Sync Sound Session

What I Learned In The Sync Sound Session.

One of the most important things that I learned in the sound session was the use of a clapper board. Having edited sound and footage before, and struggled to sync both together, it was imperative to take notes on the use of the clapper board. Clapping it at the beginning of the shoot, due to the nice, clear, crisp clap sound it makes, will make it easier to sync the audio and the footage together. This is especially useful for the documentary, as each interview will consist solely of talking, which, if synced badly, will stand out. If there is no clapper board available, however, we were taught we could clap with our hands, or knock the boom mic for the same effect.

Another integral part of the session was learning about the various different types of microphones, such as omni-directional, cardioid microphone and directional microphones. For our interviews it is clear that we must use a directional microphone such as a rifle microphone due to the fact that it is better for picking up dialogue as it blocks out all of the sound behind it. If pointed toward the subject, preferably from above, it will remove the noise pollution from outside or around the room, and clearly pick up the dialogue of the interviewee. However, using an omni-directional microphone such as a lavalier microphone would also be effective in picking up a clear voice regardless of whether
the subject is talking directly at or to the microphone itself. Both of these pieces of equipment will be used in our interviews.

It is key that the sound recordings are perfectly made. Should something interrupt a recording such as a car passing by or a person walking into the room, the recording should be made again. We must be prepared to rerecord some of the interview, and ask the interviewee to repeat themselves. This is because while we could easily cut away from a bad shot, a bad piece of audio could ruin the whole documentary.

Camera Treatment For Cannabis Documentary

Treatment for documentary

We want to create a short, five to six minute documentary about people from Sheffield's personal experience with cannabis in a time where the debate on legalisation has reached its peak. This documentary will consist of various interviews with interviewees arranged by our producer. We will use small segments of the visual footage of these interviews as our imagery, however, the basis of our sound and audio will be the audio from these interviews. We will use a lot of B-roll footage, inter cutting to it throughout each interview to visualise what they are discussing. We will also cut to various quotes or facts regarding the topic of cannabis, focusing mainly on its medical properties and what it has done to help people medically.

All of the footage, interviews and B-roll, will be shot on DSLRs with 18-55mm lenses. This is because these are reliable cameras, and we have access to a multitude of them. We will set up two cameras per interview, one in front of the subject getting a mid shot of the interviewee. The second camera will be set up to get both a mid shot from the side, but also to film detail such as hands. If the interviewee wishes to remain anonymous we will use close up shots of the sides of their head, leaving out any recognisable features. We wish to respect the anonymity of our subjects, especially considering the taboo nature of the subject.

For the B-roll footage we want to break away from the stigma and taboo around cannabis and have people openly smoke it on camera. For this we will have to use people who would be both comfortable smoking cannabis, but also openly on camera. This will be arranged before we shoot. We also want footage of someone rolling a joint, and of the effects of people being high. For the latter a close up would be effective, get all the detailed features of their face. This also applies to people smoking it. However for the rolling of a joint, a shot from above the subject rolling it would be effective showing maximum detail.

Stills From Documentary

Interviewee In First Interview
Mid Front Shot

B-Roll Footage After First Interview

Third Interviewee
Close Up Detail Shot

B-Roll Footage After Third Interview

Second Interview, Pete Recording Sound, Joel Interviewing

Canon DSLRs 18-55mm Lens

Log Sheet - Cannabis Documentary

Camera Man – Log Sheet – Tom Wilson – Cannabis Documentary

Interview 1 and Cutaway Footage Log Sheet

Interviewee Mid Front Shot #1

Interviewee Mid Front Shot #2

Interviewee Mid Front Shot #3

Interviewee Mid Side Shot #1

Interviewee Mid Side Shot #2

Interviewee Mid Side Shot #3

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #1

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #2

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #3

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #4

Joel Smoke Rings

Joint

Joel Smoking #1

Joel Smoking #2

Joel Smoking Close Up #1

Joel Smoking Close Up #2

Joel Smoking Close Up #3

Joel Smoking Close Up #4

Joel Laughing Close Up

Bubble Blowing #1

Bubble Blowing #2

Bubble Blowing #3
Bubble Blowing #4

Bubble Blowing #5 (Camera Man In Shot)

Bubble Blowing #6

Bubble Blowing Look Up

Ashtray Close Up Shot #1

Ashtray Close Up Shot #2

Ashtray Close Up Shot #3

Ashtray Close Up Shot #4

Ashtray Close Up Shot #5

Ashtray Close Up Shot #6

8 Minute Ensemble

Joels Friend Smoking #1 (Woman)

Joels Friend Smoking #2 (Woman)

Joels Friend Smoking #3 (Woman, Close Up Hand)

Joels Friend Smoking #4 (Woman)

Joels Friend Smoking #5 (Man)

Puzzle Close Up

Smoke Rising

Joint Paper

Interview 2 Log Sheet

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #1

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #2

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #3

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #4

Interview 3 Log Sheet

Test Footage #1

Test Footage #2

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #1

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #2

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #3

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #4

Interviewee Wide Front Shot #5

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #1

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #2

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #3

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #4

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #5

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #6

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #7

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #8

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #9

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #10

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #11

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #12

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #13

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #14

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #15

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #16

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #17

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #18

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #19

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #20

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #21

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #22

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #23

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #24

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #25

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #26

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #27

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #28

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #29

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #30

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #31

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #32

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #33

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #34

Interviewee Close Up Detail Shot #35

Cutaway Log Sheet

Candle Close Up #1 (Brighter Light)

Candle Close Up #2 (Brighter Light)

Candle Close Up #3 (Darker Light)

Candle Close Up #4 (Darker Light)

Candle Close Up #5 (Darker Light)

Candle Close Up #6 (Darker Light)

Candle Blown Out Close Up

Spinning Close Up Cannabis #1

Spinning Close Up Cannabis #2

Spinning Close Up Cannabis #3

Poster Close Up

Making A Joint (2 Minutes)

Joel Smoking Close Up Side (Tripod In Shot)

Joint In Ashtray (With Polaroid) Close Up (Above)

Joint In Ashtray (With Polaroid) Close Up (Level)

Blurry Polaroid On Table #1

Blurry Polaroid On Table #2

Stop Motion Shot (2 Minutes)

Pipe And Bong Close Up #1

Pipe And Bong Close Up #2

Bong Close Up Front #1

Bong Close Up Front #2

Bong Close Up Front #3

Bong Close Up Front #4

Bong Close Up Above #1

Bong Close Up Above #2

Bong Wide Above #1

Bong Wide Above #2

Joel Smoking Bong Close Up

Red Curtain Shot Close Up #1

Red Curtain Shot Close Up #2

Red Curtain Shot Close Up #3

Red Curtain Shot Close Up #4

Red Curtain Shot Close Up #5

Red Curtain Shot Close Up #6

Candles Wide Shot

Pipe Smoking Side Close Up #1

Pipe Smoking Side Close Up #2

Pipe Close Up #1

Pipe Close Up #2

Pipe Close Up #3

Smoke On Wall (Failed) #1

Smoke On Wall (Failed) #2

Smoke On Wall (Failed) #3

Smoke On Wall (Failed) #4

Smoke On Wall (Failed) #5

Smoke On Wall (Failed) #6

Smoke On Wall (Failed) #7

Ring Smoke On Wall #1

Ring Smoke On Wall #2

Ring Smoke On Wall #3

Ring Smoke On Wall #4

Ring Smoke On Wall #5

Setting Up Lights

Putting Out Joint On Polaroid (Table)

Putting Out Joint On Polaroid (Close Up, In Hand)

Inspiration For Camera Work On Documentary

Inspirations

Our producer had a good selection of material to influence or help inspire the composition of the shots, as well as the way to structure our documentary. During our second seminar, after we had pitched our intial idea to our group, myself and our director Amy Smith discussed various camera techniques, and creative ways of displaying visually the use of cannabis. I decided to see what the documentary was like, and would let that help shape my and the director's ideas when it came to filming. The documentary of choice was Brett Harvey's 2014 "Culture High". The two hour long documentary (available on netflix and youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA9Q6nDVR3s) was extremely informative, but incredibly lacking in terms of interesting visual composition and ideas. Visually it was very similar to an average documentary, featuring bland ariel shots of New York city, and unfortunately reused shots of cannabis throughout. I want to shoot a more visually interesting documentary, that captures both the feeling of being high, but also the paranoia that surrounds the use of cannabis. An example of an idea I had discussed with our director was to attach a GoPro to a spliff. We discussed the practicality of this as the GoPro would be too heavy for a spliff. Our producer mentioned how we could attach it to a pipe of some sort, something that would be able to hold the weight of the GoPro.

Vision For The Documentary

After having filmed the first interview we decided to get footage of people smoking cannabis. We believed this would be a more powerful image than just various shots of interviewees. After having collected this footage I volunteered to transcribe the interview having experience in that field. I also, for my own entertainment and with no expectations of using it in the final cut, edited together a small piece with music in the background. This encapsulates my vision for a experimental, and surreal look, the camera work done by myself and the director who was present on the shoot.

The edit is available here: https://vimeo.com/203711350