3. Existing product – Film (Quadrophenia)
• This film is a classic in the eyes of the mods. It follows a young mod called Jimmy and his journey to find
his self worth and importance. The soundtrack includes a lot of famous mod tracks such as ‘The Real
Me’ by The Who, ‘House Of Fun’ by Madness, ‘Town Called Malice’ by The Jam and many others too. I
have chosen this film because it is very well known within mod groups and praised highly, it also covers
a lot of aspects I would like to include in my own documentary, such as having music implemented in.
• Quadrophenia is probably the most realistic mod film out there, from the outfits, location and even the
scooters, the producers have been able to get it all spot on. This implements a huge visual aspect to the
nostalgic feeling of the film. People who grew up in the 60s and lived a similar life have said that it
‘brought back memories’. The outfits shown in the film are identical to those worn in the time. Brands
such as Levi’s, (Levi's are first shown in the film when the main character, jimmy, is wearing a pair that
are soaking wet. This is because they were advertised as being ‘shrink fit’ meaning that if you wore
them in a cold bath they would fit to be perfectly skinny. No one ever knew if this really worked or not!)
other brands shown include Fred Perry, Ben Sherman and Baracuta.
• Location plays a vital role towards the film, Jimmy lives in London, which was a hotspot among the
mods and rockers and the heart of fashion. Towards the end of the film, Jimmy and his friends all take
their scooters and ride to Brighton, as there used to be huge brawls on the beaches between the mods
and rockers, were multiple people were injured every time. In the film there is a scene where Jimmy
and Steph are in an alleyway. This alley has since been named ‘Quadrophenia alley’.
• The scooters the characters ride in the film were the same ones that were being used at the time,
Jimmy rides a Lambretta, a popular yet more common scooter for a mod to have. Whereas Stings
character ‘Ace Face’ rides a GS Vespa, a more sought after expensive scooter.
• The Who also released an album titled Quadrophenia (released in 1973) alongside with the film, and it
was called a concept. Meaning that the film follows the same storyline as the album.
5. Existing products – Don Letts
• In the documentary titled ‘story of the skinheads’ director Don Letts focuses on the history of
one of Britain's most famous subcultures and the impact it had on music style and culture at the
time. A common theme throughout is the kids who took part in the subculture and are trying to
find their place in society. The documentary contains a lot of music that was popular at the time.
The music started with reggae, but quickly moved onto ‘ska’ (skinhead reggae, created
specifically for the uk market.
• Don Letts speaks about how music and clothes were the only way for kids to express themselves,
the shoes they wore were described as ‘uncomfortable looking’ and they all had shaved heads,
or very short hair. It was uncommon behaviour for the skinheads to act the way they did in the
60s.
• ‘skinhead’ was not really a term that they would call themselves, it was more a way of speaking
about them amongst other people, it wasn’t until a few years later they took on the nickname as
their own.
• Don Letts said that the skinheads brought style and new sounds, both found favour with other
white working class kids, and it seemed to contradict the emerging racism at the time. Racism
was much more common in this time, teachers were known to be openly racist toward black
students.
• Skinheads wore button down shirts, brogues and smooth loafers, they were all constantly looking
for the next trend to jump onto, to keep fashionable. Most skinheads shopped at a shop named
‘The Ivy’. Don describes it as ‘The holy grail for skinheads’ the shop owner even named a popular
jacket (the Harrington jacket) because a famous tv show wore a Baracuta jacket. It was a
skinhead staple.
7. Existing product - Documentary
• Julien Temple has created a documentary on the sex pistols, he speaks on their
rise to fame, and how why they became so popular at the time. Julien Temple
had previously made a different documentary about the sex pistols (The Rock
And Roll Swindle), but it was criticised for being too focused on their manager.
The Filth And The Fury tells the story of the band but from the members point of
view.
• The title of the documentary is a reference to a headline from the newspaper
'The Daily Mirror' following a very controversial interview with the sex pistols,
the interviewer tried to get them in trouble for swearing and misbehaving on
live tv, but this ended up going worse for the interviewer, as the band gained
popularity and fame from the youth at the time.
9. Existing product - Film
• The Pebble And The Boy is a 2021 comedy film directed by Chris
Green, this is important towards my project because it is about mod
subculture. The film follows the story of a boy whose dad has recently
died and in a scooter accident, the boy decides to ride his dads
old scooter to Brighton.
• The films soundtrack includes a lot of song made by bands and artists
from the 80s, The Jam, Paul Weller, Secret Affair, The Chords and The
Style Council. If I am going to use any music in my own documentary,
it will most likely be by some of these artists.
10. Summary
• My research has helped me to narrow down the way I would like to
make my documentary, and specific aspects that I should focus on:
- Documentary style: From looking at some existing products, I have
realised that the documentaries were filmed with interviews, and then
used as a voiceover whilst showing what the interviewee is talking
about. I think that it is a good way of keeping the viewer interested in
the topic. I am going to use a font similar to the one used in 'The
Pebble And The Boy' for the title, and also when introducing the
interviewees, if subtitles are necessary, I will also use this text.
11. Audience
• I created a survey to discover more about my audience, the questions were
related to my product and have helped me to refine my final product.
The first thing I decided to find out about my
audience was their age, most of the people who
completed my survey were 18-24.
80% of respondents said that they have heard about
mod subculture before, which was a bit of a surprise
to me as I didn’t realise how popular it was.
12. Audience
One of my questions was 'do you think youth subcultures
are still relevant?' And 80% of people said that they are, I
think this is because most of the time teenagers fall into
one of these, this could be skating, football, etc.
I was interested in the type of music that people my age
knew that were in relation to the mod subculture. The
answers I got were helpful because I am going to use
songs from these bands in my final product.
13. Audience
I asked about what elements of the documentary that
people would like to see, by doing this I now know what I
need to include and what out of the options has priority.
By doing this I will keep the viewer interested. Music and
interviews were the most popular options.
I also asked what the audience thinks is most important
out of interviews and location, and the majority answer
was location. So, from this I have decided that I will use
the interview as a voiceover for the shots of the location.
14. Audience
Half of the people who completed my survey claimed
that they were part of a subculture, this is a good thing
for me because it means that they will most likely be
more interested in learning about a culture they have
not heard of before.
I also asked how young people identify themselves
today, and the most common answer was clothing,
followed by music, both of which are topics that I plan to
cover in my documentary.
15. Market Research
I have done some research about the Film market, here is what I found out:
- The film market is worth 21.3 billion US Dollars ( 16 billion gbp)
- The top grossing film of 2021 was Spiderman no way home, grossing $613,600,664
- in 2019 there was 176 million cinema admissions in the UK
- The highest grossing documentary of 2021 was roadrunner, grossing over 5 million dollars
This shows that there is a constant market of people who enjoy watching film and television, and the incline
over the years proves that the market is here to stay. The growth means that demand will stay high, which is
good for my project as there is a massive target audience of people who will be more than happy to watch it.
As films get more and more aimed towards any audience, it means that younger people will be influenced by
them and learn to create their own, in any style they like. This will create more diversity in the film industry and
most likely lead to even more money being made throughout the industry.
16. Voice Over
• Including a voice over in a documentary is vital, this conveys the
mood, sets the tone and engages the audience.
• Every documentary has a voiceover, and it is usually done by the
director, but sometimes someone else will be hired to do it if their
voice fits better and sets the scene more.
• A voice over is usually recorded afterwards, meaning that someone
can decide what to narrate, whereas an alternative is when there is
someone in the shot, with a microphone speaking about what is
happening at the time.
17. Direct and indirect interviews
• A direct interview is done face to face, and it is a very standard way
of recording with another person, they are most frequently done in
a question and answer style, the answers will be based on topics covered
in the documentary, more specifically the interviewees personal life.
• An indirect interview is more of a casual conversation style, the
questions cover a wider topic and are not always personal to the
interviewee.
• Interviews are great to have in documentaries because it gives the viewer
a first hand experience with someone who plays a role within the topic
of the documentary, and interesting answers always come from
interviewees.
18. Archival Footage
• Archival footage is video obtained from other sources, such as an old
tv show, film or even documentary that is inserted into the current
project, this helps cover information on some points without having to do
any additional filming, this can also be still images.
• This footage can be useful when discussing an older topic, a lot of the
time if something from the past is being spoken about, it is no longer there,
so archival footage helps people to understand what is being spoken about
if they are less familiar with it.
• In my project, I will most likely have to include some archival
footage because of the locations, some places that I will speak about are
not close to me, so I will use the obtained footage to show the viewer
where certain things were taking place.
19. Montage
• A montage is a series of separate videos that are edited together
to make one long continuous sequence, they allow filmmakers
to integrate a large amount of information to an audience in a
shorter span of time.
• Whilst a montage takes place in a documentary, the viewer
will normally hear music, or a voiceover. These are both done to set
the scene throughout and keep the viewer updated on what’s
being discussed.
• A common use of a montage is to pass time, if there is a lot
of information to be told that spreads over the span of a few years,
a montage is the best way for this to be told.
20. Exposition
• Exposition is information that is told to the viewers to help them get
a better mental image of what is going on, it usually includes time
and location
• Exposition occurs at the start of the documentary and introduces
the most important themes to the viewers
• An example of this is used in a documentary about mods and
rockers that I have found on YouTube, it starts with “It’s March
30th, 1964 and the great British public is shaken out of its bank
holiday slumber by alarming news”
22. Audio / lighting Experiments
Me and a friend decided to film some experiments for our projects. We wanted to see the
difference between how audio sounds in different places, and also how lighting can differ
based on whether you are inside or outside.
We started this experiment by going outside, we used a
spot in the college with very little people, we found
that the wind was quite loud outside and that there
were other interruptions such as an air conditioning
system and doors opening.
We went into a classroom inside the college
afterwards too, the audio was much easier to
hear as there was no background noise
whatsoever.
The lighting however was not as good, we
decided not to turn the lights on or open the
blinds so we could get an idea for how it could
be in that type of room, and although it wasn’t
as good as the outdoors, you can still see
everything that is necessary.
In terms of lighting, this was a great location, you
could very easily see myself and everything that was
in the background. The sun was shining very bright,
meaning that the colours were also very prominent.
Outdoor Indoor
23. Over the shoulder shot
I decided to also experiment with some different filming
techniques, the first one I tried was an over the shoulder shot,
in the shot it shows Karl on his phone looking at mod related
images. I think that this technique is a good way of showing the
viewer something on someone's phone or laptop, or whatever
else is in front of them
Long - shot
We experimented with a long shot type video, this
was to see if you could still hear the interviewee. In
the video you can still hear him but it is mostly
drowned out by the sounds of the outside, such as
the cars and wind. If it was shot inside, there's a
chance that it would be much clearer.
Video Experiments
24. Zoom Pan
The next experiment that we tried was a zoom, this was done to
check that when the camera is zoomed in on the person or object
in focus it is still obvious what to focus on, this gave us the exact
desired affect that we wanted, this technique drowns out
everything in the background. I think this technique will be helpful
if the area that I’m filming in is busy and crowded, if I can zoom in
the main person the viewer will know exactly where to look, and
the other people wont be focused on.
We then tried a pan, I started the shot by filming the field on
the right of us, then I turned towards Karl for a few seconds to
hear him speak, I think that this technique will be useful for
when someone is describing something, whoever is filming can
initially focus on whatever is being spoken about, then turn to
the person speaking.
Video Experiments
