I never really give this blog much love,
mostly due to the fact that I always forget I have one. One of the many
objectives on my “to-do list” is to create a new blog where I can start over
and commit to it. Still there is one more post I need to write about on this
blog and that is about my trip down to see the Sheffield Doc Fest, a festival
celebrating and showing many different kinds of documentaries.
When one of our lecturers sent us an email,
explaining that there were a few tickets on offer to go to this festival, I
immediately jumped on the chance. My mind has been thinking about third year a
lot in recent events, especially on my final project. Due to my love of
filmmaking, my first choice would be to create a short documentary. I have
always been ambitious with my projects and I always aim to work at my best, but
I am not really inspired by documentaries, simply because I do not watch a lot
of them. So this opportunity appeared to be a chance to watch as many
documentaries as possible and let myself be inspired. So on Wednesday, 12th
of June, I set off with a few others to experience the 2013 Sheffield Doc Fest.
Sheffield
When I arrived at Sheffield, I was taken
back by how lovely the city looked, seeing as my only visual representation of
Sheffield was the film, The Full Monty.
The first matter that needed attending was to receive our Delegate Passes,
which allowed us to gain free access to all of the films/events during the
festival. We collected our passes in the Sky Delegate center, which was next to
the cross over lounge, which showed all of the interactive documentary
projects. Despite never having enough time to properly sit down and look at
these projects, I was still able to glance over them every once and awhile,
very inspired, especially by projects such as A Journal of Insomnia and 17,OOO
Islands.
After receiving our delegate passes, we
needed to book tickets to the events and films we wanted to see. This left me
slightly confused as I thought our passes would let us go anywhere, but I was
mistaken, for films and some events, we needed tickets. So this grew to be the
start of every day during that week. I would wake up, go to town and book the
next day’s line up of film tickets.
We also found a Scream bar that had a
special offer of 50% discount on food for Delegates, so we made it our food
base for the next couple of days. So Sheffield provided us with a homely
welcome.
Events and Parties
I never intended to go to the panels,
interviews or parties, but I am glad I did, as they provided some great
entertainment. Watching Adam Buxton in The
Best of Bug and Michael Palin’s interview was simply amazing. Not only did
I had a few laughs, I was also inspired by the selection of Music Videos from Bug and Palin’s simplicity in making
travelling documentaries. The only other panel I went to see was one about
choosing music for documentaries, which interested as I found I have a talent
in choosing the right song for a scene. The panel provided some good tips and
ideas that I relate to, but also a selection of really interesting
documentaries that I would not mind watching.
As for the parties, I did felt a little
underwhelmed. The majority of parties were filled with filmmakers and Producers
who have many years of experience. Everywhere you can look you can see people
trying to gain favor and job opportunities. Despite knowing that this is how
one must get work for this line of work, it still felt uncomfortable,
especially when you are just a University student trying to have a good time. The
worst party was the BBC Storyville party, as the drinks were quite expensive
and as I said before, you kind of felt out of place. However they did offer
lovely free Mexican food.
The Channel 4 party on Friday however was
slightly better, simply due to the fact that they offered a free bar in the
first hour. It was also in the Crucible, which offered city, so it was far more
comfortable than the BBC party. On the same night we went to the East End Bar
for another party, which was kind of a disco event and it was amazingly fun. I
kind of felt that I enjoyed more because it felt like an actual party rather
than a “Oh please give me a brilliant job dear producer” event.
Films and Games
Despite enjoying the events and parties, my
main reason for coming was to watch the huge selection of films that were
available. I watch a huge selection of films, so I am just going to name a few
below and say what I thought of each in Brief.
Forget
me Not
A lovely story about a family dealing with
the hardships of Alzheimer’s, focusing on the amazing story of the family’s
past and how they come to where they are. I loved this film, simply because it
didn’t play out as a documentary, but rather a homage to what is dear to the
filmmaker’s heart.
Smash
and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers
I thought this film was alright, I really
enjoyed the style and how they used animation to demonstrate and recreate
characters, but I felt not enough work was put into the story, it just seemed
to be a collection of events, nothing more.
Boys
A student short about a school that helps
and teaches boys with emotional problems, the two main characters stole the
show and made this film a really charming piece, but also showed a great skill
in observational filmmaking.
The
Pirate Bay: Away from Keyboard
This was an interesting film based on the
court case of the creators of Pirate Bay and how they handle the situation of
being sued by Hollywood. The cinematography had a nice style, but the creator’s
arrogance on what they were doing kind of annoyed me, so it was hard to feel
sympathetic to their problems.
Chimeras
This was a cool film about two Chinese
artists, one at the height of his career and one who was just beginning. The
cinematography of this film was beautiful and I really enjoyed the style of
never showing the two main characters being interviewed, they were used instead
as a voice-over to shots of them walking around, as if we were hearing their
own personal thoughts.
Irish
Folk Furniture
A lovely short film about old family
furniture and their stories told by the owners. The amazing quirk about this
film is how it was made through stop motion animation.
I'd Hide You
One evening at the crucible, I got the chance to play the interactive live game I'd Hide You, which lets you help out one of three actors who are hunting for the other two. You control the camera device that they have that will take pictures of the other members, so the one with the least pictures is the winner. That night I helped the lovely Sarah, but also got my self killed every so often.
Who
Owns the Streets?
A fun and cool film exploring the issues of
Graffiti art on the street, sending out a positive message about street art.
The
Runners
An interesting vox pop film, which
interviews and films general joggers as they are on their run, a really nice
and fun short film.
The
Bubbleologist
This film shows the interesting story of a
young man who specializes in bubbles, appearing in parties and fairs, he
appears to capture the imagination of many people. A fantastic example of a
profile film done right.
Slomo
As always with tradition, I left the best
to last. Slomo is an amazing short film about a retired doctor who has
developed a meditation technique while gliding on his rollerblades, becoming a
legend on the beaches of LA. This film not only shows and amazing character
with an interesting story, but it is fantastically made. The movement of the
cinematography as he glides into shot and how they recreated his memories of
his career as a Doctor were a joy to see. This film was without doubt my
favorite of the whole week and one that inspires me to this day. It simply has
to be seen.
Conclusion
Two months have passed since that week and
I still feel amazed by what I saw. Not only has the experience left me with
enjoyment and inspiration, but I also have developed a taste for documentaries,
one that I can apply to my own films. I enjoy documentaries that do not feel
like documentaries. This may seem contradictive, but this is what I felt when
watching all of those films. If I am sitting down, want to know what happens
next and interested in the story or character, than it is a good film, documentaries
do not have to be so different from fictional films, when both use the same
template, they can be successful. This template is just finding or creating the
best story that you can.
From my experience on Sheffield and creating
my own short documentary for Bay TV, I found that the experience of filming a
documentary is far more enjoyable than filming a fictional piece. Whenever you
are filming a fictional film, you are simply following a list, the movie is done
and dusted in pre-production. While in a documentary, you make a rough plan,
but you let the film grow and develop throughout the production process, not
knowing what the film is until the very last edit. So in simple terms, I would
much rather have a rough idea and let it grow, then to follow a to do list.Film's Website
