Through researching music documentaries, the filmmaker was inspired by certain conventions and aesthetics. They took elements like letterboxing, establishing shots, and close-ups that they felt were effectively used. However, they also challenged aspects that did not suit their goals. For example, using black and white during performances but steady camerawork for rehearsals rather than handheld. By selectively incorporating techniques from other films but adapting them, the filmmaker believes they achieved an original yet impressive aesthetic representative of their vision.

2. • Through choosing to do a music documentary, my own interests were catered for during the research
stage, which proved to be an entirely beneficial addition, as I could watch documentaries that already
interested me, making inspiration a more likely prospect, and this idea was fulfilled. Primarily the
documentaries oasis: definitely maybe, and Shane Meadows’ made of stone about the stone roses. I
watched multiple documentaries, cherry picking the parts that summarised the genre and appealed most
to me, hoping to later on find a way of combining them for a suitable documentary extract that clearly fits
its purpose and is well suited to its content. One of the lasting images that really impacted my course
were the rehearsals in made of stone, black and white, stylised in a way that certainly fits the purpose
and tone of the moment. I really wanted to have something very similar in my documentary and so used
very similar conventions, to give an insight into how the band works together to achieve a common
purpose. I also liked the idea of intercut interviews, voiceovers and ambient footage of the band to show
both the non serious side and provide context and insight simultaneously. However one of the integral
characters –a fictionalised director- was forced to be removed when the person playing him dropped out,
so my entire plan had to be rethought to work around this. I found a short video/documentary about a
huge homecoming gig by the band Kasabian, and again was massively struck by the style and
effectiveness of it, it already shared a lot with my initial ideas, but focused almost entirely on the band,
and their opinions of what was happening. I decided to follow this route a lot more, making a lot more
prominent use of establishing shots to set tone and address context.
• Subsequently, much of my documentaries stylisation, including conventions and forms is strongly
devoted to existing documentaries, challenging them mainly in that it is not necessarily a linear,
descriptive format which many documentaries follow, my documentary, also focuses heavily on the
entertainment and stylisation side, so that it is fairly hard to categorise and would likely be a feature
length cinema experience, initially, as opposed to a typical television documentary.

3. Throughout many, if not all of the documentaries I
watched during the research stage of the course,
there were significantly repeated conventions and
features.
Letterboxing – The black bars at the top and bottom
of the image which provide a widescreen effect.
Subtly, these can make a huge difference to the
professionalism in the aesthetic of a film, as they
imply it has been made with the highest quality in
mind, and is eligible for use on the best equipment.
Establishing shots- Common in all types of film,
these play a huge role in the overall feel of the
documentary, as well as providing context. For
example this drum symbol foregrounds an empty
field, and thus is static, so when juxtaposed with the
images of the drummer playing live it shows how
much of an impact the music can have on an
atmosphere.
Close ups – Whether on a person during an
interview of a hand strumming guitar strings, these
undeniably provide a sense of understanding with a
film, you feel as though you're inside a conversation
or in the same room, when watching. A very
powerful technique, as it can show anything, from
human emotion, to the vibration of the strings that
make the sound you hear.

4. My documentary takes a lot from the
documentaries I researched, and led me to
use almost all of the common conventions.
However I did use many more features of my
own, which I felt would impact positively on
the documentary.
Letterboxing – I used this feature simply for its
efficiency and effectiveness that it instantly
provides, as well as this, it allowed me to
keep certain things out of shot (behind the
bars) in post production.
Establishing shots- These again for their
effectiveness and their ability to provide
information and context, something which
would be very difficult to to include within the
limitations of five minutes.
Close ups
Colour correction, and shifts in aesthetic- I
made certain grading choices for different
scenes in the film, to match the feeling of
them, emphasizing certain colours and hues. I
also chose to keep it black and white during
the music scenes, as though to strip it to
essentials. And keep the music as the focus.

5. • I did not want my documentary to be an amateur attempt at
what I had already seen. So I took the most effective
techniques and applied them to my own film. However an
amalgamation of pre used aesthetics would not be an
original looking piece. Therefore I took elements from the
different documentaries which I felt looked impressive, but
neglected to recreate the same documentary, and use all or
only features from one documentary. For example, I used
black and white colour correction for the performance, as I
had seen in the other films I had researched, but when it
came to the use of handheld cameras in the rehearsal
sequence of made of stone. I opted for a more steady use
of camera for the most part, as I felt it looked more
aesthetically pleasing and professional. However I did use
handheld cameras for some of the other sequences, like
the establishing shots or the scenes where everyone is
joking with each other, to make these more loose, whilst the
music is taken a bit more seriously.
Challengingforms

6. Conclusion. In conclusion, I felt that in ‘cherry picking’
aspects of documentaries that
impressed me, and improving or
replacing aspects that did not, allowed
me to achieve an impressive overall
aesthetic. I am happy with my result, and
feel that it is representative of what I had
initially hoped to portray, and this could
not have been achieved without the
inspiration found during the research
stage.