Documentary Research / Influences

Research Into Tattoos and Documentary Influences

After watching a number of tattoo related documentaries its clear that this isn't untouched ground, its a relatively common area for documentary film makers. In order to research this I decided to watch a number of documentary such as 'In Skin' by Flying Knee Productions and 'Tattoo Age' by Vice. These documentaries and the research i have conducted will help inform the final film and will help shape the film as a documentary. One documentary that has heavily influenced my plans for the stylised look of the film is James Lees 'Pockets' due to its use of close up, consistent shots and colour.

In Skin - Flying Knee Productions

This documentary focuses much more on the artists side of tattooing. what it means to the artists who are putting these pieces of work onto paying customers, what the challenges for them are and what they love about their job. From watching this documentary i have gained an insight to what it is like for tattoo artists on a personal level and the passion that goes into the work that they do. I would love to be able to get an insight into the stories Sheffield artists have for our documentary. Rather than just looking at people who have tattoos, looking at people who give them. There are multiple studios that we could contact such as 'Crooked Claw', 'Thou Art' and 'Good Vibrations' each of which i feel would be happy to help us with this project. 

Tattoo Age - Vice

This is a series of short documentary pieces, during each one they following either a different artist, a different style of tattooing or what tattoos are like in different parts of the world. for example with traditional Japanese stick and poke tattooing the artist will only use a needle tied to the end of a stick and puncture the skin by hand rather than with a machine, it is a time consuming method but is grounded in tradition. Lucky for us i know someone who has stick and poke tattoos and they may be able to talk about them and what its like having them as opposed to a normal machine based tattoo. This series also gives an insight to the type of customers these kinds of artists attract. A lot are described as collectors of tattoos, those who will spend a lot of money to get a particular piece by a particular artist. Watching this has helped inform the narrative for my film and what is important to focus on when it comes to artists and recipients of tattoos.

Pockets - James Lee 

This film has heavily influenced my ideas for the look and style of our film. i love the way that depth of field is used to draw the eye of the spectator on the important thing in the frame. In this case i will use the same effect to draw focus to the tattoo on the subject and hold there whilst they talk about their personal story. I also thought that they way they used colour was quite effective, the whole film was tinted a kind of gold colour wether it was for a reason or just for stylistic effect it was a great use of colour. I have had a few ideas for the use of colour in this film that I believe could be used in the same way as in Pockets.