ASFF2020

2. TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
FILM COLLECTION
1
Artists Film 2
(p164)
Drama 10 (p178) Advertising 1
(p186)
Drama 1(p204)
FILM COLLECTION
2
Comedy 5 (p165) Drama 10 (p178) Comedy 2 (p193) Thriller 1 (p208)
FILM COLLECTION
3
Drama 9 (p167) Documentary1
(p176)
Drama 4 (P194) Documentary 4
(p203)
MASTERCLASS Bringing a story
to life- Channel
1 (11:30)
Framing the action
DOP’S – Channel 2
(16:30)
UNIVERSITY
SHOWCASE
Class Filmmaking:
Making More with
Less’
Presented by
University of
Lincoln
LCC – Real lives
creating an
Authentic
Documentary
GUEST
PROGRAMME
Tales of isolation
(p122-123)
Challenging
Perspectives:
Documenting
Modern Britain
Presented by
Doc Society

3. FILM 1
ARTIST’S
FILMS –
‘HEART OF
SQUIRRELS
’
I chose to look at this film because I thought it would be
relevant to my FMP, due to the film being made with a
small cast on a small budget. It starts of with a man
talking to someone who is off the camera but as a woman
comes into the film, he looks puzzled but then introduces
the topic of conversation to her to which she engages in
the conversation, and it relates to their topic of
conversation as the are both strangers and they discuss
19th Century literature where they talk about strangers
and analyze it. What I liked about this short is the music
off screen because it mirrors the characters feelings for
example when one of them was getting frustrated the
music appeared to speed up. I also enjoyed the editing
used when the two were talking together there was use of
cross fades and this made their conversation flow without
getting interrupted with loads of cuts, I was slightly
confused at the concept as both characters ended up
appearing as statues and getting taken away in a van
however when watching the clip about the director she
mentioned that that was the idea and the audience were
to question ‘well what happened to these characters’ I
would recommend this film to someone else because I
think it is clever how it was set out and the overall look of
the film is enjoyable, it is also a film that would bee
interesting to discuss with someone to see how they
would interpret the final part of it

4. FILM 2
COMEDY –
‘THE
COCAINE
FAMINE’
I wanted to watch this short film because I liked
the idea of the story and thought it would be
interesting to see how something serious could be
turned into a comedy. What I liked in particular of
this film is the character development because I
found the two Irish characters quite funny as they
were trying to be tough drug dealers but one of
them who was referred to as ‘Niallser’ was the
character who was described as ‘thick’ and they
pair of them didn’t really know what they were
doing when kidnapping this man because they
argued about a chair then one of them was hit over
the head with a light. Another thing I liked in
particular was the dialogue because they swore a
lot but it wasn’t done in a way that was offensive
and it wasn’t over used it was there to help show
what sort of character’s they were and I think it
worked really well, the overall look of the film was
interesting with the lighting set up because it was
quite dark but the characters were lit up with
different cold and warm lights which made certain
characters look harsh but this reflected their
personality

5. FILM 3
DRAMA –
‘MANDEM’
So this short film follows the life of two black men
Ty and Malcolm who start their day talking about
what to eat, they go to a Jamaican takeaway place
but on their way out they see two people who they
recognise and then they chase after them and start
fighting and threatening them with a knife, this is a
clear change from when we see them laughing and
joking around with each other at the start. In
particular I like the bit where they are at a party
and the editing stops and starts making it feel
jolty, and the bright blue and red lights make it
harsh to watch however it reflects their situation
because it appears that they were on some type of
drug. I also liked the bit where they were selling
drugs to white men in suits because this sends a
good message to the audience about racial
stereotypes and how it isn’t true

6. FILM 4 DRAMA –
‘JOEY’
I really enjoyed this short film in particular I enjoyed the
concept of the narrative, where it focused on the story of Joey
who was a clown and one thing that I found interesting is that
when he was on his date with Annie he looked like a normal
human however it slowly became known that that was makeup
and beneath it he was naturally a clown. I think this short film
was well done because it made me sympathise with the
character and I felt sorry for him and this was done by the
clever use of lighting for example when we looked at Joey’s
flat there was cold, blue harsh lighting which is the opposite
to when he goes on his date its warm lighting which mirrors
the mood of the character. Furthermore the mise-en-scene in
general helped tell a story about Joey for example the toaster
it looked old and had rust on it, which was similar to the walls
of his flat as they were dirty and looked unkept, and this all
contributed to the story telling of that character. Another
thing to note is even though the lighting and the mood of the
scene might change the colour scheme was kept the same
which allowed it to be continuous

7. FILM 5 DRAMA – ‘THE PRESENT’
This film focused on a father and a daughter who must
go shopping, but on the way there the father gets
caught up by the soldiers who keep him waiting, and
one thing about the scene where he is in a ‘cell’ which I
liked is how they portrayed the concept of time,
because we don’t know exactly how long he was in
there for but they way he paced back and forth and the
way they made the surroundings blur when doing so
suggested he was there for a while. This film made me
empathize with the characters because something we
can do in a couple of hours like shopping took them all
day and it highlighted the problems, they have over in
Pakistan that something so simple and we take for
granted can be a daunting and frustrating experience
over there. Much like Joey this film is very similar to
how I want to make my FMP because I plan on focusing
it on a family or an individual character and having it in
the drama genre

8. FILM 6
DOCUMENTA
RY– ‘LOLA’
This documentary focused on a family but it
was from their dog’s point of view, I liked
how it was constantly filmed at the height of
the dog to make it more realistic from her
point of view. I was able to relate to this
documentary because it was small things
like when the dog started fighting with the
cat and then the dogs reaction after that I
could relate with because I’ve been in that
position and it made me laugh because I
love how the dog reacts to getting told off.
At certain points I felt sad towards the dog
because when she sees Tom leave and
packing up we know what is going on but
she doesn’t think that way and it made me
feel sorry for her which is a good reaction
on the director’s behalf because people are
more likely to feel emotion towards other
people and I think its clever how they have
made me as an audience feel that way
towards the dog

9. FILM 7 ADVERTISING – ‘THE OTHER
HALF’ This short film tells us the story of an old couple and we
follow them along their routine, what I liked most about
this film is that it managed to tell their story without any
dialogue or any other information we just see them leave
their house, walk up a hill and sit on the same bench.
When they get to the bench George cuts a cream egg in
half and shares it then it cuts to a different day but with
the same routine. Ginny soon becomes ill as she is seen
in a wheelchair and the music adds to the emotion of the
scene because it becomes slower which could mirror how
the two characters are aging . We can see that time pasts
as the person who runs past them on the morning ends
up running with a baby when we see George walking up
the hill alone after altering his hat on his own, we then
see him go to cut the cream egg but he doesn’t. I liked
the simplicity of this short film but how it still managed
to tell a story about the characters, another element I
liked was the colour scheme throughout the film they
were neutral colours like browns and greys and they were
kept quite a low tone

10. FILM 8 COMEDY – ‘STOCKHOLM
SYNDROME’
I was interested in watching this film because it
is only 3 minutes long and the filmmaker
mentioned making it with limited equipment
and it was made in a couple weeks through
lockdown, I thought it would be interesting to
see what I could make for my FMP. I liked the
concept of this film however I watched it once
and didn’t really understand it so I watched it
again and I got the impression that the mother
on the phone was saying to kill her partner but
make it look like an accident, then she started
listing other people who had died by ‘falling in
the lake’ or when they were out camping in
wolf territory and in my opinion, I think the
daughter and the mother had killed them and
staged it as an accident.

11. FILM 9
DRAMA –
‘REBEL’
I liked this short film as it highlights an important
issue that is going on at the moment but it’s from a
child’s perspective, he goes to play hide and seek
in the woods but he comes across an immigrant
family but the right wing group tie them up and
take them somewhere. What this film did well was
make me feel angry towards that situation because
it is something that is relevant today and still goes
on with the right wing groups and it frustrates me,
I would recommend this film to someone because I
think it would highlight even more the problems
surrounding this topic. I liked the camera work in
particular because its all filmed from the height of
Alex which I think made me watch it from a
different perspective.

12. FILM 10
DRAMA – ‘I
WAS STILL
THERE
WHEN YOU
LEFT ME’
This is a short Drama that was based off of the Grenfell
Tower fires, it shows us a little girl called Lila dancing
with a group of people then when she goes home she
starts cooking, and this already makes the audience
question where are her parents? and I think that’s a good
way to start a film off because it keeps the audiences
interested, she then falls asleep and wakes up being
carried down the stairs by her neighbour and we learn
there has been a fire in the apartment blocks and she
tells her neighbour that she started it but she is told to
keep quiet. I specifically liked the part where she’s on the
ground and the use of camerawork makes it
disorientating to watch which would reflect the
character’s feelings, for example the use of a tracking
shot follows Lila even when she’s turning around it
doesn’t cut it’s the use of one camera. I also liked the
lighting in this scene because the orange tone makes it
more realistic there’s a fire and then the use of
background blur focuses all the attention on the
character. Lila is taken to her neighbours friends where
they learn their friend might be trapped in the building
and start swearing etc and threatening to kill whoever
started the fire so Lila gets scared and hides in the
bathroom, the film ends with the group of guys going to
see if their friend is okay and Lila crying in the room. I
liked the way it ended because it was a devastating event
where many people lost their lives so I think it wouldn’t
tell the story if it ended happily.

13. FILM 11
THRILLER –
‘ ITS ME’
I chose to look at a thriller because this is one of the
genres I plan considering to do my FMP on. I liked this
short thriller film because it cuts between old memories
where there is a warm tone on the footage, this could
suggest that when she remembers spending time with
her young son it’s a happy memory as the connotations
of yellow are happy, and joy etc so this could reflect the
character’s thoughts. When it shows us the woman on
her own the tone of the scene is a dark blue and it feels
cold and lonely which would mirror the character’s
feelings of isolation being in a big house on her own. She
goes around the house and it cuts between her being on
her own and her young son running around and I liked
that concept because it gives us an insight into more of
the character and what she use to be like whereas now
she is quiet an on edge being on her own in a large
house. She heads out into the garden with a shotgun and
this was the bit that was most suspenseful because the
use of a tracking shot kept the situation hidden as we
only saw the woman, she shoots the ‘intruder’ but it
turns out to be her son and he falls into the swimming
pool and she goes in after him, it cuts between that
scene when her son was learning to swim when he was
younger and I thought was quite powerful because we
see them when they were younger and now older etc.

14. FILM 12
THRILLER –
‘A SONIC
PULSE’
I chose to watch a documentary because I want to
know more about making one as it is something I
am considering doing for my FMP, this
documentary is about deaf people and their
experiences going to clubs etc, one person was
saying they were discriminated against and they
weren’t allowed in. I like how it cuts from
interviews to scenes in a club and the audio cuts
from music to silence and I think that was
impactful in terms of communicating to the
audience what deaf people experience as much as
possible. This documentary looks at deaf music
producers and DJ’s and how they make music and
it was really insightful and that’s what a
documentary should be, and it was also
entertaining to watch because it did have gaps
between the interviews so it wasn’t just people
talking to the camera so this is something to note
if I plan on doing a documentary.

15. FILM 13
FAMILY
FRIENDLY –
‘TALIA’
I chose this film because I might create a ‘family
friendly’ film for my FMP, I liked the shots used
especially those that focused on the trees and the
sun coming through them, I liked the story about
a young girl who likes gardening and plants and it
is suggested it’s because her mum liked them
who passed away when she was younger. She
becomes friends with the woman next door and
helps her look after her plants and it was
wholesome to watch and the idea that a stranger
is going to help a little girl is a nice idea. This film
had a warm feel to it and I believe it’s because
each scene looked slightly yellowish apart from
when she was getting told off or when they talked
about her mum dying and I this reflects that she
likes gardening and plants it brings her joy and
this is shown through the colour schemes

16. FILM 14
THRILLER –
‘NIGHT BUS’
I chose to look at another thriller because I
am interested in doing this genre for my
FMP so watching a few I can get a few ideas
on how to do it well, what I liked about this
film is that the only location was set on a
bus and they manged to make it
suspenseful using only one location and I
think that’s interesting. I liked how it
changed to us seeing the woman on the bus
and then us looking through the security
camera where it was in black and white and
it went all grainy. The use of lighting helps
create an ambience which I thought was a
good way to get the audience to feel scared
or ‘on edge’ so this is something to
consider when doing my FMP if I do this
genre. It’s also little details like having the
bus window’s steam up that made me feel
anxious because it made the character seem
more alone and therefore I was worried for
her

17. MASTERCLASS 1 – ‘BRINGING A STORY TO
LIFE’This masterclass was focused on Kristina Hetherington who is a BAFTA winning
editor and she talks about the job role of the editor, and she also discussed
some techniques etc. They showed a clip from the BBC two part drama ‘Birdsong’
and Kristina mentions what it’s like working on a set like that, they also discuss
the qualities that would best suit an editor which is something to note, they
mention how to get into editing and how you work closely with the director. She
also mentions what specific jobs she has to do and the way she finds the best
way to work etc. Towards the end of the chat they talk about what skills editor’s
look for when finding an assistant editor, she also discusses the key skills
needed to work on a film set for example teamwork, being able to articulate, etc.
This masterclass was helpful because the role of the editor is something I
wanted to know more about and what exactly their job role includes because I
want to explore roles within the film industry and this masterclass answered
some of the questions I wanted to know about editing and filmmaking

18. MASTERCLASS 2 – ‘FRAMING THE ACTION
DOP’S’This masterclass was really useful because they covered a lot about the film industry,
they talk about their career in cinematography and they show clips that they have worked
on and what they did to light up the scene for example a scene from the Dublin murders
was shot in a forest and Tim Palmer discusses how he used Chinese lanterns and hung
them in the trees and it was interesting to hear what they had to do and their process.
Both cinematographer's discuss their previous education and Palmer did a 3 year course
at the National film and Television school whereas Friend did a few short courses there as
well as London film school and it was insightful to hear what experience they had at
those places. They then went onto discuss the hiring process where they had to interview
get an agent etc and this was something that I didn’t know a lot about before however
this masterclass helped me realise what I have to do to get into the industry. It was
interesting to hear about their experiences on sett for example they talk about the
process of reading the script and how they can read a script up to 20 times before they
get a shooting script and how when they start shooting it can be easier to start with the
project. One of the questions they answered was ‘How do you get depth in the footage?’
and they mention it is mostly to do with composition and where you place the camera,
but it’s also the use of different shades of lighting and one of them gives a tip about
going round the house with a 50mm lens on a DSLR camera and trying out different
lighting etc because layering the lighting will help create that depth

19. FILMMAKER INSIGHTS - ORIGINAL VIEWPOINTS:
ESTABLISHING YOUR UNIQUE STYLE
I watched a filmmakers insight and I chose this one because I wanted to know
more about developing my own style of film, It was insightful in terms of
information because there were a few different filmmakers and they each had
their own experiences to talk about and how they navigate things, they
discussed about what inspires them and how they integrate that into their own
films and this was interesting to listen to because sometimes I find it difficult to
find inspiration so it was useful listening to others that face the same situation.
They also gave advice for when making a film which included advice on locations
which is something that I wanted to know more about because the location is
key in telling a story. There was one filmmaker who also studied film theory and
he mentions how it helps him make a film because he analyses it in depth so this
is something to consider when applying to university I could look at a course
that does theory and practical.

20. UNIVERSITY
SHOWCASE – ‘CLASS
FILMMAKING:
MAKING MORE WITH
LESS’
PRESENTED BY
UNIVERSITY OF
LINCOLN
I chose this showcase because it is most
relevant to what I will face in my FMP, which is
dealing with a low budget and I think it would
be interesting to look at other films that have
no/low budget.

21. 1. SHELTE
R
Shelter is the first film that I watched in this showcase and
it is about two homeless men who break into someone's
house. What I liked about this film is the message that the
things we take for granted like a roof over our heads some
people aren’t always that lucky, I liked how it portrayed
two types of people someone who has been homeless for a
while he doesn’t care about braking in whereas the
younger person is reluctant to break in and he hasn’t been
homeless for as long and this could suggest that the older
man has given up where the younger man still has some
hope. I liked the overall look of the film as it all seemed to
flow nicely and the colour scheme was kept continuous
however after about 10 minutes it didn’t interest me
anymore and I think this was because there wasn’t much
happening until the end so it was anti climatic.

22. 2. RISK IT
FOR A
BISCUIT
The second film I watched was a short
animation with no dialogue, and I really
enjoyed because it was simple to watch but
gave the story across clearly. The music
played a big part in conveying the feelings
because it would jump up and down which
reflected the character’s moods, I like the
way it was done because it was slightly
grainy with lines running through it to
resemble an old cartoon rather than really
crisp animation and I think it added to the
characters and the story

23. 3. HOP TO
IT
This was the third short film watched in this showcase, it
was like the last one I looked at but this time it relied on
foley sounds and voices to convey the story instead of
music. I preferred the last animation however I liked the
way they did the facial expressions, and they were
exaggerated which allowed the character’s emotions to
come across a lot more clearly. The story was shown clearly
however I think adding a little bit of background music at
suspenseful moments would make it more intriguing for
example when the snake was behind the frog some low
tone suspenseful music would have been a good way to get
a reaction out of the audience

24. 4. FINAL
CONTACT
This film looked at the story of a human and an alien, I liked
the story and I think it had potential however I didn’t like
how it was executed. For example when the ship was about
to self destruct there wasn’t a sense of urgency from the
characters and I think there should have been, this scene
was quite slow, and it could have been sped up by having
some sort of music but also it could have been acted
differently so the actors portrayed their characters to be
more affected by their situation. I think the animation
wasn’t too bad and the makeup for the alien was done well
but overall the characters didn’t appeal to me as I felt the
character development was underdeveloped

25. 5. RICH
The fifth film I watched was about a terminally ill man by
the name of ‘Rich’ an his younger neighbour would go
round and care for him. I liked the story of this where his
wife had died and he decided to refuse treatment and we
see Elizabeth come to terms with the idea of him being
gone. I liked the ‘overlay’ that the film had with the blue
tone which gives a sense of loneliness however when Rich
goes into the church where his wife spent most of her time
there was a warm tone to the scenes which I think could
symbolise that he doesn’t feel lonely there because that’s
where his wife is. Overall I liked this film even though it
was quite simple but I liked the way the story was told

26. 6. EXTRACT
FROM ‘THE
DRIFT’
I think this film was made to a good standard considering it
had a low budget of £5500 and this was only an extract from
it, I think it was better than the previous sci-fi film, but it
didn’t interest me because for me I want to see the story of
how they got there and by only seeing them in trouble it
didn’t allow me to relate to the character’s, but I would be
interested in watching the entire film to see where it goes
especially because it was made with a low budget it would be
interesting to see how far they could go with that

27. 7. EXTRACT
FROM
‘MIND-SET’
This was a short clip from a longer film, I managed to get
an idea of the characters and it would be interesting to see
where it goes in the longer film. I liked the simplicity of it
for example the woman packing her lunch it is an everyday
task and I got the impression she is bored with her life and
seems to be stuck in a constant cycle and she is tired with
her partner and finds an interest in her new colleague and it
would be interesting to see the development there

28. 8. WHAT
HAPPENS
AT SEA
This short film looks at the story of John and David and I can
infer that they had a relationship at sea but when John turns
up ad David’s door Yvonne answers. This short film is quite
simple because the two men then just walk and argue but
I’m interested in the characters and want to know what
happens to them and that’s a good example of character
development because I am interested in the character’s
stories

29. 9. BEEP
So this short film is about someone with OCD and he starts
obsessing about a beeping sound so much so he trashes
this house and makes it a mess, I think for a low/no
budget film it isn’t bad but I have seen better but I liked
the concept for this story and I think it could have gone
further in terms of post production and having different
transition effects like a cross fade to show the character’s
state of mind or some colour correction for the white
balance so it doesn’t look to dull, and also the lighting
would help fix the grainy image seen in some scenes

30. 10. SILENT
OBSERVER
This is a short documentary about a guy called George who
does parkour around Wakefield, I liked this documentary
because it was insightful and informed me of a subject I
didn’t know much about. I liked the way it was done with a
mix of footage following George but also interviewing him
and that allowed there to be a break I between the videos, I
liked the way they kept a consistent color scheme for
example they always filmed when it started getting dark
and it allowed there to be a sense of continuity throughout
the documentary and it worked well. I think there could
have been some more postproduction effects being used
like different transitions that I think would have worked
nicely with him running across the roofs.

31. UNIVERSITY SHOWCASE
– ‘UAL LONDON
COLLEGE OF
COMMUNICATION- REAL
LIVES: CREATING AN
AUTHENTIC
DOCUMENTARY
PRESENTED BY UAL:
LONDON COLLEGE OF
COMMUNICATION’

32. 1. BRINGING HOME THE BLUBBER
The first documentary that I watched is called
‘Bringing home the blubber’ and it tells the story
of a man who hunts seals, and he took the
business over from his family. I like the way this
documentary was done it looked nice and neat
and a key component to this was having the same
‘overlay’ on the footage, so the lighting was
continuous. Much like other documentaries I have
looked at this one uses inter-cutting form
interviews to other footage which is what I like in
a documentary because it allows there to be a
break from someone talking and it adds variety.
The was an impactful when the woman was
reading the man’s story and the camera focused
on him for the entirety of it and we see him start
crying when he hears his story and it made me as
the audience empathize with him

33. 2. WHO’S FUTURE? OUR FUTURE!
I enjoyed watching this documentary because it
highlighted the issues of climate change which is a topic I
enjoy talking about. It focused on a 15-year-old boy
called Elijah and it focused on him and his views on
climate change. One part I enjoyed specifically was when it
showed him going to a meeting and talking about climate
change with older people and I liked the concept of this
because he’s willing to go and educate the older
generation because for some of the older generation, they
are less educated regarding modern opinion on climate
change. I also liked how there was breaks and on a black
screen there was white writing stating facts about climate
change and then resumed to other footage, this seems to
be something that a lot of documentaries do where they
break up constant footage with either interviews or facts,
so this is something I should consider if I do a
documentary

34. 3. ZAGON – ON THE EDGE OF
BRIGHTNESS
This documentary was interesting to watch
and hear about this man’s story, he talks
about getting older and finding ‘the one’ but
he came out as gay to his wife who he is still
in touch with and he talks about what it was
like being younger and hiding it. I liked where
there was him talking over the top of footage
of different pieces of art ranging from
paintings to statues and I liked this section
because it allowed me to focus on what he
was saying and listening to his story was eye
opening

35. GUEST PROGRAMME – ‘TALES OF
ISOLATION’I have chosen to look at this guest programme because the individual films featured in it are
related to mental health issues which is something I plan on basing my FMP on. The first short
film I watched was called ‘Isle of Chair’ and this was a short animated film with no dialogue
which was interesting because it managed to keep me engaged throughout the film and I
didn’t think that would be the case with no dialogue, this film has me slightly confused about
the whole dynamic of this character and the green dot but I got the impression that one of
them comes and makes everything balance again after the other made it all off balance. The
second film I watched was called ‘Stucco’ and this was about an agoraphobic woman who
finds a mysterious wall in her house, and it is clear she is unwell because she is coughing etc
so in my opinion it’s a case of being an hallucination, however when she breaks down the wall
there is a throne made up of dismembered arms and hands that try and trap her but she
manages to break free and then when we see her next she has broken through her house and
into the street outside, from this I can infer that she was feeling trapped being someone afraid
to go outside even though she tried and wanted to but then she finally got past that fear even
if it was unintentional. The third film in this guest programme was called ‘The Distraction’ and
I liked the way it was edited with the rhythm of the words she was saying and the whole speed
of it some of it was quite fast which worked with the narrative behind it however I didn’t like
the way it made me feel because it was quite uncomfortable to watch because I was constantly
on edge and I think this is because the close up of the ladybirds made me uncomfortable then
the voice in the background made it even worse, I also didn’t like the bit where it went to a
really fast pace because I think it was too much for me even though it was cleverly executed
and looked good

36. The third film I watched in the guest programme was a film called ‘Nigel’ which had no
dialogue but it managed to keep me intrigued until the end. It tells the true story of a bird
called ‘Nigel No Mates’ and its about a real bird who ‘fell in love with’ a replica bird and
despite having other real birds appear he didn’t want to leave the fake one. The way it was
executed through animation was really good because at some parts I understood what that
character was feeling even though nothing was said. The fourth film in this guest
programme I watched was called ‘In Full Bloom’ and it is about an elderly hoarder who
doesn’t go outside has a black hole opened due to worms, I liked this film because I
understood the story even though there was no dialogue and with no dialogue it
emphasises the feeling of loneliness and isolation. The worms were done using stop
motion and I think it worked well with the rest of the short film, I also liked that there was
intense music and suspenseful parts to mirror the character’s feelings. The next film I
watched was called ‘Born in a void’ and it was a short animation and I enjoyed the use of
sounds and music because it added to the story, for example when the ship was falling
apart the music became intense, there was also use of rhythmic editing which I thought
worked well with some parts because it added variety rather than just having one type of
music throughout the whole film. ‘Stay Here’ was the short documentary that I watched in
this programme and it was insightful, it looked at a couple of residences that have refused
to move out of their homes even though all their neighbours had moved away. I like the
way this documentary was done as it cut between interviews and other footage of the
empty town. I think the music played a big part in this documentary because it helped
convey the emotion of the people to the audience as it made me think about their situation
and I empathise with them.

37. CHALLENGING PERSPECTIVES: DOCUMENTING MODERN BRITAIN
PRESENTED BY DOC SOCIETY
I chose to watch this guest programme because I wanted to know more about the documentary style.
The first documentary I watched is called ‘Imogen’ and it tells the story of a woman who took her own
life, this documentary was hard to watch because it focused on the family reading the diaries she left
behind and they were quite graphic details of the thoughts she was thinking, and it showed drawings
with labels attached to them and food diaries of the food she could and couldn’t eat. It was a hard-
hitting documentary because the way they told the story was powerful and something I thought was
impactful was when one of the family members were reading an extract from the diary it would show
footage of when Imogen was a young child, and this was hard to watch because these graphic details
were being read out but the footage on the screen was showing a child playing on the swings. Overall I
liked the way they filmed and made this documentary because it conveys the feelings that Imogen
would have been feeling and it highlights an important issue in todays society which is mental health.
The second documentary I watched was one called ‘No Ball Games’ and it looks at groups of children
who come from working class backgrounds, I liked this documentary because it showed us the games
they make up and they aren’t glued to phones or game consoles like many other children are. I liked
the way they filmed different groups of children from across England and Wales, but it flowed well and
didn’t seem too jumpy which I liked, I also admire the simplicity of the documentary because it is just
showing children playing games, but it was interesting and entertaining to watch. The third
documentary I watched was called ‘Hattie’ which tells us the story of a teenager having spina bifida, it
was an informative documentary because I didn’t know much about the condition before hand and I
liked how it changed between interviews and other footage and this seems to be a convention that a
few documentaries do so this is something to consider if I do one. I liked how they had the off-screen
dialogue then made it match up later.

38. The fourth documentary I watched is called ‘Zero, Zero’ and it looks at a family who are
from Zimbabwe and they talk about how they were named ‘coloureds’ which was different
to the term black and they were sent to catholic schools because they had lighter skin and
were sent there so they could do factory jobs etc. It was interesting to watch because they
talk about how the don’t identify as African but Zimbabwean and it opens my eyes to the
discrimination they had had to face. Much like the previous documentaries there was
inter-cutting between interviews and other footage, another thing that I liked was that the
woman behind the camera asked the questions which we heard which isn’t something they
usually do in documentaries when interviewing people but it worked in this case because it
was more inclusive as if I was apart of the conversation listening to their story. The fifth
documentary I watched is called ‘Northern Ballers’ and it looks at a basketball team in
Leeds, I liked it because it was entertaining and hearing their stories was inspiring for
example someone wants to go to school in America and do basketball but he talks about
having to work hard at school to get there and it isn’t going to be easy. The last
documentary I watched is called ‘Blackthorn’ and it is about a man called Sam Robinson
who tells us his story and what I liked about this is that it cut between him working or his
dog and then him in his shed telling us a poem that linked with the rest of the story. I also
liked the continuity of the colours the dark shades were kept throughout and it made it
look neat and I also liked the use of slow motion in some footage because it matched with
the pace the poet was speaking.