Our Pitch

      Paul, Myles and I met up before the pitching session to discuss how we would present it. Paul had put together two PowerPoints for our two ideas. He also had the printed out treatment which we all worked towards and planned on reading off it and assigning each of us a segment to read out. However, I prefer to avoid reading out from paper because it often creates a monotonous tone, which is not interesting to listen to. So we all read through it and decided we know enough about what we need to say to discard the treatment. I brought my production folder to the session, which involves mind maps on initial ideas, our roles, equipment lists, ways of filming and influences. In addition to this, it contains notes of our meetings and print outs on both Jake Morrison and Michael Phoenix. I have also done a separate mind map on Michael Phoenix because he is the idea we wish to go with. In another blog, I will put up some pictures of the storyboarding process and the shot lists that I comprised with Chris' help (who in his role as a director, provided me with an outline and structure as to what he would like the documentary to look like).

     

     Overall, the pitch went very well. Me and Paul did the presenting (Paul talking the tutors and class through the majority). I talked about two main points; I brought up Michael Phoenix who I had done a substantial amount of research on, informing them of the Stradivari style that Michael has chosen to use in his violin and bow making. And my second point was one of my influences - which I have discussed in a previous blog - Of Time and the City, directed by Terence Davis, which is set in Liverpool and has been a major influence in terms of my role as camera person and director of cinematography. The tutors were definitely swayed by the Bluecoat idea, especially mentioning Michael Phoenix and we were very pleased with the response. I also brought up the style of filming I wish to do, which is to avoid the conventional documentary style by choosing to record the sound separately, so we don't take the generic stance of recording an interview-like set up, but to record his voice and depending on what he says, choose significant objects to film. In addition, depending on whether he tells us a happy or a sad story in relation to his past experiences, I would like to use certain colour tones on the camera to create the right mood and tone, for example, filming him by candlelight can be used for a sad or a heartwarming story due to the surrounding darkness and the glow of the candle itself.  

     One of the only negative comments was in relation to access, which we explained was only because this idea was thrown together and discovered in the last couple of days. Our tutors were ecstatic with the discovery of Michael Phoenix; stating that it could be really beautiful and they can already picture the shots in it. When the class were asked to vote on which documentary we should pursue in Liverpool, the majority voted for the Michael Phoenix idea, which has just encouraged us as we much prefer our second idea. The pitch has only excited me further, I cannot wait to film the idea and meet the man himself.