Looking back to the beginning.

As we tidy up our production folders ready for hand in, I look at our treatment from when we started this project, compared to our edits, it hasn't become the outcome we once wrote down in October. When you're making a film, I don't think that any treatment will match the film in the end, and I think that shows what I said in a few posts back about how 'life happens' and how things can change throughout the filming process.

The treatment is meant as an strong outline for our film and although our original intentions were interesting, exciting and had a lot of potential; we came together and made two totally different visions and it's for this reason I don't mind that the documentary went in a different direction completely. I'm glad we had the treatment as a structure of course, but I'm happy that we explored other areas and that the documentary turned out with surprising results.

Editing has begun!

The editing has begun! I didn't do a lot of editing today, it was more so organizing all the footage into different folders so when it came to Final Cut Pro, I could find clips a lot faster and easier.

For the piece of editing I did do, I started to think about the close ups shots of the women and how we start seeing what they are knitting and then we reveal who the person is that is knitting it. I feel for this piece of the documentary, it will be a lot slower than I would like. I wanted to have some quick shots but I don't think I'll be able to achieve the effect I want, with doing quick shots.

I was looking at one of the shots today and we started off looking at one of the woman's wool and her actually knitting out of focus, it then comes into focus and we slowly pan up and zoom out to reveal who is knitting the piece. I really liked the fact that we started off with the shot out of focus but because I don't want to sit on the same shot for forty five seconds, if I want to keep the out of focus look, I'll have to switch between shots. I'll have to look at this in more detail though, while editing, to make sure it all fits together smoothly.

Possible questions, stories and situations.

Now that we have our subject matter pinned down, we wanted to explore the types of stories and situations we could show in our documentary; these are listed below:

• Talk about the stereotypes (Ie. when people hear 'knitting' they think of old women usually).
• A beginner starting out.
• How it is a generational thing (Ie. passing it onto a child or grandchild).
• End results of knitting.

We knew that we wouldn't be able to have sit down interviews on screen with the owners of the shops (if we decide to visit the shops) because we aren't allowed to use that element of documentary film making; we did however just want to have a few questions written out to ask to find out if anyone had an interesting story or experience while they have been knitting and/or while working in a wool shop. These questions are listed below:

• When did you start knitting?
• How do you think the big businesses have taken over small independent shops?
• What is your customer range like? Older people, younger or a bit of both?
• Do you think the world of knitting is changing and attracting young people?

Brainstorming Session!

On Thursday (26th September) we got placed into pairs to work on our documentary. Jamie and I got placed together, and like the rest of the class, got thinking of ideas from the get-go. I wanted to sleep on our ideas before we made a final decision, just in case we thought of anything else we would like to try out. Below are the ideas that we thought of on Thursday.

The Opposable Thumb

Our first idea was to research the opposable thumb and how we would live our lives without it. We had thought of doing a day in the life without our thumbs; we didn't necessarily know anyone who doesn't have a thumb but if we were able to tape up our thumbs for the day and pretend we didn't have one, then we could see the challenges that we would face without them. The use of archive material could be used, maybe from news stories or something very similar and a visit to the Zoo was also suggested to go and look at the monkey's specifically for the fact that they use their hands more than most zoo animals. I also threw in the idea of having a short stop motion animation, just to have a different take on the documentary. We're not exactly sure what we would have the stop motion piece be yet, but it's on the cards.

The Future of Technology

Our second idea is a mix of two ideas; not only the world of technology that seems to be growing every day but we also wanted to see the effects that this new technology seems to be having on people. Not mentally but more physically; we wanted to look at carpal tunnel syndrome in terms of video games particularly and how technology has had an impact on this condition. We also wanted to look at sensors, keypads and touch screens and how they are becoming more and more, a part of every day life for many people. Again, I suggested the idea of a stop motion piece but we hadn't decided how we would incorporate that into the documentary. 

Exploring Knitting

Our third idea was to look into the craft of knitting. Over the past decade or so, knitting has become more popular in younger people, as well as celebrities being open about taking up the craft. We wanted to know the type of people who knit, what they knit, and how they all get together; as well as some information on people who actually sell wool and yarn, to ask them if they have seen a difference in the type of customer bases over the years. I suggested we talk to a number of knitting groups to get their input of knitting and why they think it is becoming popular; but also to talk to every day people from different background and various age ranges and how knitting connects them together with the variety of skill levels too.