Progress
We completed the narration section of the documentary today. The only problem is that at the moment, the film lasts for over 5 minutes. Everything that is said throughout the narration is quite important, so now it will be a tough decision on what to take out.
Sound Quality
Another problem we have encountered, is that the sound level drops dramatically at the end of Nathan's opening statement. To fix this we used the audio mixer feature of Premier Pro. This allows us to adjust volume levels within a single track, which is ideal when you only want one part of an audio track louder or quieter. Also, because we have cut up many of the long answers, we have some other minor jumps in volume and a jerky feeling throughout the statements. This we will try to sort out as we go along, but are trying not to get stuck on small things so that we can get everything done and do the final tweeks at the end. (See Screenshot)
Issue
As of yet, we still have not corrected the problem mentioned with the introduction. The transition of the two shots now doesn't work at all. Instead of the shot freezing and slowly fading out while the image slowly fades in, the first shot now goes black as soon as they begin to overlap. We decided to leave the technical tweeks until the end however, due to the very limited amount of time we have left to finish our documentary.
Screenshot
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Monday, 8 December 2008
Editing VI: Progress (8.12.08)
We are finally fully caught up and beyond. Roughly half of our film is now complete. We found a song, which suits the atmosphere we hope to invoke, and are very happy with the effect it has:
The Specials - "Ghost Town"
This song is sort of dark, yet also comforting and soulful. We always wanted something a bit gloomy to emphasize the urban aspect graffiti, but we also wanted something that wasn't too overpowering or dull.
Summary
We still have not sorted out the problem mentioned from yesterday, but have made a lot of headway with the interview. Since the introduction has been finished, we have not been worrying about the visuals. Instead, the focus has been on creating the narration of the documentary. After this, we will put all of the necessary visuals in place and make adjustments.
The Specials - "Ghost Town"
This song is sort of dark, yet also comforting and soulful. We always wanted something a bit gloomy to emphasize the urban aspect graffiti, but we also wanted something that wasn't too overpowering or dull.
Summary
We still have not sorted out the problem mentioned from yesterday, but have made a lot of headway with the interview. Since the introduction has been finished, we have not been worrying about the visuals. Instead, the focus has been on creating the narration of the documentary. After this, we will put all of the necessary visuals in place and make adjustments.
Editing V: Catching Up (5.12.08)
Preparation
At the start of the day, we captured the second tape and wrote down the timecodes for the rest of the footage from Nathan's studio, the Russel Youth Center, and at the art shop. We did not, however, write down the timecodes for the interview due to time contraints. We then moved onto catching up.
Intro/Beginning Repeat
We set up the introduction and beginning of the film exactly the same, except for adding a video which I recorded at one of the nights hosted by Detonate, a company that hosts Drum&Bass nights and other various music events, for which Nathan designed flyers for many years. We added this video because in the interview, Nathan speaks about growing up in the rave scene, and also because he later mentions his experience designing flyers for Detonate.
Issue
The main problem we were having is a technical one. Basically, we want to have a shot of Nathan turning around and looking at the camera freeze at the end of the titles and an image of a piece that says "Oxygen Thievez" in large letters on the side of a building slowly fade in and overlap it while the frozen shot slowly fades out. In short, we just couldn't make it look right and will need to ask for some advice.
Result
Anyways, we finally got close to being caught up and on track by the end of the day, and now have 45 seconds of progress.
At the start of the day, we captured the second tape and wrote down the timecodes for the rest of the footage from Nathan's studio, the Russel Youth Center, and at the art shop. We did not, however, write down the timecodes for the interview due to time contraints. We then moved onto catching up.
Intro/Beginning Repeat
We set up the introduction and beginning of the film exactly the same, except for adding a video which I recorded at one of the nights hosted by Detonate, a company that hosts Drum&Bass nights and other various music events, for which Nathan designed flyers for many years. We added this video because in the interview, Nathan speaks about growing up in the rave scene, and also because he later mentions his experience designing flyers for Detonate.
Issue
The main problem we were having is a technical one. Basically, we want to have a shot of Nathan turning around and looking at the camera freeze at the end of the titles and an image of a piece that says "Oxygen Thievez" in large letters on the side of a building slowly fade in and overlap it while the frozen shot slowly fades out. In short, we just couldn't make it look right and will need to ask for some advice.
Result
Anyways, we finally got close to being caught up and on track by the end of the day, and now have 45 seconds of progress.
Editing IV: Total Meltdown (4.12.08)
(Long Sigh)
The Last Crash
We edited for a few hours, got up to a whole minute and 30 seconds. The same problem kept occuring, but we were managing to build momentum. Unfortunately, the last time the program crashed.. it took everything with it. We were no longer able to open our project, and so we began recapturing..
Back to Capture
We only had time to capture one tape. This time though, we wrote the timecodes*, which we forgot to do the first time we captured it. It is simply writing down the time of the beginning and end of the shots you want to use. This makes it much easier to edit since you already know the location of the shots you want to use. If there is any bright side to the situation, this would be it.
Conclusion
We came to the decision that it might be the song we were using for the introduction, quite appropropriately named "Hell on Earth." It was a downloaded song sent by one of Joe's friends and as soon as it was put onto Chris's hard drive, his computer detected a trojan, and the hard drive didn't work properly after that. So, due to this song, all of our files were corrupted. In response to this, we will use a different song and only use my hard drive to store all of the files. Oh yea, and the song we are going to use will definitely not be downloaded.
*see "Timecodes" post
The Last Crash
We edited for a few hours, got up to a whole minute and 30 seconds. The same problem kept occuring, but we were managing to build momentum. Unfortunately, the last time the program crashed.. it took everything with it. We were no longer able to open our project, and so we began recapturing..
Back to Capture
We only had time to capture one tape. This time though, we wrote the timecodes*, which we forgot to do the first time we captured it. It is simply writing down the time of the beginning and end of the shots you want to use. This makes it much easier to edit since you already know the location of the shots you want to use. If there is any bright side to the situation, this would be it.
Conclusion
We came to the decision that it might be the song we were using for the introduction, quite appropropriately named "Hell on Earth." It was a downloaded song sent by one of Joe's friends and as soon as it was put onto Chris's hard drive, his computer detected a trojan, and the hard drive didn't work properly after that. So, due to this song, all of our files were corrupted. In response to this, we will use a different song and only use my hard drive to store all of the files. Oh yea, and the song we are going to use will definitely not be downloaded.
*see "Timecodes" post
Editing III: Slug Speed & Feedback (3.12.08)
Today, we edited for a total of 4 hours. Also, today, we only managed to finish another 15 seconds of our film. The same error messages keep disrupting and deleting our work. We have tried 3 different things various lecturers advised us to do to sort out the problem and none of them have worked. Although, we didn't make much progress again, we did get some feedback from some peers and a lecturer.
Feedback
- Should be more to look at (not just Nathan painting)
- Good opening shot
- Titles need to come later
- Bad transition from introduction to first image (bad timing)
- First image needs to be brighter
- Colorful
- Bad graphic design (image of flyers)
Reflection
To be honest, there weren't many positive comments about specific parts of the film. However, we did get the impression that people liked the idea and found it visually interesting. Generally, we agreed with and appreciated all of the comments made, and implemented them into our edit.
Feedback
- Should be more to look at (not just Nathan painting)
- Good opening shot
- Titles need to come later
- Bad transition from introduction to first image (bad timing)
- First image needs to be brighter
- Colorful
- Bad graphic design (image of flyers)
Reflection
To be honest, there weren't many positive comments about specific parts of the film. However, we did get the impression that people liked the idea and found it visually interesting. Generally, we agreed with and appreciated all of the comments made, and implemented them into our edit.
Editing II: Loss (2.12.08)
So, we got up to the first 30 seconds of our character study within the first hour or so of working today. We put some music to the film, finished the introduction, I mean we got the story in motion and things were looking up until we saw, "Write Disc Error".. and wouldn't you know it, everything lost. This kept happening pretty much every time we got to the 30 second mark. We kept saving after every little thing we did and sometimes it would let us reopen it alright, but then it would do the same thing again, delete the damn auto-save files all on its own, and leave us back to where we had began..
We got some advice from a lecturer towards the end which seemed to help for a while, until right when we were about to leave, and the stupid program did it again.
...today, we finished the first 30 seconds of our documentary.
We got some advice from a lecturer towards the end which seemed to help for a while, until right when we were about to leave, and the stupid program did it again.
...today, we finished the first 30 seconds of our documentary.
Editing I: Intro and Audio (28.11.08)
Today we spent about 4 hours editing the intro and the start of the documentary. 2 hours of this work was lost when the editing software crashed.
Update
I forgot to mention in the last post that we could not use any of the audio that was recorded on the R-09 recorder. This is because the volume was too low and the sound quality wasn't good at all.
Summary
Basically, we spent most of the time editing the audio part of the interview. This involved cutting out small bits of long answers, where the answer trails off the subject. Although the technique is simple, it is difficult to cut up what someone is saying, and have it play back sounding exactly like it would be said in real life. This has to do mostly with the rhythm of what is being said and where the accents in the sentence are. Another problem with us using this technique, is that because we could not use the audio from the R-09, we had to use the audio from the camcorder. This in turn, means that when we cut out bits from what is being said, the video of the interview jumps and jerks because he is in different positions when he is speaking, and obviously we can't use this. In the end, we set up about 15 seconds of audio for the introduction and beginning of the documentary. Then, we decided on the graphics we wanted to use and made the opening titles and put in place the shot for the introduction. Also, we added a few pictures fading in and out plus a shot of nathan smoking a ciggarette.
Update
I forgot to mention in the last post that we could not use any of the audio that was recorded on the R-09 recorder. This is because the volume was too low and the sound quality wasn't good at all.
Summary
Basically, we spent most of the time editing the audio part of the interview. This involved cutting out small bits of long answers, where the answer trails off the subject. Although the technique is simple, it is difficult to cut up what someone is saying, and have it play back sounding exactly like it would be said in real life. This has to do mostly with the rhythm of what is being said and where the accents in the sentence are. Another problem with us using this technique, is that because we could not use the audio from the R-09, we had to use the audio from the camcorder. This in turn, means that when we cut out bits from what is being said, the video of the interview jumps and jerks because he is in different positions when he is speaking, and obviously we can't use this. In the end, we set up about 15 seconds of audio for the introduction and beginning of the documentary. Then, we decided on the graphics we wanted to use and made the opening titles and put in place the shot for the introduction. Also, we added a few pictures fading in and out plus a shot of nathan smoking a ciggarette.
Pre-edit: Cut it up! (27.11.08)
Part One
We began the first stages of editing today. We got some advice from one of our lecturers: to cut up the bits of the interview to make your story before you start with the visual side. So first, we started cutting up the interview, bit by bit, removing the parts we definitely don't want to use. Most of what we cut out was film that was taken in between questions, answers that trailed off, and long "umms" and other sounds (you'd be surprised how much time goes to into saying "umm" a lot) It took about two hours to clean it up and have only the best answers and to put it in a rough order to tell a story.
Part Two
The next step was to do the same as above, but with the footage from the first and second day of shooting. This took another two hours and we didn't get all the way through it. We found the hardest part was actually deciding what to keep and what to leave out. We figured that we took quite a bit more footage than we needed, but going through all of it shot by shot gave us a much better idea of how we wanted to use it. This was a bit easier though because we didn't have to worry about audio.
Result
In the end, we got almost 2 hours of footage down to roughly 10 minutes.
We began the first stages of editing today. We got some advice from one of our lecturers: to cut up the bits of the interview to make your story before you start with the visual side. So first, we started cutting up the interview, bit by bit, removing the parts we definitely don't want to use. Most of what we cut out was film that was taken in between questions, answers that trailed off, and long "umms" and other sounds (you'd be surprised how much time goes to into saying "umm" a lot) It took about two hours to clean it up and have only the best answers and to put it in a rough order to tell a story.
Part Two
The next step was to do the same as above, but with the footage from the first and second day of shooting. This took another two hours and we didn't get all the way through it. We found the hardest part was actually deciding what to keep and what to leave out. We figured that we took quite a bit more footage than we needed, but going through all of it shot by shot gave us a much better idea of how we wanted to use it. This was a bit easier though because we didn't have to worry about audio.
Result
In the end, we got almost 2 hours of footage down to roughly 10 minutes.
Capture (26.11.08)
Capturing the footage is simply taking footage from a tape and putting it on the computer so you can edit it. Just press play then record. Although very simple, you have to wait for it to capture in realtime.. longgg. Anyways, thats what we did today.
Shoot Day III: The Interview (24.11.08)
The Change
So, we changed our plan over the weekend after we got some feedback during one of our seminars. The one thing we were worried about, was indeed the biggest problem. Basically, the input was that the audience needed something else to look at if we didn't want it to be boring. Previously, Joe, the director, mentioned that he wanted to record at least part of the interview to show in the film, even if it was only Nathan's mouth, not his entire face; we were told to applaud this decision and to go with it.
The Shoot
Today, we filmed the interview section of our documentary. (see "Script post) We needed the same set as the first day of filming plus a boom mic to record sound for the camcorder. (see "The Filming of.." post) Everything went to plan, we set up both the camcorder and the R-09 recorder while we had a chat about some of the questions we would be asking. Nathan went a bit nervous when we actually started recording, but quickly seemed to get comfotable. He gave a great account of his experiences and the progression of his artwork; he also told some great stories.
Evaluation
Again, it took a bit longer than expected and didn't get to some of the extra things we wanted to do like filming some of the models and other things around his house. We got about an hour of footage and have not yet reviewed the footage.
So, we changed our plan over the weekend after we got some feedback during one of our seminars. The one thing we were worried about, was indeed the biggest problem. Basically, the input was that the audience needed something else to look at if we didn't want it to be boring. Previously, Joe, the director, mentioned that he wanted to record at least part of the interview to show in the film, even if it was only Nathan's mouth, not his entire face; we were told to applaud this decision and to go with it.
The Shoot
Today, we filmed the interview section of our documentary. (see "Script post) We needed the same set as the first day of filming plus a boom mic to record sound for the camcorder. (see "The Filming of.." post) Everything went to plan, we set up both the camcorder and the R-09 recorder while we had a chat about some of the questions we would be asking. Nathan went a bit nervous when we actually started recording, but quickly seemed to get comfotable. He gave a great account of his experiences and the progression of his artwork; he also told some great stories.
Evaluation
Again, it took a bit longer than expected and didn't get to some of the extra things we wanted to do like filming some of the models and other things around his house. We got about an hour of footage and have not yet reviewed the footage.
Shoot Day II: Russell Youth Center/Art Shop (21.11.08)
Today, we filmed at the art shop, the Russel Youth Center, and also some walls around Nottingham while we were driving around. Everything went well and everyone was happy with the result. Overall, it was a fairly uneventful day. We simply went from one location to the next and took footage of just about everything we saw that was relevant. To review the footage we needed the camera, but we had to return the equipment by 4.30pm, so haven't been able to look over it. Also today, we booked and confirmed the booking for our equipment to be taken out on Monday, the 24th.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Random Oxygen Thieves Tag and Other
Chris and I walked around town the other day looking for places where we could take photographs of graffiti.
Graffiti Pictures
Graffiti Pictures
The Shooting of "Urban Art: Kid30" (19.11.08)
At 4:00pm today we picked up the equipment from the University. We needed the following:
1. Sony HVR-Z7U Camcorder
2. Edirol R-09 Recorder
3. Tripod
4. Light & Stand
5. Gloves (prevents burns from lights)
6. Reflector (reflects light to get rid of shadows etc.)
Also, I took my Sony miniDV camcorder to use in the "Extras" section of our final DVD.
Summary
The shoot went really well, however took much longer than we had expected. We were there from 6.00pm to about 9.00pm. The piece he created was indeed representative; it conveys an angry side of him, the paint-roller in the character's hand displays his passion for art, the skull and bones symbolize death, and the buildings emphasize the urban nature of his artwork. (see below) In the end, we got about 45 minutes of footage. The lighting was sufficient and everyone worked well together. We didn't have to worry about sound much because the sound will be comprised of the interview voiceover and music. We just recorded some sounds with the R-09 recorder such as the spraypaint can being sprayed and general atmosphereic sounds.
The Next Step
Due to the change in schedule, we were not able to take all of the footage we need for this documentary. We will now do the interview on Monday at Nathan's house. Also, Nathan told us of a few places where the Oxygen Thievez have done pieces so that we could go and film there. The places he mentioned were a gallery/art shop above a record store where he and other members of the group exhibit and sell their commercial work, and also the Russel Youth Center, a youth center where there is work by the Oxygen Thieves and many other artists. We will shoot there most likely on friday, after we get the necessary forms filled out.
Review
After the shoot, we viewed the footage we had taken from both cameras. We were pleased with the outcome of the main tape but found what we might be lacking is shot variety. This is due to the layout of the room and the fact that there's only so many angles you can get of someone painting on a flat wall. Despite this, we noted many shots that we definitely want to use. Also, we found this footage interesting to watch , even though it was in realtime and had no sound. The footage I took from the other camera did have sound and was generally used to record "The Making Of" our movie. Also, I played around with some of the effects on the camera to provide us an opportunity to create our own experimental edit.
The Making Of
1. Sony HVR-Z7U Camcorder
2. Edirol R-09 Recorder
3. Tripod
4. Light & Stand
5. Gloves (prevents burns from lights)
6. Reflector (reflects light to get rid of shadows etc.)
Also, I took my Sony miniDV camcorder to use in the "Extras" section of our final DVD.
Summary
The shoot went really well, however took much longer than we had expected. We were there from 6.00pm to about 9.00pm. The piece he created was indeed representative; it conveys an angry side of him, the paint-roller in the character's hand displays his passion for art, the skull and bones symbolize death, and the buildings emphasize the urban nature of his artwork. (see below) In the end, we got about 45 minutes of footage. The lighting was sufficient and everyone worked well together. We didn't have to worry about sound much because the sound will be comprised of the interview voiceover and music. We just recorded some sounds with the R-09 recorder such as the spraypaint can being sprayed and general atmosphereic sounds.
The Next Step
Due to the change in schedule, we were not able to take all of the footage we need for this documentary. We will now do the interview on Monday at Nathan's house. Also, Nathan told us of a few places where the Oxygen Thievez have done pieces so that we could go and film there. The places he mentioned were a gallery/art shop above a record store where he and other members of the group exhibit and sell their commercial work, and also the Russel Youth Center, a youth center where there is work by the Oxygen Thieves and many other artists. We will shoot there most likely on friday, after we get the necessary forms filled out.
Review
After the shoot, we viewed the footage we had taken from both cameras. We were pleased with the outcome of the main tape but found what we might be lacking is shot variety. This is due to the layout of the room and the fact that there's only so many angles you can get of someone painting on a flat wall. Despite this, we noted many shots that we definitely want to use. Also, we found this footage interesting to watch , even though it was in realtime and had no sound. The footage I took from the other camera did have sound and was generally used to record "The Making Of" our movie. Also, I played around with some of the effects on the camera to provide us an opportunity to create our own experimental edit.
The Making Of
Confirmation (18.11.08)
After all of the setbacks and unforseen circumstances, Chris and I decided to stop by the equipment office to confirm that we will be able to take out the camera tomorrow. We got the go ahead and everybody feels motivated. Hopefully, the worst has come and gone and we can start having fun..
Unsuccessful Shoot Day (17.11.08)
Remember those risk assessment forms? Well, come this morning when we needed to get the forms signed with approval and take out the camera and equipment, we couldn't find any lecturers and when we did there were, of course, problems, and things needed to be added to them. So, today, all we were able to do is call Nathan to apologize and send an email to the equipment staff to book the cameras out for a different date. Now, we will be filming this Wednesday, the 19th. On the bright side, we did, successfully hand in our storyboard.
Fallbacks (14.11.08)
So, we tried to hand in our completed risk assessment forms to be signed for approval, not sure who we were meant to have sign the "Supervisor" section. Without this signature we couldn't get the seal of approval you see. It turns out that the supervisor is Nathan, so we had to track him down which wasn't so hard because Rosie, another member of our group, saw him in the pub where she works earlier this evening and got him to sign it.
Another problem we faced was that the copy our of storyboard sketch was still not good enough. Fortunately, we were given the weekend to come up with an even better version.
Another problem we faced was that the copy our of storyboard sketch was still not good enough. Fortunately, we were given the weekend to come up with an even better version.
Risk Assessment Forms/Storyboard Continued..(13.11.08)
Today, we filled out the risk assessment forms and continued working on the storyboard sketches...
Proposal Presentation & New Storyboard (12.11.08)
Today, in our seminar, we presented our proposal. It went smoothly and we were happy with the result. There weren't any questions regarding our ideas and what we aimed to do, which we took as a good sign.
The one problem we encountered was that the photocopy of our storyboard sketch we needed to hand in wasn't dark enough to see. So, today we began the new sketches.
Also, during the seminar today we found out that we need to have risk assessment forms* completed before the cameras can be taken out from the University.
**R.A. forms coming soon**
The one problem we encountered was that the photocopy of our storyboard sketch we needed to hand in wasn't dark enough to see. So, today we began the new sketches.
Also, during the seminar today we found out that we need to have risk assessment forms* completed before the cameras can be taken out from the University.
**R.A. forms coming soon**
Finished Proposal & Powerpoint Presentation* (11.11.08)
After visiting Nathan's studio, we had a group meeting and finalised our proposal and created a Powerpoint slideshow to present our ideas.
The Proposal
Warm'N'Easy Productions Presents:
"Urban Art: Kid30"
Overview:
“Urban Art” is a documentary about Nathan Bainbridge, aka Kid33, from the graffiti group Oxygen Thievez. In this film, we will be trying to find out how he began his role as a graffiti artist and his perception on the culture. The length of this character study will be approximately four minutes.”
Who/What/Our Viewpoint:
We see Nathan as an artist expressing his individuality through a taboo art-form. The story will focus on the progression of his artwork and his views surrounding the area. This documentary will be presented through a voice recorded interview and various shots of Nathan painting a piece of which he sees himself artistically. Pictures of other “tags” and sketches by Kid33 will be shown throughout the film. “Urban Art” will use constant moving imagery from beginning to end to invoke the flowing feeling of an aerosol can painting a piece of graffiti.
(Here we had the storyboard; see "Storyboard" post)
How:
To keep the viewer’s interest we are going to show the images and film with a variety of different effects on some shots we will have video noise and changing the saturation, brightness and contrast to give it a 9mm film look. This is to give it an urban feel. In contrast to show graffiti is still an art form we will intensify the brightness. We also are going to dissolve images of Kid33’s artwork into one another.
Why:
As a group, we share a common interest in art, specifically urban and underground art. Much of this style of art is not properly recognised. In particular, we believe that graffiti is looked upon with a negative view. This is due to its criminal associations and a misunderstanding of the culture. Therefore, we wish to present a character which will show the audience the artistic end of the graffiti spectrum and leave them feeling inspired. Through this character study of Nathan Bainbridge, we aim to answer underlying questions surrounding the controversy surrounding urban art and to give a voice to the underground art culture of graffiti.
Locations:
1. His studio
2. Locations where Kid33 and the Oxygen Thievez work is on display
3. His house
4. Skatepark
Script:
(See "Script" post)
**Powerpoint slides coming soon**
The Proposal
Warm'N'Easy Productions Presents:
"Urban Art: Kid30"
Overview:
“Urban Art” is a documentary about Nathan Bainbridge, aka Kid33, from the graffiti group Oxygen Thievez. In this film, we will be trying to find out how he began his role as a graffiti artist and his perception on the culture. The length of this character study will be approximately four minutes.”
Who/What/Our Viewpoint:
We see Nathan as an artist expressing his individuality through a taboo art-form. The story will focus on the progression of his artwork and his views surrounding the area. This documentary will be presented through a voice recorded interview and various shots of Nathan painting a piece of which he sees himself artistically. Pictures of other “tags” and sketches by Kid33 will be shown throughout the film. “Urban Art” will use constant moving imagery from beginning to end to invoke the flowing feeling of an aerosol can painting a piece of graffiti.
(Here we had the storyboard; see "Storyboard" post)
How:
To keep the viewer’s interest we are going to show the images and film with a variety of different effects on some shots we will have video noise and changing the saturation, brightness and contrast to give it a 9mm film look. This is to give it an urban feel. In contrast to show graffiti is still an art form we will intensify the brightness. We also are going to dissolve images of Kid33’s artwork into one another.
Why:
As a group, we share a common interest in art, specifically urban and underground art. Much of this style of art is not properly recognised. In particular, we believe that graffiti is looked upon with a negative view. This is due to its criminal associations and a misunderstanding of the culture. Therefore, we wish to present a character which will show the audience the artistic end of the graffiti spectrum and leave them feeling inspired. Through this character study of Nathan Bainbridge, we aim to answer underlying questions surrounding the controversy surrounding urban art and to give a voice to the underground art culture of graffiti.
Locations:
1. His studio
2. Locations where Kid33 and the Oxygen Thievez work is on display
3. His house
4. Skatepark
Script:
(See "Script" post)
**Powerpoint slides coming soon**
Kid30's Studio (11.11.08)
Today we went to Nathan's studio to take pictures and do the necessary paperwork. First, we filled out the recce forms*, which takes into account the floor plan and our set up, number of electrical outlets, etc. Then we moved on to the risk assessment form*, which is used to highlight the dangers involved, the most dangerous thing being the lighting due to the consequence if some gets electricuted.
We spoke to Nathan further about the shoot date and decided to shoot on Monday, the 17th. The plan is to shoot outside around town during the day and in his studio during the evening. Additionally, we spoke to him about our ideas, specifically if he could create a symbolic charater, and he seemed very enthusiastic. Also, he said he could do some drawing onto a board and show us other types of work he has around his house, such as models, both of which we are considering incorporating.
Pictures of Kid30's Studio
*I will post the recce form when we get them scanned
*I will post the risk assessment form when we get them scanned
We spoke to Nathan further about the shoot date and decided to shoot on Monday, the 17th. The plan is to shoot outside around town during the day and in his studio during the evening. Additionally, we spoke to him about our ideas, specifically if he could create a symbolic charater, and he seemed very enthusiastic. Also, he said he could do some drawing onto a board and show us other types of work he has around his house, such as models, both of which we are considering incorporating.
Pictures of Kid30's Studio
*I will post the recce form when we get them scanned
*I will post the risk assessment form when we get them scanned
Script (10.11.08)
Here are the questions we have decided to ask in our interview:
The Script
1. What was your life like growing up and how has it made who you are?
2. Have you always been artistic?
3. When and why did you first get serious about art?
4. How did you start getting recognised and how did it make you feel?
5. What do your family and friends think about your work?
6. How do you feel about the whole image that graffiti brings? E.g. gangs, being socially unacceptable and it being a criminal activity?
7. Is the graffiti you create illegal?
8. How do you feel about the laws regarding graffiti?
9. How do you use your art to help the community and who are you trying to help?
10. How did you get involved with graffiti and what is your influence?
11. What’s your message in your graffiti and who are you sending it to?
12. What is your role in the Oxygen Thievez?
13. What opportunity’s has being in the Oxygen Thievez given you?
14. What does art mean to you?
15. Is your art an escape for you?
16. If you could tag anything in the world, what would it be and why?
The Script
1. What was your life like growing up and how has it made who you are?
2. Have you always been artistic?
3. When and why did you first get serious about art?
4. How did you start getting recognised and how did it make you feel?
5. What do your family and friends think about your work?
6. How do you feel about the whole image that graffiti brings? E.g. gangs, being socially unacceptable and it being a criminal activity?
7. Is the graffiti you create illegal?
8. How do you feel about the laws regarding graffiti?
9. How do you use your art to help the community and who are you trying to help?
10. How did you get involved with graffiti and what is your influence?
11. What’s your message in your graffiti and who are you sending it to?
12. What is your role in the Oxygen Thievez?
13. What opportunity’s has being in the Oxygen Thievez given you?
14. What does art mean to you?
15. Is your art an escape for you?
16. If you could tag anything in the world, what would it be and why?
Group Meeting: Contact/Script*/Storyboard Drawings* (10.11.08)
Today we contacted Nathan for the first time since he agreed to participate in our documentary. I spoke to him on the phone briefly to find out if he had an idea of where we could film him creating a piece, and also to set up a shoot date. He informed us that he had a studio where he does work, and also that we would be able to shoot at his house if necessary. We didn't come to a definite decision about the shoot date, but the tentative plan is to shoot some day between Monday and Wednesday of next week. Nathan sounded excited about our idea and gave us directions to his studio, so that tomorrow we can go have a chat and fill out the neccessary risk assessment forms.
Also, we wrote the script and made the sketches to go along with the storyboard.
**See "Script" Post**
*I will post the storyboard sketches as soon as we get them scanned
Also, we wrote the script and made the sketches to go along with the storyboard.
**See "Script" Post**
*I will post the storyboard sketches as soon as we get them scanned
Storyboard (9.11.08)
Overview
We will ask Kid33 to paint a picture of how he sees himself. It will not necessarily be a the conventional way in which someone might portray themselves, but his own abstract interpretation of what represents him as a person i.e. personality, experiences etc.
Scene 1
We are going to have shots of Kid33’s work fading from one to another with the title and production name showing. We will use a hip- hop song named “Hell on Earth” for the duration of the introduction as it will set the film off with the urban feel that we intend to portray. The total duration of the introduction will be roughly 15 seconds.
Scene 2
This scene will contain rough background of Kid33s life and how he began his life as a graffiti artist. The creation of the body of the character will be shown during this scene. Other shots of his artwork will be edited into the scene. The duration of this scene will be roughly 45 seconds.
Scene 3
The second scene will flow into the third carrying on the theme of graffiti being often known as a criminal offence. We will be focusing on the legal issues regarding graffiti, his opinions on graffiti as a whole and if he has had any previous encounters with the police regarding his artwork. This camera will be focusing on the mouth of the painting that he creates and other images of work he has done that relates to this topic. This scene should last for roughly 45 seconds.
Scene 4
The fourth scene will focus on areas in which he may have helped the community such as workshops, etc. Keeping the theme of focusing on a specific part of the painting he created, we will edit in shots of the representation of his hands. Shots of his artwork that he may have produced in projects to help the community will be edited in through out the scene. This scene will last for roughly 45 seconds.
Scene 5
Scene five will be our overview in which we will show still images of Kid33 and his graffiti group Oxygen Thievez’s artwork in public areas. The camera will also cut to the image of his eyes in his artistic interpretation of himself. This section of the film will last for roughly 20 seconds.
Scene 6
This will be our final shot of his finished art work where his portrait is revealed to the viewer. We will attach a piece of cellophane to the camera lens for Kid33 to sign as the credit roll across the screen. This section will take roughly 15 seconds.
We will ask Kid33 to paint a picture of how he sees himself. It will not necessarily be a the conventional way in which someone might portray themselves, but his own abstract interpretation of what represents him as a person i.e. personality, experiences etc.
Scene 1
We are going to have shots of Kid33’s work fading from one to another with the title and production name showing. We will use a hip- hop song named “Hell on Earth” for the duration of the introduction as it will set the film off with the urban feel that we intend to portray. The total duration of the introduction will be roughly 15 seconds.
Scene 2
This scene will contain rough background of Kid33s life and how he began his life as a graffiti artist. The creation of the body of the character will be shown during this scene. Other shots of his artwork will be edited into the scene. The duration of this scene will be roughly 45 seconds.
Scene 3
The second scene will flow into the third carrying on the theme of graffiti being often known as a criminal offence. We will be focusing on the legal issues regarding graffiti, his opinions on graffiti as a whole and if he has had any previous encounters with the police regarding his artwork. This camera will be focusing on the mouth of the painting that he creates and other images of work he has done that relates to this topic. This scene should last for roughly 45 seconds.
Scene 4
The fourth scene will focus on areas in which he may have helped the community such as workshops, etc. Keeping the theme of focusing on a specific part of the painting he created, we will edit in shots of the representation of his hands. Shots of his artwork that he may have produced in projects to help the community will be edited in through out the scene. This scene will last for roughly 45 seconds.
Scene 5
Scene five will be our overview in which we will show still images of Kid33 and his graffiti group Oxygen Thievez’s artwork in public areas. The camera will also cut to the image of his eyes in his artistic interpretation of himself. This section of the film will last for roughly 20 seconds.
Scene 6
This will be our final shot of his finished art work where his portrait is revealed to the viewer. We will attach a piece of cellophane to the camera lens for Kid33 to sign as the credit roll across the screen. This section will take roughly 15 seconds.
"Urban Art: Kid30" (6.11.08)
The working title we came up for our character study is "Urban Art: Kid30". We all share a common interest in underground art and culture and in this documentary we hope to give the world of underground art a voice while highlighting the artistic side of graffiti. Although we want to create an entertaining film that is visually and audibly interesting for everyone, the main audiences we are trying to connect with are the younger generation (13-30) and other artists. From our discussion we decided on some things we wanted to include:
Aspects
- Intro: sequence of close-ups of various people speaking about their opinion of a piece of graffiti then fade the "tag" in with the title.
- Nathan creating a "tag" on canvas/board (sped up)
- Shots and pictures of other works fading in and out.
- Theme: "Is graffiti art or crime?"
- Music: Urban/Dance (grime/hip-hop/dubstep/drum and bass)
The Story
- What his life was like growing up.
- How he began creating graffiti.
- In what ways has he been recognised.
- Experiences/stories relating to graffiti.
- The message he is sending.
- What his life is like at the moment.
Aspects
- Intro: sequence of close-ups of various people speaking about their opinion of a piece of graffiti then fade the "tag" in with the title.
- Nathan creating a "tag" on canvas/board (sped up)
- Shots and pictures of other works fading in and out.
- Theme: "Is graffiti art or crime?"
- Music: Urban/Dance (grime/hip-hop/dubstep/drum and bass)
The Story
- What his life was like growing up.
- How he began creating graffiti.
- In what ways has he been recognised.
- Experiences/stories relating to graffiti.
- The message he is sending.
- What his life is like at the moment.
Group Meeting: Storyboard* & Proposal (9.11.08)
Today we discussed a how we want to approach the documentary in preparation for the upcoming presentation of our proposal:
Feedback
We no longer want to use the close-ups of people expressing their opinion about a piece of graffiti. We made this decision after some feedback from one of our lecturers when Chris (the editor) and I told him about our new idea. Basically, what was said is that if we want to play around with the idea of whether graffiti is an artform or a crime, the people's opinions at the start would already reveal what we were after, and the audience would make up their mind straight away. If we did go with that, we would have to continue with the reveal technique and try to reveal something else which will move the story on. However, we do not know what we will be revealing yet since we have not done the interview, and so will instead try to bring out our theme discreetly by asking questions that will receive replies that convey this theme.
Conclusion
What we want to do is have Nathan creating a graffiti piece which represents himself. Our main idea is that we will not fully show Nathan's face throughout the documentary, but rather incorporate cut-away shots which show only islolated parts of his face and hands, as he is painting the piece. We want to use close ups of the various body parts of the piece to symbolize what is being said. For instance, the eyes will symbolize his perception of the subject, the mouth will represent his expression, and the hands of the character symbolize the physical side of creating art and his hard work. The narration will be a voice recorded interview with Nathan, as opposed to recording a sit-down interview.
Additionally, we watched a few documentaries on the internet to gain inspiration and to compare and contrast our intentions for each one. Here are a couple relevant ones:
"Atlas Graffiti"
This one really stuck out. It had a similar technique and vibe we want to achieve. However, we want ours to be a bit more colorful and want to use different music to better emphasize the urban aspect of graffiti.
FOX News - "LA Taggers"
We found this one interesting because it shows the other end of the spectrum as far as tagging is concerned. This is an example of exactly what we don't want to do.
**See "Storyboard" Post**
Feedback
We no longer want to use the close-ups of people expressing their opinion about a piece of graffiti. We made this decision after some feedback from one of our lecturers when Chris (the editor) and I told him about our new idea. Basically, what was said is that if we want to play around with the idea of whether graffiti is an artform or a crime, the people's opinions at the start would already reveal what we were after, and the audience would make up their mind straight away. If we did go with that, we would have to continue with the reveal technique and try to reveal something else which will move the story on. However, we do not know what we will be revealing yet since we have not done the interview, and so will instead try to bring out our theme discreetly by asking questions that will receive replies that convey this theme.
Conclusion
What we want to do is have Nathan creating a graffiti piece which represents himself. Our main idea is that we will not fully show Nathan's face throughout the documentary, but rather incorporate cut-away shots which show only islolated parts of his face and hands, as he is painting the piece. We want to use close ups of the various body parts of the piece to symbolize what is being said. For instance, the eyes will symbolize his perception of the subject, the mouth will represent his expression, and the hands of the character symbolize the physical side of creating art and his hard work. The narration will be a voice recorded interview with Nathan, as opposed to recording a sit-down interview.
Additionally, we watched a few documentaries on the internet to gain inspiration and to compare and contrast our intentions for each one. Here are a couple relevant ones:
"Atlas Graffiti"
This one really stuck out. It had a similar technique and vibe we want to achieve. However, we want ours to be a bit more colorful and want to use different music to better emphasize the urban aspect of graffiti.
FOX News - "LA Taggers"
We found this one interesting because it shows the other end of the spectrum as far as tagging is concerned. This is an example of exactly what we don't want to do.
**See "Storyboard" Post**
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