Hotel Du Vin Shoot

The shoot involving our interview with Mark Davyd proved to be rather successful and there were no technical problems with the cameras this time. The sound that was monitored closely appeared to be of good quality and the positioning of the camera appeared appropriate and I am happy with the end result.

We used naturalistic lighting instead of the lighting equipment which worked well because the filming area was well lit, being inside the hotel building itself in an area open to the public.

The general public, including the guests at the hotel were also of little bother. They were very understanding of what was happening and didn't try to intervene on our work. There is the odd sound of people moving about and soft chatter but nothing hat cannot be drowned out during the editing process.

Overall, I found this shoot to be a success and will fit perfectly alongside the previous footage we'd shot at the Attic previously. We can easily cut between the two pieces of footage and create a story around these.

The Attic Filming/ Plans for the Hotel Du Vin Shoot.

The filming at the attic on 7th April proved to be quite successful despite a few hiccups with the filming equipment.

We had originally planned to film with two cameras; one would have been static and have the audio directly connected with the feed from the speakers so we would have a very clear sound of the band playing which we would sync up with the footage from the other, moving camera. However, unfortunately the static camera appeared to have a faulty card reader and thus the footage that was being recorded was ultimately lost because the memory card hadn't saved it. After inquiring about this problem, I found that apparently some second year students had similar problems with the camera.

Because of this, we now only have the footage from the moving camera and we have thus lost the clear audio sound quality which we had hoped to get. The sound that has been recorded on the moving camera has some unbalanced audio and some of the audio is out of sync. Hopefully the syncing problem should be fixable during the editing.

I think the solution to tackling the varying audio quality would be to use only parts of the footage where the audio was of good quality or even take the sound from another existing video of the band playing and try to match up the sound from that footage with that of our footage. Hopefully this will lead to some consistent audio to match the video.

I believe we are planning on filming our next interview on Tuesday 25th April at the Hotel Du Vin to interview Mark Davyd from the Music Venue Trust. We were hoping to film the interview in the hotel room in which Mark Davyd is staying however, we were given a message by the hotel requesting that we do not film in the hotel room but rather in the lounge area. This means that we will have to be cautious of the other hotel guests.

I had contacted the hotel du vin to make sure our group had permission as we had not so far. I was unable to reach the hotel by the email given to me over the phone but I was able to pass on the email information to another person in my group and they were able to get through.

I have also created a risk assessment for this interview as well.

In terms of equipment, we will take out the Sony EX camera as well as the tripod and boom microphone. We will not  be taking out any lighting equipment as we hope that the lighting in the lounge area will be suitable for our shoot.

The Tap 'n' Tin

The Tap n Tin, 24 Railway Street, Chatham, ME4 4JT
Open: Monday- 8pm to 3am & Friday- 9pm to 3am

Is a Pub and Student Club/ Dance/ Night Club. Is listed as an alternative music venue of the Medway towns.

Certain known events include:
-90s Nights- Students get free entry with student ID 9pm till 10pm.
-'We Love Mondays'- has been named Kent's biggest Student Night.
-Fancy dress Parties.
-Wrestling
-Disney Party
Also used to house an Under 18s Night

Various Gigs are also held, most prominently in the past with Independent Live Bands playing as well as other well known bands.

Music Played:
-Urban
-Rhythm n Blues
-House
-Garage
-Grime
-80s
-90s
-Indie
-Rock Anthems

The venue also supports the MacMillan Cancer Trust


Reviews:
Overall reviews indicate that there is a good atmosphere overall with cheap drinks. Some indicate that it knows that it is 'An institution, not a luxurious night club' that doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is and provides 'Everything you want from a casual club'.

Documentary Script Feedback

We received feedback on our documentary script earlier this week.

It appears that the script was very well structured and up to a professional standard. However, one major point that was given was that we have not given enough time to properly introduce the characters/ the band before jumping straight into the interviews. Therefore we need more development of characters and the music scene around them. Thankfully, due to the group's familiarity with the group, this shouldn't be too m much of a problem.

One more point which I particularly would make for a great idea is to et in contact with bands which have reached a certain amount of success in the long run in the independent music industry scene. throughout all of a feedback we have been given, a main point that is given is that we need to ensure that we develop the scene around the live independent music industry and find out whether there is actually a decline in the industry, therefore giving the documentary some weight and actually having a story to go through. The research I have conducted such as looking at the article about the club owner who believed that the live music scene is dead would attribute to adding to this story so our documentary having focus.

Having more successful bands to talk to would enable us to also see the point of view from the people who had to make it through the struggle of being in the live independent music scene amongst hundred of other hopeful independent bands. This way we can see if there are any differences between how difficult things were then as opposed to how they are now, whether it is easier or if it is, indeed, more difficult for newer independent bands to break through.

One piece of advice which was given that I believe would give extra weight to this point is seeing if we can interview and even have some more famous people such as Suggs from Madness to meet the our independent band and we would film this. This could give a big indication of the differences in the industry between then and now. However, we would need to contact the likes of Jools Holland, who conveniently does several activities around the Maidstone Studios, to get in touch with these kinds of people.

I have already looked into this, seeing what type of university protocols need to be carried out if we are to get people like this into a documentary. Thankfully there is so full protocol and I can ask certain key members of staff who would pass on the message to these people whenever is nessecary.


Our group films the first part of the documentary at the Attic Venue on 7th April. Here we should be able to get footage of the band setting up, playing and also get interviews from the Attic owner and the staff that work there.

Regrettably I cannot make it there to the shoot due to the traveling distance from my location and the inconvenience it will cause to my transportation due to the lateness and how far it is at that time of night. However, I have been able to put forward several questions which we can ask the Attic owner and staff. These are as follows:

-On average, how many people come to watch live bands at this venue?
-Have you noticed either any increases or decreases in popularity for live bands playing at this venue?
-What kind of feedback do you get from customers who have come to watch the live bands?
-What are your opinions on the current independent music scene?

I feel that these questions are very formal and will get the answers that will inform us of the current state and reaction to the current independent music scene.
I have also offered to do my part in the editing to make up for my lack of presence for the shoot. Whether this will come into fruition is another matter but I have definitely been appointed to Narrator for the documentary, ensuring that I do have a big part in the overall documentary project. I will be able to make it for the rest of the shooting days, however.

Feedback Update

Our latest feedback update detailed on how much research has been done over the passed few weeks. According to the entire group, we have each made effort to gain an amount of research to contribute to our idea and give the documentary story some weight. Unfortunately, none of us have contacted the people from BBC Introducing, a piece of advice given to us from our first pitch, though I'm not sure who in the group was appointed to doing this. However, another in the group decided during this update that they will try to contact these people straight after the update has finished.

One particular piece of feedback inquired to how we should film the band playing the instruments. We were given the advice to actually book out two cameras if we were allowed to and have one camera stationary while the other is handheld while both record at the same time. For sound quality, the stationary camera would be hooked up to one of the speakers to get a direct feed of the band playing their instruments so we don't have desynchronised sound or that it is not too loud.

I feel that this is a great idea as we will be able to have clear sound, synchronised video (through careful editing) and a more professional-looking documentary overall.

Thankfully we were able to book out two cameras as there were no other shoots scheduled at this time. However, we need to make sure that we have a good idea on the type of equipment that is being used when dealing with the sound. A person in the group that is familiar with the Attic shooting location appears sure that they have the necessary equipment and thus ill have to take his word for it, though I would recommend that we take extra sound equipment with us just in case.

For added preparation for our interviews with the Attic manager and staff, we have created a group chat on Facebook where we can discuss and throw as many questions in as possible which we can use for the interviews ad thus pick out the suitable questions for the actual shoot.

One worry that I have leading up to this shoot is the fact that I believe that we are sooting perhaps a little too early at this time in the project. It is ver understandable why we are due to the fact that the band are only playing at the Attic on the night of the 7th April but i feel that we have given ourselves less time to properly think out and plan/ develop how we are going to do the shoot. Thus we really need to work hard to make sure that we have the right amount of development and work in this shorter amount of time. Thankfully there is a small gap of time before we shoot at our next few locations so we will have more time to prepare for those then.