Text Presentations

Alongside getting our proposals and the ball rolling on our projects, we began with the task of making a documentary on a select text we were given, ours being "The Performative Documentary" by Barker, Dineen and Broomfield.
In short, the text was trying to argue the question as to which out of "performative" documentaries (E.g. Documentaries which re-enact scenes using actors) or "Real-Life and Challenging" Documentaries (E.g. "Bowling For Columbine", director really involved with subject) portrays the truth best?

To express what we had learnt from this text, as we were put into groups to make these presentations, we created a mini documentary which compared the two different type of documentaries against each other.
Filming was great fun and really did help us to get into the feel and groove of making documentaries. The text was very heavy in my opinion which sadly dampened the fun and creativity of this piece. A smaller text would have been much better as we could have really gone to town on the whole thing, instead of having to summarise and compress the knowledge from all 22 or something pages!
Never the less, the documentary is something I'm proud of and it went down well in the screening so that's a positive. :)

Unfortunately I haven't got a copy of the documentary but instead here is a link to the video which Jeff has uploaded to his Youtube account:


http://www.youtube.com/jeffwhite1990#p/u/10/3OVXlq1VJPI


That's it for now but check back next week for the next bit of progress. :)

Take care,
Joe.

Proposal, Research and Preparation (Plus Photos of Ideas/Notes)

Here today we have my proposal for my documentary as well as some links to other work I've looked at for research and also the photos I said about earlier of my notes/ideas which are penis free. Since my last post, I have included my girlfriend's dad Phil, and my friend and coursemate Jeff White to take part in Decembeard with me so that there is more than one outcome of beard style/growth. I was going to ask my friend Tom however due to geography it was much easier to get Jeff to help me out instead but perhaps in the future I could do a second documentary on just the beards growing and include him too.

Firstly then, here is my proposal:

MEDI 236 DOCUMENTARY PROJECT:

PROPOSAL

The focus of my documentary will be on the social challenge “Decembeard”, with an insight into the history and culture of beards and facial hair.

Working with influence from the McDonalds and fast food documentary “Supersize Me” by Morgan Spurlock, I will be participating in “Decembeard”, a social challenge whereby I shall grow a beard from scratch, starting on Dec 1st and finishing on Dec 31st.

Throughout this month I cannot shave, trim or style the beard in any way until “Manuary”, Which is January and the month where participants can decide whether to trim and style their beard or completely shave it all off.

Alongside my initial challenge, I will interview others who have agreed to participate to compare experiences, as well as including a history of beards and facial hair throughout the ages, focusing on the symbolism beards have become associated with. (For example, only high classed Ancient Egyptians were allowed to grow beards as they were seen as a sign of nobility and strength).

The target audience will be mainly men from the age of puberty and older, whilst the medium I shall document in is mainly film such as for the interviews and my video diary.
However, with the history and transitions created out of stop-motion and After Effects to allow for a more interesting and engaging insight into the history.


It was hard to start a proposal as I've never done anything like this trying to "convince" and explain to someone why they should be interested in my project!
Never the less once you get going, the words were there in my head as I've been working through how I'll make this project over the last week or so (hence the delay in this next post) and so putting it down on paper was quite easy once I'd gotten over that first hurdle. Introductions are always the hardest part to write.

Next up we have here some research into documentarys etc. which have helped me to build up the content for my proposal and project so far.

First up is obviously going to be "Supersize Me" as I've been rambling on about bits of this a lot so far!

First is the intro to "Supersize Me":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V168xofxgu0

I really like the animation style and obvious diagrams and visuals in this scene as they really accent the narration and the points he is trying to get across. I think I could really get on board with working in this way and with the workshops I've been having into After Effects and other animating software, I really think I could do a scene like this well (not in a vain way just saying I would love to have a go as I have an understanding of how to know!) and hopefully just as clear and exciting.

Next up is some videos on beards which I found interesting:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCP5VqmDsf4&playnext=1&list=PL37C6BA647A226115

In this one the use of reversed filming is really effective and although I don't think I will be showing my beard growth in this way, it's still an interesting piece which I debated about incorporating for a while. Perhaps as a future project?

Next up is an animation of the man who took a photo of himself EVERY day for 6 years!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo

This is truly incredible footage and not ot mention ridiciously disciplined! This is the style I want my beard to be shown in at the end. Nice and simple and raw. :)

Here we have a man doing the same but with a beard being grown as well and done for 8 years instead! It's insance the amounts of dedication these people have!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc_PU3D3QNE&feature=related

And here is one of a pregnant woman during her pregnancy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBUsWwMXTjE&feature=related

This one is a little too slow for my liking and doesn't show transitions very well but still it is worth mentioning. :)

And finally I've actually found one of a beard growing as my final example of this time lapse! Although these are all time lapse based pieces, the transitions are what I've been looking at and especially the backgrounds. This change that happens around us as we grow is something which truly fascinates me as it's not just the man growing but the enviornment too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY8gja0_CCA&feature=related

So there's some of the best research bits I've done and in alecture recently we also looked at "Bowling For Columbine" by Michael Moore. Again this simplistic style and very hands on interactive style of documentary, where the director is directly involved with and addressing the viewer and the documentary, is what inspires me overall and is the main aspect I want to be present throughout my piece.
At first I thought the style might be more reminiscent of a documentary with a Expository style, but thinking it over, documentarys like this differ and become more interactive by the documentor making his/her view very clear and emphasising it through collaberation with "real life" people/witnesses, not actors and also through a general collaboeration with the project and subject(s) it/themselves.
Also, the animations used to explain in this piece are again showing just how a simplistic animation can help break up the visual and narrative to spice it up and keep it fresh and appealing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUSpszWfu_w - Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine".

Finally, in this blog are also the photos of my notes etc. from the beginning of this project right up to now with the ones showing order and content.

I'm sorry if you can't read them cos they're a bit small, but basically they are firstly all 4 documents together with top left being the notes from that first 236 lecture, then below is the content and order I've been putting together and next to that is the additional notes once I'd narrowed down my subject. Then finally top right is my list of rules for Tom and Phil which outlines what they have to do when taking part in Decembeard. Originally as you can see here, I asked quite a lot from them so when they actually take place (although now it will be Phil and Jeff) I will dumb this down and give them a more simplistic outline of what they've got to do. :)

That's it for now but check back soon for more on how I'm progressing along with this project, including footage, more images, notes, research and anything else I can think of that would be relevant to this project. :)

Take care,
Joe.

MEDI 236 Introduction

Hello and welcome to my new blog workbook for MEDI 236 A.K.A the Documentary Project.
In this module I will be creating a documentary on a subject of my choice with regards and references to other practioners work and styles.

Having already learnt we were going to be doing this module in the second year I originally thought I would do it on Buddhism, as I learnt a lot about it during my A-Level in Philosophy.
However this idea felt too safe to me and I decided to start from scratch, and if I couldn't think of anything better I would come back to this.

Below is my list of other ideas I had taken from my initial ideas and notes. I would normally upload the notes but to be honest they're very messy and also a couple of my coursemates have drawn penis' all over them so it's not the most professional approach to explaining my beginnings!

Initial Ideas List:

Buddhism - Go to temples and ask a major question/try to answer it
Improve on this idea and have my own journey!
Spiritual? Go to different religions e.g. Buddhist temple, Church, Gurdwara (Sikh Temple)
Modern Travllers/homes
Lifeboat down Exmouth
Dad's new Puppy Bea and the RSPCA
Fishermen/seamen and their lives down Exmouth
Plymouth in general (history etc.) (Crap idea)
Challenges!
Gym Challenge E.g. since probably gotten bigger over Christmas, documentary of me getting healthy again?
Learn a trick? I.e. Juggling?
Riding a Bike guy (bloke from another year in Media Arts who learnt to ride a bike for the first time as his documentary)
Volvic Challenge
Growing Plants
Finally getting a Tattoo? Scabbing etc. WHOLE PROCESS?
Haircut/hair growing?

FOR ALL KEEP VERY SIMPLISTIC - THINK "SUPERSIZE ME" by Morgan Spurlock

It was only when my girlfriend Eden said that my beard was getting a bit scraggly after that final idea that she realised how good it would be as an idea for me to grow a beard from scratch and do a photo each day!

This idea from such a beautiful creature is what I have concluded to do for my documentary. The challenge of growing a beard is already a social event which me and a few friends have taken part in before last year called DECEMBEARD.
Taking the words DECEMBER and BEARD, those who take part must shave on the last day of November and then resist from shaving all december until they can style and shape whatever facial hair has grown in January (although to stay in style with the other title, most called it MANUARY, MAN and JANUARY since it is mainly men who are growing the beards, unless any women take part who have Hirsutism!).

As I've said above, my main influence for a challenge based documentary came from Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me" in which he ate only Mcdonalds food for a month.
However along side this initial challenge he included a history and back story to many of the points and subjects which arose in his documentary.

For my own project, I am going to be taking part in this challenge of Decembeard and explaining what and why it exists, as well as why people have beards and what they have meant over the years.
Already I knew that a big beard (such as Merlin's) has been associated with wisdom etc. but what else have beards represented and been connected with?

From here on in I will be preparing firstly my proposal of my idea (which I'll post next along with the photos of my ideas which don't have willies on them!) and then getting an early start on the project by getting myself ready for taking part in Decembeard since it's November now and the early bird catches the worm etc. :)

Take care,
Joe.