good shots and focus changes, and really thinking about composition instead of setting. This meant our shots were much better.

 It worked quite well when we as a group discuss each shot and how it could be better, and we all had trying trying at a different shot. Here are some photos:

After this, we have decided that we are DONE! We sort of had a turning point on this. We had wanted re-enactments and more interviews, but now, with time running out and the constant feedback that we are making the film too complicated, we have decided to not do any more filming. Though it would have been good to have re-enactment, there is some ethical issues to consider (which I have previously mentioned) about the "truth" of the piece, and often reenactment can look cliche or cheap. We might not have made it look like this, but putting re-enactment with our ideas would have made the piece very convoluted and the more I thought about it, the less it seemed to work. The interviews (most importantly with the dome/a historian) was a conclusion to not getting any replies. It has now got to a stage that we need to start editing seriously  and as we have no interviewee, we just had to make the decision to drop that idea, and make a narration instead. Louise as a scriptwriter has volunteered to do this while Ella and I edit some shots based on this paper edit that Ella has made:



Paper Edit – Heritage Project

Royal Stables
1. Timeline – “1803 Royal Stables”
2. Establishing shot - Brighton Dome EXT
3. Interview – The Dome was built by king George.
4. Wide - King George statue.
5. Close up – King George Statue.
6. Interview – Built as stables.
7. Achieve - Drawings of stables.
8. Wide - Modern Dome.
9. Interview – Had a special tunnel built to meet lover.
10. Tunnel track.
11. Interview – But they fell out before it was finished.
FADE


Cavalry Barracks to Concert Hall
1. Timeline - “1850 Cavalry Barracks to Concert Hall”
2. Establishing shot - Brighton Dome EXT
3. Interview – Used as a cavalry barracks.
4. Archive – Photo of Barracks.
5. Interview – Then transformed into a concert hall.
6. Archive – Photos of Concert Hall.
7. Wide - Modern Dome Theatre.
8. Interview – Only became the venue we recognize in 1935.
FADE


Wartime
1. Timeline – “1914 Wartime”.
2. Establishing shot - Brighton Dome EXT
3. Interview - Used for nursing Indian soldiers.
4. Archive – Photo of Soldiers
5. Interview – The Indian gate as a thank you.
6. Wide – The Indian Gate
7. Close Up – The Indian Gate
8. Interview – In 1943 a bomb fell but did not explode.
9. Wide – Pavilion gardens.
10. Interview – Tea Dances held during the war.
11. Archive – Photo of the tea dances.
12. Close up – Ball room dancing
13. Interview – Many couples fell in love there.
FADE


The Brighton Dome Organ
1. Time line – “1936 The Brighton Dome Organ”
2. Wide – Organ concert
3. Interview – Organ was fitted in 1936.
4. Archive – Photo of the organ
5. Close up – Organ Concert
6. Interview - Douglas Reeve Made the organ famous.
7. Archive - Photo of Douglas Reeve.
8. Wide – Organ Concert.
9. Close up – Organ concert.
10. Interview – DR earned a world record and the Organ is still played in concerts today.
11. Wide – End of concert/Audience clapping.
FADE


Musical Milestones
1. Timeline – “1969 Musical Milestones”.
2. Establishing Shot – Brighton Dome Venue Entrance.
3. Interview – Many big names have performed here.
4. Wide – Theatre interior.
5. Archive – David Bowie poster.
6. Interview - David Bowe performed and the seats were torn up.
7. Archive – Photo of destroyed seats.
8. Interview - Hosted Abba’s eurovision victory.
9. Archive – Abba articles.
10. Interview – Pink Floyd performed there regularly.
11. Archive – Photos of Pink Floyd.
12. Wide – Theatre interior.
13. 2nd Interview – Went to the venue, had a great time.
14. Close up – Theatre interior.
15. Interview – Still popular venue used by big artists.
16. Wide – Brighton Dome EXT.
FADE

Though it is a shame that we couldn't do all of the ideas we needed to, I now see that what we proposed to do was a massive task and might have been too confusing and extreme for a viewer to see. As we now focus on archive footage and footage of the dome as it is now, with a timeline over, this is focused and simple. We will also have a few brief sounds capes under the narration, and the interview with the music guy. This seems much less of a mash of ideas. The first edit we have made is clear and on its way, which is exciting.

Interview shoot

Interview

Time: 2pm
Equipment pick up: 12pm
Place: Room 309
Equipment: D7000, Tripod, Marantz, hand Held Microphone, 800Watt lighting set, Filters
Roles: Robyn- Lighting, camera
Louise- interview, scripting, collection of Paul
Ella- Sound

We did an interview with a local man, Paul Clarkson, who went to lots of dome concerts and was willing to give us an interview about the dome and his experiences. The interview went very well; Paul was very knowledgeable and polite, and I felt like we asked good questions and got him talking; Louise had come up with some well researched questions, and we went through how to be a good interviewer before (don't speak, nod and smile etc ).
We managed to set up a good studio feel in the lecture theater with a warm toned lighting scheme. We did this by having two lights as a key and a fill light, and a red filter over them, and then white balancing it so it was less extreme. The room already has a red background and sound proofed walls, so this location was excellent.  I was pleased with this effect, and the colour of the room- this was what we intended to make as an overall tone in the film. I was also glad we decided to use this location instead of using the studio, as it evoked the feeling of being in a theatre.
Here is a photo of Louise on the set:

 The interviewee was found by Louise. There was a bit of trouble before, as he told us only the day before that he could interview on Friday. We had such little time, that the equipment was all booked out, so we had to compromise on quite a few things- for instance, we had to use a marantz and a D7000 as there were no z1's available. We also had to use a 800 watt lighting kit which was a bit too extreme, it would have been better to use a 300 watt one- the light was blinding, so I had to point both lights at the ceiling, which makes Paul slightly flatter than intended. Despite this, the shots we took were nice, and I was pleased with the framing. Ella, who was doing sound, listened to the sound recording, and apparently there is some noise distortion that she didnt notice at the time. Hopefully this can be taken away post production. Other than these issues, the interview went very well, and we worked well as a team, with Louise and I doing questions, I set up camera and lights, and Ella doing sound. Paul also brought lots of old tickets and programs, which was amazing- he was a great interviewee.
Here is a photo of some of the stuff he has written:

In other news, the dome have still not replied to my email, and we have given then 5 days, and then we will write a narration instead. This is quite annoying; we wanted to rely on the interview footage for some of the video. Despite this, I feel like we can write a good narration. Also, we have been given feedback by several tutors that we are trying to do too much. This will cut out an interview and allow for focus on just pans, tracks, timeline and archive footage. It will also be much easier to edit a narrative rather than an interview, as we know exactly what they will say, plus it will be linear instead of cutting up answers. This should make editing an easier task. Louise, as script writer, has begun to start writing the script.

Feedback and emails

We have begun to edit the footage we shot. After showing it to our tutor, he suggested we re-shoot some of what we have, as a lot of our shots have no focus. This means that they weren't composed properly, and that the eye wasn't led around the frame. We also had a broken tripod, which had a spirit level which looked perfect, but once we got to the edit lab, showed that it was wonky. I took a photo of the spirit level at the time, but it looked ok in the viewfinder, which was a mistake:

The tripod was also a bit shaky. Not many of these shots we have to redo were mine, and the ones we have to redo lacked composition because we wanted to have pans, and tracks which the timeline will track over- therefore the camera had to move. So though I agree that some shots dont "lead the eye", there is an important reason for this. Looking at our footage now, however, I do think that Paul had a point, and some of the footage is underexposed and this is shoddy.
We are going to re-shoot and try and focus very much on composition, exposure, the spirit level, and try and do tracking and pull focus. We are also going to print out the actual pictures we are going to graphic match. I realize that maybe the shots don't have focus because i didnt plan extensively what each shot should look like, as I just assume it will be obvious when i get there. This is a mistake, and I have drawn up a proper list of shots and have taken some time to really think about it, and how the shots might look and be composed. (I should draw it, but my drawings really are bad, so it doesnt help that much)

This is a shot list for the scene:

Pull focus on the door frame onto the reflection of dome sign
pull focus on first dome sign to second dome photo
Pull focus on plants to the dome/pavillion
track next to door of dome, looking extreme up, so dome is looming over
Same shot at the Indian gate
track through windows of the door
close up still of the domes exposes properly.
close up still of the stone rose
pull focus of George statue with dome.
Pull focus of geroge and plants
reflection of geroge or dome in car mirrors? have to see if can do this
Track extreme low shot of statue

Paul also gave us the feedback that we are doing too much. I feel like this is true, as we are starting to run out of time, and we have a lot of stuff uncompleted. Therefore, we might have to cut down on our ideas. Meanwhile, we still haven't heard back from the dome for narration. I am starting to think we might have to write a narration. As we have been told by several people that we are trying to do too much, and if we have so many interviews, soundscapes etc etc, it might be a not great piece of work. If we are not answered before Easter  we will write a narration. Louise has secured an interview with someone who has gone to the dome many times.  here is  of his emails:

Hello Louise,
Thank you for your e-mail. 
I would be delighted to take part in this project, the Dome was and still is my favourite music venue. I still have nearly all of my tickets dating back to 1971 and love talking about music.
I look forward to hearing back from you,
Paul Clarkson

Hello Louise,
Thank you for the map and the directions, from memory and also looking at the map I believe the bus stop is at the Refectory building, if that is correct then I know where that is as that is one of the buildings I worked in. 
I've looked at the bus times and it seems there is a 25 every 5 minutes so I will aim to be there at 2.15pm.
It may also be useful for you to have my mobile number just in case there are any problems 07759926751
I'm looking forward to meeting you
Paul Clarkson

 so we are interviewing him on Friday in room 309 (because it looks like a theater  sort of.) we didn't want to shoot him in the studio, as it kind of looks too hospital like. We thought the theater would evoke emotions.
These are the questions I have written which we want to ask him:

1) Can you tell us what your favorite experience has been at the dome?
2) What was it like to see Pink Floyd? Do you have any interesting stories?
3) How was seeing them perform Dark Side of the Moon?
4) What was it like seeing Led Zeplinn?
5) Why do you think the dome is important to Brighton?
6) How many times did you visit, and did being in the dome effect you?
7) What has the dome given to musicians?

This is how we are going to light him:

We were also reading some of the articles Paul had written, so as to know what to say to him. He has seen a lot and seems to have some good stories. Here are some examples of what he says:

As you can see by the ticket stubs, we had some top bands that year, Pink Floyd was a great gig to be at as it premiered 'Eclipse' or what everyone now knows as 'Dark Side of the Moon', this was the gig where the equipment broke down during 'Money' so they came back in June and played two nights. I went to the second night, I knew what to expect this time and made a point of being in the centre stalls; the price went up by 25% but I don't think anyone minded! 
Then there were the three heavyweights, Led Zeppelin, Free and Deep Purple. What a three months that was. It was very exciting - quite a hit on my wages from my part-time job I had, but well worth it. I have been a fan of Free ever since I heard the LP 'Fire & Water' in 1970, the line up didn't include Andy Fraser as he had formed Sharks who came to the Dome in 1973 as support to Roxy Music.

People I speak to now say how lucky we were to see these acts so cheap. I like to point out that I had a friend who worked full-time and only earned £9 per week which, when you work out the percentages to salary and costs these days it is not that much difference. The cost is irrelevant, If you were to ask a young Led Zeppelin fan now, and there are many of them, how much they would pay to go in a time machine and go back to 20/12/72, I would bet it would be in the hundreds, even thousands if they had the money, so yes on that basis we got it cheap!

As for today, I think the Dome is still a wonderful venue, an absolute gem. There are some good concerts to be seen there now but the amount of gigs has dwindled but I think we were very lucky to see so many top acts in such a short space of time.   

 From: "1972: a great year at the Dome" by Paul Clarkson, 2012, published on the website "My Brighton and Hove" accessed at: http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__11327_path__.aspx

More shooting

Shooting 2:

Equipment: D7000, Z1, tripod, flash gun, Macro lens.
Location: Dome, outside.
Roles: We all helped out with the camera today. Louise was more focused on stills and me and Ella were doing the video.

Shot list
The Indian gate- a shot of it from below
the Indian gate sign
A pan and track of the dome door (going down and across)
details of the domes
details of the doors
pans of various doors and walls.
track down from the dome to the street
focus on dome signs around the dome
long shot from across the street/ from the gardens
rack focus of the pavillion and dome (?!)
rack focus of leaves
anything else

We went out and took some more photos today of the dome, and did some filming. Here are a few examples (below). We worked well as a group, i think, as we all have different ideas and shots which we think was good; it seems that as we all have ideas, we can shoot them all, and combine them, which allows for everyone to cooperate. This means we get a lot of ideas in, but also manage to make sure that everyone has a try.
 We took exterior pans of the dome, the pavilion gardens and the Indian gate. As our last shots were slightly shaky and weirdly exposed, this time we were much more careful to get smooth pans and well positioned and set up photographs. We have therefore learnt to be very careful with how we set up our shots. The shooting did go well, and we had enough tape space to make these.

 It was quite difficult to get the exposure right, as the day was overcast but bright, and it was difficult to get the D7000 to not over-expose the sky, or under-expose the ground. We tried light metering, but when filming, light metering control is minimal. We will have to see in post edit if this is a problem.  We also had a broken tripod, which meant the spirit level was uneven. However, it seemed like we got past these problems, from the photos below, we will have to see when we edit.

As a group, we worked well, with two of us concentrating on video, (one looking for location, the other filming) and with Louise concentrating on stills for graphic matches. This meant that we all had the chance to shoot. On the whole, it seems like it was a successful shoot.

Some more emails

 We have been exchanging emails with the dome about interviews. Here are the emails below:

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Robyn Furtado [mailto:rf205@sussex.ac.uk]

> Sent: 13 March 2013 16:19

> To: Zoe Curtis

> Subject: RE: Filming on March 5th

>

> Hi Zoe,

> We've been emailing various historians about the doing an interview

> about

> the dome, but we are worried they might know as much as we require for

> out

> video, and were wondering if you thought that any of the dome staff

> would

> be interested in doing a short interview for us about the history of the

> dome? Thank you!

> Robyn Furtado

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Robyn Furtado [mailto:rf205@sussex.ac.uk]

> Sent: 13 March 2013 16:19

> To: Zoe Curtis

> Subject: RE: Filming on March 5th

>

> Hi Zoe,

> We've been emailing various historians about the doing an interview

> about

> the dome, but we are worried they might know as much as we require for

> out

> video, and were wondering if you thought that any of the dome staff

> would

> be interested in doing a short interview for us about the history of the

> dome? Thank you!

> Robyn Furtado

-----Original Message-----
From: Robyn Furtado [mailto:rf205@sussex.ac.uk]
Sent: 13 March 2013 19:59
To: Zoe Curtis
Subject: RE: Filming on March 5th

Hi,

We would be asking questions as in a normal interview, and would ask the

interviewee to answer in a narrative style.

Thank you!

Robyn

-----Original Message-----
From: Robyn Furtado [mailto:rf205@sussex.ac.uk]
Sent: 13 March 2013 19:59
To: Zoe Curtis
Subject: RE: Filming on March 5th

Hi,

We would be asking questions as in a normal interview, and would ask the

interviewee to answer in a narrative style.

Thank you!

Robyn

Because of this, we are going to meet tomorrow and talk about what questions to ask them. We want to get a proper narrative narrative that goes through all of the stories in the narrative slowly and calmly. 

We have now met, and we have put the questions into categories. This is a list of the questions we have put down. This task was quite difficult, we are suffering from what Zoe mentioned in the pitch- we want to include a massive amount, and this is making our task a lot harder than first assumed. The questins are huge ones, and have a lot inside, but we chose to ask open ended questions rather than what date was this, when did this happen, which would be boring and a pain to edit into a narrative. We dont need everything that we have written down (for one thing, it'll be very very long if so) but we felt that if we get as much a possible  we can edit it down. 

1) When and why was the dome built?
What we want covered: Who by, what for, who inspired, purpose, cost and time span of initial building? The stables. 

2) What is the story of the tunnel?
What we want covered: Lady Fitzherbet and Geroge 5 story, what has happened to it now.

3) What happened to the dome after it stopped being a stables?
    What we want covered: When it became calvary barracks, why and how long for. Explain who stayed there, and include the Indian gate. Why was it then transformed into a concert hall? Who paid for this? 

4) What happened to the dome during the war?
What we want covered: The tea dances- who attended, and how many, any stories from the tea dances? Also, the story of the bomb that fell in the garden, but didnt explode. The hospital- who stayed in the hospital, how many, when and why did they stay in the dome?

5) When and why was the Organ made?
What we want covered: The Organ's story, include Douglas Reeve. Story of the Organ playing during air raids, and the suffragettes that hid in the pipes. 

6) Does Brightn Dome have a musical hertiage? Can you tell us some of the historical music moment under the roof of the dome?
What we want covered: David Bowie gig that ripped up seats, ABBA winning eurovision song contest, pink floyd etc. 

7) Why is the brighton dome important to brighton? 





We are also experiencing a little bit of a split in opinion on the issue of the re-enactment. We were going to shoot some scenes (a tea dance, a "tunnel", a gig, etc) which were set up, or not in the dome itself. This is a legitimate action for historical documentary, espeically if we dont say that it IS the dome. However, Ella believes that this is leading the audience to believe something that is not true, and that we shouldnt "fake" these shots. To be honest, I think that it IS true, we are making a documentary about the dome, and making re-enacted shots will make it "not real", but i also think this issue of "real" is a controversial one. Surely if you argue that re-enactment is "not real", then we can also argue that our timeline idea is "not real", and therefore shouldnt be use,d because it "doesnt exist." I think that the re-enacment will add a more interesting backdrop to the narrative than endless pans of the dome. We were thinking of shooting the dance in the studio, where it will be obvious that the dance didnt happen, so it will just be an "artist impression" of what happened. (I think maybe the word "reenactment" is the problem here, it conjures up images of fake blood and costumes.) Anyway, we will be shooting the re-enactments, and then see how well they fit in. As Ella is the editor, they will most probably not fit in, but they could do, so we can see. 

We are also shooting some exterior shots in the garden of the dome on monday, and taking photos for graphic matches. For this I need to make a shot list to avoid the problems of last time, and also make sure have enough tapes. 

Logging clips and problems

Today Ella and I went into the edit lab and logged the footage we took from the dome. I was quite interested to see what the footage looked like, Some of it was un-usable. There are moments where it is shaky and out of focus, and also over or under exposed. I was quite disappointed in myself for doing this, as I had expected to not make such errors. Some of these I cannot be completely blamed for- for example, we were taken unexpectedly to the roof and tunnel- he told us where we were going half way there, therefore I didn't have a tripod to take shots in the dark, and stills in the light. I did TRY to do stills, and i thought they were still, but apparently not... I'm glad to see that the over exposed and underexposed shots are not such a problem, and the focus wasn't too much of a constant mistake- just once or twice. We can edit these out, but I am annoyed at myself for doing this anyway.
We did get quite a few good shots from the roof, but the tunnel was un-usable, firstly as it didnt look like anything in the first place, and secondly as Louise is in shot constantly. This is a shame, we'll have to find somewhere else to film.

We took a lot of shots in the corn exchange, lobby and exterior. These are on the whole very good, and i was pleased with their outlook. The track was less impressive. To be honest, I am surprised they are as good as they are, as me and Louise were using trolleys from building sites and light trolleys which we stole from the builders in the Corn exchange (we had a broken track) There are moments where the camera is steady, the movement smooth and the shot very usable. There are other moments where the camera is jolted (as the tripod wasnt attached) and vibrating (as the trolley wheels werent steady) We can use some of these, but not all, which is disappointing. I learnt that we really do need the correct equipment if we want to create a professional look, and we'll have to go back and repeat with a real track.

I also learnt that we also need to rehearse and check all of our equipment before we set off- sadly, the slider we had been given was missing a part, and none of us remembered enough tapes, so we ran out at the end of the day. If we had been more prepared, we could have had more footage and a less unprofessional end result. I feel like some of the problems we faced was because we all expected everyone else to notice the problems or mistakes, as we all kind of assumed every role, and so we didnt have defined jobs to do. We DID film some successful shots of the concert, and inside the dome. also, last years footage is really good, so we arent left completely with no footage; it is just a shame that not all of it will be our own- which is what we wanted.


I feel a bit like i let the group down, as the camera was my job. I know i did shoot some really good stuff, but some of the mistakes I made could easily have been avoided if I had prepared more (like bringing a spare tape, for example.) Next time, I will do this. I think we need proper shot lists and schedules for each shoot. I will do this for our next shoot.

In other news, Cal has had to leave our group, as she has to go home (a bad family situation) This is in no way her fault, but it has left us a bit lost. She is the one who has the graphic and after effects skills, and without her, we as a group have no idea how to create the timeline, which is one of our main ideas. we have been searching online and looking at tutorials, it doesnt seem incredibly difficult, but we dont want to make a timeline that is only mediocre, and so have been discussing that we might have to change our idea. We don't know yet what we will do, however. We are also struggling to find a historian to narrate the film, or to interview. we have decided to write to the dome instead, and get a person who works there to talk. We hadn't wanted to do this, as we were worried that this would look like we wernt trying. However, we want the interviews done as soon as possible, so we can edit together a skeleton of a film and then work out how to fit in soundscapes, photo montages, graphic matches, re-enactments etc. So.. panicing at the moment!

work and dome filming

To get ready for the our first shoot on the 5th, I decided ti draw up a shot list of things that we need. Its going to be a bit of a strange day because we don't know what we need and what we are allowed to get, but i am going to draw up things from the best situation.

Shot List

general needed shots- timeline and filler

track through the doors of the dome
track down the corn exchange corridor
track into and out of the corn exchange
track down the isles of seats
track on stage
outwards curl of camera from roof
still of roof
 still of seats
Pan of the dome inside
exterior shots from garden

Organ concert

People clapping
the organ being played
organ rising up
red seats
people filling in/listening

Episodes

the tunnel tracks down
handheld down tunnel
still
the roof?!

Equipment List
D7000
Flashgun
Sony z1
Tripod
Slider
Photo Tripod
Macro lens
Tapes

Roles
Cal and Ella- Archive
Robyn and Louise- Shooting the dome

we have finally finished the dome shoot (Tuesday March 5th) Today has gone quite well. we managed to get more shots than we thought we might- though the dome seemed strict on not wanting us to film various things, we actually were allowed to go and film quite a few places (though this was not REALLY allowed.... as long as we were quiet) I was the camera person on the day> I let the group down a bit because I didn't bring a spare tape, and we ran out a bit at the end, but we got almost everything we needed, as it didn't matter too much. As a group we worked well. We split into two teams. Ella and Cal had D7000's, and were taking photos of all pf the archive footage that we needed, and the dome provided  I wasn't in the group, and haven't seen any of their photos yet, but i know that what they got should be very useful and good. (though I was disappointed by the light in the room- the archive footage was shiny, but they placed it in a room with sunlight and overhead lights- which make it almost impossible to get a good photos of an old photo.)

Meanwhile, Louise and I took some footage of the dome. We worked well together- we shared responsibility of the camera, and came up with ideas which complemented each other. We found some of the workman's trolleys, and decided to make a make-shift slider, (as the slide we had been given from the media department was missing a piece) it meant that I had to hang on to the bottom of the slider, and Louise had to ride on the top, to keep the camera steady- we got quite a few odd looks, but it was fun and the resulting shots were exactly what we needed as something to put the timeline against. I was glad we had the idea to experiment with these trolleys. We also had access to the roof and the tunnel. the "tunnel" was nothing more than an unplastered and dark corridor (sadly) so we didn't shoot much there. The roof was a great location though, and we got some beautiful shots of the pavilion gardens. In all, the morning went well and we worked well as team.

In the afternoon, we were forced to go to a organ concert. we split up into groups again to cover this- I was with Cal this time. Cal and I had a telephoto lens and were doing close ups of the dome, which was great, and Louise and Ella were on a long shot with sound (as they had the z1) The concert was good, we got several nice shots that we needed, though as our plan wasn't to concentrate TOO much on the organ concert, this wasn't THAT helpful. We also got some music which we can use throughout the piece.

afterwards we had 10 minutes to film inside the dome. again, i think this is a rather strange action on the dome's behalf- why employ us to make a film for them and then not let us film? anyway, we did get some shots but they were quite rushed, and I would have loved for some more time to shoot in the dome itself, which is beautiful. LAos, they were taking down the lights on stage, so it didnt look very nice to film ot, which was was shame. In all, it was a successful day. we got 2 hours worth of footage, and ticked off most of the shot list. There were some infuriating things, but we have concluded that this is something you have to deal with when working for clients- you have to do what they tell you.  As a group we worked well, splitting up time and tasks so we were most efficient, and working in pairs so we could concentrate on what was being filmed, and have one person clearing people away, deciding the next shot etc. I felt that I did do well in the group, coming up with ideas and improvising on equipment and shots. i also felt that as a group we were on task and motivated to shoot lots of things, and that we all knew which shots we needed, thanks to our extensive research. This was great!