Filming Progress / Shot List / Interview Questions

During the days filming we used this sheet that Hannah made to log all of the shots we did and later created the computer version as a final copy. This log sheet shows how many shots were done over the two shoots, what kind of shot they were (close up/ mid close up) and if the shot was usable or not conveyed by the tick or cross at the end.

The image below shows the shot list, it shows all the shots done whilst filming that made up our final film. It consists of 39 shots total, 31 of which are actual contributors tattoos and the other 8 are cut away footage of tattoo drawings done by an apprentice. Unfortunatly due to the lack of work done by our producer and he refusal to call places we were unable to gain access to any actual tattoo shops and talk to any artists. Lucky for us our cinematographer knew an apprentice and she offered her sketch book for us to record a few cut away shots of art work. 

This also meant that we couldn't talk to any artists about their views on giving tattoos, meaning that we couldn't show the two sides of the story both what it means to the clients and what it means to the artists. Although this was the case, we managed to get a lot of willing contributors to show us their tattoos and talk to us about them. we did this by talking to people on the high street and talking to people in university, whilst still talking to people we knew personally. 

Shot	Location	Angle	Cast	Sound
1	City/Owen	Close up of tattoo - arm	contributor 1	voice over + atmos
2	City/Owen	close up of tattoo - leg	2	"
3	City/Owen	" " - chest	3	"
4	City/Owen	" " - back	4	"
5	City/Owen	" " - hand	5	"
6	City/Owen	" " - arm	6	"
7	City/Owen	" " - back of shoulder	7	"

8	City/Owen	" " - leg	8	"
9	City/Owen	" " -  arm	9	"
10	City/Owen	" " - arm	10	"
11	City Tattoo Studio	Mid shot of front of studio	N/A	atmos - voice over - background
12	City Tattoo studio	Panning of studio walls	N/A	" " - music tbs
13	" "	Close up of design work	N/A	" " - music tbs
14	" "	Mid Shot of work areas	N/A	" "  - music tbs
15	" "	Close ups of multiple different drawn tattoo designs	Possible contributor 11	" " -  music tbs

Below Shows the call sheets that were made for the crew just as a document to have which made sure they knew where they had to be and what they were doing on both of our shoots. This was helpful in keeping everyone up to date with what needed to be done and on what day it needed to get done on.

On day one we did our first load of tattoo shots and our first load of cutaway shots, a lot of time was spent doing tester shots hence why we allowed half an hour to set up. We started with Toms Tattoo and did all of our tester shots, making sure all of our setting were correct and accurate, making sure the lights were on good enough levels to highlight the tattoo the way we wanted. so once we started to get people arriving who we had arranged to meet us we could move swiftly through each person.

For our interviews we wanted to get as much information from our contributors as possible, before conducting the interviews we let them know what they would be asked to give them time to think about their answers. we asked variations of three simple questions; why did you get your tattoo? how do you feel when you look down at your tattoo? what does it make you think of? By asking these questions we always got exactly what we wanted from our contributors to put something together. It was rare that we got a contributor that didn't expand on their answers and even if they wouldn't really give us much we would repeat the last thing they said and they would just expand on their last comment. for example if someone said "i my tattoo because it was cool" we would just say "it was cool?" and they would then expand on there statement. 

Sync Sound

During one of our production skills seminars we learnt about sync sound, the way in which to achieve clean sync sound and what mic to use in which situation. i found this an extremely helpful seminar as it wouldn't just help with documentary but it would be something we could continue with throughout the course. Unfortunately with our documentary we won't be using any sync audio, we only plan on using a shotgun mic as nothing needs to be synced to video. However, i did learn ways of attaching solar microphones to subjects, methods of using electrical and surgical tape to hide it in costumes which is a really helpful thing to learn. we also learnt how to attach the mic straight to the camera so that it syncs straight up without having to line it all up together in post it just does it all in camera.

We also learnt how to use a clapper to mark scenes while shooting, I thought this would be a great tool to use. (Even though we were not recording any sound linking to video) We decided to use the clapper to mark all the individual tattoos, for example before recording the clapper would be held in front of the camera and it would say "tattoo 1 / take 1" so that we knew what number tattoo was being filmed straight away when it came to editing. Although it is normally used to link sound to video via the spike in audio that the clapper makes we decided to use it purely to label each shot for the editor.

Pitch Presentations

This presentation documents the pitches that my group did during the first week of this project after coming up with our initial ideas. We came up with two ideas that we pitched on the day and later came up with a third after realising that the previous two wouldn't work. We eventually came to the conclusion that the tattoo idea was the best out of the three.

Mood Board and Stills

These images will act as a mood board for the documentary. All of the images are collected from Pinterest.

These top two stills I found and gave me the idea to try and film some artist work as cutaway footage,  I believe it links in really well with the film itself and would make a better cutaway than just using random stock footage. The challenge with this is a lot of artists will copy right their work which means I won't be allowed to film it unless I get signed permission from them. I do have consent forms but if they are not willing to cooperate then it may become an issue.

These next images are how I wish to represent the studios and artists when we film them. For the studios I hope to be granted permission to film the studio when artists are at work getting both close up shots and wide shots of the studio to both use as main footage and cutaway shots. In terms of the artists I would want to film them with as much of them in the frame as possible due to the fact that more often than not they are covered head to toe in tattoos. 

The Above images are examples of how I wish to film the individual tattoos for the film, the reason I have decided only to show the persons tattoo was because I wanted the combination of the tattoo and the personal story to build the character and convey who the person is rather than seeing what they really look like.

Development of Documentary Treatment

Development of Documentary Treatment

Additions to the treatment will be made in red

Working Title – Pins & Needles

Genre – Documentary

Duration – 5 mins

Target audience – 18 – 50 years of age and those both with an interest for tattoos and those who are new to it.

Tagline

A documentary illustrating the personal stories behind peoples tattoos. Expressing the art as more than just an image it’s a story with complex emotions behind it.

Outline

In this documentary we hope to illustrate the thought and care that goes into the art people put permanently on their bodies in the hope it may subvert some premade assumptions. Keeping each story personal to the subject it will form individual complex narratives for each person. The film will be heavily influenced by James Lees short film 'pockets' because I love the stylistic way it shows the subjects in the film. The use of shallow depth of field allows for more focus on the smaller items which I feel would be a great way to show the tattoos. I have also been influenced by a few documentaries I have watched recently such as Tattoo Age from Vice which are incredibly informative and have as a result informed my decision to make part of the narrative for the film cover artists and what it’s like from their point of view.

This film will be made with a montage of tattoos in close up, it will be shot on the Canon 70D DSLR camera with a ring light around the lens allowing for a brighter, sharper and clearer image. It will be shot with a 50mm and an 85mm lens with a shallow depth of field so that the background is blurred and out of focus. This draws the audiences eye to the main focus of the frame which is the tattoo itself. The camera will be mounted on a tripod to allow for a still image, it will also mean that the fact the camera. I wish to experiment with using some different colour grading techniques so have downloaded a profile for my cinematographer to use while filming. The profile allows for a larger dynamic range between colours allowing for a brighter and more colourful images.

In terms of the recorded audio we will be record short interviews with a number of contributors to find out, why they get the tattoo? Why it’s important to them? What do they think about when they look at it? By keeping the questions personal so that the film is more about the people and their stories than about giving a general answer as to why people get tattoos. It will be recorded on a mono track hand mic and a shotgun mic. After talking with the sound recorder and designer we decided it would be a cool idea to add a number of sound effects to a few of the tattoos to bring them to life a little. We decided that it wouldn’t be over bearing sound but the effect would underline the image combined well with the music and narration interview.

Setting

The film will mainly be set in the high street in Sheffield as that is where we plan to find most of our contributors but it may also be filmed in other locations depending on contributor availability. However, due to the fact we plan on blurring the majority of the background out it won’t make much of a difference. I plan on also filming in a number of tattoo studios, although the location won’t be noticeable it’s the interviews with the artists that will make all the difference.

Examples of characters:

Harriet – A 19 year old girl dating an art and design student, she allows him to practice stick and poke tattoos on her legs. She has a variety of different images from him and a few tradition and abstract pieces.

Dalton - A Fine Art Student who has a lot of classic art based tattoos, as he aspires to be as good as the classics one day.