The Brief
One assignment we were given was to create a short documentary focusing on events, people or even the local community. Placed into groups I was placed to work with Barney Cremin, Immy Evans, Jack Miller, Luke Brown and Emily Nunn. Our first task was to draw up a list of 10 potential ideas that could be developed into a short documentary. During out brainstorm we liked a few ideas presented including a 'dog whisperer' which was around a woman who claimed to be able to communicate with animals, a focus on the druid community due to Stone Henge being close to us and a look at a local tattoo shop that was celebrating 18 years since opening and that was ran by an entire family. We decided to go with the druid idea, but shortly after that decision was made Emily decided to leave our course and leaving us a crew member shorter than expected.
Regardless, we carried on and began trying to reach out to the druid community and tried numerous options in hopes of getting the ball rolling with the idea. Despite relentless attempts to contact someone we continued to hit dead ends and decided to abandon the concept due to a deadline for the production coming closer and closer. With this option ended we looked at the tattoo option as I had already a slight relationship with the owners due to having gotten a tattoo and piercing from their shop before. I took the lead and made an initial phone call to the owners of the Sharp Practice.
Once on the phone Becky, the owner, did say they had been asked before to do similar productions but due to how enthusiastic I was on the phone she wanted to meet me. With a lot of pressure on my shoulders I went in and spoke to her face-to-face. Within a five minute conversation of me explaining how we wanted to look at the family aspect of their business resulted in her offering us a date to come in and film. With the confirmation all set we set ourselves tasks for the production. I expressed an interest in being on the camera (something I had not yet managed to do while at Bournemouth University), Immy wanted to direct and Jack wanted to edit. This left producer and sound up for grabs, Barney having proven his skills in organisation stepped up and took the role leaving Luke on sound.
We started to plan what we wanted the day we would be filming, we knew we wanted conversations with the family members along with staff members that worked for them. We also liked the fact that if the shop was a person, it would be reaching legal age to get a tattoo itself and thought it would be a good question to ask them "what tattoo do you think suits the Sharp Practice". We also knew we wanted some shot of customers getting both tattooed and pierced along with everyday shoppers popping into their shop. With our plan set, we decided Jack would be best to not be on set so that when he came to edit he would have a fresh outlook on the footage.
Regardless, we carried on and began trying to reach out to the druid community and tried numerous options in hopes of getting the ball rolling with the idea. Despite relentless attempts to contact someone we continued to hit dead ends and decided to abandon the concept due to a deadline for the production coming closer and closer. With this option ended we looked at the tattoo option as I had already a slight relationship with the owners due to having gotten a tattoo and piercing from their shop before. I took the lead and made an initial phone call to the owners of the Sharp Practice.
Once on the phone Becky, the owner, did say they had been asked before to do similar productions but due to how enthusiastic I was on the phone she wanted to meet me. With a lot of pressure on my shoulders I went in and spoke to her face-to-face. Within a five minute conversation of me explaining how we wanted to look at the family aspect of their business resulted in her offering us a date to come in and film. With the confirmation all set we set ourselves tasks for the production. I expressed an interest in being on the camera (something I had not yet managed to do while at Bournemouth University), Immy wanted to direct and Jack wanted to edit. This left producer and sound up for grabs, Barney having proven his skills in organisation stepped up and took the role leaving Luke on sound.
We started to plan what we wanted the day we would be filming, we knew we wanted conversations with the family members along with staff members that worked for them. We also liked the fact that if the shop was a person, it would be reaching legal age to get a tattoo itself and thought it would be a good question to ask them "what tattoo do you think suits the Sharp Practice". We also knew we wanted some shot of customers getting both tattooed and pierced along with everyday shoppers popping into their shop. With our plan set, we decided Jack would be best to not be on set so that when he came to edit he would have a fresh outlook on the footage.
The Day of Filming
Needless to say, Becky the owner was truly amazing and aided us without us even asking her. Any customers that came in she was automatically explaining why we were there and even better asking if they would mind us filming them. This made Barney's job a lot easier as all he had to focus on was getting signatures on permission forms for people to appear on camera. With everything going like clockwork we got shots of the shop floor, the display cabinets, customers looking through the art work, customers interacting with staff, people getting tattooed or pierced and interviews with all but two of the shop's family and staff. We did have a slow start as Luke (who had all the equipment) slept through his alarm and arrived on set an hour late. However, this hour was not wasted as we used the time to plan where the camera could go during filming and started briefing family members and staff on what the interviews would entail.
Post-Production
Jack did a brilliant job editing the footage, and with a clean perspective on the footage came up with a fast-paced short documentary that truly reflected how busy the shop can be and how the family and staff all truly feel connected through the shop. The only issue we had was on music. Luke who was charged with the responsibility again let the production down and it resulted in me finding some music for Jack as quickly as I could. All-in-all the crew were happy with the end result and thought they had achieved what they set out to capture on film.