Documentary production

I took the role of camera, with Sam directing, Jacob producing, Jordan editing, and Ed being responsible for sound. We started filming as soon as we got chance to once in Liverpool, and we concentrated on the Monday evening around the Docks area, which would contribute 'nicer' or 'city-of-culture' side of the juxtaposition between that and the deprived areas of the city.

At the time of filming, I thought I'd recorded a good amount of footage on Monday, but looking at the footage retrospectively, a lot of the shots I didn't give enough consideration to, and certain ones I should have recorded more than one take of - for example, I used a polarising filter in two or three shots to create a transition between the sky being light blue and turning to a dark blue, an effect at the time I thought might be useable in the edit, but Jordan later hated me for doing it.

After, we had a group tutorial with Dom and Neil, who suggested that the idea might be closer to an experimental film than to a conventional documentary, which we considered as we went on filming. On Tuesday morning, myself and Sam got up early to drive up to the Edge Lane area which we'd use to contrast with the footage of the Docks at sunset. This footage, when it isn't too shaky, I think has a good atmosphere about it - it was misty and at the beginning of filming, the Sun hadn't yet penetrated the mist, which suited the rows of boarded-up and semi-demolished houses.

Later in the day, we went to film different areas around Liverpool's city centre. I think I should have spent more time setting up the shots overall, because it was only when I watched the footage back when I got home that I realised a lot of the shots aren't well-exposed and that while a lot of the tripod shots aren't quite level, the handheld shots are generally level enough, but far too shaky. But I think Jordan did a good job in the edit of editing around my mistakes and making me look like a more competent camera operator.