1. Turn the camera off at the request of the participant (Rachel Boynton, DOC NYC, 2018).
2. Show the participant the finished film before the public (Rachel Boynton, DOC NYC, 2018).
3. Show empathy and care for the people that you film. (Rachel Boynton, DOC NYC, 2018).
4. If the participant needs to be excused they may do so
5. Offer participant a drink and be inviting

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REFERENCES:

DOC NYC PRO: Casting Case Studies 2016, streaming video, DOC NYC, New York, viewed 25 March 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bndwq27kkjc>.

Cars are seen by many simply as a mode of transport, a means of which one can travel from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible. Yet there’s a bit more to it than that. Consciously or not, these ‘machines’ are a direct reflection of our personality and who we are.

Owning a red car says something about that individual, it says that your bold and don’t simply run with the pack. A white Mazda 3 is a way of exclaiming to the world that your name is Judie and only shop for items advertised as being on ‘special’. A ‘Great Wall’ Ute says that life hasn’t panned out quite as well as you had expected, and a Fiat 500 suggests everything you’ve ever owned was paid for by dad.

They are as diverse as their owners, all different colours, shapes, sizes, types, young and old. But all with one purpose. To bring people and experiences closer together, make the world feel a little smaller, more accessible, and journeys more comfortable. The beach, the city, the shops, the train station, the footy, and home again. We rely on them every day to experience and do more, and what would we do without them.

In terms of technical proficiency, the photographs were taken on a clear sunny day in which plenty of light was available. This made it difficult to balance the exposure of the background against the car in the foreground particularly with darker vehicles, or when the light source (sun) was on the far side of the subject. An ND filter would have been beneficial in such a situation. There is also a significant deep groove on the lens which is visible on some of the images, which I have no control over.

Otherwise, I attempted to frame each image identically as a long shot, with adjustments for vehicle scale to leave equal proportions on either side of the subject. I focused on the car in each shot, which was easy due to the scale with which they occupied the frame. I travelled to as many different locations as possible and shot as many different types of vehicles as possible to really drive home their purpose and emphasise diversity.

Gallary: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mA8tOoqxzjyq-qSYjkePa5KX24GOwiMD

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13H4HG3Ij69lBwQGQou5HzV2RCuGakhKD

The depicted collection of like-objects is a group of signs scattered throughout Melbourne. Their focus in each shot is constructed to convey the authority of the law, and how even though we hate to admit it, we abide by a set of rules in our day to day lives. We don’t even realise it, but they control and provide order. Despite a focus on a specific sign in each shot, the effect of them is apparent in the controlled chaos depicted in each frame.

Take the below image of a ‘keep left’ sign. The framing of the sign on the right side of shot frees up the left-hand side of the frame, indicating that even this shot abiding by this rule to demonstrate control. The depiction of the wide open bike lane on the left that juxtaposes the claustrophobic nature of the right side of the frame encourages us to look to the left, as it is made to be visually more appealing. This trend continues using the leading lines on the bike lane and the tram all the way to the horizon line. The is also an obvious appeal to our sense of safety here too, as the right side is shown to be inaccessible and blocked off by a tram, so naturally, we would stick to the left. Moreover, the scale of the sign in relation to the other elements in the frame makes it an immediate focal point. Combine this with the contrast between the black and white sign and the tram in the background and it becomes an authoritative centre point that complements the signs intentions.

Walking around RMIT during your first week at university can be an overwhelming and daunting experience at first, I certainly remember it that way. So many faces, all of them running around in their own worlds completely removed from those around them, their heads buried deep into their phones more often than not. Walking around the same streets a year later, myself and fellow classmates had the privilege to meet Carol, an employee at one of the many food outlets around RMIT serving us students.

In speaking with Carol, I learnt that there’s more to this line of work than a paycheck at the end of the week. There is a genuine joy she thrives off in helping others and feeling like she has made someone else happy. Not once during our brief encounter did she produce anything less than a smile. She was ever inviting in letting us take photos for this project, and continued to laugh and crack jokes whilst we adjusted the focus for a close-up shot of her. She even offered us free food once we were done haggling for photographs. It’s apparent that the company of someone else is the most rewarding part of the experience.

Working in such a hot environment around fryers would surely take its toll on someone towards the end of the day, I know it did for me during my time in a similar line of work. Yet it was apparent that she thoroughly enjoyed helping and engaging with the RMIT community, and we thoroughly enjoyed being around her. I tip my hat.

In reading the description of what the ‘Real to Reel’ studio entailed. I was immediately excited by the prospect of a class that merges both photography and videography. I have a passionate interest in both types of image production, which I considered uncommon for a class to cover both aspects. Aside from accounting for both of these components which I encounter and use on a daily basis, I figured, though it wasn’t explicitly stated, that the studio would involve considerable practical work over theory, which greatly compliments my learning style. I’ve always been a hands-on learner, and I find that I absorb and hold information more so through doing than listening. So I look forward to having the cameras out as much as possible throughout the course.

Moreover, non-fiction is a genre of media which I know very little about in the way that it is constructed and produced, as I don’t engage with it regularly. I found time and time again during my first year at RMIT that I have a greater appreciation for certain types of media making once study it in more depth through one of my classes, and I’m hoping this class will be no exception in enhancing my understanding of how non-fiction is made and translated into the media. Having done ‘The Scene in Cinema’ last year in semester 2, I felt this class would be a natural progression to take that knowledge on how scenes are constructed through the camera and then apply it to a specific form in ‘Real to Reel’.

Finally, I also really enjoy engaging in group activities and projects in a collaborative environment, hence the ongoing group or personal project in the second half of the semester will really appeal to me in which I have the time and freedom to create what I want and experiment with what I’ve learnt throughout the semester. All in all, I’m excited to get going and see what’s what.

The art of the interview is one of the key areas of fascination when it comes to non-fiction film making. The technicality of filming an interview with a subject is just one part of it, being a good interviewer and making your subject feel comfortable is equally important. Done properly, an interview should flow seamlessly and the audience shouldn’t notice any of the technicalities behind it. Done poorly, and things will quickly unravel and become immediately apparent to the audience that something about the composition isn’t quite right. It’s a fine line to tread, in which the most minor inaccuracies are easily picked up on.

How the subject occupies the space within the frame is one of the most important elements of the interviews fluidity. It can be broken up into several aspects that constitute an ideal interview such as framing, focus, and lighting. Framing is arguably the most important of those mentioned. The subject should be positioned so that their face is in the upper left or right corner of the shot in keeping with the rule of thirds. Headroom is also important, that being the space between the top of the subjects head and the top of the frame. Generally speaking, the space between the two will be minimal to keep the framing intimate and personal.

Focus refers to what the subject is looking at in relationship to the camera. Traditionally, their eye line will look across what is referred to as the ‘long side’ of the frame, that being the side with the most empty space. This is usually to appear as if they are talking to someone at 45 degrees from the camera. Rarely will a subject look directly down the line of the camera, unless the desired effect is for the interview to be confronting or imposing. Lighting too is important in an attempt to remove any shadows from the subjects face using a three-point lighting technique.

The above is a screen capture taken from a project undertaken in Media 1 in which we had to interview a subject. This is a very poor example which is why I am choosing to examine it in more detail as to why. Most obvious is the natural lighting used to light the scene. I didn’t have access to any studio lights and those on location were very poor, resulting in constant variation in the lighting conditions, often leading to overexposure in the background and intense shadows being applied to the face as depicted above. It’s an ugly use of lighting, to say the least. Framing is also problematic, with an exaggerated amount of headroom that makes the subject look small and makes her look further away, reducing the intimacy that is conveyed to the viewer. The focus is okay for the most part, however, I never made it apparent what the subject should be looking at and hence there are moments where the interviewee looks at the camera.

As this studio progresses, I aim to improve and refine my interviewing skills and get them significantly better than those of last year.

Orson Welles’ ‘F FOR FAKE’ (1973) is unique in its portrayal of a documentary film if one would even venture to call it that. In my opinion, it is a documentary, but in its own right with the typical shapeshifting Welles is known for. For something to be a documentary, it must fundamentally be based on truth and factual information, and indeed ‘F FOR FAKE’s narrative is grounded within these roots, capturing the work of art forger Elmyr de Hory for the majority of the films running time. Towards the conclusion, however, the audience is fed lies through a completely false tale of Oja Kodar. Does this dismiss the films claim to be a documentary though? Not exactly, and this next fact is what I find so fascinating about ‘F FOR FAKE’, is that even this isn’t necessarily a lie since the audience is explicitly told that everything they will be exposed to in the ‘first hour’ is 100% truth. This is correct, and further implies that anything thereafter has the potential to say otherwise. This is why I classify this work as a documentary film, as it is made apparent when the truth is being told.

I personally am not a big documentary watcher, yet I understand that the philosophy of a doco is to inform, and that is what ‘F FOR FAKE’ does. Welles’ sets out to be truthful in demonstrating fakery through the documentaries narrative, not the embedded stories within as it is first made out. So in this regard, Welles’ is completely truthful in what he conveys as fact and fiction. I had to watch it again to convince myself that this was the case, which I haven’t had to do with a doco before, as most lay out the information in a clear and concise structure that’s easy to follow. Welles’ plays with the conventions of documentary film making by forcing the audience to actively question what fakery is.