Unit G324 - Short Film - Mockumentary Analysis

I will analyse Drop Dead Gorgeous while Vikki will analyse an episode of The Office, I'm going to look at Sound, Mise en Scene, Editing and Camera. I think i will have to look closely at camera as the use of camera in both documentaries and therefore mockumentaries are different to conventional films which use the fourth wall, characters are talking to the camera and the camera will catch things (which of course in a mockumentary will be scripted) and zoom or move in an unplanned way. This adds a sense of realism to the film and includes the audience which is important in this genre of film. Editing is crucial as the film must look like a professional documentary which would include unforeseen events and a large amount of film that would have to be discarded for entertainment purposes so the characters pieces to camera aren't in their entirety rather than a film with a linear dialogue and plot. Mockumentaries also use a certain type of sound, as it's meant to be filming people without knowing what's going to happen there's little or no use of incidental music, generally these films are more about the dialogue in the sound department. For mise en scene i will be looking at costume, lighting, acting, make-up, props and setting, this will have to be quite naturalistic for a mockumentary but i will also have to make sure that the setting and props fit with the musical establishment and instruments that would be included in a Battle of the Bands scenario. Costume and make-up will also be fairly naturalistic yet i need to make sure that the costumes match the genre of music and the personalities that will be wearing them.

This is spinal tap, A mighty wind and Best in show are all films by Christopher Guest, these were suggested for Vikki and I to watch as they are all mockumentaries and This is spinal tap is based around a rock band so it's very close to our idea. Anvil was also suggested to us, this film is a comical look at a metal band in the mockumentary style.

Unit G324 - Short Film - Film Review Research

To create a successful short film in the style of a mockumentary i need to read reviews of both Mockumentary films and television programmes. Reading and researching reviews of mockumentary films will also be useful when it comes to writing a film review ourselves. I'm going to look at both solely online reviews and online magazine reviews so i can gain a varied and impartial view on mockumentaries in the eyes of reviewers. I'm going to look at reviews for Confetti, Drop Dead Gorgeous and The Office. I'm going to read at least two different reviews for each film or TV programme, I'll be using websites such as Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. Then to get a nicely varied collection of reviews I'll look at online film magazines such as Empire online and Totalfilm.

Instead of reading reviews on The Office i chose Borat instead as it's a film and the reviews were easier to find and compare. After reading reviews for each of the three films i found that the thing that really made the mockumentary was the cringe factor, it's huge in Confetti and in Borat but not so much in Drop Dead Gorgeous, which gained the worst reviews. Although, one good point made about Drop Dead Gorgeous was that it did self-reflection and self-parody very well, as this was the environment the writer had been around and grown up in she was very accurate in her parodies, i think i'll be able to take this point and use it to my advantage as i'm around the "band environment" a lot. One point that reviewers generally didn't like was the improvisation involved in Confetti, this is why i'm writing a script, i think improvisation would be interesting to try but you end up doing a lot of filming and a lot more editing which isn't practical for this film, however we will let the cast improvise a little to add realism to the film but I will have the script as a base to the film.

Unit G324 - Short Film - Band research

Vikki began researching interviews with arrogant bands as we want the interviews to be as realistic and comical as possible, she resarched Noel Gallagher and Johnny Borrell as they were well known arrogant musicians with many famous quotes and opinions. I researched mockumentary film posters which inlcuded Borat, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Confetti. These films were also comedies and two of the films included a competition element much like our film. I then researched band posters as our film is based around musicians and is promoting the musicians. I looked at two posters of young, arrogant bands which were the Killers and Razorlight, I then looked at posters of older bands that took themselves a little less seriously, these bands were Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Presidents of the United States of America, I wanted to look at these bands as they perfectly illustrate the types of bands I want to feature. we are going to analyse both the band posters and the film posters both for the benefit of the film and for the poster.
I also researched interviews with RHCP and PUSA, I wanted to find statements from these bands that showed they took things a little less seriously. I also wanted to get a different perspective on being in a band, what they get out of it and the way they talk about being famous and making music. In an interview with PUSA I found a quote that separated them from the fame hungry, selfish views of Oasis or Razorlight;

S!: Your new album, These Are Good Times People, was just released on March 17th. Do you feel it portrays what kind of band PUSA is now and will always be?
The Presidents: We sure hope so! To us it fits in really well with the rest of the catalog, and so far the fan feedback has been great. We spent a lot of time and energy recording and mixing this record, and it was a very natural and comfortable process. Lots of extra effort went in to writing and pre-production, yet during the recording process we made lots of tweaks and changes improve the tunes even more. We’re proud of it, and we’re having a great time playing the tracks live.
I also found a quote from an interview with RHCP, this quote shows that they play as they enjoy playing rather than for material gain or for fame and selfishness. It really sets apart the musicians we've looked at and helps me to create my characters and how they will see their music and therefore their outlook on life and personality.

The music industry, I've never been concerned with. I've been very fortunate that it has taken care of me.

Quoted from Guitar Center Flea Interview

Unit G324 - Short Film - Initial Planning

We began the project with an introductory power point presentation detailing which topics we would be interested in working on. We narrowed down the choices to a short film, poster and film review or a teaser trailer, magazine cover and a poster or a music promotion video, magazine advert and a cover for it's release. We finally chose the short film as we both have previous filming experience from both GCSE and BTEC media, consequently we have editing experience. We've also analysed film posters which will help us to produce an effective film poster and an interest in writing will bring enthusiasm to both the film review and in writing the script, of which i have a keen interest in. We preferred the short film brief as it was quite open and so we could come up with plenty of ideas and choose a genre which is best suited to us, this will therefore help us to keep focused and on task.

We created a spider diagram and came up with numerous ideas for the short film, we then narrowed down our ideas to two options which we then expanded on by adding more story detail, to do list and a contingency plan.
The first idea we expanded on was a mockumentary style film, we chose to focus on a battle of the bands competition and interview each of the bands, through this we will end up with comical, smug, catty musicians in competition with each other. We would also include clips of live performances although we would only use short clips as we want the main focus to be on the interviews and observation of the band, dialogue is the main focus of this film.

The second idea we came up with was a horror parody/comedy yet we felt that this idea wasn't as original as the mockumentary and we couldn't do as much with it. It would have also been difficult to film as we wanted to film outside at night which is just not possible with the equipment we have available to us. interviews filmed there is a need for extras in the background and for musicians on stage.

In our contingency plan we raised issues such as access to location, we have to make sure we can secure a pub or club early on and figure out when exactly we can film in there etc. If we lose the pub or club setting we could make the film look more studio based yet i feel this would impact on the quality and feel of the film. Also access to musical equipment needs to be secured, i personally have some musical equipment but when the bands turn up to be filmed i need to make sure that it's clear that they are providing their own instruments. Also we need to make sure everyone can be present on the days we are filming, taking note of prior engagements such as jobs and so on. Continuity may also be an issue as the film takes place over one day however the filming will most likely take longer so we will need to make sure that everyone keeps continuity in mind and wears the same clothes, doesn't do anything radical with their hair etc. We'll also have to keep in mind that it will be a busy set and keeping everybody in line and making sure everything is going to plan could be hard work.

In our to do list we identified that we would need to research mockumentaries including programmes like The Office and films like Drop Dead Gorgeous. We would also need to secure a performance area such as a pub or a club and we would need to secure musical equipment. We would also need to research real music/band interviews to make sure the terminology and feel of the interviews are correct. The main thing that we need to make sure happens is that all the actors and musicians turn up as there will probably be a large number of people to be filmed, although there won't be many interviews filmed there is a need for extras in the background and for musicians on stage.


Contingency Plan