During week 8 we started editing the documentary on a software called iMovie.
When we came at the stage where we had to start editing, put together the videos and images that we had taken, our tutor introduces us iMovie, because it is easy to use and suitable for us as we have never experienced video editing before. She gave us a basic guidance about the functions of this software; how to add the media, how to set the speed of the clips, how to make the final video look flawless by adding the various types of transitions, etc... Editing processTo edit the video, firstly, we imported all the images and videos onto iMovie in the section called "My media"(fig 1), then dragged each clip and photograph to the timeline viewer(fig 2), at the bottom, to set them in order and then added the transitions and set their time (fig 3). I, also, edited the clips and the images, slightly, by cropping them or increasing the saturation level and this was done through the monitor, which was placed on the top right hand-side (figure 4). After that, we researched, on the internet, for typical religious music backgrounds for each one of these religions. And downloaded these audios in mp3 and placed them on the timeline viewer below their relevant religion's videos and images. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3-4 Our initial intention was to put subtitles in the videos alongside clips and pictures, but then our teacher suggested us that it was more suitable to have a voice over, therefore we planned to record a voice over, in which I have read the script ( posted in week 6&7). I was very nervous and had low confidence, as English is not my first language and I struggle with the accent and pronunciation of some words. But tried to challenge myself and fulfilled this task. The images below show the equipment used to record the voice over. After recording approximately 15 short audios, we imported them onto iMovie and dragged them onto the timeline viewer, below the clips and tried to make them parallel to the the videos and images, so the words would go hand in hand with what will be shown on the screen. I increased the volume of the voice over, so that it will be heard clearly as there it was not the only audio in the documentary, however the typical background music for each religion were there too.
We have, also, added some images from the internet, that would make the documentary look more interesting such images to show multiculturalism and some generic ones to show expressions. Risk assessment sheetFirst locationDuring week 6 we have been filming and terminated it at the end week. We began shooting from the Gurudwara (Sikhism), so we went to Soho road, area of Birmingham with a large Sikh community, and visited the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha Gurudwara (image shown below) as planned. We filmed and photographed it from the outside, however when we went inside they prohibited us from the use of the camera as it was against their policy. Then, we just met their religion representative who was a really kind man and gave us detailed informations about Sikhism and responded to our questions accurately, which I noted in my note book. Because we had to make a 8-10 minutes long documentary and by dividing it into 3 sections, for the 3 chosen religions, each one of them was supposed to be displayed for at least 2 minutes apart from the introduction and the conclusion. However, the amount of pictures and clip that we obtained by this Gurudwara was not enough to cover that time frame. Therefore, we had to visit another Gurudwara and luckily there were a few in that area. The second one that we have gone to is called Guru Ravidass Bhawan (image shown below), and unfortunately, faced the same problem again; prohibition from the use of camera. We got a bit disappointed and decided to return home with what we obtained in terms of images and clips. While coming back, in the bus, I noticed that there was another Gurudwara in the way and told my friend to get off from the bus. Luckily, this time we got the permission to film from the inside as well as the outside. The image below represent the last Gurdwara that we have been to. Second locationAfter the Gurudwara, our next spot was a Christian place of worship: church. As mentioned before, Birmingham is a large multicultural city, so there are numerous places of worship for each religion/belief. Therefore, we had not to travel far to capture and film churches, as there are a few in Birmingham city centre. Firstly, we went to St. Philips Cathedral (image shown below) of the church of England and started filming and capturing it from the outside, using our mobile phones, and trying different angles and compositions. Following that, we went inside and focused more on the architecture and the typical features of a church such as the colourful and unique windows, candles and the statues. A there was nobody on that day, who we would have confronted to get the answers to our questions, we decided to visit another similar place and went to St Martin church, which is near by. In here we met a priest, with whom we had a long conversation about Christianity and Islam. She explained us some of the basics of Christianity, told us its history and gave us a detailed explanation about Ash Wednesday, as it took place a couples of days earlier before our visit. The priest was such a kind and sophisticated lady and she tried her best to give us the answers that we were looking, in details and with references. Third locationThe following week, we divided the tasks: my friend went to a mosque (image shown below) and took some photos and made a couple of videos, however, I concentrated on how to structure the documentary and wrote a script and, also, gathered some images of mosques that I have taken in the past years and particularly during my latest visit to Pakistan. However, to get the answers to my questions I re watched some of the Islamic lectures that I usually watch on Youtube and confronted some books and my parents. Shown below are the photographs taken by me during a recent visit to Pakistan. Here are some of the videos that I have watched during my research.
ScriptTo create the script, I had to gather my notes and write them in a more structured and organised way, in order to explain the concept, persuade the message and create a story line. I started from rough notes, that I have taken while confronting the religions' representatives at the locations mentioned above. I, firstly, read them and picked up the key points and wrote them in a more clear way, highlighting the concept and, then place them together alongside a brief introduction and conclusion and sent the final script to my tutor for approval. Here are images of my very first and rough notes. More clearer and structured points, obtained from the previous ones. Making of the story line. The final script for the voice over.
Week 6 was about researching and understanding the technical components of a documentary:
As a documentary is not just about interviews but it has to include good imagery to help people understand and visually witness the matter in question. Therefore, we googled for mosques, churches and gurduwaras photography and explored them either on google and Pinterest to take inspiration. Below are shown some example: Mosque photographyChurch photographyGurduwara photographyInspirationsWe had watched, also, some religious documentaries to take inspiration, have clear ideas and visually understand and have a "preview" of what we were about to experience. Here are some examples of religion documentaries, among numerous, that we have watched because we found them more relatable to our idea: This documentary shows and convey a message of friendship between people of the Abrahamic religions. The purpose to watch this is that the subject matter is the same as mine; religions, and it, also, talks about commonalities between religions and influence the viewers to create a good and peaceful bond with people of different beliefs, especially when you are living in such place where people from varied backgrounds are present. The way the places of worships have been shot and presented in it, gave us a guidance of the types of shots that we should consider while capturing and filming them ourselves. This second documentary is very similar to what we were planning come up with; a short documentary made up of photographs and short video clips. The theme is, also, analogous to our documentary's theme; showing the same concept according to various religions/beliefs. Another common element is that all the places of worship, that have been displayed and that are considered sacred, are located in the same city: Jerusalem. Same is the case of our work that the locations which includes; church, cathedral, Gurduwaras and mosques, are located in Birmingham, which highlights that this is a multicultural and multi belief city as same as Jerusalem. This documentary has particularly helped us to structure our documentary by showing the places and the notions related to them one by one and not mixed up which makes it clear and easier to understand. The last documentary that we watched, because we found it relevant to our idea, is shown above (almost similar to the one above). This was hugely close to what we had planned to produce because it presents three religions connection, histories, traditions and notions attached with the same place. So is our intention and content for our documentary; show various religions perspective on the same issue.
Week 4 was about planning and researching. Firstly, I researched myself, about the 3 questions that we had planned to ask each religions representatives, to prepare ourselves and gain further knowledge about the subject matter. I did my research, mainly, through out the internet and to start with I watched the video shown below, which highlights the theme of my documentary and is also a generic answer to my first question; What is religion? This video provides many definitions of the word and theory; religion. It shows opinion of philosophers, experts, historians, etc... According to
Then I started to research our third question and started with typing; "Is today's younger generations stepping away from religion?". https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/millennials-are-leaving-organized-religion-heres-where-some-are-finding-community The link above leads to a video that gives the answer to above question, which is "yes", it is true that the millennials (people born between 1986 and 1996) are stepping way from religion and religious organizations. It includes some statistics such ; "the number of people identifying as Christian has fallen by 16% since 2009". Below there is another video that shows the same answer as the previous one. Watching these videos helped me get rid of my confusions that if the questions that I was going to ask was relevant and meaningful or not. PlanningDuring this week, we also decided the locations for shooting. As our plan was to visit a Church, a Mosque and a Gurduwara, there we started to research these places and try to find the nearest ones and the ones that would show typical architecture, art and culture. We started to look for the Gurdu wara, firstly, and decided to go for the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha located on Soho road, Birmingham. Therefore, we called them, by getting the number phone their website, and ask them for permission, which we obtained easily. However, to represent the Christian religion we visited and filmed 1 cathedral and 1 church; St. Philips Cathedral and St martin church, both located in Birmingham city centre. Even here we asked for permission before going there, by calling them and explaining that is for study purposes. The two places are shown in the images below. Last but not the least, to represent Islam we planned to visit a mosque, so we could take pictures and make videos, alongside getting the answers to our questions form the Imam.
As my friend lives in an area of the city which has numerous mosques, therefore we decided that she will fil the nearest mosque to her house and instead of confronting the Imam, I confronted my mother (as I belong from a Muslim family) and tried to get my answers from some Islamic books that I have in my house. The image below shows the mosque that my friend has photographed, located in Witton, Birmingham. Week 3 was about introduction of professional equipment used to make a documentary. Callum showed us some different types of cameras:
This is one of the easiest cameras to use beside its versatility. Below there is a guide image, that has been made by my tutor and it explains all the functions and how to use the JVC GY-HM620E camera.
However, as for us, we have used our mobile phones (Iphone 11 and 11 pro max) to make our documentary, as we had to visit and shot places of worship where it was not appropriate to bring big size cameras ( like the shown above) due to privacy matters and to don't intimidate people during they're prayer. Also because we had never used any of these cameras before so we were not familiar to their functions and in order to prevent any inconvenience while shooting/ filming we chose to go for mobile phones. https://bps-tv.co.uk/product/jvc-gy-hm620e-hd-eng-camcorder/
The second week was about gathering ideas and finalizing the concept for the short documentary. There were not any specific topics that we had to stick with, however our tutor allowed us to choose any concept of our personal interest and preference. Therefore, me and my friend, decided to do something relevant to the subject of Theology and religion, as we both have applied for this course at university and also because it highly fascinates me and I never miss any opportunity that allows me to explore this subject further. We began with creating a rough mind map, in which we included everything that came to our mind relating to the chosen subject matter and the concept of documentary overall. Idea 1Initially, we were very confused as Theology is such a wide theory, so were not sure what to pick and where to start from. Firstly, we taught to shoot Islamic organizations that provide aid to the vulnerable people for the sake of Allah's (God) happiness and to fulfil their religious duties. The purpose of this idea was to deliver a message of "giving charity" to such organizations so they can do their work more easily and rescue more people. However, my opinion was to generate more ideas and then pick up the one that will fascinate the most to both of us and we did so. After several discussions with my friend, we decided one thing, that whatever the topic is going to be but, taking in consideration that Theology is not the study of one specific religion or belief but is the opposite case, we will try to create a documentary that will include at least 3-4 religions/beliefs. By doing so, we can represent the actual meaning of Theology and multi-beliefs and multiculturalism. This image is an example of multi-beliefs and multiculturalism. Idea 2Our second idea was to create a documentary that shows the different ways that believers of some major global religions pray. This was quite a good idea as it would have shown diversity in a common action; praying. I was still not very satisfied because my intention was to display something basic and simple but with new informations, point of views, deeply analyzed and creatively presented. Therefore, we continued to gather more ideas. Idea 3Following some researches on the internet and taking in consideration the criteria set by ourselves to produce content relating to Religions and multi-culturalism, we came up with the final idea that we found the most suitable and interesting.
The idea was to visit and film or shot 3 diverse places of worship of 3 different religions; Islam, Christianity and Sikhism and meet the Imam, the Priest and the Guru and ask them each the following questions:
We discussed this final idea with our tutor, which she found relevant and suitable to our chosen theme and from there we began to start working on it. During the first, we began to analyze the concept of documentary. What is it? A documentary is a non-fiction movie that covers unusual, interesting and unknown topics/ stories, that are not highlighted on mainstream media. What is the purpose? The main purposes are to educate and inform people about a certain issue or concept. Documentaries, also, emphasize injustice happening with the hope to achieve help and support for the victim. Additionally, they can convey messages, viewpoints or experiences, as well. What are different genres of documentary? Below there is a list that describes various types of documentary:
5 elements required to make a good documentary:
During the first week we watched a short documentary in the class called "Tears Teacher", on a website called "short of the week", to visually understand how documentaries are, their effect on the viewer, the technical elements and their composition. Watching this short documentary made me understand, that to make an interesting and engaging documentary you should take in consideration various components such as the types of shots; wide and close ups, both are required to present this kind of topic, where emotions need to be captured in order to deliver the actual meaning of the content to the audience. The interviews in the video, allowed me to feel more involved with what was being said as the narrator was speaking directly to the viewer and expressing his experience and viewpoints. At the end, I was a little upset due to the short length of this documentary because I wanted it to be a bit longer as I was enjoying it; it made me feel relaxed and reflect about how often do I cry? And came to a conclusion that I should cry more as it helps to stay normal and feel good. References
https://www.desktop-documentaries.com/what-is-a-documentary.html https://docuseek2.com/wp/documentary-genres/ http://sites.stedwards.edu/comm4399fa2013-jhender4/2013/10/03/expository-documentary-mode/ https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/6-types-of-documentary-film/ https://medium.com/the-curiosity-cabinet/the-art-of-fact-based-cinema-d790afd6288d https://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/ISSN0805-9535-2001-02-04 https://www.filmdistrictdubai.com/blogs/what-are-the-5-elements-of-a-good-documentary |