Reshooting and Production Photographs.

We had our re-shoot on Wednesday at our afternoon group in the library. I wasn't sure what to think when going into this shoot; on the one hand I was really looking forward to getting more footage and getting stuck into the editing; but on the other hand I was quite nervous too, but I think that's only natural before any shoot.

It went even better than the first shoot, I was a lot more relaxed around the group because we had been there before, and because we had looked over the previous footage, I knew what shots worked and didn't work. This meant that I knew what type of shots I wanted this time around. The group we go to isn't very big, there's only around six people in it but I personally like this type of number because you can feel more intimate with them, and are able to work around them a lot easier than a bigger group. I did like the big group we went to, but I felt there was too much choice of people and in filming a smaller group; we didn't have loads of people but we can't concentrate more on a few people but get shots from a number of different angles.

Below are some screen shots that I have taken from the re-shot footage, that we looked at today: 

(One of the girls arrived late but this is a group shot from above, which showed that it's quite a tight knit *excuse the pun* group.)

 (I really liked this shot and even though it's just of tea and biscuits, I wanted to bring across that it's not just knitting that brings this group together, it's a social side too.)

(A two-shot of two of the ladies knitting and chatting away.)

(This shot will be cut down to start with this frame and it slowly glides up to the woman's face to show who is knitting.)

(Another shot of another one of the women knitting)

(Some close ups of the wool my Mum was knitting with as well as a glimpse of small Christmas presents one of the other ladies handed out to everyone.)

(I really love this shot; it may seem very simple but it brings together the social side and the craft side of knitting all in one shot.)

Overall, I'm really happy with our re-shoot footage; we used our tripod this time (Lesson? Always, always, always use a tripod or a steady cam) and the shots came out so much more beautifully. I wasn't able to get some of the more close-up shots I wanted to; this was due to the tripod not being able to get close enough, but after all at all the footage, I don't think we actually need them now. I feel like we have more than enough footage for our documentary (This is excluding the interview which I haven't filmed yet but we will be including it) and I think we also got a good variety of shots compared to last time too.

"Searching for Sugar Man"

I can honestly say that this documentary is one of the most fascinating stories I've ever watched, even heard. "Searching for Sugar Man" is a documentary about Sixto Rodriguez who was an American musician in the 1970's who's music took off greatly in South Africa but never in his native America. Rumours for years had gone around about him killing himself and this story follows the journey of two of his biggest fans to find out the truth about his death, or if there even was a death. To them, it was like he just disappeared off the face of the earth and they wanted to know more about this mysterious musician. 

I'll not spoil the film for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but it's a must see in my eyes. Not only story wise of course, but shot wise too. The beginning of the films starts out with a high wide shot of the city, these shots are my absolutely favourite camera shots; the buildings with all the lights lit up as well as the car lights; at night especially it's a beautiful view. When we move to Cape Town, it's very carefully played with the camera driving along with the car and it slowly pulls into a wide shot to see the car driving away in the distance but you can see how tall the cliffs and hills truly are. It's an amazing shot and I can only imagine how much time and patience went into getting that exact shot. 

Towards the beginning of the film, there was an animated drawing of "The Sewer" and over a few seconds, this turned into a photograph which then changed to real camera shots. It was a stunning panning shot, almost two minutes worth, and again, I can only imagine how long that took to set up and direct.

Other shots throughout the documentary included black and white photographs made into slow motion camera movement montages that all blended together so well that you wouldn't even realize you were watching a group of photographs; you felt as though you were watching a mini story unfold. When interviews were taking place, the background to these were very interesting; for example the interviews with Clarence takes place in a  recording studio and a number of gold discs are behind him on the wall.

Sixto's music is played throughout the film and they added an extra touch to make it easier to find his music online. Every time a different song played, the title of the track and the year it was made, was put on the left hand side on the screen.

If you're looking for a documentary with catchy music throughout, a story that will keep you compelled from start to finish as well as visually beautiful cinematography, then this is one of those films that you need to see.

Production Photographs!

I believe our shoot day was a success! We had both our schedules planned out, and all our release forms ready to give out to everyone at both groups.

I was the camera operator for the group I had organized while Jamie was done the sound. We then swapped roles when we got to his group later on that night.

Both groups were lovely to work with and were very accommodating to us filming around them. They let us listen in on their conversations, record them having a chat as well as knitting their own projects; and were very welcoming to Jamie and I.

Here is just a few of the production photographs we took on the night:

(A few of the ladies in the afternoon group in the library)

(Some knitted items at the evening group in the Church)

(Extreme close up of one of the already knitted items at the evening group)