Pre-Production: Researching Cinematic Documentaries
I would really like this piece to be visually pleasing to give in a particular niche over other documentaries of this style. The usual; typical BBC Three style is very handheld and not very cinematic but by making this documentary cinematic and well shot/edited there should be no reason this can't also be a work of art. We will only be able to demonstrate this through creativity and research. If we get the resources to shoot in cinematic quality we can make it another highlighting feature to our work.
For inspiration and research, I decided to watch lots of short films, and my go-to place was Vimeo, where documentaries are seemingly more original than what you would expect to see on mainstream broadcasts like BBC Three. From watching these shorts, I am finding out what styes I like and dislike. Just like the content creators here, I have the freedom to experiment with style and see what works for me, which is an opportunity that shouldn't be ignored.
One that stood out to me for its unique and original style is 'Transition'. Whilst it is a completely different topic genre to my documentary, I am really looking here for the way its shot to show how documentary shooting can be cinematic and not just clinical handheld footage with set-up interviews.
For inspiration and research, I decided to watch lots of short films, and my go-to place was Vimeo, where documentaries are seemingly more original than what you would expect to see on mainstream broadcasts like BBC Three. From watching these shorts, I am finding out what styes I like and dislike. Just like the content creators here, I have the freedom to experiment with style and see what works for me, which is an opportunity that shouldn't be ignored.
One that stood out to me for its unique and original style is 'Transition'. Whilst it is a completely different topic genre to my documentary, I am really looking here for the way its shot to show how documentary shooting can be cinematic and not just clinical handheld footage with set-up interviews.
I instantly recognised this documentaries style right from the titles at the start. It was able to take me into the piece and break the price with titles by having footage, then cut to title, more footage, cut to tile etc. These were very sharp cuts accompanied with a cinematic font (as seen on step 9 of Cinematic Look Research). The audio playing was of a cheering audience from a football stadium. Without seeing the stadium in shot, I was able to recognise the audio.
-Cinematic font (similar to Muse Sans)
-Small font with black background. Leaving a lot of space here is effective to achieve that aesthetic.
-The two font sizes and spacing also helps achieve this look.
-The main title here uses the same font in capitals with a lot of letter spacing.
-There is a graphic 'transition' of the 'S' where it flips which fits into the title snd theme of the film. It sets the audile up subtly.
-The out of focus background shot of the brush dropping into the paint water shot 50fps.
-Archive footage cuts between the present shots. This in itself tells a story when the documentaries focus character (Joos) is walking up the entrance stairs into the pitch. Without any context or information, this tells the audience he is walking into a pitch which has a lot of history behind it.
-The documentaries colour correction is very green/grey. Fairly low saturation which has a cinematic and slightly depressing tone to it.
-Narration comes in from the boy, who reminisces on his first 'soccer game' and picks out details of it being a rainy day.
-The vision of this is set up already with the shots in a puddle and the grey/green colouring.
-The story then takes a sudden turn where we are introduced to his interest in graffiti. He brings in the past again of when his interest developed. Whenever talking about the past the archive footage is used. I believe this is done to show a clear distinction between the two time frames.
-Cinematic font (similar to Muse Sans)
-Small font with black background. Leaving a lot of space here is effective to achieve that aesthetic.
-The two font sizes and spacing also helps achieve this look.
-The main title here uses the same font in capitals with a lot of letter spacing.
-There is a graphic 'transition' of the 'S' where it flips which fits into the title snd theme of the film. It sets the audile up subtly.
-The out of focus background shot of the brush dropping into the paint water shot 50fps.
-Archive footage cuts between the present shots. This in itself tells a story when the documentaries focus character (Joos) is walking up the entrance stairs into the pitch. Without any context or information, this tells the audience he is walking into a pitch which has a lot of history behind it.
-The documentaries colour correction is very green/grey. Fairly low saturation which has a cinematic and slightly depressing tone to it.
-Narration comes in from the boy, who reminisces on his first 'soccer game' and picks out details of it being a rainy day.
-The vision of this is set up already with the shots in a puddle and the grey/green colouring.
-The story then takes a sudden turn where we are introduced to his interest in graffiti. He brings in the past again of when his interest developed. Whenever talking about the past the archive footage is used. I believe this is done to show a clear distinction between the two time frames.
This documentary is very narrative driven, and its artistic topic matches its artistic style. It tells the story through narration, archive film and visual shot of working and following the documentary subject. The framing of the film leaves a letterbox which is typical to a film and not necessarily documentary. This again will help me achieve the appearance I want.
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