I researched loads of things that I thought could be useful for my FMP. This obviously included research for Content, but I didn’t just research for Content.

 

I also did research, amongst other things, to help me decide on the Format/Style of my Film, because I wanted to be making conscious creative decisions about how I wanted my film to look. This included, initially, looking at other documentary/informative style videos, to see what I felt was effective or not, what I liked or not. I also included discussion about format/style that other people liked/disliked in my Primary Research interviews too.

 

But my research into Format/Style also included mise-en-scene i.e. considering everything that would be in frame, what the background would be while I am speaking to camera, what other things would be in frame, did I think videos where the presenter was sitting or standing worked best or moving around, or a combination?

 

I discuss below some other types of research that I did.

 

 

Theory

I researched various Theory involved in filmmaking. For example, the 30 degree rule, which I had noticed in the book "grammar of the shot" (Thompson, 2002) that had been recommended to us at the start of the course. This helped me to decide where to place my "markers" when filming the 4 (repeated) shots of my mum for the my "filming me filming" sequences. It helped make sure that the audience would see be able to recognise the difference in each of the 4 shots clearly, because I made sure I had at least 30 degrees between them, and thus be able to relate which shot was which across the 3 different types of movement that I was experimenting with i.e. stationary, handheld and on the slider.

 

 

Theory - Lighting

Other theory research was how to light when outdoors. This was a very new area to me, since up to now I have always filmed inside where you have much more control over the lighting. I learnt skills that will be very useful for filming in the future too, whether for more documentary/informative films or fiction films. For example, to moderate and control a bit the light from the sun, you need to ideally plan what time of day to film, and/or use modifying equipment like diffusers, reflectors and bounce-boards. Also be sure to check the weather for potential filming says, which I did.

 

To be honest, everything that I learnt from my research will be helpful going forward, all the Theory Research, Technical Research, Equipment Research, Premiere Pro Research. Had I continued with my FMP ideas about Dungeons and Dragons (role playing quest fantasy game) then the Content specific research wouldn’t really have been useful for future filming. However, since my topic is Camera Movement, even the Content specific research will be very useful, because I will want to use camera movement in my future films, and since I would like to take a cinematography route in the film industry it will be very relevant to that too. So, all useful in many ways

 

 

Storyboarding Theory

Because I find drawing so difficult, I find making storyboards challenging. So far, I have also not found them that helpful. So, I decided to research them more to find out better ways to do them, and any other information that might help make them more accessible to me, and more useful. I still decided that for this film it was more helpful and thus better to use a detailed script and shot list. However, I found some ways to try going forwards that may help me for fiction films, where I can see that they could be very helpful. For example, a suggestion was to really not worry about trying to make your drawing look artistically like the scene, use them to put labels and symbols on. An example given was to use a red pen for arrows for any in-frame movement involving the cast, e.g. a character moving or bullets flying, and a blue pen for directions for camera movement during the shot. I liked this idea, and I will try it out for future projects. I know that, one way or another, I need to get to grips with storyboards, since they are used widely, in many formats, in the film industry. I believe I need to find a way to make them work for me, and also build knowledge and an appreciation of how I may come across them and need to use ones that other people may have made too, in the film industry.

 

 

Learning Theory

When I was struggling to get my head round how I was finding that the way that I was learning best from my research wasn't matching with how I had planned to do my research (which I discuss in my blogs), and was getting quite frustrated, I researched into Learning Styles. I found it very interesting that I had used to think I was a Visual Learner, but my research showed me that actually I believe I am a Kinesthetic Learner, which I used to think meant someone who needs to do things to learn, but actually it is broader than that as it is more tied in with learning through movement of various kinds. This ties in with why I have found, for some time, that I learn best from videos, i.e. a combination of audio and visual WITH movement. My research suggested that it is also more abstract than that too, in terms of how kinesthetic learners make connections between things. It was useful to me for doing my research for this project, and has also given me ways to move ahead in the future with ways of connecting things so that I learn them better, ways that were not initially obvious to me.

 

I also think it makes it interesting that I have been drawn so much to camera movement, and that camera movement has always sort of made sense to me, and why right from the start of the course I wanted to learn about the College camera movement equipment like the slider track and Steadicam.

 

 

Technical Research

As I came across any technical issues, I researched those, for example how to do lighting outside,as well as the theory of lighting, since I had only done lighting inside before.

 

When I saw that some of my footage was grainy, I used YouTube videos to research how I could fix that using After Effects, because I hadn't done that before either. IN the end I decided, after feedback from my tutor Tom, that I wouldn’t use the After Effect tool to fix the graininess since it also had the effect of softening the focus a bit too, which was worse. Since I still had another day's filming, instead I researched how to avoid graininess on my next day's filming instead.

 

When I had difficulty using the equalising tool in Premiere Pro, I researched that too.

 

Research is very much a process that I continued through the whole of my FMP, it didn’t have a start and an end. If I needed new information or answers then I researched.

 

If it was to find a solution to a problem, then I always researched to try to find a solution. Firstly, this is so that I can avoid bothering my tutors if possible, after all they will not be there when I am working in the industry, so having methods of finding answers myself is important. Secondly, although there probably will be other people in the industry to ask, I think I will get the most out of asking anyone, tutor or colleague, if I have already got what knowledge I can and tried out things. Of course, another thing when working in the industry is to know when, due to time constraints, the best thing to do IS to just ask, and to be prepared to do that. It's better to ask, even if you think you will look like an idiot, that to not ask and get something wrong and risk costing the production loads of money. People wouldn’t be pleased.

 

 

Primary Research

I did loads of Primary Research myself by Test Filming and Test Editing. This helped me to check out a lot of conclusions that I was drawing from all the secondary research I was doing, and also highlighted things for me to go on and check out, verify and find solutions to with secondary research on, like costume/outfit choices, and backgrounds.

 

I also did Primary Research Phone interviews. I have detailed in my blog why I chose to do Qualitative Research rather than Quantitative Research, and why I chose interviews rather than surveys. They were very helpful in confirming the direction that I was going in, and also really backing up firmly how people don’t like to feel that they are being manipulated by persuasive techniques in videos, which I discuss below. I think that is a very important message for me to take away for future filming too. Later on this page I mention semiotics, a theory and technique that I was introduced to for the Toast Advert. As well as being used to inform and direct the audience's attention, it can also be used to try to persuade, like in adverts. But I think that because people are so familiar now with it, because they see so much online footage, that you need to do it really subtly. In films it is done much more to help the audience navigate the story, to "show don’t tell" them things, often so that they have a bit more knowledge than the character. People seem fine with this. However, I was going to have to make sure that when I used semiotics to help direct the audience's attention in my video that I do it in a helpful way and don't irritate them.

 

 

Historical Research, also comes under the heading of Contextual Research really.

I knew from the start that I wasn't intending to make my film all about the history of camera movement in Film and TV. In fact, I even put that in my script. However, I felt that it was important that I understand the historical path from when cameras didn’t move to where we are today, with the most amazing shots possible because of the most amazing equipment available, to give me a context within which to set what I was learning and was going to put in my video. I found the series of videos in Crash Course Series Film History (CrashCourse, 2017) a really helpful starting point for this.

 

However, researching the history also showed me that it is not solely about available equipment, although that can obviously be a limiting factor. It is also about the vision of the director and cinematographer. For example, someone had to first have the thought "I know, let's move the camera too, not just the actors!" which at the time must have been pretty radical. That person, by the way, was Edwin S. Porter, with The Great Train Robbery (1903) and I did feel that it was valuable to mention him in my film. But equally, Sam Mendes was pretty radical with deciding to do 1917 (2019) as a "one shot" movie. The "one shot" principle has been used before in some other movies, e.g. in Rope (1948) by Alfred Hitchcock, and at the start of Spectre (2015), also directed by Sam Mendes. However, 1917 (2019) is a popular current usage that has drawn quite a bit of attention. Although pretty much everyone that I spoke to was blown away by 1917 (2019), there some dissenting voices in audiences, but I think that will always be the case with change.

 

 

Content Research

I did so much Content research that I don’t really know where to start. Also, as I have mentioned in my blog, I found that pretty much all my research crossed several "research categories", but I found that particularly true with Content research, where a video that I picked out to watch due to being behind the scenes about a film would have loads of Camera Movement info in, or Explanations about Camera Movement Equipment, or have useful visuals of people speaking to camera that were helpful for my style/format decisions, or..or.. the list goes on.

 

As I explain in my blog, I got rather stressed about this, but I decided that actually what mattered was that I was DOING lots of research, that I was LEARNING from it, and that it was INFORMING what I did in my FMP, especially,  but not only, my video.

 

Some things which I researched for Content, and used clips in my video from, include films such as Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), Rocketman (2019) and 1917 (2019). I also researched and included behind-the-scenes footage from these films. I researched other films too, such as Thor: Ragnarok (1027) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) but, although they great films and some of my favourites, I didn’t find them as useful for this project as I did the first 4 that I have just mentioned. Particular things stood out for me, in the first 4 films that I just mentioned, regarding potential camera movement that I could talk about in my content. For example, all the fight scenes in the Kingsman movies and the dance sequences in Rocketman (2019). And the whole camera element of 1917 (2019) being a "one continuous shot" film, although I didn’t want to distract by talking about that too much, but I did feel it warranted being included.

 

Although I researched lots about Camera Movement and Camera Movement Equipment, it confirmed for me that I didn't want to go too far down the rout of discussing all the different options, because that would have turned my video into a technical or "how to do" movie. So, fascinating all those videos were, I didn’t include them, other than for very short clips to illustrate when I mentioned, for example, a crane. However, they have added greatly to my knowledge, and gave me Context for what went into my film.

 

I also researched different ways of getting music and sound effects for my video. I found an interesting way of getting music,using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) website Evoke Music (2019) that generates music based on several keywords that you type in. It is interesting in that it isn’t always consistent with the same keywords, but it brings up novel music. I used the keywords "energy" (because I wanted an energetic sound, "background" because I didn’t want it to take over, and "drums" (because I wanted a beat to it). I am pleased that the music that it created has a strong feeling of "energy" which is what I wanted, and fits well creatively with the visuals.

 

I looked at different websites to get birdsong but didn’t really like what I found, and I ended up choosing one off YouTube, which felt more real to me.

 

 

Style/Format Research

There were lots of creative decisions to make about style and format, way more than I had expected. I had thought that making a documentary/informative video would limit the creative element that is part of what I enjoy in making fiction films. I like looking through the camera lens, seeing everything that is in frame and seeing if it is how I planned it, or maybe it is better, but either way everything in frame is important. Maybe this is partly because I have always noticed continuity issues on screen, including in an episode of Phineas and Ferb when I noticed the 2 frames (pretty literally) when Phineas' t-shirt changed colour then changed back again. So, the whole of what is in frame matters to me. I think, considering the location issues I have had with this project, that is why it bothered me so much whether I filmed in the woods or my garden, because my Test Filming had shown what a difference that makes.

 

Going back to the creative decisions, I was finding that there are just as many creative decisions to make in a documentary/informative film as in my fiction films. And semiotics plays a large part too.

 

An example of a creative decision that may not have seemed to be as apparent in a documentary/informative video as in fiction, is what to wear. I chose to wear my waistcoat, with rolled-up sleeves and my customary trilby, because I felt it suited the style that I was after, smart-casual but with a twist. I like the style of Mark Kermode - when he presents to camera, he often wears a suit, but it is usually an interesting colour suit, for example a purple one. It says to us that he respects us, the audience, enough to wear a suit for us, but its unconventionality also lets us know that this probably isn't going to be boring, so we are curious and want to continue watching. Semiotics at work.

 

What we choose to wear signals subconsciously to other people about our personality, semiotics again, and thus enables people to make an immediate subconscious decision about whether they are going to like what they are about to watch or not. Semiotics is very powerful. So we shouldn’t ignore it. When we learnt about semiotics for filming our adverts you can see why it is a good thing to make use of in an advert, since we are trying to persuade the audience to buy the product. And my research into formats/styles showed me that many documentary/informative videos have a persuasive style, the presenters are trying to persuade you that their point of view about a topic is the right one, so, just like adverts, you can see a strong place for them using semiotics.

 

But this research had made me decide that I didn’t want to be making a video where I was trying to change someone's mind. I could see that that type of video definitely could have a valuable place, especially at the moment with everything that is going on in the world. But my Primary Research Interviews showed me that everyone who I interviewed said they don’t like videos where they felt that the presenter was trying to make them share the presenter's point of view. Not making the CONTENT persuasive also fitted with the subject matter of my video, in that there is not really anything to persuade anyone about, I just wanted to inform and entertain, and hopefully end with the audience thinking "Oh yes, I hadn’t thought about that so much before, but now I see it, and that was interesting", meeting the entertainment objective.

 

So, did that mean that semiotics has no place in my video? NO, it absolutely doesn’t mean that. It means it has a different place. In my video I will use semiotics to add to the enjoyment of the viewing experience, by signalling to the audience through my choice of costume/outfit the flavour of the video, by setting the background to be pleasant, with enough differentiation of me against the background that they can relax and enjoy the experience, but not so much differentiation that it jars. I am signalling to them that I am someone who is respectful enough to them that I don’t just wear any old clothes, but quirky enough (trilby) that I will probably be interesting.

 

For in the woods, I will put my Mum in a bright blue plain hoodie. Again, this choice signals things to the audience that they need to look at her, she is relevant to what is going to happen, and is a decision also guided by my research. She is visible to the audience, easy to differentiate against the wooded background, but doesn’t jar because the blue is a natural water/sky colour. It is also important, since neither she nor the background are moving in many of the shots, that I direct the audience where I want them to look. As I will discuss in my video, which I sort of already knew but my research verified, a purpose of movement (camera or person) is to direct the audience's attention. My mum will not be moving for most of the shots, so I need her noticeable to use this alternative method of directing the audience's attention.

 

 Another reason why I can wear grey, is because I made the decision to either have me moving in my shots to camera, or to have the camera moving. So I draw the audience's attention, so I don’t need to be wearing as bright colours as I put my mum in. Had I worn as bright colours as I put my mum in then this might have actually directed the audience's attention away from my face and mouth talking, which is where I wanted them focused more. And because most of the shots of me will contain movement of some kind (by creative design), it means that I can also incorporate a few that don't contain movement (other than me speaking).  [Note: this is the same principle that I mentioned in the edit of the shots of my mum that I say is my preferred one, where it is 2 shots with camera movement in then ringing the change with a stationary shot, then back to a 4th shot with camera movement in, because then the change keeps our attention]

 

All this came from watching not just clips that looked specifically about style/format, but also from any other of the clips that contained people. That is a reason why I found it hard to categorise my research, but why it has all been so useful, and I have learnt a lot.

 

I am thinking that learning a lot, both about films and about myself, is the more useful thing rather than just being able to categorise my research. But I do think that I need to find a better way to organise my research n the future, since I looked at way more stuff than for previous projects, and, to be honest, I think there are probably some clips that I watched and that developed the way I think about things,  but I never got to put them in my Bibliography because I was so engrossed in moving from clip to clip. I need to find a way to ensure that I record ALL clips in my Bibliography the future.

 

Summary

So, in summary, I did loads of research, all the way through my FMP, and used it to inform all the decisions, both creative and technical, that I made. A lot of these decisions relate to the various elements of creating the actual video part of my FMP, but other decisions relate to my whole FMP, for example things like how I went about researching.

 

Research is a valuable and vital element of any project and should inform all decisions. And it did.