Reflective Report

Overall I am tremendously pleased with the documentary Conor and I have produced. We set out to create an engaging documentary about pottery and Rory and I feel we have done that.

The original intention was to make it about Rory and then we drifted into thinking about making it about pottery in general, the process and eventually I feel we have managed to make it on both. There was a lot of footage from the interview that we could have used like Rory’s beginnings in pottery and how he arrived to where he is now but we decided not to use them because there was no real need for them, it wasn’t an artist profile.

The message we wanted to get across was what drives Rory to keep coming back. Ceramics isn’t for the weak hearted and you cannot give up, it’s not a career where there is a lot of money. Rory is the only one from his university class still working in clay, the rest couldn’t keep it up. I feel the message we are trying to say comes across clear: Be resilient and stick with it and every project you come to, have the thought that it’s going to be the greatest thing you’ve ever made.

I can’t fault the camerawork at all as it is stunning and definitely helps with the feel of pottery being a delicate and beautiful art, Conor did a great job. If anything, I feel the time management and organising could have been better on our part. There were times where we weren’t entirely sure when we were filming and what we were doing, despite it coming together in the end.

We edited the film in a very short period and I feel it may have suffered as a result. I wanted to get the best possible edit that we could and it is very good, but I just feel with material like this, it warrants a thorough edit. 

If I was to redo this I would definitely manage our time better and stick to a shooting schedule organised well in advance, admittedly several times we couldn’t shot were due to circumstances beyond our control. It felt slightly rushed in the end because we were running out of time and I feel that perhaps it could have been a bit better in the end.

However, for my first foray into documentary I am very pleased with what we have produced. I feel I understand pottery and ceramics to a better degree now and I have a lot of respect for any artist who pursues this as a hobby because they really enjoy it and have stuck with it.

I’m really glad we managed to get the message across and that it doesn’t just apply to potters but to any artist. Even filmmaking, proceed with the belief that whatever you’re working on is the best thing you’ve ever made at this point. The shots are really stunning and really cement the feeling that we were going for with this documentary. I feel very proud to say that I was director on this piece and currently stands among the best work I have ever done.

Editing

After getting all of the footage shot, it was time to start editing.

We used Final Cut Pro X which is a very good piece of editing software, it was a different experience as I had never used it before but would definitely use it again. We thought a lot about how we wanted to edit the documentary and decided that we wanted to get across what Rory thought about pottery and what it means to him.

His interview was really good, especially toward the end because it feels like Rory became more comfortable and was able to say what he really felt without feeling the pressure of the camera.

We decided to build the edit around the interview and highlight the parts of the interview we wanted to use and then blend them with different shots of the process. It was difficult to not get carried away because the cutaways looked very good and it was very tempting to use them too much.

We really honed in on the hobby aspect of the interview. He makes it clear that it isn't a job that you can be financially secure in, you need another job. It's also a hobby that requires a lot of resilience because you have to stick with it. You don't get it right the first time round and each time you create something, you become better. 

Filming Day 2

We finally shot Rory's interview at his home, to give this part a different look and to separate his working condition from his personal. I really liked where we shot because it was were he lived and he touched upon his life and love of pottery in a more personal way.

The interview went on far longer than we expected and we got some really good information and stories from Rory. We have more than enough footage to get a good edit out of and taking parts of the interview and building the edit around it is a good structure. There are a lot of parts to include that will go well with other footage. 

Production Update

Production on the pottery documentary is moving forward but haven't been able to film with the break for Christmas and New Year and Rory has been incredibly busy.

Conor and I have discussed ideas for different shot types and different things we can add to it. We were pretty sure about touching upon an elemental theme in the documentary, that everything is tied to the elements.

We plan to film different landscapes and scenery such as trees, murky forests, rain and sunsets. Blending this with Rory talking and footage of the process will help give the idea that all this is connected together. I think it is a really nice thought.

The interview with Rory will be filmed next and I have questions prepared for it, trying to hone in on what he thinks pottery is about and what it means to him.

I'm unsure of the location we will use for this, maybe the workshop or a more relaxed location.

Filming: Day One

Finally me and Conor got to film at last. It was great to get some filming for this under our belts and I think that it's really going to turn out well.

We filmed a lot of shots of Rory working in the workshop. The workshop is very  impressive and tells us a lot about Rory and the way he likes to work. It's a very relaxing and calming environment.

Some of Rory's pieces to be fired

 Conor was familiar with the workshop which was a great advantage as he was on camera and got some really beautiful shots. He used his Canon 550D mostly that has such great image quality. I shot a little on the Canon XF100, but we couldn't use it as well as the shutter speed settings are really strange to work out and did not look well in the lighting conditions. I fixed some settings that made it better, but overall, the best quality was on the 550D. I experimented a lot with some slow tracking and pulling focus.

We only filmed Rory working on some pieces as they will serve a great purpose for cutaways and telling us a lot about Rory and showing us how difficult and precise this craft is.

It's a massive confidence booster to get some filming done finally. We are going back to film on Sunday evening which will be a very exciting bit of filming as we get to  film Rory firing the kiln. After that we need to film an interview with Rory and some location shots and that will be us finished.

Class Viewing 3: Searching for Sugar Man

What a film. Just what a film. Searching for Sugar Man was the third film we watched in class and was directed by Malik Bendjelloul.

I personally think that this may be one of the best films I have ever seen. The way it makes you feel when it's over is shocking, it feels so good and I felt so glad that I had been told this incredible story.

Sixto Rodriguez was a singer from Detroit in the late 60's who was signed and released two albums. Both flopped in the US and he was released. He gave up singing and disappeared. Years later his music became a massive hit in South Africa. His records sold upwards of 500,000 copies. He was bigger than Elvis.

However, no one knew anything about him. Many believed he committed suicide by setting himself alight on stage. Yet no one had seen this happen. From here, a massive journey of discovery for Rodriguez begins and ends so amazingly.

The film resonated with me for days (it still is) because of this amazing journey. We are led down the road for so long about this mans suicide and we believe ourselves that he's dead as we just get let down so many times and the evidence all points that way.

Yet we discover that he's alive and it's about a man working in poverty who didn't know he was famous and his music was prominent in the anti-apartheid movement. It's a glorious moment.

It was interesting to point out that some of the interviews at the start that we see about the people saying who they didn't know who this man was and that they believed he died are also the same ones shown at the end when we know the truth. It has been cleverly edited together to tell the best story which works so well.

It's emotional when we hear from the producers who worked with him and are sad about what could have happened to him. Yet at the end, his fame doesn't get the better of him as he still lives in the house he's lived in and donates his money.

Class Viewing 2: Encounters at the End of the World

The second week's viewing was a film entitled: Encounters at the End of the World directed by Werner Herzog.

I had heard of Herzog before now and was aware of his success in the documentary field but had yet to watch any of them. He is strange for his involvement in both documentaries and fiction fields, directing Bad Lieutenant: Port Call of New Orleans and playing the 'baddie' in Jack Reacher. A unique filmmaker.

Encounters involved Herzog and a small film crew going to the South Pole in Antarctica to observe the life of the people who work there. The film is so mesmerizing because of the way Herzog tells the story.

We learn soon on of the truck driver which is essentially a bus that collects them and several others when the plane lands. Firstly, this bus isn't a normal size. It is a giant behemoth with wheels bigger than houses. Herzog asks him what he did before coming here, expecting a truck driver or a cab driver, but the man reveals he worked in a bank in Colorado. This was shocking. 

The man tells us that he moved to Guatemala and got involved in the civil rights movement and was captured by these gang members who were going to kill him with a machete, but thankfully he escaped. He closes by telling us that there was another woman captured who didn't make it and was killed. It was a very emotional and sad moment that laid the groundwork for the film.

It was very interesting to find out about the different people who live here, like the divers who must blow a massive hole in the ground then dive in sub zero temps. They don't use a tether line either and must find their way back to the small exit hole. They search for sea creatures and anything else they can find, sometimes finding new species' of creatures. According to them it's a 'very big deal' but remain calm and unnaffected because it must happen pretty regularly.

Herzog is a very effective documentarian and it may be his experience of both this genre and fiction that enables him to be so good at it. He blurs the line between fiction and reality and we almost don't know what we're watching and we get lost in it. I think it makes for really effective storytelling. He has clearly staged certain things for the camera and has paid off miraculously.

I feel it would be a cardinal sin to skip talking about the visuals in this film. The cinematography is incredible, the cavern walls look like they can tell so many stories and the underwater photography is also breathtaking.