Production Photographs

The photograph's some light into how we filmed certain shots, involving the car, and rural roadside location.

Blocking Photographs

Before the day of production we organised a trip to each location to block out certain scenes so that production would flow fluently. We took photographs of the blocking which we used as real life story boards. This exercise made clear which shots were viable and not viable in our chosen locations. 

2000 Word Evaluation - Documentary and Drama

Creative Media Practice Project End of Semester

2000-word Individual Self-Evaluation

Joshua Walker - 23034155

Liverpool Stories Documentary - ‘Das Besucher’ (The Visitor)

There’s been suggestion that a 23 year old Adolf Hitler lived in Liverpool between November 1912 and April 1913. After extensive research, speaking to respected historians and authors, we launched a documentary investigation in attempt to uncover whether Hitler once walked Liverpool’s streets. The documentary explains why alleged claims have been made, exploring both sides of the debate, evenly as possible, presenting the topic openly to the audience. We include evidence from either side of the argument to create a predominately unbiased documentary, allowing the audience to make up their own mind whether Hitler lived in Liverpool. Unlike historians who have previously investigated the claims, they have only looked at documented evidence, however, we interviewed the people of Liverpool, who drink in the alleged same pub as Adolf to call upon their artefacts, photos and memories past down from generations. We weigh the documented evidence against the people’s knowledge to see whether the claim is Liverpudlian folktale or hard fact. Our cinema-graphic influences came from intimate interviews shown in ‘Band of Brothers’. By using low key lighting and effective static mid shots combined with panning close-ups and cut-aways. Also, the stylish and intricate presentation of information in Nick Broomfields: ‘Biggie and Tupac’, was influential in creating a sense of mystery throughout the documentary.   

We had to cancel an interview with a journalist from the Liverpool Echo when Royden changed his interview time at the last minute. If we had more days in Liverpool we would have been able to interview more people. It became apparent whilst editing the footage that we didn’t have enough cutaways which made it hard to transition from some interviews or shots.  We over filmed interviews and the footage we had could have made a 30 minute documentary. We had to sacrifice so much good footage because of the content and attention the story held. We had to sacrifice the establishing shots of Liverpool which were the Liver buildings and the Liverpool docks. However, the time limit worked to our advantage as the finished piece took an ambiguous and artistic direction. Through the first half of the documentary we keep it a secret who the interviewees are talking about, until we finally show archive footage of Adolf Hitler. The name ‘Das Besucher’ is German meaning ‘the visitor’. This title holds ambiguity giving a clue that German origin ties in with the documentary and visitor meaning Adolf Hitler and we the crew visited Liverpool. Besucher almost looks like butcher which relates to Hitler’s massacres. I am happy with the overall piece, we executed what we intended.    

I took the Producer role for the documentary. The group individually researched Liverpool stories and discussed each idea in a meeting. We went with my idea which was the claim that Adolf Hitler once lived in Liverpool. Through research I found historians and authors and arranged to interview them. Such as, Michael Unger who wrote ‘The Hitler’s of Liverpool’ and illustrated memoirs of Adolf’s sister in law Bridget Hitler. Also, we used Mike Royden who is a local historian. We met Unger on ‘Upper Stanhope Street’ where Adolf allegedly lived with his half brother. We met Royden who showed us documentation and his research which enlightened a lot of claims such as Adolf’s nephew William’s birth certificate which shows that Adolf’s half brother Alois lived in Liverpool at the time Adolf allegedly lived there. We planned to interview more authors and historians however some of them like Ian Kershaw (Adolf Hitler Biographer) opted out and other historians such as Frank McDonough requested paying for his time which we couldn’t afford. To solve the lack of interviewees I arranged to film in the Poste-house Pub where Adolf allegedly drank.  I interviewed the interviewees asking scripted questions which provoked key answers. With an effective pre-production plan we captured the footage we planned and filming in Liverpool was a success.

I learnt that a well planned pre-production makes production and post-production run smoother. The interviews in Liverpool were well planned, times were arranged to suit the date of our residential trip to Liverpool. This was because I contacted the interviewees weeks prior to the trip to give more chance that they would be available. I organised a last minute interview with BBC Merseyside where I asked for anyone with information on Hitler’s association with Liverpool to contact me. I weren’t given a time which the phone-in interview was going to take place. Unluckily, I got the call from the radio station whilst we had a meeting with Michael Unger. We planned to film and sound record the interview with me on the phone. However, we were unprepared and couldn’t set up the equipment quick enough. A member of crew filmed half of my interview on the phone but didn’t capture any of the sound. However, the radio station recorded the interview and I managed to get the sound-bite which we edited with half of my filmed interview. I developed my skills of working with a film crew. I had to keep everyone in the know and make sure everyone completed their set tasks and roles in production.

We set up a Facebook group and a message chat so that we could all be in the know through the different stage of production. We could share our inspirations; send images of blocking sessions, locations and production images. This made efficient communication between the group which increased productivity and film development. We arranged meeting with the group throughout the pre-production stage, which discussed any problems or developments in the process. This kept the project on track and all members in the know. Because I was producer and because we used my idea, it was my job to look over every aspect of the process. I was possibly too pushy and demanding to the group members to get work finished as soon as possible so we had more time to amend any problems which may occur. I should have held back more and not got as involved with editing as I made changes to the sound design and visual edit when the editors and I had creative differences. In future I shall listen more to members of the group and try not to get too much involved with the roles of other members.   

Drama Project – ‘Overdose’

‘Overdose’ is a gritty drama following the life of a girl called Amber. She knows that her boyfriend is a successful small-time drug dealer, but with her own career failing to provide she is forced to stay with him and turn a blind eye to his activities. As her personal life becomes increasingly embroiled in his dangerous operations, and menaced by the growing fear of being caught with him, she can no longer distance herself from the criminal lifestyle and must search for an escape. The film takes place from Amber’s point of view within the confines of the house she shares with her boyfriend, the central focus being her growing feelings of fear, anxiety, entrapment and isolation.  The drama takes the spectator on her journey of how she escapes from this dangerous lifestyle. We aimed for the drama to carry a gritty British feel like Shane Meadow’s work such as ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’. Also, a Channel 4 TV series called Run influenced us how to tell the story from Amber’s perspective and use off-screen space, as well as incorporating the theme of the colour blue.  

Overall I’m happy with the finished film. Our first edit came to over 7 minutes. It was a massive struggle to edit the film down to the required time. As a group we decided to remove the scene where Amber packed a suitcase and put it in a car. Also, the scene where Amber finds a phone in the Kitchen and puts it in a box full of money and other phones. We felt these scenes had less importance, I didn’t really make sense because we had to cut out a lot of scenes to make the 7 minute edit anyway. We obviously over filmed and planned a too much detailed film. We over compensated the scenes which we thought would take up 5 minutes actually would make up more like a 15 minute film. We used external actors/actresses which we sourced from the drama course in Sheffield Hallam University. They played their role brilliantly and added to the effect of the film. We used the theme of the colour blue throughout the film. This sets a calm tone throughout the film which juxtaposes the arguments, confrontations and events which take place. The blue colour shown through lighting is emphasised at the beginning and end shot when a blue police light is flashing on Amber’s face who is sat in the car. The represent’s Dean’s arrest and her escape from that lifestyle.

We filmed ‘Overdose’ over 2 days and an extra day a week later for a re-shoot of three scenes. The story was created by our director Jake, he wrote a script and from there our group collaborated ideas of shots and extra scenes for a shot-list. Because we had an initial script at an early stage, this meant pre-production was easy in terms of knowing what we needed for the film. We contacted actors/actresses immediately met up for a run through of the script. After we assigned actors/actresses with their roles we planned dates to film according to their availability. The three locations we used were my parent’s house in Barnsley, a scene on a rural roadside which was Linthwaite Lane and a car scene which was Emily’s (sound recordist) car. The first two days of shooting went well, however 3 scenes were rushed because we ran out of time. We organised a re-shoot and this time successfully captured the scenes. I took the role Cinematographer and was behind the camera for the entire film. I collaborated with the director and designed the shot-list for each scene as well as including inspirations such as Shane Meadows regularly used techniques, pull focus, slow zoom and close-up facial shots.

I have developed my cinematography skills. This is the first project of the year which I have been the camera operator. I researched work by Shane Meadows, Danny Boyle and work produced by Channel 4 to capture that gritty British drama style. I primarily used a shoulder rig for the camera to capture shots; this was a first and found that the shots captured were much more appealing and artistic than a static shot mounted on a tripod. The shots looks more natural from the shoulder rig, I think this is because in real life we perceive objects through our eyes, our bodies and heads are never still but have some movement. The shoulder rig also allowed me to follow moving characters. I have developed my creative skills by creatively turning scripted scenes into storyboards and shot lists. We blocked off each scene days before the shoot at the locations which we could then amend any planned shots which wouldn’t work in the locations we had arranged. This was handy because it made the days of shoot flow more fluently and we knew which shots were going to be film, in which location and from which angle.  

We set up a Facebook group and a message chat so that we could all be in the know through the different stage of production. We could share our inspirations; send images of blocking sessions, locations and production images. This made efficient communication between the group which increased productivity and film development. We arranged meeting with the group and actors throughout the pre-production stage, which discussed any problems or developments in the process. This kept the project on track and all members in the know. Because I was Cinematographer/Camera Operator my roles made my involvement in pre-production and production more significant that post-production. I had little involvement in post-production apart from suggesting any minor changes and footage which could be removed to shorten the long edit. I perhaps should have got more involved in post-production. However I knew that our editors had the film under control.  

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