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18. The Influence of ‘The Confession Tapes Series’

‘The Confession Tapes’ is part of what is known as the ‘true crime’ genre. The documentary series follows a selection of cases where the defendant(s) may or may not have been goaded, coerced or manipulated into giving a false confession. The show leaves the actual truthfulness of this allegations up to the audience, never really revealing the innocence or guilt of it’s subjects. The show was a HUGE influence on the 3D Audio Book’s script; I had the idea of placing the audience in an interrogation, and giving them a sense of the unease that would come with it.

Below are a selection of episodes that have effected the story content of the script.

-’True East Part 1 and 2′ (2017)

The first two-part episode featured triple murder which was pinned on the confessions of Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns. The pair’s confession was given under the ‘Mr Big’ sting which is illegal in the USA but legal in Canada. The sting involves an undercover agent that pretends to be a high ranking criminal. After gaining the trust of the two suspects, the officer tells the pair that the only way that they can continue to work together is if they tell them truthfully about their criminal pasts. The two young men are convicted on the basis of this confession, even though, for all intents and purposes, they have been goaded into it.

- ‘A Public Apology’ (2017)

This episode was particularly an inspiration for further script development because it featured an interogation of a man who was clearly at his wits end. The uncomfortableness of watching this as an audience was something I wanted to capture. This was one of the episodes that I sent my script writer Labjea as reference material.

-Interrogation, first script draft (2017)

The main thing that I have taken from ‘The Confession Tapes’ is script inspiration. The uncomfortable and dubious nature of these interrogations is what I would like to capture in the final audio book. Coupled with the immersive environment, I feel that it will be highly effective in drawing the audience into the story.

PROJECT TIMELINE FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS:

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17. 3D Audio Book: The Influence of Kaffe Matthews.

Kaffe Matthews is a programmer and sound designer who works closely with ideas of space, audience placement and sonic experiences.

-’Sonic Bed’ (2005)

-Introduction to the ‘Sonic Bed’ piece.

Kaffe Matthews work in her ‘Music For Bodies’ explores notions of the body and it’s relationship to sound and music. Again this places the audience directly inside the piece, enveloping them in a pseudo 3D sound piece.

Audience member inside the ‘Sonic Bed’

How this piece will effect my work: The idea of involving the audience directly in the work was influenced slightly by this piece. I have always admired Matthew’s ability to create works that anyone can access. There is more information on Matthew’s Music For Bodies Research Institute can be found here.

-’Sonic Bike Rides’ (2014)

Sonic Bike Rides is a project by Matthews that gives the audience opportunities to take a sonic tour of a geographical area. The bike’s are modified with two speakers on the front, which are constantly aimed at the audience member. The speakers are programmed to react to sensors that are placed strategically on the riders journey. The sonic content of the bike rides features aural histories, area specific music or theatre and other elements. 

-’Sonic bike game created for the Coventry Transport Museum (2015)

-Description of one such bike ride: ‘Opera fiXi’

How this piece will effect my work: This piece hasn’t effect my work a huge amount but has made me think further about how the audience should be placed at the centre of a piece.

The Three Key Research Concepts that I have taken from these artists are:

1.Placing the audience as the subject. The two above works have placed the audience right at the centre of piece. I think this was incredibly important when considering what the place of the audience would be within my audio book.

2.Simplicity and complexity. I feel that all of Matthew’s works area a perfect balance of very accessible and also deceivingly complex. I hope to embody this is my project.

3. Public engagement. Matthews manages to make excellent public-facing art that is accessible. I feel that making art accessible is an extremely important thing.

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16. 3D Audio Book: The Influence of Janet Cardiff.

Janet Cardiff is a Canadian born artist that specialises in immersive sound installations, walks and headphone pieces. Very marrying of visual and audio aspects has always been a great inspiration for me, and I feel that Cardiff succeeds in creating accessable sound art works for the public.

Below are a selection of her works that informed my 3D Audio Book.

-Janet Cardiff on her piece ‘Forty Part Moet’ and the idea of using space a a way of evoking emotion in the audience member. (2001)

Forty Part Moet is perhaps Cardiff’s best known piece. Consisting of five clusters of eight speakers, the piece is a reimagining of  Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium.

-Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium (1570)

Below is an extract of the program notes for the piece when it was exihibted at the Cloisters in New York City (2003)...

- Program note to ‘Forty Part Moet’ in the Cloisters New York (2003)

I found it interesting that the audience are invited to roam around the space, in a way that wouldn’t be allowed in a typical theatrical or choir setting.

Jim Dwyer of the New York Times was profoundly moved by the piece:

“Wobbling, blissed out, a few in tears, people emerged every 12 minutes or so from the remnant of a 12th-century Spanish chapel tucked into the Cloisters museum...Inside the ancient chapel was the first presentation of contemporary art ever at the Cloisters: “The Forty Part Motet,” an 11-minute immersion in a tapestry of voice, each thread as vivid as the whole fabric. A sacred composition of Renaissance England is rendered by the multimedia artist Janet Cardiff through 40 speakers — one for each voice in the Salisbury Cathedral Choir, which performed the piece in 2000. What started as one microphone per singer is now a choir of black high-fidelity speakers arrayed in an oval, eight groupings of soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass. In the intimate space of the museum’s Fuentidueña Chapel, the sound, from invisible people, as if from ghosts, feels like charged, living sculpture. Through Dec. 8, it plays in a loop all day.“- Dywer 2013.

How this piece has effected my work: The profound change in audience function in this piece is incredibly interesting. The fact that the audience can move around and experience the sound all around them obviously can be utilised to great affect. In constructing my multichannel piece, I will bare this in mind, perhaps using music and other elements to lift up the narrative of the audio book.

UPDATE: Since changing my concept slightly, I still took into account how powerful the idea of all encompassing sound can be. For my headphones piece, I will endeavour to create a similar feeling in the audience.

‘’The Killing Machine’ (2007)

This piece is both an visual and audio sculpure that relies on a certain sense of unease. When reviewing the show 

Raif Beil describes this scuplure in his essay: ‘Fireworks for the tympanum and the cerebral cortex - Noise, Sound, and Music in the Work of Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller’ (2007

“The memory-filled, acoustic landscapes she and Miller create have taken the form of the abandoned laboratory cluttered with memory aids and transmitting media like books (like) the strange and threatening Killing Machine (2007) with its robot arms.” (Beil, 2007)

How this piece will effect my work: This sculptural piece places heavy importance of the idea of a space interacting with sound. The audience is invited to press the button to begin the piece, and thus feels a kind of agency in it’s unfolding. The piece is cinematic without many words; a combination that I hope to achieve in my 3D Audio book.

-’The Missing Voice: Case Study’ (1999)

‘The Missing Voice is an interesting soundwalk/immersive sound experience where the audience is fed instructions by Cardiff. The piece begins as a soundwalk at the White Chapel Gallery in east London and takes the audeince around the streets nearby.

The immersive nature of this piece was a great inspiration to me in my work, and I really enjoyed how Cardiff interacted with the environment to create a unique narrative experience. 

-Map of ‘The Missing Voice’ (2007)

How this piece has effected my work: Again, I feel that this piece is an interesting example of actually involving the audience in a narrative. I aim for a similar feeling of audio immersion in my work.

-’Opera For A Small Room’ (1995)

Like ‘The Killing Machine’, ‘Opera For A Small Room’ created a ghostly sculpurral and audio experience. With voices and music making up the bulk of the ‘moving sections’ of the piece, the audience feel strangely alone in such a busy atmosphere.

Kevin Griffin of the Vancouver Sun reviewed the piece in it’s updated form in 2014: 

-Review from the Vancouver Sun (2014)

How this piece will effect my work: Like ‘The Killing Machine’ I feel that this piece is effective in its ability to use space, audio and a lack of human subject in a space. I aim to create an audio experience that creates an almost ghostly feeling in the audience. 

UPDATE: Related work: The Dream house NYC:

Whilst in New York City last year I had the opportunity to visit ‘The Dream House, a installation gallery space in Manhattan. The space is home to light and sound exhibitions, and I feel is an immersive space that delivers a sense of 360 degree sound.

UPDATE: (7/11/2017) Related Work: Lina Hermsdorf, Flattime House

The Three Key Research Concepts that I have taken from these artists are:

1.The idea of using space and sound to create an uneasiness in the audience. I feel that a number of pieces in Cardiff’s ‘Memory Palace’ collection do this incredibly well. The balancing of voice, sound, empty space and props creates an uneasiness and a feeling that something is missing. This is the kind of ghostly feeling that I want to evoke in the my audience.

2.The idea of putting the audience at the centre of the narrative. I feel that ‘The Missing Voice’ does this incredibly well and creates a highly immersive experience for the audience. 

3. The importance and power of using 3D sound for immersion. Part of the reason that ‘Forty Part Motet’ was so powerful, I think, is that it appeals to our sense of immersive hearing. We hear in 3D and this piece gives the impression that sound is all around us.

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15. 3D Audio Book: The Influence of Simon McBurney’s ‘The Encounter’ and other related works.

Simon McBurney is an actor and theatre director who has moved into the world of theatrical sound design. His play, ‘The Encounter’ incorporates binaural technology and sound design elements to create a story.

-Simon McBurney on the idea of storytelling and placing ones self within a story world. See section on The Influence of Werner Herzog for more information on this theme.

One piece that McBurney mentioned in this talk was Spalding Gray’s film ‘Swimming To Cambodia’ (1982) which featured storytelling with just a voice.

-Segment from ‘Swimming to Cambodia’ (1982)

I felt this was interesting because I liked the idea of a ‘one actor show’ or a one person show very much. Both of the above pieces manage to create an intimacy with the listener, and thats what I wanted to achieve in my piece.

The interesting point made in McBurney’s video is that he feels that putting headphones on makes the subject feel alone. Much like the protagonist in ‘The Encounter’ the listener is meant to feel cut-off and isolated.  

The Guardian had this to say about the play:

“McIntyre’s story is fascinating, but it serves here a placeholder, an opportunity for McBurney to explore his deeper thematic concerns: why do we surrender ourselves to narrative? How do we distinguish between reality and fiction? When should we trust the evidence of our senses and when should we allow for the extrasensory? (There’s also lots of less helpful material about being and time.)”

How this piece will effect my work: This piece was interesting because it utilised binaural technology to create a moving individual experience for the listener. When moving forward, I will endeavour to create a listening experience that sucks the listener in and makes them feel alone.

-The Seance at Summerhall (2017)

Premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year this piece was described as an immersive sound experience:

"Séance is Rosenberg and Neath’s best collaboration to date, a creepy and manipulative miniature which unsettles and makes you question not just your senses but what you actually believe."

The piece is created with binaural microphones and set design elements, all used to create an immersive horror environment that the audience members are swept into. Around the listeners, a seance takes place, absorbing the listeners into a world of horror sound. 

-Picture from one of the performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2017) 

-Descriptions of the creators and their other practices.

How this will effect my work: Again, the emotions that are stirred in the participants are extremely powerful, and this I feel is due to the individualised experience of binaural recording. This was exactly what I wanted to achieve in my work; to provide something immersive.

-‘Ring’ (2014)

- David Rosenberg and Glen Neath in conversation about ‘RING’ (2014)

‘Ring’ is another binaural sound piece designed to unerve audiences and create a frightening solo experience. When talking about the piece, both creators talk about the idea of the individual experience and how it affected the audience members:

- Audience testimonies from the Glasgow Tramway Festival (2014)

How this piece will effect my work: Again, the individual experience is critical here. I have come to the conclusion that I will actually make the experience completely individualised by placing the listener in a room on their own during the performance. I feel that this would be the best way to take the concepts being explored in the works above to their logical conclusion.

When looking at how exactly to structure my 3D Audio Book I looked at how other artists had created immersive theatre productions with the use of sound.

‘They Only Come At Night’ (2008) (link in title to trailer)

The Slung Low Theatre Company created this Halloween-themed piece in 2008 which invited participants to enter the world of a vampire invasion. Using headphones and actors within the space the audience is transported into a frightening space.

Timeout had this to say about the piece:

“Given headphones and a head-torch you wander about, dimly aware that the show is about vampires and that you've just foolishly volunteered to let a theatre company try to scare you out of your wits.What's fascinating is the way that the show makes you complicit in your own fear. Constant information overload through the headphones twinned with shapes lurking in the smoky shadows achieves a pretty acute sense of anxiety. We all know that vampires don't exist, but the fact that we allow ourselves to be frightened by the show feels like a kind of hyper-realised willing suspension of disbelief.In their programme notes, Slung Low note that in parts of the former Yugoslavia mothers prefer to tell their children that their fathers and older brothers were taken in the night by vampires than that they were murdered by someone who still lives in their town. In the same way, the vampires of visions don't need to be 'real'. At no point will someone wearing a cape and fangs leap out from the shadows. It is the shadows themselves that we should be frightened of.”

How this piece has effected my work:This piece utilises headphone technology to guide the audience through a narrative a anxiety and fear. I was looking to completely immerse the audience in emotion, and felt this piece was a good example of using sound design for this purpose.

‘The Three Key Research Concepts’ that I have taken from these artists are:

1.The idea of the individualised experience in sound is very powerful. By using binaural recording, I hope to isolate the listener and fully immerse them in the sound world.

2.The idea of a single narrative voice guiding the listener. Both ‘The Encounter’ and ‘Swimming to Cambodia’ are interesting in their ability to use one agent or one narrator to tell a story. In my piece, I feel that a single narrator speaking to a single subject will make the experience more intense.

3. Like ‘Ring’ I wanted to create a narrative that was unerving. I didn’t want to re-create the experience of horror in the piece, but was interested in recreating the kind of uncomfortableness that a headphone piece can create. For more information on the interrogation theme, see ‘The Influence of The Confession Tapes page’.

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14.3D Audiobook: Experiments, Issues and Binaural.

-The Verge graphic illustrating binaural sound recording (2014)

As mentioned in the previous section, I would have a number of project stages to tackle in the creation of the ‘3D Audio Book’.

1. Test the systems in place to see if multi-channel would indeed create the most immersive experience, or if there was another method that might work more effectively.

2. Once the type of system was locked in, find a script writer and work alongside them to create an appropriate script for the system. See section on script development for more details.

3. Find a voice actor (or actors) that would be willing, able and would fit the part well.

4. Find a suitable location to record the piece

5. Record the piece narrative section

6. Create Foley

7. Mix Down

8. Present work in a suitable location

Test 1: Running a project through quad-channel system (Point 1)

In October, 2017 I ran an initial test to attempt to get a logic pro x project working over a quad system.

- Output and Input settings that create the quad system (October 2017)

-The outputs at the back of the K-Mix (October 2017)

-Logic Project Test in Multichannel (October 2017)

Through this simple test I learned that I could set up, and mix a project across four speakers. 

After this, I booked in a number of sessions in the room, to do some experimenting and work out what I might do next:

-After booking a number of these sessions however, I found out that the room actually wasn’t available at these times due to health and safety guidelines. At this point, I started to look at other ways that I might achieve my intitial goal of an immersive sound experience.

After the initial session, during a meeting with my tutor, I was switched on to the fact that the best way to actually create a immersive sound experience might actually be with headphones rather than using a open space. 

This is when I turned to the idea of Binaural recording as an alternative method of storytelling.

- ‘Sonic Field’s video on Binaural Recording’ (2015)

I came across the above video whilst searching for more information on immersion and sound. It gave me a great insight into how Binaural works and how it can be utilised in a headphone context.

- Andrew Sachs on ‘The Revenge’- his radio drama which utilises binaural

At 1:25 seconds, Sachs begins to talk about Binaural Sound in his radio drama ‘The Revenge’. He talks about how the listener becomes the subject of the piece, and that the sound is “happening all around you... you the listener are right at the centre of the proceedings”

This was exactly the kind of immersive quality I was looking for in my own work, and I decided that I would move forward with the use of Binaural Microphones.

-’Video about 3D Sound Systems designed in Unity for the Oculus Rift’ (2015)

I decided to conduct a test to see if it was viable to use the universities binaural headphones to create a high quality recording.

Conclusions from this test: Although the idea of a multi-channel piece was interesting, I decided to move onto using binaural recording because I felt it gave scope for a more immersive experience.

During a meeting with Milo, my tutor he also asked me to think about managing the immersive experience of a gallery space, and suggested that it would be hard to manage such a space.

UPDATE: 9/1/2017- In an other tutorial with Milo, I was recommended some books and post production software that would help in the creation of the piece.

-Immersive Sound ‘The Art and Science of Binaural and Multi-Channel Audio (2017)

This book built on another I had just read, also relating to the principles of binaural and immersive sound:

-Spatical Audio (2012)

Test 2: Script Development for Sound.

-Script title for draft 3D Audio Book script (2017)

Working with my script writer is proving to be an interesting process. Labeja is a screen writer first and foremost and, upon reading his first draft, I gave him some instructions to add more sound ques and other sound elements to flesh out the story. This is to be continued when another draft is written. I also sent him links to a number of binaural recordings to give him a sense of what the recording would sound like upon completion.

-Diversifying Binaural Recording Techniques... (2015)

I also looked into this paper to get a sense of how to record in binaural and what strategies might be used to create immersive sound.

Conclusions

1. I concluded that I would utilise binaural recording instead of a multi-channel sound system because of it’s ability to adapt to a much more controllable space. 

2. I also feel that binaural will create a much more immersive experience for the audience. I felt an individual sonic experience would draw them into the world much more than with a group of spectators in a gallery space. See section on Simon McBurney for more details on this theme.

3. The script will need to be very heavy on foley and sound ques, in order to create an experience that will be immersive rather than a monologue. Scroll up on this page for more information on this, and a comparison with Andrew Sach’s ‘The Revenge’ 

4. Since this is my first time using binaural, I feel it will be an excellent opportunity to make some personally experimental work during my final year. Out of all my projects, I feel this one will be the biggest challenge because of this.

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13. 3D Audio Book: Initial Ideas

-K-Mix Mixer Used in 2nd Year Multi-Channel Class

I really enjoyed our 2nd Year multi-channel sound classes and wanted to do something immersive and experimental with what I’d learnt.

I had never produced a piece in multi-channel before, and wanted to use my final year to experiment with it.

Starting Point: I'm a big fan of narrative fiction, with a clear cut story. It's only recently that I started getting into audiobooks and started to understand how they added another dimension to the story telling experience.

One of my favourite fantasy book series is 'A Song of Ice and Fire' by George R.R. Martin.

-Collection of Martin’s work (2000-)

The book series, which has now become a world wide TV phenomenon, is rich in it's imagery, has literally thousands of characters and is set in a world that explores the darkness and grey area of man. All of the books have been put into audiobook form, and theres something about actually hearing the character's voices that really, for me, fleshed out the world.

My favourite audio book in this series is actually a prequel to the 'Song of Ice and Fire' Universe:

‘The Hedge Knight’ (2011)

'The Hedge Knight' or 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' in it's English release, is the tale of Dunk, a knight that falls into a world of Kings, Queens and court politics without meaning too.

I feel that the audio book version really gives life to the characters and fleshes them out in a different (not necessarily better) way than the novel.

The other audio book that I feel added a great deal to the content was the first book of Phillip Pulman's 'His Dark Materials' series.

‘The Northern Lights (The Golden Compass American release 1995)

The audio version included music and multiple character voices, which I believe fleshed out the story in a different way to the written narrative alone

It was from my interest in fiction that I decided to create a completely immersive audio book experience. The key would to use space, wether it was sound space or an actual gallery space to create something that would draw the user into the experience completely.

‘Immanence and Immersion’- Will Schrimshaw (2017)

I was directed by my tutor to the above text, which expanded and even critiqued aspects of so-called immersive sound.

One of it’s chapters, ‘Decentralisation’ focused on breaking down the multitude of complex arrangements that can be achieved by a multichannel sound system:

‘Immanence and Immersion’- Will Schrimshaw (2017) p.36

I found the concept of a ‘visual orientation interesting. I wanted to create an environment that actually put the audience member in the story with the characters.

The concept would be akin to that of VR Headset gaming, which actively transports the player into the game world and allows them to move around within it. 

-’Here They Lie’ (2016)

My idea was to marry all the concepts above to create what I would call a ‘3D Audio Book’ that would completely immerse the listener into a story world.

- ‘Koob 3D Audio Books’ (2017)

During my research I came across Koob, a company that creates immersive sound experiences for 4-11 year olds. The catalogue of works available include Peter Pan, Alice and Wonderland and a number of other child friendly stories that have been recorded in binaural. This was the kind of thing I was looking to do, but with a more adult audience.

To complete this project, I would have to work the project out in a multitude of stages:

1. Test the systems in place to see if multi-channel would indeed create the most immersive experience, or if there was another method that might work more effectively. (See experimentation section for more information)

2. Once the type of system was locked in, find a script writer and work alongside them to create an appropriate script for the system. See section on script development for more details.

3. Find a voice actor (or actors) that would be willing, able and would fit the part well.

4. Find a suitable location to record the piece

5. Record the piece narrative section

6. Create Foley

7. Mix Down

8. Present work in a suitable location

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12.Ferocious Zine: Going Forward and Conclusions

-Example page from ‘Ferocious’

At this stage I have nearly all the elements completed for the zine. The remaining pieces left to collect are:

1. Picture pick ups with Esther Kay and DJ Ludec

2. The sourcing of a final interviewee (I am currently in talks with one woman who is interested)

3. I am waiting on my graphic designer to complete the title font for the piece

4. Once all of this is brought together and completed, I can start formatting the zine as above.

- Original Project Timeline for ‘Ferocious’ that was presented at the Generate Funding Pitch (see ‘Ferocious Zine Timeline and Research Part 2 for more information’)

Above is the original project timeline proposed to WIRED4MUSIC. I don’t think I will fulfil this timeline for the reasons below:

1. The availability of interviewees. Since the women involved are giving up their free time to help me, I have remained empathetic and flexible to their schedules. Because of having to take photography pick ups I have had to push the final date back.

2. Other commitments. When first creating this timeline I perhaps didn’t factor in other work, such as my dissertation or my other practical work (see conclusion section on Audio Documentary for more information on this)

Because of the above, I have pushed my timeline back and hope to be able to put the zine into print by mid February.

WIRED4MUSIC Generate Fund and Mentor 

The next step in this process is to meet my WIRED4MUSIC Mentor and discuss how to take the project forward and make it potentially sustainable. I feel that this will be a valuable asset to the project and look forward to meeting them in the next few weeks.

Conclusions

1. The experience has been a very interesting one and has made me more passionate about issues of gender in music. 

2. My skills in gathering subjects and interviewing them have increased drastically during this production experience. I feel that this negotiation will be critical for navigating through the creative workplace after graduation.

3. If I could change one thing it would be how I approached the photography; I feel now that it is one of the most critical elements in making the zine appealing to the public. However, because this is not my area of expertise I wasn’t sure how to proceed with creating a theme ect. If there are to be further editions of the zine I will endeavour to think these themes and structures through before proceeding with the actual production.

4. So far the zine has had a great response to it and I feel that, if I find the right distributors and market it correctly, it will get allot of traction.

5. The zine has moved away in style from traditional publications (see ‘Ferocious Zine Research and Timeline Part 2′ for examples of traditional publications such as ‘Shocking Pink!’. I have learned in the production of ‘Ferocious to stick to my own style and stay true to my writing and interview style.

6. I feel the zine is contextually important in light of the research I have done into women’s experiences in music (See section) and the context of the ReBalance Project set up by Redding and Leeds Festivals (see website here).

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11. Ferocious Zine: Research and Timeline Part 2

Shocking Pink!

I had a strong affinity with Shocking Pink! I liked it’s aesthetic very much; it was bold and included some beautiful photography. I also liked the tone it had; very straight talking and incredibly funny at the same time. Possibly the most interesting thing about it though was it’s ability to also include educational elements: such as how to cut up a condom to allow for safe oral sex, or how to check for lumps on breasts. I felt that the magazine was very much by women and for women; elements that would later inspire the content of my zine.

Name Change 16th November

After doing a bit more digging, I actually discovered that another publication existed in Manchester by the name “She is Fierce”. Even though our names weren’t exactly the same, I had a lot of respect for the work that they were doing: which was not disimilar to mine. Their publication featured creative women; mostly from the fashion or art worlds, but our ideas and principles are similar. I decided it would be best to change the name to something else that would set my zine apart from theirs.

I decided that when the process was over I would contact them in order to maybe establish a friendship that could end in collaboration one day.

Riot Grrrl

The Riot Grrrl movement began in the 1990s in West Coast America. It was mainly a backlash against the often male dominated punk world that allowed for very little female expression. Bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile continued the Punk aesthetic and message, but tackled issues specific to women, such as sexism and body politics.

Zines were the main method of education and communication in the genre and many of the zines that came out of 1990s America were based in the themes of this movement.

Learning Indesign- November onward

My friend on the CSM Graphic Design course recommend Indesign for creating a zine; the program is not dissimilar to Photoshop, but it allows the user to lay everything out in the way that would allow for easy page formatting and adjustment.

Using Lynda.com and Adobe’s own tutorials, I began to learn how to use the program slowly, adding the interviews and pictures in as I went along. This section will be continued later.

WIRED4MUSIC Funding Meeting 15th November

I previously mentioned this charity, as the ones who put me in touch with two of the DJs in the zine. I also discovered, during an email conversation with Adem, my contact there that i would be eligable for their Personal Development Grant. The grant is aimed at people between the ages of 16-25 who are interested in music. They had apparently never funded a publication before, and Adem was keen to meet with me to talk about the idea. The deadline had been extended to the 20th of November, so I still had time to apply.

During the surgery, we talked about the idea and how I would plan a budget out accordingly. I needed to do some more number crunching to work out the actual cost of the zines printing, and how much 'buffer’ money I would need to make the project happen.

After talking to Adem, I went home and started working on the application. Thankfully I had already got a few quotes from printing companies, and could supply a rounded up figure of what the costs would be.

After submitting the application, I would find out in the following week, wether or not I got through to the second stage of funding.

Omnni gig Cafe OTO 19th November

The Omni Collective are a group of women in music tech, no create workshops for women and non-binary people in London. I was originally introduced to the group through the Girls on Film Collective, and I was keen to meet them. I wanted part of the zine to include an educational element, which would feature useful workshops that women could access in London. The event, which took place at Cafe Oto, featured a Q&A with the Monkia Werkstatt record label, who are an all female producers group based in Berlin Germany.  I showed up early, so I might introduce myself to the collective properly  before they got too busy. The group were really interested in the concept, and actually agreed to distribute copies when the zine was completed.

Before meeting the collective, I drew up and article for them, advertising their event.

I felt that this process was also part of the exchange of knowledge involved in the production of the zine.

‘Pitch To Your Peers’ session at Rich Mix London- December 4th

After receiving a confirmation of reaching the second stage of funding I prepared a presentation that would explain and, hopefully convince the panel to provide me with funding.

Below is the complete funding proposal that I created for the pitching meeting: 

In my pitch, I talked in length about the culture of the industry, and the conversations I’ve had with women about their experiences DJing in the industry. The panel seemed to like the idea, and I am fairly hopeful about my prospect of getting the money to print Ferocious in the new year.

DJ Ludek Interview and Photoshoot- 7th December

The third DJ that was to be interviewed was Lucia, or DJ Ludek. As mentioned previously, Ludek had managed to carve out a career in Djing, whilst also running her own business and raising two children. This is a remarkable achievement, and I was keen to get her involved in the zine as a great role model.

As mentioned in section one, a big challenge for me was curating pictures that had a running photographic theme. I found that the best pictures were the ones that were taken next to bright and colourful doors or walls

-Kirby Rosina’s shoot

So, in terms of a location, we wanted to continue this theme, whilst giving the women the chance to scope out locations themselves when there.

Fhuad suggested an area of Chelsea which had many streets that were bright and colourful

- google images of Chelsea

However, when I suggested this to Lucia, she felt that it didn’t fit her character and wanted to do the shoot somewhere closer to where she lived; Portobello Road.

- Images of Portobello Road

As you can see from the above, the road was perfectly in line with the aesthetic theme of the zine. 

I made my way there to interview Lucia (with the same line of questioning as before) and then proceeded to find a location to do the photography

- Lucia’s shot

It was pouring with rain and we managed to get all the shots we needed before it got too heavy. 

Getting all the shots for the zine has taught me some important lessons about professionalism: These women were working with me for free and it was only right that I paid them back with respect and care.

Alexandra Milne Interview and Photoshoot- 7th December

Repeating the same process as before, we met Alex photographed her. This time the weather had cleared and we were able to get better and brighter photos.

WIRED4MUSIC Update- 12th December

Lucia Pictures- UPDATE 13/12/17

After completing my session with Lucia, she emailed me to tell me that she wasn’t happy with what had been done and I agreed to plan a new shoot in the new year. Since the philosophy of the zine was to promote women and make them feel positive about their achievements, I felt it was best to be tactful and pleasant when dealing with each of the interviewees.

WIRED4MUSIC Grant 15/12/17

I found out on the 15th of December that I successfully won a place on WIRED4Music’s programme. I was really pleased with this result and looked forward to getting in touch with my mentor in the new year to plan further.

UPDATING Participants- 21st December

Just before Christmas, I sent an email out updating and detailing all the changes and plans I had for the New Year. I was well on schedule with the zine, and was looking forward to making a bit more headway in the new year.

Meeting with Omnni Collective- 4th of January

The meeting went well and I generated a great deal of interview content for the Zine.

PROJECT TIMELINE FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS:

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10. Ferocious Zine: Research and Timeline Part 1

For this project, I was completely in new territory. Although I had worked as a journalist before, I hadn’t curated something that would be widely released in print.

Moving forward I cited a number of challenging new areas that I would face:

1. Photography and the curation of a photographic theme

2. Finding the participants for the zine

3. Raising enough money to print the zine

4. Finding sustainable methods of distribution

With these factors in mind: I launched into a large amount of research, so that I might understand the culture of the subject that I was diving into. My research actually began during the summer break, as I began to look extensively into all-female collectives:

Girl Gang

Girl Gang are a group of all female rappers djs and singers based in London.

Their message and aesthetic is incredibly interesting; and was a big inspiration to me when developing a colour-scheme and theme for the zine

The group seek to promote female talent, and lift each other up in collaboration. I had recently written an article about them for Insight Online Magazine; a magazine for 12-18 year olds looking into higher education. (Add link when published).

The need for groups like this, that are vibrant, young and women lead is incredibly important in my eyes, and I wanted to create something that reflected their asethitic.

Peer Mentoring Feburary 2017

During my time as a peer mentor in second year, I was made aware of the fact that there is often funding available for creating publications. This was the first time I became interested in the idea of making a zine. It hadn’t occurred to me that I had the ability to make something concrete and physical.

Zines primary research June 2017

The first place I went to look was the universities collection of music zines. The collection is huge, ranging wildly around genres, styles and dates. Most of the zines were printed in block colours with the risograph printing technique.

Risograph printing gives a certain style to the zine. I liked how allot of the content wasn’t really about music at all; the zines would often include stories, recipes, drawings and many other elements that wouldn’t normally be found in a typical magazine. There was something so DIY and personal about them. I look reference photos of article styles or pictures that I liked, more of which can be viewed below.

Zine making workshop 12th August

I am in touch with a few of the graphic design students at Central Saint Martins. One in particular had recently completed her module on zines, she recommended that I look into Rabbit’s Road Press, a community risograph printing press in east London. After a bit of digging I noticed that the group had a zine making workshop coming up at Sommerset House in August.

After booking myself onto the course, we met at Sommerset house and produced a small A5 Zine. We were also shown how to use stencils to create the front cover and how to bind the finished product together.

The experience was very useful to me; it gave me the opportunity to actually make something physical, and let me be creative in a visual way. It was a good opportunity to make contact with the women who ran the press. They told me that every month in term time they feature an open day, in which anyone can come and learn how to use their risograph printer for free. This seemed like a great opportunity to learn a new skill and get some more inspiration for the zine.

Rabbits Road Press Visit 11th October

After returning from recording my audio documentary in September (see page) I booked myself into one of Rabbit’s Roads Press’ open days to learn how to use their equipment. I went with my friend from graphic design, as she felt she wanted to explore what resources they had available.

Over the following four hours, we were shown how to cut up and layer pictures in order to create a risograph print.

In the most basic terms, the risograph printer will take a scan of an image and create a copy that is completely saturated with a single colour ink. This can then be layered up to create different tones and effects depending on the variety of colours used.

The end effect also depends on what colour paper is used to print onto

The printing press also had a rich variety of other zines, particularly zines about women, which I used as inspiration for my own. OOMK (One of My Kind) Zine, and all female group who work out of Rabbit’s Road had their newest issue available, which I took inspiration from in terms of their colour scheme and layout. See below for research pictures:

-Collection of zines that have been created by the risograph technique

-The print that I created in my session.

Early stage planning - November

Once I had a general idea of the support networks and resources that I had at my disposal, I began working on a solid concept for the zine. After my aformationed conversation with Girls on Film, I knew that I wanted the zine to celebrate the work of female and non-binary DJs in London. I felt it was important to maintain a positive and supportive tone throughout and also include an educational element which would allow the zine to be almost viewed as a manual as well as uplifting the work of those involved. At this point I knew what kind of format I wanted and how I would begin contacting those who I would be interested in being involved with the project.

Test Shots 1st November

Before launching into the photography of the zine I wanted to get a sense of the pictures that would be put into the final product. My photographer Fhuad, who is a close friend and professional photographer, had offered to supply me with free photography for the entirety of the process; thus saving me a great deal of money. We went down to the south bank before the show at the ICA to take some test shots of me for the zine. This way, we were able to work out how we would frame the pictures and direct the women. See above for some of the test shots

ICA Visit 1st November

Using my contacts from WIRED4MUSIC, a youth music charity and Girls on Film, I managed to gather together a range of DJs that I wanted to interview for the project. Contact was mainly made mainly via email, however Esther Kay is a personal friend and I contacted her directly.

Two of the potential interviewees where set to be at the same event at the ICA on the 1st of November, and I caught up with them both over email to suggest speaking there.

Kirby Rosina is a soulful house DJ who has started her career earlier this year. During our interview I learnt a little about her and what she was up too. She was incredibly keen to be involved, and we arranged some possible dates for her interview and photoshoot to take place.

Also at the event I met Born N Bread, an all female collective who are involved in a vide range of creative practices. As well as DJing, they are also creative directors and host events that they curate. I spoke to them at the event and they were all keen to be involved with the project.

During the week prior to the event I had spoken with DJ Ludec, A.K.A. Lucia Decermic who has just began DJing at the age of 45, with two children and a business of her own.

She seemed like a natural choice to appear; she had managed to to bag herself some festival slots whilst juggling all the other aspects of her life.

Grrrl Zine Fair 6th November

- FEM was a huge inspiration to me; it made me settle on photography as the main focus for the zine’s content.

From my Girls on Film contacts I was able to find out about the Grrrl Zine fair. The zine itself is named after the Riot Grrrl Movement that took place in the early 90s (see section for more details).

The fair was hosted at SOHO Radio, a small radio station based in central London. I spoke to one of the technitions there and he recomendded that I get in touch with them after the zine was completed, as they would be happy to take some copies for distribution.

Whilst there I took some pictures of the zines for inspiration: I espeically liked the simplicity of the front cover design of ‘Fem’ (see above)

See below for more picture research:

'Play Your Gender’ at the Doc n Roll Film Festival  9th November

The Doc'n'Roll Film Festival take place every year in cities around the UK. London’s branch of the festival featured many interesting films that I had actually come to watch as research into my documentary film project; (see page on Raving Iran in documentary). I went to watch 'Play Your Gender’ which mainly focused on the way women are seen and treated in the industry. The overall message of the documentary was that women aren’t taken seriously, and that it is incredibly hard to make waves in the industry in certain roles.

At the end of the documentary, there was a Q&A in which producer and engineer Cathrine Marks made an interesting point about the conflicting nature of the documentary:

“I feel torn. On the one hand, we should have conversations about how hard it is for women. But at the same time I feel that you need to show positive examples of women doing well in the industry. Otherwise, women will never feel inspired to go into these roles and things will never change”

I felt this certainly rang true; I wanted the zine to have a positive tone; not avoiding the issues in the industry, but equipping women to make headways in the industry themselves.

Kirby Rosina Photoshoot and interview November 12th

The first of the interviews was with Kirby Rosina. I met her in Peckham in a quiet cafe for the interview stage. When recording interviews to transcribe I will normally just user my android phone, as the audio itself is never used for anything other than a reference. The 20 minute interview was then transcribed roughly into the piece below:

I left my photographer Fhuad and Kirby to talk about what exactly they wanted from the pictures: I felt like the main focus of the zine was on these women, and I was happy to allow for them to have creative control.

Later on, there is a break down of my budgeting for the project, which I later submitted to Wired4Music toward their Generate Grant. This budget included buying food and travel for the participants.

Ether Kay Photoshoot and interview 12th November

After meeting with Kirby, we traveled to the South Bank to meet with Esther Kay. Esther and I are good friends and I have interviewed her before about her new project Conceited Sounds:

She was more than willing to be included in the zine and I repeated the same process I had with Kirby earlier; conducting the photoshoot and then interviewing her afterward.

HerNoise Archive Visit 13th November

On Monday I went to visit the Her Noise archive, which is housed in LCC. I had been in contact with the archive previously about potentially adding a copy of my zine to the collection. You can see my correspondence with Cathy Lane below:

As well as starting a correspondence with her; I also booked in a time slot to visit the archive. I wanted to build on the research I had done in the summer and to also gather some ideas for what the actual layout would be when the zine was completed:

During my time in the archive I also looked through funding applications for the Archive itself. At this point, I ultimately planned to chase after some grant money for the project, as I felt as though the project would resonate with a great number of people.

Looking through the proposals allowed me to structure my later application to WIRED4MUSIC more successfully.

Looking through the archive also lead me to Shocking Pink! a radical feminist magazine that produced 16 issues between the mid 80s and mid 90s (See part two for continuation)

After speaking to Cathy and also looking into Shocking Pink! I started to do some research into the history and tradition of Riot Grrrl Zines.

- Natalya Lusty:Riot Grrrl Manifestos and Radical Vernacular Feminism (2017). 

This particular book switched me onto how Riot Grrrl Zines have changed and evolved and how their politcal stand points have a relevance for feminism today:

Here the litany of isms identifies discrimination as the ‘bullshit’ that erupts in ordinary, everyday sites (‘our own lives’), implicitly challenging a reified feminist theory that distances intersectional politics from the everyday lives of young women. The emphasis on ‘doing’, ‘reading’, ‘seeing’, ‘hearing’ similarly marks the manifesto’s emphasis on a participatory pedagogical ethos while celebrating the indefinable and yet to be determined ‘cool things’ that mark the movement’s subcultural creativity. p.12

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9. Ferocious Zine: Initial Ideas

Much of my time over the last three years developing my journalism career with GIGsoupmusic.com.

During the last year I have had the privilege of being able to interview artists from all over the world, and from all different backgrounds. During this time, my skills have increased, and I am now able to conduct interviews in a style that suits me.

The idea for Ferocious came during one of these interviews:

Girls on Film are a all female film collective who I interviewed earlier in the year about their upcoming music event. During the interview, we spoke about their experiences of DJing in both London and at university. Sabrina, one of the co-creators of Girls on Film recounted a story where she was asked who the "real DJ was" whilst she was hosting a night at Warwick University.

As a DJ myself, I have always felt lucky to not be met with this kind of discreditation. My collective, T1 are all male and I have always felt supported in my work with them. As much as I have encountered sexism in other parts of my life, I have always been supported in aspects of my career and music. However, this conversation lead to another about festivals not supporting female talent in their lineups:

Reading and Leeds Festival Line comparing full line up with the acts with female performers.

After this years Leeds and Reading festivals, the issue was raised that there was a serious lack of gender diversity amongst the acts that were booked to play. As a response to the backlash festival republic, who oversee Glastonbury and many other large scale music events in the UK launched the ReBalance campaign:

The campaign was designed to fully fund the start of the careers of female engineers/producers/musicians.

There are many funds and groups that have a similar function to this: such as the PRS Fund for Women in Music. But what I felt was needed was the development of a community network, that could bring women together to share creative knowledge and support.

-’Do All-Female Lineups Really Help Women in Electronic Music (2016)

This article was a BIG part of my research moving forward. It challenge many of the ideas that I had about a perhaps idealised solution to the problems of imbalances in music. When approaching the rest of the project, I felt it was only right to keep a heavy focus on the educational elements in the zine, as well as celebrating women’s work on the live music circuit. 

After this conversation I decided to use my journalistic links to create a real print publication, which I had wanted to do for a while.

During my time as a Peer Mentor in second year, I had spoken to a few fellow students about the possibility of getting some grant money for a project such as this one, but didn’t pursue it any further. 

-The Teaching and Learning Fund

I had two main reasons not to go after the fund:

1. The money would not be awarded if the project was submitted for assessment. This was understandable and I kept the grant in mind for other instances in the future.

2. I didn’t have a clear idea yet of what exactly I wanted to do, so I felt that I couldn’t submit and application because of this.

- Jones, S ‘Pop Music and The Press’ (2002) 

Whilst conducting research for our second year collaboration project, I came across Steve Jone’s ‘Pop Music and The Press’ which gave an interesting insight into the cannonical way that music has been written about. I wanted to try and avoid many of the ways that traditional print media was distributed; I felt that the best way to go forward would be a free DIY zine that would be available in venues and other places for anyone who might like one or find it useful.

-Thomas, S ‘Value and Validity of Art Zines as an Art Form’ (2015)

I began my research by looking to what other people thought about the value and practical application of zines today. This work placed importance on their cultural value, but also warned that they were beginning to become expensive due to their appearance of being vintage. I wanted to make sure that my zine would always be accessible, and to do this, I would have to go after some alternative methods of funding.

Photography: I have worked previously with photographer Fhuad Braimoh when working in the context of music journalism. I asked him if we would help me with a print project and he agreed.

-photography by Fhuad (See his instagram for more details about his work)

What I did next:

After my conversation with Girls on Film I decided I wanted to focus on women in music. Over the summer I went along to have a look at the universities collection of music zines, which then inspired me to go down this route further.

See ‘Ferocious Zine Planning Part 1′ for the full run down of what research I did to create and formulate an idea for the zine.

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8. Audio Documentary: Final Editing Process and Conclusions

- Logic Project Near Completion (2017)

After collecting all the footage, samples and music needed (see experimentation section) I began ordering the project together to create the final documentary cut. I found that, because of the clean recordings, the actual vocal elements of the documentary didn’t require much editing.

UPDATE (3/1/2017) After taking a break from the documentary editing to work on my ‘Ferocious Zine’ Project (see page) I intend to add the last finishing touches to the documentary and send it to be pressed into vinyl. This I will achieve by the end of January, and have started to approach stations such as Resonance.Fm for information about broadcasting the piece: 

Conclusions

1. My skills in gathering subjects and interviewing them have increased drastically during this production experience. I feel that this negotiation will be critical for navigating through the creative workplace after graduation.

2. In the future, for further documentary work, I would avoid interviewing subjects in a public place. As much as the background sound allowed for depth, it would have been more useful to the final editing process to just have vocals to work with.

3. Using music and samples can add depth to a piece, keeping the listener interested.

UPDATED PROJECT TIMELINE:

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7.Audio Documentary: Gathering Footage and Interviewees.

-Photographer and Musician Thomas Piper At ‘In Plain Sight’ Block Party

Upon arriving in New York, I knew that I was able to meet potential interview subjects through my friend in Brooklyn who is heavily involved in the Beats scene in NYC. 

The Beats scene seemed to be the natural evolution of some of the original collectives that inhabited the five boroughs in the late 1970s-1980s (see page on Nelson George for more information). The group is seemed to not be a collective as such, but rather a meeting place for artists who broadly inhabited hip-hop, rap and many other genres that are closely linked into each others geographical histories.

The first place that I went looking for subjects was ‘In Plain Sight’s’ second annual block party in Brooklyn. Block party is closely linked to the culture of hip-hop  and I felt that it’s atmosphere was perfect for the kind of people I was looking for.

IN PLAIN SIGHT BLOCK PARTY

-Review article from the block party (my main point of contact with organiser nothing_neue.)

My initial idea was to try and record the interviewees at the block party, as my equipment would allow for portability and focused sound (see experiments section for more information). However, as I met my potential interviewees, I decided it would be better to develop a relationship and line of questioning unique to each of them. So I spent my time at the party meeting people and exchanging numbers.

GATHERING ‘FOOTAGE’

-’nothing_neue’, playing at In Plain Sight Block Party

As I met my interviewees at the block party, I arranged locations to meet each of them.

I was lucky to have two of them in the same location in one night: 

Sunnae Cheeba and Brujo Boogie are part of a collective called Uptown Vinyl Supreme, and they happened to be hosting an event shortly after my arrival in the states.

- Sunnae Cheeba and Brujo Boogie

As I interviewed them at their event, I made sure to get them move outside, so that they were clear, even if there was noise in the background.

The interviews were a success, and I was pleased with how clear their vocals were. You can look back over to my experimentation section to hear how I achieved this.

Next, I contacted the organiser of In Plain Sight, nothing_neue in order to set up an interview with him. He invited me to his house in Brooklyn to record his portion of the documentary.

As a producer, I decided to conduct a two-fold interview with nothing_neue; one that generated content for my own website, and one that would in turn generate some interesting interview topics for the documentary.

-The interview I conducted with nothing_neue for gigsoupmusic.com

Sound recording conditions were much more favourable, and I achieved a great audio recording, free of all other noise factors.

This freeness of background noise influenced the general design of the documentary quite heavily. See section on experimentation for more information on how I used music in my documentary.

Because there was alot of ‘empty space’ in the soundscape, I later decided to use the music of a few of the participants to make for a more rich and interesting experience. My research into the BBC Podcast series ‘Soul Music’ also influenced this technique. See section for more details. 

My final interviewee was Radicule, a producer and DJ who lived and worked in upstate New York.

Once again, I located a bar in central Manhattan that would be both quiet and easy to get to for Radicule.

Again, I used my home microphone set up to achieve the result I wanted; clear sound with a small amount of background noise.

Like nothing_neue, I kept my recorder running and also generated enough content to create a full written interview for my website:

-My interview with Radicule for gigsoupmusic.com

After I had completed the extensive selection of interviews with the participants I took a break to enjoy the rest of my time in New York. I had listened back to all the interviews and found that the quality of the topics covered were to a high standard and that I didn’t require pick ups.

-Interviews in Logic Project (2016)

Idea for vinyl

Upon working out how to present the finished product, I decided to take a two fold approach.

1. Firstly I intended to contact Resonance FM to attempt to get a radio airing for the documentary. I felt that it’s work best in the same format as the ‘Soul Music Series’; a stereo mixed audio piece.

2. Upon speaking to many of the interviewees, I discovered that many of them used vinyl still to DJ on.  To thank them all for their help and support, I decided to make the documentary short enough to be pressed onto a vinyl that each of them would receive a copy of. 

3. After doing some digging I came across ‘One Cut Vinyl’ a company in London that would press less than ten copies for under £200. I decided to go for it, and intend to get the vinyl pressed in the new year. 

Picture diary and it’s failure

As I was proceeding through the project, I spent a great deal of time collecting pictures with three disposable cameras. The reason I chose to use these cameras was because I found that they created a grainy and nostalgic aesthetic that I wanted to reference for the project’s cover. I spent time taking pictures of buildings and places around New York. The idea was to eventually turn the pictures into the front cover of my vinyl press of the documentary (see above).

However, I found out late on that the cameras required much more light to collect pictures and most of them were ruined. However, one image that I took would end up becoming the front cover anyway:

The picture, a graffiti piece of artist Frieda Carlo showed off the incredible blending of old and new in New York Culture and I was very happy to have this image as the front cover.

See below for more pictures that I took of research locations in NYC:

-Colney Island, NYC

Colney Island, NYC

Downtown World Trade Centre Area, NYC

Mural, South Bronx, NYC

Sidestreet, Brooklyn, NYC

Mildred’s Cafe, Brooklyn, NYC

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6. Audio Documentary: Experiments

Once the idea for my audio documentary was locked in, I then had the issue of how to technically achieve the results I wanted. In my original documentary ‘Local Beauty Spot’, I used a Zoom H4 Kit with a Sennheiser Shotgun Microphone. The interviews for this project were completed under perfect conditions- in a quiet room with little background noise or interference. I knew that this time I would be recording my interviewees in potentially noisy environments and in public places.

The main issues that I would have to face were:

1-The noisey environment that the interviewees would have to be recorded in.

2-I was to travel to the US with limited space in my luggage and needed a highly portable system to create high quality sound.

3-I would need to complete each of the interviews in one take because the tone of the interviews needed to be organic.

4-In post production, I would need other elements to bulk out the piece, such as music and sound design. See section on ‘Soul Music Series’ for more on this.

Test 1:

Zoom 4HN and Senheiser shotgun microphone in noisy environment (Point 1)

The set up that I created in my previous documentary was completely free of any other noise, including traffic noise/ people talking ect. In this project I knew that I would have to contend with varying environments, as I didn’t have access to a studio/sound stage and I didn’t want to encroach on the privacy of my interviewees homes.

My first test was to see if a set up similar to the one I had used previously would work in a potentially noisy public environment. To test this, I ran a test interview in a cafe environment near my house. 

The test showed that a highly directional microphone, such as the senheiser caputered good quality voice recordings, even in a loud environment.

How this test effected my work: The test showed conclusively that a very focused directional microphone would work in this environment and would still capture a good, clean quality of recording. Because of this, I aimed to use the enheiser microphone, because it is incredibly light, portable and worked well for this particular task.

Test 2:

Borrowed kit (Olympus DM-650 Recorder and Sennhieser Shotgun Cardioid Microphone) in noisy Environment (Point 1 and 2)

The next big problem that I faced was taking my kit abroad. Obviously, the lack of university kit outside of term time would also be a problem and the bulk of a large recording kit wouldn’t work for large amounts of distance traveling. I asked around to see if anyone had a small, portable recorder that I might use for the purpose. I ended up borrowing a kit from a friend that included a small, portable recorder (Olympus DM-650) and a Senhieser super cardioid microphone. I took this kit and tested it in the same environment as the previous. I found that the recorder was of a high quality and the microphone was equally useful in this environment.

How this effected my project: This was the final kit that I ended up using, as it met all the specifications that I required for my kit: light, easy to pack and captured high quality vocal recordings. 

Test 3: 

One take interview test (Point 3)

In order for the interviews to be natural, I had to nail what I wanted in one take. My interviewing experience and research gave me a good foundation of lines of questioning I might follow, but I wanted to make it slick enough to use in a documentary format.

Usually, I will take a very low quality audio recording and transcribe it for my online blog gigsoupmusic.com:

-Example interview from GIGsoupmusic.com

So, in order to warm myself up for the documentary proportion of each interview, I actually recorded a version for transcription first. This section would include general questions about the artist, which would appear on my website as a side spin-off feature of the documentary. This way I would have a chance to get to know the interviewee more and frame a line of questioning around that:

How this effected my work: after trying this once, I ended up using this method for all the rest of the interviewees in some way or another. I found it was the best method to produce a high quality narrative which flowed easily. You can read the full transcription of the first interview here.

Test 4:

Post Production music test examples (Point 4)

During the post production I experimented heavily with the implementation of music.

-Firstly I tried beginning the documentary with a piece of nothing_neue (interviewee’s) music: 

Link to the track which I used.

- Using music to introduce the section (2016)

-I found that this didn’t set the scene well enough so I used a sample to paint a bigger picture of the city (see section on gathering footage for more information)

-Rather than applying music in select points, I used tracks from a variety of the interviewees to bulk out and give meaning to the narrative (see section on Soul Music series for influence). Link here to musician’s page.

-Example of interview being paired up with music (2016)

-After doing this, I included a variety of soundscape samples from New York that would fill out and accompany the musical selection I used.

- This is the first time that I have worked with music and voice side by side, and it was an interesting learning experience on creating a narrative with both.

-Using archival soundtracks to introduce section (2016) (See Soul Music section for more information on this implementation.)

-During breaks in the dialogue, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. It felt like there was allot of empty, silence space that needed to be filled up.

-I asked for some feedback from a group of people, many of which didn’t work in audio- I wanted a picture of what the documentary looked like to an outsider:

-I took this on board, and in the new year I started using sample-based beats between interview sections in order to channel the voices between the different sections.

- Using hip-hop samples between sections (2016)

What I’ve learned from this experimentation:

1. That the most suitable kit for this piece of work is my borrowed home kit, including ? recorder and Sennhieser cardioid microphone. It is light, durable and picks up high quality sound in places that are otherwise hard to record in.

2. Spending time getting to know the interviewees before the actual recording would be crucial to get the most honest and organic answers out of them.

3. Placing place specific archival samples to flesh out the narrative would be key in post-production.

4. Music also helps to flesh out the interviews in each section. See Soul Music Series for more information.

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5. Audio Documentary: The Influence of The Soul Music Series: BBC Radio 4.

When looking for a structural way to layout my talking heads interviews, I listened extensively to the Soul Music Series, originally aired on BBC Radio 4.

The series focuses each of it’s episodes on a single, emotive track and traces it’s history and the people who it has effected.

I had never encountered the series before, but I found it was a good example of high quality audio production and recordings.

Below are a few examples of podcasts that showed off particular elements that I would later use in my own work.

There are links to all of the episodes in the header of each section.

-‘First Cut Is The Deepest’

This edition of the show featured an opening mologue from soul singer PP Arnold, recounting a story of her becoming the backing singer of Ike and Tina Turner.

The recording is so clean and warm sounding and I really liked how intimate it sounded. You can listen to the full podcast here.

How this effected my work: one of my interviews was recording in a quiet room, and I wanted to use the same editing techniques to create a warm vocal.

-’Strange Fruit’

The anti-lynching track made famous by Billie Holiday is picked over in this episode. Much like the structure of the ‘Scarborough Fair’ episode (see below)  it includes a historical tracing of the songs roots. The episode follows much more of a narrative thread than perhaps the others; the theme of lynching and the bringing in of talking-head narratives makes for a touching and personal listening experience.

Particularly striking is the episode’s ability to use empty space and quiet to make the listener ponder and reflect on the stories that they have just been told.

How this piece will effect my work: This piece reminded me that it important to give the narrative space (see initial ideas section for more on this in relation to ‘Local Beauty Spot’). The silence in the narrative were so poignant and effective that I sought to carry this technique over into my own work.

-’Redemption Song’

The striking thing about this episode was the use of archival audio of old Radio One broadcast and some of Bob Marley’s old interviews. I felt that the mixture of old and new audio made for a rich listening experience and also fleshed out the story.

How this effected my work: The mixture of archival audio was interesting. In my final project I featured a introductory section which included some archival audio from New York City in the 1950s. I did this to give a sense of place and also to contrast the old with the new.

-’Scarborough Fair’

This edition of the series featured a much older and historical look at the development of a track. The beginning of the episode follows two folk singers walking through the North Yorkshire Countryside as they traced the roots of the famous track ‘Scarborough Fair’. Much more than the other episodes, this one featured alot more historical context and tracing of the track.

How this affected my work: This piece didn’t really affect my work as much as the others, but it still moved me to look into sampling older, archival sound elements in order to bulk up the narrative of the documentary.

-’You Are My Sunshine’

Much like ‘Strange Fruit’ (see above) You Are My Sunshine structured it’s narrative around stories. The episode opens with a young woman talking about her experience of hearing the track in her mothers voice whilst she lay in a coma. The episode also using talking heads to cover a range of interviewees, of which each had a different experience with the track.

How this piece will effect my work: This piece was interesting, simply for the diversity in speakers. As mentioned at the top of the page, the layering of vocal and music tracks made for a rich sound experience that I hoped to emulate.

‘The Three Key Research Concepts’ that I have taken from this series are:

1.The use of silence to give pause to narrative. As mentioned above, silence can be use to create a moment in the narrative that gives pause. ‘Strange Fruit’ captured this perfectly and made me re-think about structuring sound documentary narrative.

2. The use of music and narrative structure. The way that this podcast successfully layers music and talking heads dialogue is very impressive, and fleshes out the sound work completely. I will definitely explore options of music in my own work.

3.Creating good clean audio. Much like my ‘Sense of Place’ documentary in first year, I wanted to create a piece that included clean, high quality audio. See section on experimentation for more information on this.

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4.Audio Documentary: The Influence of Jeff Chang.

Jeff Chang is an author and journalist which specifically focuses one the ideas of hip hop and race relations. I found out about Chang’s work whilst at Brooklyn Book Festival (see section on Nelson George for more on this), and I was curious about his journalistic approach to the idea of race and music in modern America. I had a particular affinity to Chang, because I am a journalist myself. 

‘We Gon’ Be Alright’ (2016)

Chang’s newest book tackles the reality of racial segregation and integration in modern America. On particular chapter: ‘Vanilla Cities and Chocolate Suburbs’ talks about the idea of creative industry moving into city centres and how that effected the racial makeup of inner cities:

(On San Fransisco in 2004)

“...Residence were evicted to make way for those workers pouring into creative-economy jobs at Twitter, Spotify, Airbnb and Dropbox, ready to pay steeply increased rents or make down payments on mortgages in cash”- p.66.

The Washington Post reviewed Chang’s book favourably and commented on his final inclusion of Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ in the final chapter:

“As an easily obtainable commodity, diversity is also easily cheapened. Diversity becomes a game of numbers and symbolism. In the world of the arts and popular culture, for instance — and Chang has written an award-winning history of hip-hop, directs the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University, and focuses one of his chapters on Beyoncé’s racial and gender activism — we seem to be experiencing a “golden age” of representation, he writes, with so many prominent artists of all races and ethnic backgrounds. “So maybe it seems a bit rude, a bit vibe-killing to note that, despite all this, Hollywood remains overwhelmingly white,” he writes.“ Lozada 2016

How this piece will effect my work: Again, I wondered if Chang’s work rang true for trends in the rest of America. An obvious theme of questioning would be gentrification of areas and how that effected the hip hop community. UPDATE: Although I asked questions to each interviewee about gentrification, the questions didn’t make the final cut, because I felt that it perhaps wasn’t relevant to the final product.

‘Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop’ Eds Jeff Chang (2006)

This work is fairly extensive in its scope: featuring essays about all aspects of hip hop. One particular chapter, which talks about hip-hop journalism:

“The earliest writers covering hip-hop music did so with an ethnographer’s distance- close to the action, but without the presumption of membership.-(Wang, 2006, p.165)

I felt this was interesting, as it opposed the kind of approach taken by Anthony Kwame Harison in his book ‘Hip-hop Underground (scroll down linked page for more information).

He makes an interesting point about hip-hop being a valid entry point into ideas of black identity in the late 20th century: 

“What (hip-hop journalists) had in common was an engagement with hip-hop as an entry point into a larger discussions of society, culture and identity. Writers used the music as a catalyst to address subjectivities around race, class, gender, sexuality, and other issues. (Wang, 2006, p.166)

This quote is interesting because it highlights the idea of using hip-hop and rap as a framework for examining other issues.

How this piece effected my work: This section of essays was a particularly interesting alternative look at certain aspects of hip-hop. I kept many of the chapters in mind when approaching certain interviewees: I was interested in having a collection of people who all varied in their approaches to the genre.

‘Panel Discussion at Brooklyn Book Festival’ (2016)

The Brooklyn Book Festival featured talks and panel discussions about a large array of topics. I went to see Jeff Chang speak again, after watching his discussion with Nelson George (see page) earlier in the day.

He made an interesting point about using music to examine social politics. The panel was chaired by Prof. Daphne Brooks.

Daphne Brooks: “How do you approach the themes of politics in music and how do you extrapolate one from the other?”

Jeff Chang: “...all culture has a context...you have to think about how we represent alternative types of world views. I’ve always wanted to learn about moments in history, and I think you can see these moments through the lens of music.”

(Brooklyn Book Festival 2017)

How this piece affects my work: This talk gave me an interesting insight into writing about music. It made me think much more about the audience of my documentary and what possible political and social implications there might be from the content of my documentary.

‘Culture Str/ke’ (2011)

Culture Str/ke was set up by Jeff Chang and a number of other creatives in 2011

The website seeks to unite the artistic community and specifically focuses on the work of minority and women artists:

“CultureStrike empowers artists to dream big, disrupt the status quo, and envision a truly just world rooted in shared humanity.  As risk-takers with the creative audacity to think beyond today's boxes, artists play a powerful role in inciting conversations, inventing new ways of thinking, and redefining the limits of what's possible.  That’s why we believe cultural work is key to creating systemic change.”- CultureStr/ke mission statement

Their extensive reading library was an interesting source of information, and even included everything from DIY Printmaking information to interviews about the 2017 Presidential Election.

How This Has Effected My Work: This website hasn’t really effected my work as such, but has been interesting in gaining insight into Chang’s activist work and his sharing of ideas and resources amongst a community of artists.

‘Can’t Stop Wont Stop- A History Of The Hip-Hop Generation’ (2006)

In this book Chang delves into the history of the genre and runs up to the early 2000s. The book is interesting because it features an almost storytelling style that runs alongside it’s non-fiction structure. See Werner Herzog page for more on this theme.

One particular chapter at the end of the book: ‘New World Order’ deconstructs how exactly hip-hop as a genre looked by the end of the 20th century, with particular focus on radio, print media and television:

“Hip hop had blown out of it’s niche into the mainstream. It suddenly seemed difficult to remember a time when youths of colour had not been represented in the media, whether as consumers or producers”- p.445.

Alex Abramovich of the New York Times commented on how Chang viewed the change in the hip-hop generation at the end of his book:

“And so, by the end of Chang's history, the ''four elements'' have fallen away entirely, and politics are all that remain to tie the hip-hop generation together. (In the words of a graffiti writer and activist Chang approvingly quotes, ''Young people are noticing that the only thing that can't be bought, sold, co-opted or marketed anymore is substantive political organizing and dissent.'') Whether or not this is true -- and I've met a few politicians who'd argue the point -- it makes you wonder what today's young people are supposed be organizing for, or dissenting against. Is it the World Trade Organization? Police brutality? The military-industrial complex? Fox News? The New York Times? Looking at the last image in Chang's book (it's a two-page photo spread of a multicultural crowd raising their fists into the air at the 2000 Democratic Convention), I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what what they were protesting. I wasn't sure anyone in attendance knew, either.”

I felt that Abramovich’s statement about disillusioned youth rang true and I wondered what my interviewees would think about this idea. Had hip hop’s defining character of community broken down? Or had it developed into a different form?

How this piece effected my work: Again, Chang’s work gave me a good foundation to work on. However this book expanded out, and linked aspects of youth culture, consumer activity and community together. I kept these elements in mind whilst speaking to my interviewees. 

‘The Three Key Research Concepts’ that I have taken from this artist are:

1. The idea of ethnography and being part of the narrative. ‘Total Chaos...’s chapter about hip-hop journalism was interesting because it again described ideas of being involved with the narrative of journalism and documentary. Reading it made me return to Anthony Kwame Harison’s book ‘Hip-hop Underground (scroll down linked page for more information) and lead me to include myself in the narrative of the documentary.

2. Ideas of race and how hip-hop interacts with ideas of race. Chang’s work moves between ideas of music journalism and studies about race and racial integration. Again, I kept this in mind whilst moving forward in my line of questioning.

3. Hip-hop as a community. Again, like Nelson George (see page) Chang links the original creation of hip-hop to small collectives in the South Bronx in the late 1970s. My line of questioning in the documentary would also include enquiry about the interviewees past experiences with these communities.

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3. Audio Documentary: The Influence of Nelson George.

During my time in New York, there was a sense that everyday was a research day. I wanted to get to know the city better, as I felt that by understanding it's character, I could better understand the subjects (and sound world) of my documentary. In some of the free time that I had, I found myself wandering around the south part of Brooklyn, and subsequently stumbled onto the Brooklyn Book Festival.

Featuring talks, stalls and workshops, the festival covers a huge array of literature, The Brooklyn Book Festival takes up a large part of the south part of the famous New York Borough. In researching my documentary, I was interested in looking at the histories of hip hop, and the kind of environment that they were born out of in the south Bronx, so I had my eyes peeled for anything that would immerse me in the history of the area and it’s music.

Many of the stalls included titles on this subject, but two of the most interesting writers I came across at the festival were writers Nelson George and Jeff Chang (see page).

Nelson George is both a popular fiction writer and a television producer. I had actually encountered his work before in the form of 'Hip hop America' (1998). See section on ‘First Steps and Initial Research’ for links to some of the other works that I had encountered before starting the documentary.

Nelson George- 'Hip hop America' (1998).

George's comprehensive history of old school hip hop laid an interesting foundation for the genre, and is often cited as a founding text.

During the course of the book, Nelson charts the move from the streets and house parties to the now multi media, multi-national reach of hip hop. His idea of 'heroes and antiheroes' in the genre would inform one of the chapters of my dissertation.

How this will effect my work: This book gave me an excellent alternative history of hip hop. Even though the book meanders around quite a bit, it allowed me to get a better grasp of the genre, and laid the foundations for the geographical placement of the genre in New York City. but also that the genre has a tense relationship with it’s sense of place:

“In hip-hop terms this insecurity flows from the irrifutable fact that the music orignated here (New York City), and New Yorkers, with that swagger the world detests and envies, have never let anyone forget it” Nelson George on the West Coast- East Coast divide in Hip-hop p.129-130.

-’The Plot Against Hip-hop’ (2011)

His fictional works, such as the 'The Plot Against Hip Hop' and 'To Funk and Die in LA' are more light-hearted jaunts through the industry

These were the fictional works that George seemed to be best known for, and he related during his talk that he utilised a large amount of his journalistic experience to write these novels.

On speaking to George, he forwarded me to author Terrie William's and her work in mental health in the black community.

William's work would later inform my chapter on race and commodity relationships in my dissertation.

'The Get Down' (2016)

Perhaps the most famous piece of work that George has been involved in is the Netflix series 'The Get Down' of which he produced and wrote alongside director Baz Lurhman.

Baz Lurhman’s Netflix series ‘The Get Down’ paints a colourful and nostalgic picture of the South Bronx in the 1970s. New York is the home of hip-hop, and the fictional series follows the journey of a young, fictional group of teenagers coming up in the genre at it’s inception. 

Though the series is heavily romanticised, it actually serves as a very good introduction to the very foundations of the movement that was hip hop.

What the show presents so well, is how much the four pillars of hip hop (mcing, graffiti, break dancing and djing) meant to the parcipants of the scene at the time, The South Bronx was, at the time going through huge changes and the founders of the genre used the tools and the environment that they inhabited to create a new kind of art.

Christina Knight wrote a particularly interesting article about the South Bronx and it’s revolutionary style of music:

“No neighborhood in New York City, or for that matter in the entire nation, has been more important in the rise of hip hop than the Morrisania section of the Bronx. The Bronx’s largest predominantly African American community from the 1940’s through the late 80’s, stretching from Webster Avenue to the West, Crotona Park to the North, Westchester Avenue to the South, and Southern Boulevard to the East, Morrisania’s schoolyards and abandoned buildings provided the setting for Grandmaster Flash’s first neighborhood parties,while it’s after hours clubs offered a venue from groups ranging from the Cold Crush Brothers to the Fantastic Four”

How this will effect my work: Although my documentary will not focus on the visual, I feel that ‘The Get Down’ has further caputred the public imagination of a time which fuelled the fires of hip hop. I was keen to meet some residence of the South Bronx, to see what they thought the changes had been both in the genre, and on their local scene. Also, the series placed a huge amount of wait on the idea of the collective, and the collective experience in music. I was keen to look further into this aspect and actually ended up using this theme as the main line of questioning in my documentary.

‘Brooklyn Boheme’ (2011)

Although New York is perhaps principally known for the Harlem Renissance of the 1920s, there was a collection of American American/ Latino artists in the Flatbush Avenue area of Brooklyn that created some of the 1980s/1990s most influential work.

Spike Lee-‘Do The Ring Thing’ (1989)

What the documentary showed keenly, was how the community had formed, and how easy it was for the artists on the scene to collaborate, share ideas and generally be together creatively. 

I wondered how the different boroughs had changed in relation specifically to music, and how exactly these communities were formed now.

How this will effect my work: ‘Brooklyn Boheme’ is incredibly focused on community and how gentrification has changed the landscape of the once thriving arts and culture neighbourhood. This documentary framed a great deal of questions in the documentary and allowed me to have a bit more of a knowledge of the history of the area.

‘The Death of Rhythm and Blues’ (1988)

George’s 1988 work ‘The Death of Rhythm and Blues’ is an interesting look into the formation of the pre-hip hop (1960-1970s) era. It serves as an interesting comparative piece to ‘The Get Down’ which picks up where this book leaves off. 

One particular section in the book makes an interesting assertion about the inevitability of rap music:

“In retrospect, rap or something like it should have been predicted. Each decade since World War II has seen the emergence of some new approach to black dance music. The 1940s brought forth rhythm and blues, the 1950s rock and roll, the 1970s funk and disco. Something was due in the 1980s though the contemporary taste-makers of R&B conspired to hold off the inevitable.”- p.188

This quote is interesting, because it talks about the evolution of genre. I felt that the trap genre had maybe been handed the baton from hip-hop as the next ‘black dance music’.

How this will effect my work: I felt that George’s assertion about the inevitable revolution of music was an obvious, but an important point. My line of enquiry in my interviews also included questions about trap, and how the genre had changed.

The Three Key Research Concepts’ that I have taken from this artist are:

1.The idea of music and geography. Nelson George grew up with a number of the artists and musicians in the area at the time. His knowledge and interpretation of the collective spirit of hip-hop was incredibly interesting and I sought to delve into this idea further through my line of questioning.

2. Foundations of hip-hop vs hip-hop today. Much of George’s work contrasts today with yesterday. In Brooklyn Boheme, the gentrification of the South Brooklyn area is lamented as the romanticised old days are celebrated. I used this idea in my line of questioning, so that the interviewees could talk about their history in their own terms.

3. The importance of community. George’s work (especially ‘The Get Down’ and ‘Brooklyn Boheme’) place massive amounts of importance on community and collective spirit. Again, I used this in my line of questioning when gathering audio. See section on ‘Gathering Footage’ for more information.

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2. Audio Documentary: The Influence of Werner Herzog.

“I am my films”- Werner Herzog (1978)

I have always been a big fan of the documentary films of Werner Hertzog. The first film that introduced me to his work was 'The Cave of Forgotten Dreams' (2011). By researching Herzog’s work I hope to get a sense of how I might structure narrative and narration in my own audio documentary.

'The Cave of Forgotten Dreams' (2011)

'The Cave of Forgotten Dreams' was one of the first documentaries to utilise the then fairly new 3D Format to create real depth in its image.

The thing that struck me about this documentary initially was the way that Herzog's voice guided the narrative; there was no sense of a omni-present narrator in the piece. Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian's film critic pointed out that "Herzog's unmistakeable voice" guides the viewer through the film. One comment at the bottom of the article summed up Herzog's presence in his films directly:

“Herzog's work has the ability to create 'real life' documentary footage (the tackling of real world topics) and blend them into a kind of fiction. His balance between the two never feels unwieldy, nor does the viewer ever feel as though they are being tricked by him.|”

The Front cover of 'Doing Documentary Work' (1997)

In Robert Cole's book 'Doing Documentary Work' (1997), he frames the work of great canonical photographic and and filmic documentarians as storytelling first and foremost:

"Documentary Work, Cole concludes, is more a narrative constructed by the observer, meant not only to represent "reality" but inevitably interpret it" - (Back cover of 'Doing Documentary Work' (1997)

Herzog’s work certainly subscribes to this; ‘The Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ masterfully blends story-telling and fact-finding.

How this piece will impact my work:

From watching and reading around 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' I gained a sense of putting ones self in the documentary setting, unlike 'Local Beauty Spot' (Audio Documentary, First Steps Page) this documentary would also include my voice as a presenter or guide. Like Herzog, the story would partially include my narrative.

UPDATE: After finishing recording the documentary footage, I decided to include my voice in a introduction at the beginning. I felt that doing this would give the listener a better idea of the themes and structures of the narrative.

'Grizzly Man' (2005)

Perhaps one of the most famous documentary works of Herzog is 'Grizzly Man'. The documentary follows the life and untimely death of nature enthusiast Timothy Treadwell a.k.a 'The Grizzly Man'. Treadwell was tragically killed and eaten by one of the grizzly bears that he worked closely with over his life. The attack itself was reportedly famously (and controversially) immortalised as a recording.

In this scene, which takes place at the end of the film, Herzog sits and listens to the recording of Treadwell's death, in front of his widow Amie Huguenard. He tells her to destroy the tape and never listen to it, as it would cause her too much pain. The way this scene unfolds, is not in the typical factual documentary style. The viewer is very much told a story here; the story of Hugeuenard's pain, the story of the horrible death of Treadwell, and the relationship between Herzog and Huguenard. Again, Herzog presents himself as part of the documentary universe, influencing the narrative directly.

That ability to move between factual and fictitious elements is something I wanted to capture when entering my final project. By using music and cleverly editing narratives, Hertzog has managed to manipulate the audience into a narrative that he himself has placed inside the 'factual world'.

John Ellis, 'Documentary: Witness and Self-revelation (2012)

John Ellis, in his book 'Documentary: Witness and Self-revelation (2012) talks about the performance of the filmmaker and the filmed:

"...if we are no longer fixated by the question of whether such filming is 'true' or shows 'the facts' in an accurate' manner, then a situational analysis of documentary becomes possible."- p.45

In a further section on narrative, he talks about the role of narrative in creating a story:

"The process of editing is inevitably one of attributing meaning to events in hindsight: this is the art of storytelling from the real."- p. 69

Boston College student Michael Mullhall comments on this kind of story creation in his thesis:

The conclusion here is that it is impossible to truthfully film something’s nature if it knows it is being filmed. Short of a hidden voyeuristic approach, all that can be done is to fictionalize what is shot. If Vérité’s motto could be “truth through agitation,” Herzog’s motto is “truth through fiction.” By juxtaposing standard documentary footage and style with fabricated story elements and staged interviews, Herzog believes he is able to attain what he calls “an ecstatic truth.”- p.49-50.

How this piece will impact my work:

'Grizzly Man' once again puts the filmmaker into the narrative; it has given me some inspiration to maybe provide my own narrative as a narrator in the documentary.

'Encounters at the End of the World' (2010)

'Encounters at the End of the World' (2010)

'Encounters at the End of the World’ is another example of Herzog's ability to find characters and stories that are interesting. The documentary follows the story of the people who work and live in the Artic Circle. In this strange world of often constant daylight and bleak landscapes, Herzog finds all sorts of characters that he utilises in his documentary.

One of the most absorbing moments in the film is this interview with Stefan Pashov, a self-styled philosopher and fork lift driver in the Arctic.

"This is a director who admires folks who aren't afraid to peer over the edge, existential or otherwise"- Cheryl Eddy San Francisco Guardian.

Matthew Sorrento said on his online blog Identity Theory:

"This filmmaker can’t resist extremes, both geological and psychological. His trademark fictional films look to obsessives who want to conquer the unknown, which often results in suffering and madness. Herzog’s documentaries seek out real-life examples of the same, some who survive, while others, like Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man, are consumed by their obsession."

I felt that this assessment of Herzog's films was incredibly insightful; the kind of characters that he explores and collects are all wildly different, but all include shades of obsession that could be a reflection of the film maker himself. Werzog, writes himself thematically into all his films.

How this will effect my work: 'Encounters at the End of the World' includes a much more 'talking heads' style of film making, which I would use as the basis of my documentary. The main focus would be on the characters and the stories in the documentary world. Because of this, I will build soundscapes and music AROUND their interviews; keeping them as the main focus.

‘Into The Inferno’

'Into The Inferno' is almost akin to a sequel. One of the main characters (who also doubles as a kind of host) is volcanologist Clive Ottomhiemer who became Herzog's friend on the set of 'Encounters at the End of the World'. Herzog speaks to Ottomheimer at length about their experiences on the set of their previous film, and it is clear that Herzog greatly admires and respects him. It is unusual to encounter a relationship this strongly referenced between a documentary film maker and one of the documentary participants.

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian online made an interesting insight about Ottomheimer's place within the dialogue of the film:

"There he encountered a committed British volcano specialist named Clive Oppenheimer, who does the presenting here and is effectively Into the Inferno’s co-creator. Could Oppenheimer be the wild man that Herzog so often looks for – the Aguirre, the Grizzly Man? Not really. He’s too calm. Perhaps closer to this is the French volcanologist husband-and-wife team Maurice and Katia Krafft, who took crazy risks to get their stunning closeup photographs of lava flow and in 1991 died in the attempt. But in any case, Herzog is, of course, his own wild man."

How this piece changed my work: The character of Ottomheimer was interesting to me; the clear relationship between himself and Herzog was one of the most fascinating things about the documentary. I wanted to create that kind of relationship in my documentary and wanted to approach my interviewees in a personable way.

'My Best Fiend' (1999)

'My Best Fiend' perhaps is the most self-referencial of all of Herzog's works. The documentary chronicles the often turbulent relationship between himself and actor Klaus Kinski, of which he shot five fiction films with.

In an article from the ‘Journal of Organisational Ethnography’, Markus Waltz cited ‘My Best Fiend’ and a number of Herzog's other works as evidence of this self referential process of film making:

"His efforts to create ecstatic truth include the performative embrace of a wide variety of different media or genres of communication. Herzog has for instance published diaries from his movie shoots in the Amazonian jungle (Herzog, 2009), has filmed a cinematic self-portrait (Stipetić and Herzog, 1986), collaborated with a friend and colleague in shooting documentaries of himself and his projects (Blank and Blank, 1980, 1982), and has reflected on his infamous collaboration with actor Klaus Kinski who starred in five of Herzog’s films and in a documentary piece (Stipetić and Herzog, 1999)." p.56

‘My Best Fiend’ opens with Herzog returning to a house that he and Kinski shared when he was a child. Though the pair did not know each other then, this strange mixing of spaces is perhaps the most Herzog-esque of all his documentaries. He is so weaved into its fabric, that is essentially also about him.

How this piece effected my work: This piece didn't really change much about the final product, but it did give me an opportunity to learn more about Herzog's style and philosophies.

‘The Three Key Research Concepts’ that I have taken from this artist are:

1.Storytelling and Fact Blending: I have found that these two concepts run freely through all of Herzog’s films. I feel that this style, which introduces a narrative that is both fact and fiction is the best way to create a compelling and interesting narrative.

Centralising Character Voices: I feel that Herzog’s narratives are compelling because of his character development. This, again is a running theme in his work and I aim to frame my documentary around it’s subjects. 

Narration: As mentioned above, Herzog is a critical part of his own work. Unlike my first documentary ‘Local Beauty Spot’ I wanted to very much be part of the narrative.

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