BBFC Letter

BBFC Research

BBFC stands for the independent company 'British Board of Film Classification'. This company was first set up in 1912 by the British film industry. They began giving videos ratings in 1984 due to the Video Recording Act, which meant they had the say in what audience is suitable for each film (U, PG, 12, 15, 18) at home. BBFC is a 'not for profit organisation' meaning they only accept fees to cover their costs. They get the money from the price of their services. As well as deciding the certificate of films, they also measure the running time for films.

They decided to rate the films appropriately, due to young children or under-aged teenagers watching films that may mentally effect them in a negative way. Before each film is released they carefully watch through the film, discuss it and come to a conclusion on what the rating should be, taking into account the features such as violence, sex, language, drug use etc.

The BBFC don't have any legal power and the films have to be seen and classified through the council who have the final say for the certificates. If the council thinks that the film is either too highly rated or too low, they have the power to change it.

Certificates:

U - Stands for universal, and is suitable for children aged 4 and over. There should be no significant issues such as language, discrimination, drugs, sex, threats, violence or imitable behaviour.

PG - Stands for parental guidance, which is suitable for children if their parents think it is appropriate. It should not unsettle children 8 or older.

12 and 12A - 12 of course means that the film is suitable for people aged 12 and over, but 12A means that people aged under 12 can only watch a 12 at the cinema if they're accompanied by an adult. 12's are allowed a moderate amount of violence, sex, drug use etc, but only an amount appropriate for this age group.

15 - No one under the age of 15 can watch, buy or rent a 15 rated film. Unlike the ratings above, 15's are aloud stronger features such as strong violence and strong language, although the sex is moderate, and they can have strong drug use but not promote it in a possitive way.

18 - No one under the age of 18 can watch, buy or rent an 18 rated film. This is the highest rating, and can have extremely strong use of language, sex, violence, etc, although when a film is being moderated, if anything is in breach of the criminal law, risks harming individuals, or if there is explicit sex that can't be justified by the context, they will have to crop it out or not allow the film to be released.

R18 - a rating especially for explicit films including consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. The films in a licensed cinema can only be show to adults and if brought from a sex shop may only be brought by adults.

Application of Post Production Techniques (Video & Audio)

Video
I began editing the film chronologically by starting of with the introduction scene. I chose to use some of the archive images/videos Wesley had supplied us with, and the shots I had taken on the day. I began the scene with a shot I had captured of "The Wooden House" and added a slow fade in transition using the video key frames. I then followed this up with a fast cut montage consisting of some of Wesley's models.

Then for each of the interview scenes, I added cut always on different video layers which related to the specific topics Wesley was talking about. These showed off Wesley's models, but also kept the audience preoccupied. They also worked brilliantly for covering up where I had cropped Wesley's interviews together.

Between each scene, instead of adding video transitions (fading out and in), I decided to add a few shots to separate the four sections before going straight into dialogue. The only transitions used were the fade in and outs on the first shot, on the last shot, and on the rolling credits at the end.

Lastly, I colour corrected and edited the contrast, lighting, and saturation on some shots to make them match the rest of the footage.

Audio

The first audio added to my timeline was attached to the video files, as I added an external Rode microphone to the camera during the filmming process, so the sound quality was already in sync with the picture. I kept the sound for the interviews, although removed it from the cutaways so it wouldn't distract from the dialogue.

I faded in all of the sound at the beginning of my timeline, and faded it out at the end (in sync with the videos transitions). Although, for the audio I faded each separate audio file over one another, to blend the sound and dialogue together.

I plugged my laptop into the college speakers to listen to the different audio levels, and adjusted them so that they were equal levels to one another.

As well as using the sound I had recorded through my external microphone, I also added royalty free sounds of birds in the introduction, and in between the garden and workshop scenes. Lastly I added royalty free music, which I ended up editing in sync with the introduction montage at the beginning of the film.

Edit Decision

Once we had shot the documentary, I began the editing process. This firstly involved uploading all of the files onto my hard drive. This included the images and video clips we had recorded on the day, and archive footage/pictures Wesley had supplied us with.

Once the files were saved onto my hard drive, I thought I would arrange them into 4 different folders. I firstly made a file called 'Keepers' and then arranged the files I planned to use into the following folders:

-Archive Footage

-Interviews

-Stills

-Video Cut Away's




This made it a lot easier to access/find the files I was looking for, and also meant I wouldn't need to search through all of the bad takes again. 

I then imported the files into Adobe Premiere Pro, and began cutting them together. I decided to structure the edit of my documentary into four different sections:

- The Introduction
- The House
- The Garden
- The Workshop

The main reason for this is because it was the order that Wesley originally gave us the tour in, and I wanted the documentary to be like a virtual tour of The Wooden House. I believed it would flow nicely, as we are first greeted by Wesley in his garden, then taken into his house where he tells us about his job and history, then into his garden where he gives us a tour of his work, and finally into his workshop where he shows us how its all done.

Focus Group Feedback

Feedback for the final draft:

From peers:
The film received positive feedback from peers in class, who said the subject was an intriguing character to watch and the way the film had been edited kept their attention and made them want to continue watching. They also thought the film was humorous and a few mentioned the music in the introduction helped set the tone/mood of the film.

From festivals:
The film also got a positive reception at a few festivals that it was entered it into - the crowd found it amusing and laughed throughout. It also managed to win an award for 'Best Documentary' at the BFI Future Film Festival, and has since been selected for 8 other festivals.

Final Cut

Film Treatment

Rough Cut Feedback

Rough cut feed back I received and took into account: 

- Slower fade into opening shot 

- Improve sound (increase/decrease sound in certain shots/scenes) 

- Get rid of one of the yellow house images (too many)

- Make the music fade into the first shot 

- Have the shot of Wesley on the swing earlier (over the dialogue of Wesley stating he wants to have fun)

- Cut the Wesley milk box clip in half, and play the last half at the end

Rough Cut

Storyboard

Call Sheet

Filming Consent Form

Set Design

Set design

I plan to film in 3 different locations:

-Wesley's house
-Wesley's garden
-Wesley's workshop

As I want the documentary to be an accurate reflection of Wesley's life and home, I don't plan on changing or rearranging anything in his house, garden or workshop.

I plan to leave everything where it is, although I will think carefully about where to place the camera and the subject in the room.

I plan to have 3 different locations for the interview:

- For the first interview, I plan to position him in his living room, as this is a homely and relaxing place to conduct the interview. I plan to follow the rule of thirds, and place him to the right of the screen in a mid shot. I will pick an area that subtly shows off his work in the background/on the walls, so it emphasizes his creativity and achievements.

-For the second part of the interview, Wesley will give us a tour of the garden. This will be very spontaneous, and we won't be thinking too much into set design, as we'll be following Wesley and he'll be deciding what he wants to show us. But we will alternate from focusing the camera on Wesley, to focusing it on his models.

- Lastly for the third interview, I will firstly shoot Wesley stationary, in front of his models and equipment that are in the Workshop. I will obey the rule of thirds, and the shot will be a close up head shot. Then I will interview him while standing up, working on his current project. I will position the camera so the audience can see a bit of his desk, and what he is working on.

Recce Report

Location scouting and preparation:


Name: The Wooden House

Address: 
The Wooden House
Twenty Pence Road
Cottenham, Cambridgeshire
CB24 8SP

Description
This is not only where Wesley lives, but also where he works, which is even more reason to interview him here. His house is on the outskirts of Cottenham, and is a large yellow wooden house he constructed himself. His garden is full of many models and sculptures he has produced, and he has a workshop in there due to him working from home.

Preperation
I have been contacting Wesley via Hotmail, and have sent him the questions, discussed times, dates, and how we plan to shoot for the film.

I plan to shoot it on Wesley's property, as this is where the majority of his work is kept, and will give the audience an insight into his life, household, and living/working environment.

Before emailing Wesley to find out if we could shoot there, I knew I wanted to use the house, as I had driven past many times before, and the property is an attractive bright yellow building. I have also found pictures of the house on websites linked to Wesley's work, and on Google maps. 

Before shooting the short documentary we spoke over lunch in his home. He also gave us a tour of  his home, and showed us his the majority of his work and models. This was helpful as we got to know him and his household better, and therefore can be more prepared when it comes to shooting the film.

Risk Assessment

Client Draft

Shooting Script

Shooting Script - First Draft

Question Sheet for Shoot

Equipment List for Shoot

Equipment:

- DSLR Camera

- Battery

- Battery charger

- 36GB memory card

- Memory stick

- Tripod

- Shoulder mount

- GoPole mount

- Camera light

- Microphone

- Rhode microphone

- Dead cat wind protector

- Boom pole 

Paperwork:

- Script first draft

- Shot list

- Shooting schedule

-List of questions

-Permission to film paperwork 

Script - Revised Draft & Peer Feedback

Peer Feedback:
The feedback I received was that I firstly needed to make it clear that the interviewer was not heard, so it was suggested to me that I should place in brackets this to the side of the character.

It was also suggested that I should place stage direction in italics, to clearly distinguish it from the normal text.

Lastly, I had previously used sentences such as "Then there is a close up of..." and to save text, was suggested to go straight to "Close up of...".

Script - First Draft

Genre and Target Audience Research

Shooting Schedule

Shot List

Dates, Times and Location

We have arranged to shoot the documentary at Wesley's house and workshop, which will be on the 5th of October at 10am.

Location: Wesley's house
Date: 5th October 2014
Time: 10:00am

Crew: Hannah Gautrey, Dayna Crawford,  Sharmin Yousuf

Equipment needed:
- DLSR camera
- 36GB SD card
- Fully charged battery x2
- Microphone
- Dead cat
- Shoulder mount
- Tripod
- Shooting schedule
- List of questions
- Script
- Memory stick

Questions

List of possible questions

What exactly is it that you do for a living?

What made you choose this line of work?

When did you decide to choose this line of work?

What other jobs did you consider? 

Where did you study?

What changes have you seen in the industry?

What is your biggest achievement?

Have you got any favourite pieces of work that you've worked on?

What do you do in your spare time?

What's it like being able to work at home? 

What inspires you to do these sculptures in your spare time? 

Narrative Structure

Story: Story is not a synonym for narrative. The plot gets told, but can change a lot overtime.

Narrative: How we decided to tell the story.

Agent: The key driver for the narrative.


3 acts narrative structure: Begging, Middle and End.

5 act classic Hollywood structure:

Exposition: Key characters and locations.
Development: You get to know the characters better.
Complications: When something negative happens.
Climax:When the problem/problems get resolved.
Resolution: Happy ending.

Linear: When the story is told in the 5 acts of classic Hollywood structure. (Little Miss Sunshine, Fight  Club, Se7en, Lord of the Rings, American Beauty etc...)
Non-Linear: All the 5 stages happen but they're not in order/jumbled up. (Pulp Fiction, Slumdog Millionaire, The Prestige, Sin City, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Oldboy, Kill Bill, City of God, The Usual Suspects, Forest Gump)



Little Miss Sunshine Linear Diagram:















Pulp Fiction Non-Linear Diagram:




















Pulp Fiction Storyline Breakdown Graph:

Story Structure Diagram

Pitch Feedback

We had Simon Mullen and John Clements come into college to give us some feedback on our pitches. I chose to pitch my Wesley West idea, along with showing  them some of his work.

Simon Mullen & John Clements feedback:

They thought he was a great subject to interview, and found his work fascinating. They also suggested interviewing his family members, and suggested some good questions to ask him, such as where has his work has been featured, what his job involves, and how he got into model making.

I also pitched my ideas to Tom & Barney, who came up with an ideas spider diagram: 

From my feedback I have decided to not just make the documentary a film about his work/career, but also about his personal life such as his family members and events that have taken place in his life. This will give me enough footage to bring more of a narrative to the documentary and help engage the audience and who can really get to know his personality.

I also plan to structure the the film into 3 scenes, the first being his house, the second being his garden, and finally the third being his workshop. The reason for placing him in his home first will be because I plan to open with a quick summary/biography/history on Wesleys life, from his childhood to where he is now and how he got there. I feel his home would be the most comfortable and relevant place to film him for this topic. Then we get taken into the garden, I chose this as its a nice transition from going from the home to the workshop, and I feel the workshop should be last as it would be the icing on top of the cake as people will be intrigued to finally see all of his eccentric creations and where he works.

The Pitch

Idea outline:

Research Tasks:

•  Find out if we can interview the subject (I have already done this, and he is happy to have the documentary done, and talk about his work)
• Find out what days and time they're available to be interviewed
•  Discus what equipment is needed, and where we can get it from 
• Do test shots with the camera (handheld, shoulder mount, tripod etc…) and test out the boom mic
• Ask if  the subject has any archive footage of themselves when they were younger (to do with their work)

The working title will be: 

Behind the doors of Wesley West
OR
Wesley West - The Inside Story

Long line:

A documentary about a local inventor and advertiser, and an insight into his life and eccentric creations. 

Synopsis 

The documentary will be an insight into a man named Wesley West's life. He is a local inventor and advertiser living in Cambridge, and produces lots of eccentric work, from double decker caravans with balcony's to metal sculptures of animals and objects. We would interview him in his home filled with his art, and follow him through his garden of sculptures into his workshop, where the magic happens. 

6 Ideas for the Documentary

The truth behind Schizophrenia 

The media's portrayal of Schizophrenia is often questioned, and the mental illness is often shown as 'dangerous' in many films, books and newspaper articles. But is this really the case? Many Schizophrenic people are harmless.

For the documentary, I would interview everyday people, and ask how they think people with schizophrenia are portrayed. I will also interview people with the condition, and ask what they think of the media's portrayal.
I would also point out and take a look at different media, such as films, websites, TV shows, news paper articles and more.

This documentary will not only look at the portrayal of Schizophrenia in the media, but also how schizophrenic people deal with their condition.


Fine Art

This documentary would be looking at what makes art- art? We would interview random people who have no strong interests in art, and ask their opinions on what they think counts as fine art today, and show them examples, whether it be a photo of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, or a simple dot on a canvas. We would also do the same interview for strong fine artists and art teachers etc... and see their opinions.

This idea came when I saw a brick in a gallery. This wasn't any special or unique brick, this was your everyday -build a house with- brick. I thought to myself, this must have to have an extremely deep meaning/concept behind it for it to be accepted into such a gallery.

The key question the documentary will be looking at is: Is the concept more important then the appearance of the artwork?
Many art pieces today are classed as art because of the 'meaning behind the piece' rather than the actual aesthetic appearance of it, and it doesn't have to be visually stunning to be called a masterpiece.

The main question would be, is the concept more important then the aesthetics?

How much the world has changed in a generation

This interview will be aimed at people of all ages, especially the old and young.

We would firstly conduct interviews with an older audience, showing them the new technology and gadgets recently released, asking them if they're aware of what they do, and if they think they're necessary.

Secondly, we would interview a very young generation (toddlers to early teens), showing them things that existed in their parents childhood, and ask them if they're aware of what they do, and if they'd find them useful or not.

This documentary would point out just how much the world has changed in a generation, and will show us the views the elderly have on the new technology, just how much children know about the era their parents were raised in, and what they think of the old technology.

3 Questions

The documentary would be like a storybook, filled up with a variety of tales from peoples pasts. The agent/drive for the documentary would be 3 key questions about their lives.

1)What's your greatest achievement/happiest moment?
2)What would your one wish be if you were granted one?
3)What are you most scared of?

I will ask people of a range of different ethnicities, ages, social standing, and backgrounds.


Inventor and advertiser
We would be interviewing a man who's quite a character. He invents things for a living, and for advertisements. He would tell us about all his wacky creations, and show us around his workshop filled with his life's work.

He has made things such as a double decker caravan with a balcony, builds sculptures out of metal, a bike out of paper, art pieces out of mud and drawing pins, and much more.


Pushing through with disabilities
The documentary would be based around  people who have fought through their disabilities and achieved great things.

One of the people we could interview  has spina bifida and was told from birth they would never be able to walk. They're now a paralympic swimmer.

Blackfish & Supersize Me

Blackfish (2013)

Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Topic: 

The documentary is about the effects of taking killer whales out of the wild and keeping them in tiny artificial tanks to train for shows. It informs the audience not only the effects on the whale, but also the workers at sea world. 

Reason for the Documentary:

The documentary is informative, and brings to the audiences attention certain issues that need to be dealt with (in this case, the killer whales being kept as an exhibit and for show). This then means the audience are more aware of the issue, and less people will go to Seaworld, hopefully one day resolving the issue. 

Techniques used:

-Stills of newspaper articles (of the killer whale attacks)

-Photos

-Archive footage

-Interviews (talking heads) - (with people who worked with the animals at the marine park, sea world, family of the people who were killed)

-Animations/models (of the whales in the ocean as this couldn't be caught on tape)

My response:

I thought the documentary served its purpose extremely well, It highlighted the problems, and made me want to do something about the situation. It changed my views towards keeping certain sea life in aquariums, as it really pointed out to me the intelligence of the animals. 

Something in particular that stood out to me was an animated model of the killer whales. When the killer wales were being hunted, the family split up, one half with the babies and the other half to distract the hunters. This was a clever way to make the audience feel sympathy for the whales, and also show us, just how smart they are. 

The documentary was also extremely thrilling throughout, as they had already introduced to the audience at the beginning, that some one was going to get hurt. 

Supersize Me (2014)

Directed by Morgan Spurlock

Topic:

The documentary follows a man named Morgan Spurlock, who's aim is to eat nothing but McDonalds for all three meals a day for a month. From this experiment, he risks bringing harm to his body.

Reason for the Documentary:

He is trying to inform the audience of the health risks that the people of America are causing to themselves by eating so much fast food. He is also doing an experiment to prove his point, and shock the audience from the amount of damage it can do to his body in just one month. 

Techniques used: 

-Vlogged everyday

-Interviews (with doctors, health specialists, people who work at McDonalds, nutritionists)

-Animations/models (to demonstrate things, such as Texas on the map)

-Current footage  (shows us its happening in the present)

-Archive footage

-Stills of newspaper articles, flyers, leaflets etc...

My Response:

I thought the documentary was not only informative and proved his point, but highly entertaining and humorous to watch. By doing this experiment, it already brings curiosity to the audience, as they want to find out really just how much harm can be done from eating fast food on a daily basis. It also brings humour, as Spurlock, who is carrying out the investigation, makes himself the lab rat. 

Its purpose was met, as after watching this documentary, it has highlighted to me that even one fast food product a month isn't recommended, and has made me think twice about eating at McDonalds.