BVA703 Research - Week 2

21/02/2020

Internship

I could modify my website to fill the whole home page with still of my work or my showreel and have subtitles fading about my achievements or testimonials, influenced by James Jean website
http://www.jamesjean.com/

CV - state why I am passionate about film and the type of person I am. It must reflect you and make it personal. Include testimonial snippets

An internship must include - mentorship, different project or department never worked in before. There must be mentorship involved.

Never let people make you work over the limit to a point where it affects your mental health

Homework for the next class
Complete a CV
Read the Internship paperwork

Southern Pro - 20 hours
ILT - 20 hours
Woller - 30 hours

It is more secure to make your work private and unlisted on Vimeo than YouTube. 
When you make private and unlisted on Vimeo, it's password-protected.

Something to make your showreel different to have testimonials included and have voice-over on your worldview and film. Footage of you working in your field. Frames of your childhood.

With the End User Agreement on Facebook, Squarespace (both free or paid subscription), and Instagram, they can reproduce your work, without your permission. 
It's the opposite with Wix. On Wix, you instead either pay for the subscription or have their ads on your website if you chose the free subscription.

I came up with a personal statement to include as a potential voiceover for my showreel. It may also work for my documentary

Showreel statement
In times of today where nihilism, nationalism, and apathy run rampant, we must not forget who we are, who we come from, how to respect for another, and most of all, humanity. 
But we must also not ignore what's out there on our front door. 
We must document that and let future generations make sense of that if we fail to do so and I believe film and video are the best medium to accomplish that.

23/02/2020

Fitzgerald, J. (2012). Filmmaking for change: making films that transform the world. Michael Wiese Productions.

I spent time in continuing to read Filmmaking for Change

Lee Hirsch's documentary, Bully had no clear narrative shape until post-production. What they did was film as much footage as they could, and then find the drama and most engaging stuff when editing, to form the documentary into shape.

'Talking heads' - having more interviews than anything else in a documentary. However, it's an element that is being shown less and less in recent documentaries.

For The Highest Pass, they brought along GoPro cameras in order to make the landscapes as characters and to express raw action in the documentary

There are other ways to ingest information to audiences other than using 'talking heads'. Instead, you can use more voice-over or you can try something new and be creative about it.

Camera and sound are key elements for a documentary production.

Experiment with connecting the boom to a Blackmagic camera
- Rails and gaffer tape?

Making documentaries can completely different compared to narrative films (drama, comedy, horror) because the final draft is actually in the editing suite since documentaries aren't scripted in that same way. Story and structure for documentaries form and develop along the way in production It's improvising in filmmaking form.

One subject for your documentary can sometimes lead or introduce yourself to a bigger and influential source that you can make use of.
Documentaries have much more work to do in post-production than production, compared to making films with other genres.

I think I will see if VFX / animation will be needed for my documentary or can supplement the points in the documentary by the time it comes to finishing production and a load of the post-production commences.

Don't do a musical score until the picture is locked down in editing

Be sure to storyboard any animation or motion graphics before generating it for a documentary. Animation can help ideas or emotions be delivered more expressively to your audience than any live-action footage.

Press kit for my documentary?

Parts of a press kit

• Synopsis
• Director statement
• Cast and crew list (brief bios included?)
• Snippets of media coverage / social media response
• Stills from the film and BTS
• Guerrilla campaign?
• Print outs of blog posts

Press kits are almost like a director's manifesto, but in this case it's more promotional and you are selling a completed film to a wider audience. Try to appeal to your target audience through the press kit.

Documentary film festivals

• Full Frame
• Hot Docs
• Sheffield
• Silver Docs
• Thessaloniki
• True / False
• IDFA
• Tribeca
• SXSW
• CPH:DOX
• Ambulante / Morelia
• Jihlava
• Camden
• Sarasota
• Doc Lisboa
• Ashland
• DokuFest Kosovo

Combining a naturalistic tone and stylized cinematography and editing is a form of documentary filmmaking called 'cinema verite', which is also close to the vision I have for my documentary. It also can involve dramatizing events in the film.

www.film4change.org

www.cinecause.com

The Author, Jon Fitzgerald

• BA in Film Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara
• As of 2012, he had 20 years of experience in the film industry
• Co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival
• He's an award-winning filmmaker
• Festival Director at the American Film Institute, plus Santa Barbara and Abu Dhabi international film festivals

The book's blurb have endorsements  from people in the industry like Morgan Spurlock (Oscar-nominated director of Super Size Me), the former chairperson of MCA/Universal and the American Film Institute, and the Oscar-winning director of The Core.

I managed to finish reading the book and making notes, but I will still go back to it for what it says about the role of the editor (for Project Management) and test screenings (pending changes in research question).

26/02/2020

Screen Arts

M.N. Trapp invented subtitle in 1909. It proved cost-effective at first, but eventually turned complex and expensive. It democratized films to different cultures, but there concerns for illiterate or dyslexic audiences.

Spotting involves someone noting the start and end of each line of dialogue spoken in relation to the . Each subtitle must roughly have a lifetime of 1.5 seconds.

I have watched movies with English subtitles since I was seven (Bruce Almighty, Rush Hour, Lord of the Ring trilogy, Johnny English) and has also annoyed my family since then. From that, it improved my spelling at primary school. I


Night Watch
The Tribe

There is a theory that cinema is purely visual and dialogue detracts it as an original art form and making it no different to theater or picture books

I believe dialogue caters to make it more clearly to explain exposition and more convenient to common people who don't see it as film critics or academics like ourselves. I understand Hitchcock and Chaplin were resistant to transfer to sound when it proved to more than a novelty or flavor of the month.



http://screensafe.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ScreenSafe_WorkingWithChildren.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0Bpl2xlngjfNMkJsDiKu1IApIgt7Q6zLzZb0jkt6WzatvDyhUDKsIjJvg

Screen Safe - Working with Children
Anyone under 16 is legally a child. 
Do not have the child or have the child in a hazardous environment like a construction site, weight lighting, tractors, machinery, exposed to content that may cause them distress, or anything that could cause harm to the child.
Children may not work between the hours of 10pm and 6am, unless permitted by parent or guardian

Police checks for chaperones

A meeting must take place with the child's parent before asking the child
You must inform the parent about health and safety precautions and solutions, any special for the child to do or SFX involving the child, how the child will be looked after, dietary requirements, consideration for their education and wellbeing (space for the child to chill out and/or do homework if the production is long)

Parent and guardian must provide me with their contact numbers, name and phone number of family doctor, and any important medical information about the child.

Working hours for children
Children up to eight years old can only work six hours a day including travel
Children between the ages of 9 and 11 can only work eight hours a day including travel
Children between the ages of 12 and 16 can only work ten hours a day plus travel


Health and safety

• Not expose children to situations that will affect their mental, physical, and moral wellbeing
• Keep the duration of travel and filming to a minimum
• Parents be notified whether nudity or foul language will be used. Anything you do with the child on-set must be planned and permitted by his or her parent beforehand, especially prior to rehearsal.
• I must inform the child (to an extent that they can understand) and parent or guardian where things are on location; restrooms, make-up locations, restricted areas, what to do or where to go in case of an emergency, how to inform about risky situations
• I must provide healthy food for the child and be notified by the parents or caregivers about any of the child's food sensitivities, allergies or dietary requirements.
• I am legally required to halt the shoot when things become too much for the child and be co considerate and consult, cooperate and coordinate health and safety issues
• If possible, segregate dressing rooms between children and adults
• Precautions be made for hot and cold weather - warm or cool areas for rest breaks from sunlight, water on hand for child, sunhats, jackets, and blankets
• Child must be a strong swimmer or wear a floating device when in deeper water
• Risk assessment must be considered when it comes to staging fights, shooting guns or any other weapons, using electrical devices (including phones or tablets), high level of sound, heights, exposure to contagious illnesses (the common cold or those carried by insects), the chance of abuse to the child if not police checked, abuse form other crew if child is left unsupervised, harm to the child or lack of supervision to the child, and lack of attention to the child's well-being.

Requirements for chaperones

• Teaching, childcare or nursing qualifications
• Drivers license
• Undergone a police background check
• Be familiar and up to date with The Screen Safe New Zealand Screen Sector Health and Safety Guidelines and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
• Supervise the child during rests and breaks
• Be present with the child all times including rehearsal and shoots
• Child must be accompanied by chaperone when travelling and be waiting for the child to arrive, as well as never being late for the child
• Supervise the child while in water

For myself as the production company, I must ensure...

• I have police checked the chaperone
• I have correct and enough resource, planning, and the budget to the chaperone with their job

As a producer, I must ensure...

• The crew have the necessary level of skills and experience
• Police and safety checks are undergone in regards to the nature of the film
• There is enough number of people as crew to suit the size of the film and number of children involved
• The budget guarantees enough for health and safety to take place

As a director, I must ensure...

• Make it a rule for the crew not to swear in front of the minor (swear jar?)
• Legal restrictions on working hours are adhered to
• Give out appropriate rest breaks
• Keep in close communication with the chaperone
• I have the power to enforce how my crew conducts their behavior
• The call sheet have enough time for the shoot to be done safely
• Potential health and safety risks are informed to cast and crew

‘Know Your Rights’ for Child Actors (16yrs & under) and Families in NZ

https://www.actorsequity.org.nz/guidelines-and-resources/12-equityendorsedchildactordocument/file?fbclid=IwAR1C8ja76N7QT4yYVbgkl-OAbJeJbd4P-zUpFnTPfHJov1LuZoEOqsRkAoo

Children being filmed are required to have a 12 hour overnight break. These hours don't include travel and this is usually when more filming is to be done the next day

Parents cannot be a chaperone

Under New Zealand employment law, children are considered independent contractors, not employers and so a contract is critically and legally important to secure the child's involvement. 

The terms and conditions of the contractual agreement can be negotiated between the filmmakers and the child's parents (matters like working hours, health and safety, knowledge of the nature of the documentary, assurance of the child's safety, abuse and exploitation towards the child will be prohibited throughout the production, and the child's role will technically be a part-time position).

The contractual agreement is legally non-binding, but works as definitive guidelines and rules for the production.