1. Regional Identity Task Evaluation - ‘The History of Live Music Within the North East’
Whenwe were firstgiventhe brief tocreate somethingonregional identity,Iinstantlyhadastrong
ideato whatI wouldlookintofurtherandcreate a documentaryon.Live music,andmusicin
general,hasbeensomethingIamgreatlypassionate aboutfor several yearsnow,andnodoubtwill
continue tostay withme forthe restof mylife.Overall Ihave thoroughlyenjoyedcreatingthisshort
documentary afterchoosingatopicI knew I wouldbe interestedin talkingabout,andhopefully
educatingothersonour musical pastand all the eventsthattookplace where we live.Furthermore,
I am happywithwhatI have createdso far as I believeitfitsthe brief,andwill continue toimprove
on thisprojectoverthe nextfewweeks.
As mentionedpreviously,Iamluckyinthat I chose somethingwhichgreatlyinterestsme,meaning
whenitcame to planningandresearchingthe approachIwouldtake,Ienjoyedeverysecond.After
decidingthatmydocumentarywouldincludelookingatpastvenuesandthencomparingthese to
the modernday,I had to lookinto saidvenuestosee if there wasanypossible footage andimagesI
was able touse – Thiswas somethingwhichproveddifficultinthe longrunas one venue in
particular,The Locarno once in Sunderland,didn’thave manyimages,andbeginningtoeditthis
sectionof my scriptmade me realise there simplywasn’tenoughfootage totalkover,thisleading
me to take thissectionof the scriptout andreplacingitwith anotherinwhichI knew hadmore than
enough tospeak over.Luckilythe venuesIchose todiscusshad bothimagesandin some casesvideo
footage,allowingme tothenwrite myscriptknowingthere wouldbe nomore disruptionsdue to
lack of footage.
In the planningprocessIknewIwantedto include avenue Iwas
able to accessand capture my ownfootage of,ensuringnot
everythingwassourcedfromonline,allowingme tobe more
original. IdecidedtogowithSunderland’sEmpire Theatre,andfrom
here I emailedthe venue’sCreativeLearningOfficerStephDurkin,
explainingthe projectIwasworkingonand askedif there wouldbe
any possibilityof filminginside of the venue,thankfullyreceivinga
replyexclaimingthatthiswouldbe okay.Whenthe daycame to film
inside of the Empire,ImetwithStephwho leadme to everycorner
she possiblycould,thisallowingme togeta range of differentshot
types,like close upsoff the seatsandwide shotsof the whole
venue.Ididn’tuse atripodso unfortunatelysome of myfootage
was slightlyunsteady,butthankfullyIdidtake enough forthisnotto
be an issue whenediting.Insayingthis,Iknow that whenI come to
filmsomethingnext,Iwill use atripodtoavoidmakingthismistake
again.
Followingthis, writingthe scriptforthe documentarywasa longprocessas there were several
versionsovertime,since Ialwayshadabasic idea,butformingthisideaintowords tooklongerthan
I thoughtit originallywould.Firstly Iwrote myscriptintoMicrosoftWord before writingitintoCeltx,
as I wantedto ensure Ihad a setplanon whatI wouldbe talkingaboutand the durationof time
needed. The mainproblemIdidface whenwritingthe scriptwasknowingIhadenoughfootage to
talkover,as mentionedbefore,nothavingenoughfootage thenleadme totakingpartsof the script
out to replace it,aswell asshorteningsome down,butluckilythisdidn’tsetme backandI could
2. continue workingasnormal – AlthoughthismeantIhad to thenre-recordpartsof my script,but this
didn’tcause anyproblems.
Upon editing, Iwouldsaythatdue to
planningahead,everythingwenttoplan.
Collectingmyfootage and recordingmy
voiceoversbeforehandallowedme toget
straightintoediting,piecingeverything
togetherandseeingwhichorderthe images
lookedmosteffective in. Asof rightnow,I
have not completedmyfull editof the
documentary,buthave submittedmyfirst
draft,showcasinghow itlooksrightnow and
howthe end productwill potentiallylook. Onthe otherhand, asectionof editingthathas proven
difficultwasthe editingof myzoominterviewwithTomRees,frontmanof WelshbandBuzzard
BuzzardBuzzard. Upon askinghimquestions,Idecidedtocutout parts thatperhapsweren’t
necessarytokeepin,butthis was somethingIwasable towork through.
To conclude,Ipersonallyamhappywiththe progressIhave made whencreatingmydocumentary
and am happywiththe outcome.Referringbacktothe brief andmy targetaudience,Idothinkit fits
bothof these categoriesandIhope that whenIam able to showcase myfinal version,itdoesn’tjust
entertain,buteducates myaudience,as if Iwas able to getone thingfrom thisexperience,itwould
be for people tolearnmore aboutour historyandall of the interestingvenueswe once hadthat
unfortunately closeddown,asIfeel we have somuchhistorythat a lotof people don’tknow about,
due to mostbig venuesbeingdemolishedinthe early2000s, etc.
