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Editing Process

With a lot of pressure I got all the new updated paperwork and shooting done. I need to review the footage and cut about 18 minutes of interview footage down to 3 minutes while finding a narrative. Once I’ve done that I’ll fine tune the interview so that the sections of interview are spaced out and I edit out unnecessary noises like the subject using “um” in-between works. I will then edit in my cutaways over my interview accordingly, starting with sequences first. Then I will add my music and credits. 

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This is a very useful video to me in the editing process.

As you will see in my final edit I will implement some of the ideas I learnt from this video. The final idea is a gaming documentary so I wanted to use this style of text in my opening and credit sequence, so this would look like they would be used in a computer game as that is the theme. I have practised the typewriter style text a few times now which mean the text will scroll through the screen in a horizontal wipe. I’m not good with adobe so learning how to use effects was very beneficial for me.

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Constructing My New Idea

Title: King of CoD

In my interview the narrative will go like this. 

Introduction > opening credits > when he discovered why he likes gaming > why he likes gaming tournaments > social aspect on gaming > his love for gaming.

Cutaways

Elliot walking down hallway slow motion

Pull focus shot of Elliot gaming to can of Monster in foreground

Elliot walking outside Game shop

Walking beside someone who is playing games and sitting beside them.

Out of focus shot to focus of Elliot rubbing his eyes

Sequence before credits- Elliot opening fridge, closeup of can of monster, Elliot walking out of kitchen, Elliot walking into living room and sitting down, mid closeup of Elliot sitting down and putting on headset, close up of Elliot putting on head set then back to mid close-up of Elliot picking up controller.

Sequence two. - Elliot looking angry at game and standing up, Elliot standing up and throwing controller, closeup of controller landing.

Hand held shots of video game collection.

Close-up of controller doing combos.

Elliot Laughing with  headset on.

There will be 40 seconds of gaming archive footage.

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A Video Game Documentary

This blog is a bit late as I was in a bit of a rut trying to think of an idea for my documentary. Luckily I have a classmate who was willing to do an interview which he agreed to do two days before filming. His main interests are playing video games. Without much time I started planning work which was hard to do  as I was working my part time job in that two days and I managed to film an interview without much thought on cutaways. I know this was unconventional but I completed all my paperwork for the Mark Dallas interview, and I just had to dive in unprepared for a new documentary. I still have one more day of filming and that is mainly focusing on cutaways. I need to find a proper narrative for my documentary.

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Things Don’t Go To Plan

Only a short few days before I start filming with Mark Dallas I find out he can’t make the interview because he is off work due to family issues. This is unfortunate but the documentary has to get filmed on the day I’m assigned to. I then also contacted Jenny Macleod who is my backup interview, although keen there were a lot of restraints as for work timings and I also couldn’t get any got location footage as she couldn’t get permission for me to film at her work, it just wasn’t feasible . I need to find a subject and fast.

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General Ideas

Content in Documentary

Shots I’m going to try to accomplish in this short.

Establishing Shot - Make sure to get a shot of the location I am filming outside the premises and a shot of the logo sign outside the building.

Funny Opening - In the edit I will insert something funny Mark said in the interview to give a good mood to the show.

Making a sequence - I’m aware my interviewee might be busy and won’t get all the cut aways I want but an idea is for a shot of Mark sitting at his desk and then shoot to another angle of him working at his desk in one motion.

Time Lapse - Mark has sold out many venues, I’m going to try to shoot as many as I can outside and maybe catch a few Time Lapses.

Slow-motion - If I get a chance to film near a wrestling ring then try to get a few impactful shots of Mark walking around and in the ring. I want this video to feature a lot of slow motion.

A panning shot of one interesting shot to another - The idea in my head is a panning shot of Mark walking in the ring and the camera stopping at a shot of the turnbuckle padding with his logo onit.

Ideas for Questions

How did you start ICW? What first steps did you take?

When did you realise there was a following to ICW?

Can you talk about your transition from Maryhill Community center to bigger venues? 

When did you realise you could make a living from this?

Whats work like when you are not putting on a show?

You deal with a lot of people on screen and off. Do you find this easy to deal with. Do you have a strategy?

You now have a Wrestling school the GWPA, explain how important that is to you?

What was it like having a show in the Hydro?

You were nominated for a British BAFTA recently, can you explain the premise of the show to someone who would know.

How different are you to your on-stage persona?

What is your mindset for 2020? Whats in for the future of ICW?

Can you cut a PROMO for us to end the interview.

Writing down these questions helped because I know I can ask more interesting questions.

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Budget

Director/ Cam - £300 per day.

Sound Recorder - £200 per day.

Lighting/ PA - £200 per day.

Half day then half the budget.

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This is an article written at the end of 2017 when Mark was trying to promote his second ICW show in the Hydro. Mark started his company is 2006 and now I get to have a look into his mindset when starting. The company does have an internet following now with his own on-demand service.

“ He admits that it was ‘a bit of a shambles’ at the start when it was just a creative outlet, but that the idea was in place to make a show that could be filmed and then broadcast in episodes on YouTube, which was beginning to grow in popularity at the time. “

The article explains that Mark thinks that his company started a “Boom” period for wrestling in the UK and that 14 Wrestlers that have fought in his company are now playable characters in the WWE video game.

Dallas still aims to sell out thee Hydro and says he wants to do a show in Hampden Stadium one day. While I’m writing this blog today Mark has since moved his biggest show from the Hydro to a smaller venue, the SWG3. This leads me to the question why he thinks there is a decline inaudience and how he feels about it.

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Tutto Metal Design :: Artist Profile

I found the link to this short profile on the college website. I chose this one to write about as it was the closest to what I imagined my film to be out of all the videos that were there. This documentary had shots of an actual interview but also close ups of the interviewee in different angles, for example there was a closeup of his black hands. At the start of this short there was an establishing shot of the mans place of work and a close up of the sign where he works. This is a similar idea how I would like to start of my video.

In this video the conflict is shown as he describes that metal work could go out of business. My aim in my documentary is to see how the state of my interviewees  business is as a whole and if there is a future.

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CONCEPT

I will do a short brief of my concept for my show. Since Mark has hosted shows in large venues such as the SSE Hydro compared to where he first began I’ll be asking him how hard that was to do. Mark has also been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA and I’ll be asking him questions about that. I would then like my show to end with Mark doing a self promotion for his company in the same way as his stage character would do. This show will be aimed at the age range of 16 - 35. I chose this range because because the point is to influence young adult viewers into having high aspirations. The target audience is aimed at young people, hobby seekers, sports enthusiasts, unemployed, general interests and students. The said budget is to be £10000.

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Here is a written article about how to make a documentary more interesting. What I took away from this is having a mind for the metaphorical. In this sense this documentary film maker likes the use of b-roll or archive footage during an interview but in most cases these visuals wont have any connection to what the interviewee is saying but it still works for the film. Another point the author made is to film your documentary like a script as he doesn’t want to make his features in a journalistic way but have more impact in a dramatic way. Things I’ve also learned is that music is very important, creating a shot list and know as much as you can about the subject you are filming.

This article is useful to me as before the editing process begins of my product I can think about archive footage I can edit-in while subtly making a dramatic point. I personally know a lot of knowledge about the subject I will be filming but I could do more research about my interviewee. The handy thing about that is he has a lot of video content online which makes it easy for me. Shooting a documentary as a script is probably the most helpful tip I can use here. The idea is to write a skeleton script and then fill in the blanks after my interview takes place.

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The British Wrestler

**Warning, Explicit Language from the Start**

Analysis and Evaluation 1

 This Documentary, uploaded in 2014 before ICW sold out big venues, features my interviewee Mark Dallas which he only has a small part to play in. The film is about relatively small-time wrestlers (at the time) all over the country struggling to make a career in the business, wrestling in small venues such as community halls. The documentary is quite gritty which exaggerates the struggle they go through with a sort of subtle sarcastic tone due to the wacky characters featured. In my opinion wrestling is miss understood with a bad stigma were most people would say “its fake” but this film can be self-aware at times and tries to explain to the audience what its all about. Especially the wrestlers in the film who have not made it big in the industry it can seem a bit laughable were you can feel sorry for them. Mark does explain the inspiration to his company stems from ‘shock tv’ from the mid 90’s where a lot of it was uncensored like TV shows like Jackass.

By any means I don’t think this documentary is a masterpiece, I think its all over the place at parts and can’t find its overall tone, but it does have a narrative with a fun ending.  Spoiler alert but the show starts of with a guy called Grado in his room, he looks a bit sad with his obsession with wrestling showing off is memorabilia in his bedroom in his parents house but at the end the show builds up to him winning the ICW championship.

So, what have I learnt from this I can use in my interview? I know the business isn’t easy and sometimes wrestles don’t make a lot of money and can struggle when starting a career. I know the themes of his shows and the people he deals with. I know where the inspiration of his shows and how he thought of the idea. I know it can be unglamorous but also there is a tight bond with people he works with. As I said before the main idea for this show is asking him about the struggle he went through to start up his company. It sounds like a fun industry and I’m more than happy for my interview to unpredictably change theme/subject while it takes place because Mark seems like an interesting guy.

What have I learnt from this film in a technical aspect that I can use in my own feature? First, I would probably want a happier theme instead of a gritty one but also highlight in my documentary when there is a struggle. I don’t like the techno music in the film, but it is something to think about. I would probably want something a bit more ‘fired up’ and loud as it is literally a fighting business. A lot of ICW archive footage is featured and I would have to ask Mark to use some in my piece of work. There are shots of people enjoying the show they are watching, that can be just as informative as showing his own product. There are lots of city shots with talk overs. Having a good narrative. Each interview was in an interesting place, I mentioned I want Mark in-front of a wrestling ring. There are some long shots but are edited to shorten the content and it makes it more interesting.

A lot to think about. Who would have thought I’d make a 600 word essay.

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2nd interview

Just a short blog. I have spoken to Jenny and she is more than happy to do an interview. She understands that its a back up plan but I’m glad she has agreed. I probably won’t be blogging about her again unless my first interview doesn’t go to plan.

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I have contacted Mark Dallas on Facebook Messenger and he has agreed to do the interview which I’m very pleased about. He has warned me that his job can be pretty boring during the weekdays as he mainly does office work. I looked up where he works and its a place called The Asylum which his also a wrestling school called Glasgow Pro-Wrestling Asylum or GPWA for short. Since he might be busy and there may be time constraints, I must plan for cut away shots. I would like to interview him in-front of a out of focus wrestling ring. I would like to get cut away shots of him walking in the ring and maybe doing his office work. If I have spare time I’ll get shots of the venues he has sold out but  that is a lot of traveling. I’ll need to ask him these questions about time but I don’t want to persistently bother him in a short amount of time so I’ll ask later.

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This is a link I found about Jenny on her works website, Mctears Auctioneers. It tells a lot about her past achievements to get her where she is now. This small bio also explains what kind of art she is in to. Her specialty is pictures and she likes Scottish history and art. This was very useful as I can ask her about Scottish art and also her own history in the business. She is still my second choice but better be more safe than sorry as you never know what may happen.

I don’t feel like a stalker at all.

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Interview 2 idea

My second idea for a documentary is about someone I know from home (Stornoway) who now works in an auctioneers in Glasgow. My friend Jennifer Macleod studied Art History in the University of Glasgow and has worked previously in the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery. If I was to make a documentary about her I would ask her about her job and what struggles she went through to get where she is now.

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For my graded unit my first idea for an interview documentary is someone I met over 10 years ago, his name is Mark Dallas. He owns a Glasgow based wrestling company called Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW). He created the company in 2006 and when he started he would hold events in such locations such as the Maryhill Community Centre where he would barely sell any tickets. Now overtime he has sold out the famous Barrowlands several times and has held big events in the SSE Hydro two years in a row. His success has led him to feature on two BBC documentaries called Insane Fight Club 1 & 2. He has also hosted a reality documentary/contest series called Rogue to Wrestler on BBC Scotland were he was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA this year.

If I was to make a feature about Mark it would be about his struggle starting up his company. When he first started his shows in Maryhill it didn’t go smoothly with a lot of hiatuses between shows as it took a while to start off. Three years later he would move his show into the city centre presenting his shows to an older audience in pubs and clubs where you could have a drink. He would then progress in touring his show all over the UK. Over time the following got bigger and so did the venues. Now he has shows monthly in the Garage nightclub with his bigger shows held in the Barrowlands, SWG3 and the former 02 ABC. 

I haven’t spoken to Mark in a while, now I know him to say Hello to but this would be my first option.