The first part of my Buffalo Fish shoot involved filming a live performance at The Monarch in Camden Town, in addition to shooting an interview with the band before they went on stage.

Interior of the venue

Shooting Schedule Buffalo Fish Live at The Monarch 2016 by JoshuaSampson


Interview
For the interview itself I came up with a rough list of questions and facts on each of the individuals so I could bounce off of their responses and also be prepared when knowing what questions to ask.

Buffalo Fish and Terry Wapram Notes by JoshuaSampson

Interview

We arrived a few hours before the performances to set up the interview. When arriving at the venue in the evening we found that the lighting inside the venue was not sufficient enough and the lights and stands we had brought would have made for a harsh, bright light on each of their faces. Additionally the noise around the venue was difficult to lower through boom positioning meaning that it would be very distracting and difficult to pick up their voices, even though we had gone to the quitest part of the venue. Because of these issues I decided to make the decision to postpone the interview to a later date but film the performance which would be very beneficial to my film. Next time I will come down and inspect the venue in the evening to double check the lighting is efficient. I will also look into further techniques of muffling the background noise if I want to shoot interviews in a venue in the future.

Live Filming

On shoot I had myself, Julia and Katherine on the shoot and for the performance I decided to operate my camera, the Sony A6000, have Katherine on the main static wide shot (EX3) and Julia on the Canon 600d which she is most familiar with. I was at the left hand side of the stage, Julia was at the right and the main camera was positioned in the middle of the pit. Additionally I had the Zoom H4N recording from the mixer to get the best possible sound. I feel the shooting of the event went well however when further inspecting the audio recordings on the H4N I realised that the sound had been recording at too high of a level due to the sound engineer changing the mix as thr performance was going on, which meant the tests I did had different levels so the recording was crackly and the levels were so high that the sound became muffled and inaudible meaning I would have to rely on the Sony A600/600d for sound. When closely inspecting the footage I found the sound recording on the A6000 came out surprisingly well so I am going to use that sound to give my film a raw, live atmospheric feeling to the cutaways of the performances I will incorporate into my documentary.

Screenshot of Sony A6000 footage. 

Overall I am very satisfied with the outcome of the footage I got and I feel that it was actually a positive outcome not filming an interview at the venue and persevering to film at a later date helped as I could go away and arrange an interview in a more secluded location that would be more aesthetically pleasing due to the fact I could have more control on the image quality. 

Reviews and Research into Documentary film 

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014)

To inspire my film and to further my knowledge of documentary film styles I decided to watch a music drama based on a true story. The film itself follows an young ambitious jazz drummer put through the reins by a harsh, critical instructor. The film itself incorporates different editing styles and a variety of unique camera angles which makes for a visually exciting film. The build up to the narrative is inspiring, as we are put through an emotional journey supporting our budding musician, Andrew (Miles Teller) through a series of difficult, life-testing experiences that pushes him to the limit. The narrative structure itself is quite basic, however through the imagery the film and symbolism, I find the film very complex. The end sequence is particularly inspiring as it builds up to this moment and ends fittingly with Andrew  playing an extended drum solo. 

This inspires my film as Doug is an experienced drummer so it would be interesting to represent that through his facial expressions and movement whilst playing the drums, which is exacerbated throughout Whiplash by Andrew’s movement and facial expressions whilst playing the drums. Overall Whiplash has been a major influence for my film through the interesting use of varied camera techniques in addition to the soundtrack which reflects the importance of a good soundtrack, which is why I put emphasis on taking time for picking the right music for my film. 

The History of Iron Maiden – Part 1: The  Early Days

To build upon the factual information I already know of Iron Maiden I decided to watch a feature length documentary film following the complete story of Iron Maiden from start to finish. The film itself took a number of years to make through the collection of archive material collected for the film, in addition to the 20+ interviews that were shot. The film itself is very simplistic through its use of interview footage, archive and music which is something I incorporated into my film, however I will be making the narrative flow slightly differently, through the jumping between characters frequently. The re-occuring ‘Metal’ essence within the film is represented through the sharp cuts and graphics used throughout the film.  This is also something I intend on doing throughout my film. 

This film however is particularly useful when it comes to finding out everything about Iron Maiden, from their very first gig to the present. Every member that ever was in Iron Maiden features in the film, and most discuss their time on camera which I find fascinating as I aspire to talk to as many ex-Iron Maiden members as I can throughout my project. The film itself however I find quite long-winded and bland, but this is because of the inclusion of so many ex-iron maidens sharing their stories, and sometimes it can be hard to keep up with all of them. This is something I intend on avoiding though the use of graphics and titles to accurately depict which character is which clearly and effectively. Additionally because this film is predominantly looking at the past factually, it can be difficult to keep focus and take in all of the facts being discussed. This is something I intend on avoiding through quick cuts to different characters to keep the viewer enticed in my film. Overall however I feel this film is a good starting point for myself regarding finding out as much information about the ex-iron maiden members as I can. 

Since November I built up my contacts further and after the dissertation I went to Tony's house in South London to shoot the main interview with the assistance of Julia. When I arrived at the shoot it took me a while to set up and get the lighting right, which I had researched into previously regarding how to set up an interview correctly:

Interview Setup Diagram 

The first issue I found was the lighting of the room due to the natural light coming through the back door and the windows, which was dampened by the curtains however sunlight still got through quite easily.

Location for the shoot

Setting up the interview took some time as there was only me and Julia however I feel we did this efficiently and accurately. Julia operated the boom microphone and main camera (EX3) which was positioned in the middle getting the main wide shot whilst I sat and ask the questions, additionally checking the second camera that operates from the right hand side, getting close ups of Tony for the added option of cutting away to.

The interview itself lasted an hour and the interview with Ilona lasted around twenty minutes. When listening back to the recordings on shoot I was satisfied with the outcome, however I could see some light changes throughout the film due to the sunlight changing, however I can fix this in post-production through color correction.

Since I last shot the Legacy Project shoot for my film back in November, I have been working on building up my contacts, thinking more about the idea of my film and gradually trying to arrange interview dates in February. 

Contacts

Since November i've been attempting to stay in contact with a few of the ex-members of Iron Maiden so that I could build up a working relationship with them and feel more comfortable when it comes to meeting them in February and filming interviews and other footage. Through email and Facebook, i've able to achieve this, through back and forth responses from the individuals that I am focusing on within my film. Tony Moore, once in Iron Maiden for less than a month, went on to do bigger and brighter things, now hosting his own radio show and performing live with a new and upcoming artist, Ilona. When emailing him he seemed very interested in my project and was happy to meet up and be interviewed in November. Additionally my dad, who was once in a popular blues rock band in the 60s-70s also was interested in being in my film, along with my uncle, Doug Sampson, who was once in Iron Maiden and is recording an album as part of his old band, Airforce, who of which I filmed at the charity event in November. Doug suggested I come along later in the month to the recording studio he's in, in London, and film some of the recording of the compilation album with a few new tracks.

Additionally Buffalo Fish, who I filmed in November and conducted a short interview with, were still interested in being a part of the project, and now I am looking to finalise locations and dates so that I can meet everyone individually and shoot interviews, band practices and so forth. 

Message from Tony Moore, one of the musicians I wanted to originally interview. 

Message from Buffalo fish, who I interviewed back in November, regarding filming in February. 

Concept of my film

The concept of my film has progressed since November, looking more at musicianship and the music industry over solely Iron-Maiden. Here is an updated synopsis of what i'm intending to make: 

Synopsis: 

My project is a 15-20 minute music documentary film based around four individuals and their experiences within the music industry of the time, expressing their passion for music and the power of musicianship. The film will be 4-5 minute sequences of the different individuals, through the use of interview footage, rehearsals, performances and home footage/photographs. The film will be looking at the music industry through the eras, predominantly the 70s to the present day, presenting a juxtaposition of the eras.

Whats next?

After various tutorials with Anne, I was told to build upon my contacts and start organising interview dates and a schedule. I am hoping to have a tutorial next week so that I can flesh out my idea a bit more and also get her advice as to shooting locations (I have a few in mind). My next step is to put together an organised schedule for the upcoming weeks and officially finalise interview dates for my film, which I am hoping to be between the 24th of November to the 5th of March. I'm pleased with the progress I've made and the progression of my idea into something that I feel is much more unique and interesting than before. I now just need to work upon the contacts I have and finalise certain aspects. 

http://diymag.com/2016/01/25/birdskulls-interview-strongroom-studio-curtain-call

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8WCNB1xJ4c&feature=youtu.be

The day of the shoot began by meeting at Roman Way and getting a taxi unfortunately it was late however we managed to get the 11:30am train on time. We arrived around 1:30pm, later than expected, and started setting up. After a few chats with Mike, introducing myself and chatting about my project. We began setting up and people starting turning up. The issues around the time was sorting out the sound situation and finding individual ex-members to interview. Unfortunately we could only conduct one interview due to soundcheck's lasting over an hour, meaning by the time everything was set up and we interviewed Buffalo Fish (Guitarist was the ex-member of Iron Maiden), we needed to move the cameras and equipment to near the stage, to film the performance. What also took time was to get the band to sign appearance forms, which was signed via Thomas' tablet, as unfortunately I misplaced the permission forms. The sound of the performance was a short-lasting issue, which was resolved by the sound tech, Chris, who connected the Zoom recorder via 2 1/4 jack connections to a normal jack, going straight into the Zoom to get the best professional sound from the instruments.

We then began to film the first act, however the first act was not 'Maiden related, but we filmed parts of their performance as reference in relation to the events taking place during the day. After each performance, we had a 10-15 minute break to check over footage, check the camera settings i.e. battery life and memory capacity and so on. During this time Thomas also filmed other aspects of the event, such as the crowd of die-hard fans, memorabilia and instruments and some of the ex-members interacting with fans. This allowed me to have a variation of images, rather than just live music performances and interviews.

 'Buffalo Fish' performing their set at the Plough and Harrow. 

 Thomas and Lauren shooting the event. 

The filming of the performances was effective, following the necessary schedule and using both handheld and static camera techniques, to give a fluidity and variation of shots to work with. Throughout the day the battery of the EX3 lasted, however the EX1 battery needed replacing once.The batteries on the zoom however needed replacing almost every 45 minutes, so I decided to check frequently the battery life left, and between performances I changed batteries. This was done 3 times. After the last performance at 9:30pm I called up a taxi to pick us up for 10:00pm and during that 30 minute gap we packed up efficiently and quickly and I said my goodbye's to everyone I had met. We then travelled back to farnham and got a taxi back from the station.

I feel the shoot was a success, however I feel I need to do a more detailed plan of action next time. For my first directorial shoot, I feel I did well in giving instructions to the crew in relation to the shots I would like and the image I am going for, in addition to speaking to several people about my idea and getting contacts. Next time I would also dedicate 10-15 minute slots for each interview and arrange specific times, rather than having to round up the band members to conduct an interview. I also feel I should've thought more on the spot and acted quicker in some instances, for instance it took a while to sort the sound of the performances out because I was busy trying to conduct interviews and brief my crew. This may have been prevented by perhaps working with a bigger crew. The experience for me was very helpful, and gave me an insight into where my project could progress to and how I should go about approaching certain things.

 Panoramic view of the event.