Tom Rees interviews a regional music expert about the history of live music venues in the North East of England. The student created a documentary focusing on past music venues in the region, the artists that performed there, and comparing them to modern venues. Researching and filming at various venues was challenging but provided footage for the documentary. After several drafts and revisions based on peer feedback, the student was happy with the final product, feeling it effectively explored regional identity through a topic they were passionate about.

1. Regional Identity Task Evaluation - ‘The History of Live Music Within the North East’
Whenwe were firstgiventhe brief tocreate somethingonregional identity,Iinstantlyhadastrong
ideato whatI wouldlookinto furtherandcreate a documentaryon.Live music,andmusicin
general,hasbeensomethingIamgreatlypassionate aboutforseveral 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. Now being
able to watchback a completeddocumentarywhichIhave createdissomethingIam greatlyproud
of,and I believeithasturnedoutexactlyhow I wanteditto,if not slightlybetter.
As mentionedpreviously,Iamluckyinthat I chose something
whichgreatlyinterestsme,meaningwhenitcame to planning
and researchingthe approachIwouldtake,I enjoyedevery
second,butthisisn’tto saythat it wasn’ta rather difficult
process.To beginwith,myinitial ideawastogo througheach
decade chronologically,fromthe 1950s to now,goingthrough
each venue whichwaspopularinthatspecificperiod,who
performedthere,etc.Thisquicklyprovedverydifficult,mainly
because eithersome decadeshada lotmore to discussthan
othersmeaningIcouldn’ttalkabouttheminan equal amount
of time,andsecondlysince alotof venuesstretchedacross
several decadessothisinstantlybecamesomewhatconfusing.
Afterdecidingthatmydocumentarywould focuson lookingat
past venues,whoappearedthere, andthencomparingthese
to the modernday,I had to lookinto these venuestosee if
there wasany possible footageandimagesIwasable to use.
To do thisI lookedintoandresearchedalmosteveryvenue
that has everexistedinthe Northeast,leavingme withaverylonglistwhichwassoonshortened
downsince a lotof these venueshadnoimagesorvideofootage,andall thatwasleftwasdifferent
storiesof the memorieswhichonce happenedinsideof the venueswhichnolongerexistand
haven’tdone forsome time now.Forexample The Locarno,once inSunderland,didn’thave many
images,andbeginningtoeditthissectionof myscriptmade me realise there simplywasn’tenough
footage totalk over,thisleadingme totake thissectionof the scriptout and replacingitwith
anotherinwhichI knewhadmore than enough to speak upon.Luckilythe venuesIchose todiscuss
had bothimagesandin some casesvideofootage,allowingme tothenwrite myscriptknowing
there wouldbe nomore disruptionsdue tolack of footage.
In the planningprocessIknewIwantedto include avenue Iwasable to accessand capture myown
footage of,ensuringnoteverythingwassourcedfromonline,allowingme tobe more original. I
decidedtogo withSunderland’sEmpire Theatre,since thiswasthe closestvenuetome, andfrom
here I emailedthe venue’sCreativeLearningOfficerStephDurkin,explainingthe projectIwas
workingonand askedif there wouldbe anypossibilityof filminginside of the venue,thankfully
receivingareplyexclaimingthatthiswouldbe okay.Whenthe daycame to filminside of the
Empire,Imet withStephwho leadme toeverycornershe possiblycould,thisallowingme togeta
range of differentshottypes, includingclose upsoff the seatsandwide shotsof the whole venue. I
Figure 1 The Locarno, Sunderland

2. didn’tuse a tripodsounfortunatelysome of myfootage wasslightlyunsteady,butthankfullyIdid
take enough forthisnot to be an issue whenediting.Insayingthis,Iknow that whenI come to film
somethingnext,Iwill use atripodtoavoidmakingthismistake again.
Followingthis, writingthe scriptforthe documentarywasa longprocessas there were several
versionsovertime,since Ialwayshadabasic idea,butformingthisideaintowords tooklongerthan
I thoughtit originallywould.Tobeginwith, Iwrote myscriptintoMicrosoft Word before writingit
intoCeltx, asI wantedtoensure I hada set planon whatI wouldbe talkingaboutand the duration
of time needed.However,the mainproblemIdidface whenwritingthe scriptwasknowingIhad
enoughfootage totalkover,as mentionedbefore,nothavingenoughfootage thenleadme to
takingparts of the scriptout to replace it,aswell asshorteningsome down,butluckilythisdidn’tset
me back and I couldcontinue workingasnormal – AlthoughthismeantIhad to thenre-recordparts
of myscript,but thisdidn’tcause anyproblems.
Upon editing, Iwouldsaythatdue to
planning,almosteverythingwentto
plan.Collectingmyfootage and
recordingmyvoiceoversbeforehand
allowedme togetstraightinto
editing,piecingeverythingtogether
and seeingwhichorderthe images
and videos lookedmosteffectivein.
On the otherhand,a sectionof
editingthatwasrather difficultand
tooksome time wasmy Zoom
interview withTomRees. Duringmypreviousyearof collegeIcreatedanotherdocumentary,the
focusbeing‘Culture inthe Digital Age anditsEffectOnthe Vinyl Industry’.Whencreatingthis
documentary,IemailedTomaskingif he couldanswersome questionsforme asI thoughtitwould
be interestingtohave the viewpointof someone workinginthe musicindustry.Thistime round,I
knewI hadthe band’sgiginNewcastle comingup,soI felt itwouldbe nice if Igot himinvolved
again,but ratherthan statinghisanswersmyself,have himinthe documentary.ThiswayIcould
include footage fromaninterviewbetweenus,aswell asmyowngig footage. HavingknownTom
some time nowwhichI am quite luckytobe able to say,it made the interview feelsomewhat
informal,whichIdon’tthinkisa bad thingsince itmade itflow quite nicelyandoverall justfeltlikea
discussionwith afriend.The onlydownside tothiswasperhapsthatwhentalking he mayhave went
slightlyoff topic,whichagainisn’tabadthing,but at timesIfeltsome partsweren’t perhaps
relevanttothe documentaryanditsmainfocus,meaningIwouldhave tocut these partsout,which
I was able toachieve butitdidtake longerthanI originallythoughtitwould,neverthelessIam
happywiththe outcome and howI editedthe documentaryasawhole.
As well asthis,wheneditingmypreviousdocumentaryonthe Digital Age,Ihadtouse iMovie due to
workingfromhome because of the pandemic, asthe free editingsoftware onmylaptopwouldn’t
workverywell,leavingme touse my iPad. While thistime around,creatingthisdocumentary has
allowedme tomake progresswithmyeditingskillsand Ihave beenable tobranch outand discover
differenteditingstyles.
Upon completingthe firstdraftof mycompleteddocumentary,Ithenfilmedafocusgroupwith
Sophie andChris,inwhichI showedthemmycompletedpiece andthenaskedthemwhattheyliked,
Figure 2 Editting stage

3. and whattheywouldimprove.Thankfullythisprovedextremelyhelpful inthe editingprocessas
theybothgave me the same feedbackinwhatto improve on( there wasa lotof white noise inthe
backgroundand the soundlevelsforseparate sectionswereuneven).Fromhere Iwas able togo
back and make these changes,thismakingmydocumentaryseem more professional andclearer.
In conclusion,Ipersonallyamhappywiththe
outcome of my completeddocumentaryand
the progressI have made overthe past few
months, especially inresearchingandediting.
Referringtothe projectbrief whichaskedusto
create a piece of mediarelatingtothe theme
of Regional Identity,exploringthe question
‘Whoam I?’,I believe thatmycompleted
documentaryfitsthe brief well,inthatIhave
createdsomethingwhichfocusesonthe thingI
personallyammostpassionate for,all while
linkingittothe Northeastandstayingon topic.
Overall Iam pleasedwithwhatIhave created,asI know that whenstartingthisprojectI alwaysfeltI
had an ideabutjustwasn’tsure how to execute it,whereasnow Ican watch mydocumentaryback
and be proudof whatI have created.I have improvedonthingslike myeditingskills,learningmore
aboutaudioin particular,whichissomethingIcantake from college anduse atanotherpointinlife
if I continue toeditfootage,aswell asmy teamworkskills,takingpartina focusgroupand receiving
feedbackface toface,rather thancreatingan online survey,whichIhave learntisnotas effective.
Lookingback at myaudience profile,Ioriginallysaidthatmyaudience were of anygender,between
the ages of 16 and 24, and uponcompetingmydocumentaryIdothinkthat itappealsto these two
groups,since when competingafocusgroup,bothSophie andChrisenjoyeditandthoughtitwas
factual,bothof whoare betweenthe original age range andare of twodifferentgenders.
Overall Iam happyI chose to create a documentaryona topicI myself ampassionate for,andIhope
that my audience finditentertainingaswell aseducational,justasIdid whencreatingit.
Figure 3 The Mayfair, a chosen venue