Through learning more about how to direct a documentary, I thought it would be best to research into an industry professional and understand what made them so good at their job.I was going to focus on a documentary filmmaker from VOX, however, they do not have set roles like traditional media which meant it was very hard to find any proper research on them. I decided to look into the career of Film and Documentary maker, Emily James.
Emily James has directed countless documentaries and I thought she would be an interesting person to research into because of this breadth of experience in the industry. She is also a younger director which is similar to the people working at VOX so I thought I would be able to draw some similarities in their work.
Emily attended film school in the early 2000's and went on to win awards and have her work featured on TV at the same time. She was known for innovating new techniques and ways of telling stories to the masses. She never felt that it was needed to follow the same structure as every other show to create a good project. This is the type of open mind I went into this project with. I had watched the internet documentary genre before, but I had never really analysed it and understood it. After understanding the freedom you have with online content it opens up your eyes to new ways of producing content. I had always believed that trying new things is only ever a good learning experience, but I knew for this project I had to push myself to try things I had never explored in TV Production before this moment. Understanding Emily's approach helped me inform my own, and let me understand to try some unique shots because if they work it opens up so many extra possibilities.
A few years into her professional Career Emily directed multiple shows on large stations like Channel 4 and was hailed as one of "the hottest talents in town" by many in the industry. These are big words for someone so early on in their career. She also directed shows which people said included "brilliant satire of the trend towards consumer affairs as entertainment.” I know from watching a lot of VOX content over the last few months that there is always a mixture of wit mixed with hard evidence and facts. Emily has clearly shown great desire to create content which is both enjoyable to watch, factual and sometimes has a little comedy added to it. I made sure through our piece to direct in a way that was serious but at the same time enabled us to see the presenter was not just a talking piece and did have some emotion. I think it was very important from a directors perspective to show the human side. I think I did a good job at this by leaving the camera to roll even when we were not filming, we acquired some really nice b-roll of Louis and the public which was very useful in the edit.
In 2009 she would go onto direct "AGE OF STUPID" which she said "With this film, you won't leave the cinema with your head in your hands. You're going to come out ready to take on the world!". Something that Emily has done throughout her career is creating content that is motivating and gets the message across well to the viewer. In Emily's documentaries having key contributors was key in her story being told in the way, she wanted it. We also wanted a key contributor to help move our story along and thankfully we had a great contributor in Katie. She spoke about how we should protect our data and why it is important. This was the last thing that was filmed and I think it is so important that we did get it filmed because it helps cement the story to the viewers. Without this, it seems like we are only telling you half the story with no external contributors. I made sure we got this segment in, even though Cailan had suggested we cut it. I suggested if we need time back we remove the SELF HELP segment of our show as that was un-needed and not very relevant.
After reading an article with Emily posted in the Independent she stated in one of her recent documentaries "The biggest reason why people were hesitant to get involved was because they didn't want to incriminate themselves. So I developed a very thorough security protocol involving a lot of runners dropping tapes to safe houses and I promised everybody that none of the footage of the build-up to the action would go out until their court cases were resolved." (Independent, 2010) Even though our issue is not as serious as this one in terms of legal issues, we did want to make sure that the people on screen doing the vox pops were comfortable. It's not really a directors job to speak to the public to get them involved, but talking to them about the project and where it was being published was my issue. "Alongside the issue of trust, another obstacle to activists taking part in the film was their reluctance to be singled out and made into stars. "I've tried very hard to make it a portrait of a community and of a growing movement," says James, "but at the same time you have to have some returning characters because the audience needs to attach themselves to real human beings so that they care about what happens to them and care about the narrative of the film." (Independent, 2010) I talked to every person who we spoke to on camera and after Louis had convinced them to be a part of the show I gave them the rundown of what the project was about. Being more confident in the public was a key learning experience and I am happy I got the change to learn this before the shoot as I may have panicked without this knowledge.
As of recent Emily has been focusing on documentaries surrounding the dark web and the black market of drugs as well as directing shows for BBC Storyville. Researching into Emily's career has been important to me learning more about pushing myself as a director. Not being afraid to push myself and try new things is the biggest thing I learned. Throughout this unit, I have tried shots that I have never thought about before as well as making sure we got a load of possible cutaway segments and moments of the presenter being candid. All of these are important in understanding what it takes to put together a highly produced piece with many layers to the story.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Independent, 2010
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/emily-james-lights-camera-activists-2103913.html
Personal Profiles
http://www.emily-james.com/about/
http://www.spannerfilms.net/node/225
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