Casting

Casting is always an important part of film production, because if the actors aren't very good then the whole outcome can seem unbelievable. Seeing as our documentary is going to be on a sensitive topic in which we want it to look like a real story, we needed good actors. 

The roles we needed filling were:

FEMALE ACTRESSES:

- victim in the interview

- victim in the reconstruction

- friend of the victim

MALE ACTORS:

- attacker in CCTV footage

- attacker in reconstruction

- rescuer in reconstruction

- rescuer in interview

We needed the two different actors/actresses in the reconstruction and interview to be of a similar age as one would be playing the "real" victim and the events in which occurred.

Inspirations for our Documentary

I really like the idea of a crime genre documentary. We can use the skills we learnt from last year when making our short thriller film for this because it would need to be full of suspense to intrigue the audience and create the atmosphere the victim went through. After watching the clip in the link below, my group and I realised this is what we want to do. We could include a variety of different types of shots to show our knowledge and ability of camera skills and editing, such as; CCTV footage (which will rely mostly on editing), reconstructions (lots of different camera angles and techniques), police photos, voiceovers, actual audio (police call) and interviews.

This clip managed to engage me and make me intrigued to watch the rest of the clip. The interviews from the victim creates sympathy as we get a first hand source of what happened and how it has affected her. The audio from her interview is played throughout the different clips as she narrates what happened, which is supported by CCTV and reconstructions to show the audience what took place and how. The CCTV is chilling as we can actually see what went on, and what the victim went through, managing to mae the audience emotionally attached.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/appeals/2010/09_10/hayes_attemptedrape.shtml

"Teen Cribs"

In order to decide what type of documentary to do, Tilly and I thought it would be a good idea to make a mini documentary so we could get a feel for the style in which it would need to be filmed, and to figure out whether or not we liked it. After all, there is loads of different types of documentaries to choose from. Our inspiration for this was 'Teen Cribs'. It is observational and also expository, in which the camera follows the person showing the audience around their house and talking to the camera as though it was a person. MTV have a very modern approach to their series as they edit and film it in a funky way. They zoom in and out, rewind and fast forward and tilt the camera to different angles, which appeals to a teenage audience. I really liked filming and editing our version of Teen Cribs because it was funny and not something we had to think hard about because we watch the programme ourselves so we knew what sort of things to include.

I filmed and edited the clips, and Tilly Guess acted it in. I tried to make it seem upbeat and modern by putting a hip-hop song in the background, which I faded to 10% during clips where Tilly spoke, and leaving it normal (100%) volume during the other times. I set one of the clips towards the start to rewind because I have seen this effect used in the real programme and I really like it. I did this by selecting the bit when she jumped onto the bed, then copying and pasting it after the first clip of it. I then double clicked it and 'Converted the clip', which then gave me the option to have it in 'Reverse'. While she is in her bathroom, after watching it back I felt as though it went on a little too long. So to speed things up, I made the time she took to walk from her toilet to her shower, and her shower to her sink faster. I used the same technique I used to rewind the clips, in which i copied and pasted the clips I wanted sped up, then converted the clip and increased the speed. I also repeated some clips to emphasise how spoilt the girl is, as this is really what comes across during our short test documentary. I copied and pasted the clip where she says 'Dolce and Gabbana' and cut it to those exact words so she repeated it 3 times. When I showed some friends the clips this made them laugh which is the reaction I wanted to achieve.

Testing Out... Camera Angles