Harry Cripp

 The post-production work was not a particularly collaborative process, just because we had an incredibly late and delayed production process, as described in a previous blog task, and so by the time we began editing, there was not a lot of time for us to meet up or go over the edit. There were a few drafts that we were sent by Tristan, our editor, and we gave feedback on those and he sent it back. When I think of all the films I've made before, it is usually a more collaborative experience when it comes to the editing process, many more rough drafts and paper edits are usually sent between parties to ensure that we have a really good and mutually agreed upon final product, and whilst I felt that we ended up with both a good and mutually agreed upon final product, the way we got to that was not as collaborative as I would have liked or expected. I am very happy with how the final product turned out with regards to editing, there are some notes that I contributed that were taken int...

 My aspirations for the future revolve primarily around writing, as I plan to be a screenwriter. Whilst this does not directly pertain to documentary, the study of life and the intense focus on a singular subject is an incredibly useful set of skills for a writer to have. The observational, fly on the wall, idea of following a subject is directly related to writing as that is how the majority of film and tv exist. It has therefore been incredibly useful for me to study different documentaries and to see the different ways that different filmmakers have utilised the observational style in so many different ways. Documentary is also relevant to screenwriting because most documentaries are character-based, and the idea of doing a deep dive into one specific character and exploring a subject through a singular character is a very transferable skill and can definitely help with the quality and realism of my writing in a big way. 'Real-life people' or at least people who act like ...

 I felt that my contribution during the pre-production and production of our documentary was extensive. As I was the producer, I was in charge of the majority of the pre-production paperwork. I did all that I was required to do and I felt that I did it to a high standard. I did receive some help from Ben, the director, with the pre-production paperwork, mainly with the distribution of forms for people to sign. Just because at the time I was doing the pre-production I had to spend a lot of time isolating, so he was a great help in distributing release forms. Hamdi and Tristan were also helpful in acquiring locations and our subject, each of them contributing significantly in this regard. In production, I was also very involved. I attended every time we organised filming, just me and Hamdi, the cinematographer, attended every session of filming. Attendance was one of the main issues with our production, nobody but Hamdi and me attended every session, even our subject, Sam, was not at...

 The film I have chosen to analyse is 'Louis Theroux, Law and Disorder in Johannesburg'. The narrative of this film is very linear and chronological, you really get the sense that Louis Theroux has been sent to Johannesburg and the film just follows him around as he tries to speak to as many people as possible. It follows him day to day, it gives the impression that as it goes through it starts at the start of each day and progresses through to the end, with no cutting away to different times or cutting away to interviews with the cast that breaks the fourth wall.  It is very much a film from the perspective of the filmmaker, Theroux is incredibly central to the narrative and every character in the film interacts with him as the filmmaker. In terms of secondary characters, however, it is incredibly varied and focuses on a few key characters all with different perspectives on the documentary's subject. From that key cast of central characters, more characters are explored bu...

Participant  So it began in the autumn when I was 9. I was playing, as we did in those days, in the woods. All was well, the sky was grey but that was nothing unusual and we did not think anything of it. There was a wooden claiming frame, a sort of fort, where we played every lunchbreak and today would be no different.  It then began to rain, we understood; that's what happened sometimes when the sky was grey, there was nothing we could do so we kept on playing, taking cover underneath the fort. However, before we had time to concoct games that we could play in the rain, a huge bell, like the bell of an old town crier, rang loud and slow. We knew what this meant.  We ran for our lives, darting between the trees, following all the other children running as fast as they can through the forest to the place we all knew we needed to be. Because we ran, it was not long before we arrived at the entrance to the woodland, and when we arrived we organised into neat orderly lines, n...

The documentary I have chosen to look at for this task is 'Louis Theroux, Law and Disorder in Johannesburg'. The social impact of this documentary is clear, it is a film made to educate about crime and its relation to poverty, specifically within Johannesburg.  The UN Sustainable Development Goal which underpins this documentary most prevalently is 'No Poverty.' It is a documentary which, on the surface, is about the crime and criminal elements which exist in the South African city of Johannesburg, but it makes very clear that the reason that all of these terrible things exist and thrive within the city of Johannesburg is as a result of the immense poverty which simultaneously exists in and around the city.  In terms of strategies that the documentary makes use of in order to portray the relationship between crime and poverty, the variety of people who are interviewed is remarkable. Almost every perspective is taken into account and given a significant amount of time to...