Reading Week. Beginning Filming.

                                                               Reading Week

                During Reading week we held a meeting with the entire group to finalize role changes,
I was to undertake cinematography whilst Leila became Director and Johanne kept the roles of sound and producer. We discussed the best way to film the documentary and what to expect on the first shoot, looking up weather to gain a rough idea of the kinds of conditions we would be exposed to. we chose a cloudy and dry day as the natural lighting was more likely to remain consistent than if we had direct sun exposure, the dry weather also meant there was far less risk of the equipment being damaged by water.

We also came to the conclusion that we should try and book the boxing ring for private use, this would allow us to observe Anand training without having to worry about other people getting in the way. We would also be able to manipulate the lighting to best suite our documentary's stylistic approach, we set a film date for Thursday and i adjusted my cameras settings to best suite the cloudy conditions we where expecting to film in.

During Thursdays shoot we had to deal with high winds and a faulty Tascam, this meant we were unable to capture sound for the entire shoot. I decided to still try and get the visuals as the stormy weather created a dark cinematic look that created the sense of grueling training sessions. I knew that we could mask the absence of sound with music or re-film on a calmer day should sound be necessary for this scene.

        I opted for a low ISO to combat the over exposure from the sun and a low aperture where possible to create a shallow depth of field, this worked particularly well with low angle shots of Anand as it really brought focus and attention to his feet giving a new perspective of running.

For another shot we chose to track him running, following with a car. For this i chose a wider aperture so that he remained in focus despite the amount of movement that was occurring.

I felt that some of these shots really captured the aim of our Documentary, to depict boxing in an artistic and stylized manner through the use of imagery.

We also filmed him shadow boxing, for this shot i wanted to convey the idea that this was a way for him to escape into his own world and also to play on the word 'shadow'. I set up the lights in our kitchen and tried to illuminate him as much as possible. I then adjusted the cameras settings with a higher aperture and lower ISO to create a darker environment. The result was that everything around him was black, consumed by shadows.

Week 6 Pre-Production

                                      Week 6

During week six I held a meeting with the cinematographer of the group to storyboard the first shoot. This was a great way to convey the kind of style that I wanted to film in. We discussed location, the types of shots used, equipment needed, availability of the actor, and how the environment may effect shooting. We also looked at the time of sunset to gain an idea of how much light we would have to work with so that we could plan the shooting time accordingly. 
During our first meeting Dafydd suggested we change roles to offer a neutral perspective of the world of boxing. Having someone direct who didn't know much about the sport would offer a more unbiased perspective, whilst also focusing less on the technicality of the sport and more on the visuals.

He also suggested focusing more on stylistic images than interviews, urging us to avoid sit down interviews where possible and use visual representations to tell the story rather than rely on sound as a form of narrative.

With this meeting in mind we agreed to change roles, while I was excited primarily about being a director I also looked forward to the chance to pursue cinematography. With my own experience at boxing I already had an understanding of what shots would look visually appealing and how to go about the process of filming it all. I also had access to my own DSLR (a Nikon D5200) meaning I could experiment with the cameras settings in my own time to get used to creating different visual effects. I also had the benefit of living with the student that the story would revolve around, meaning I could follow him in depth and get a deeper insight into his life inside and outside of boxing.