For my interviews I wanted to research framing and composition of the subject being filmed so I could conduct my interview according to general conventions of interviews. I researched the rule of thirds and it was clear the best positioning of the interviewee was to be slightly to either side of the frame with less of a direct profile shot. Also generally with a mid closeup, like this example.
I tried to apply this for my first interview and felt it was important to get my interviewee in a natural comfortable position with a backdrop establishing the setting adding interest to the interview.
Similarly in my second interview I positioned my subjects to the right of the frame with a clear, relevant backdrop to the left where the frame is empty of people.
As part of my research I felt it would be important to look at a music documentary as it would help me understand the type of audience interested in a music documentary, which mine will be a form of. Consequently I found this documentary, showing the events and build up to the Stone Roses come back tour. IMBD announced that it is the 45th most popular music video according to the IMBD research, which is fairly high, however I felt that as it celebrating a British band made by British director for a predominantly British market, as mine will also be broadcast in Britain, including British people I felt this would be more appropriate. I also particularly liked the style of filming and the style of editing is very much how I imagined my documentary to be. I particularly liked the sound and editing at the beginning- with a slow-motion tracking shot of Ian Brown walking along side the crowd with no diegetic sounds but just a voice over quote from Alfred Hitchcock. I found this very effective and would like to open my documentary with something similar, possibly a short sequence followed by a montage with no sounds apart from an appropriate, inspiring voice over.
In order to gage a broader understanding as to some of the main reasons why there has been a significant revival in vinyl popularity and sales of the last couple of years, I was fortunate enough to arrange a telephone interview with author of 'Last Shop Standing' book and now documentary film. I have been able to watch several clips from 'Last Shop standing' and was particularly interested not only with the content but with the generally bright and positive style of filming and the relaxed and very nostalgic vibe it created. Therefore I felt he would be perfect to inform me about not only the vinyl revival but also about his approach to the documentary.
Graham Jones-
Producer and author of ‘Last shop standing’ interview.
Why do you think there has been a significant increase in
popularity of records over the last couple of years? ‘It all started with record store day which started about
six years ago in America. The record companies got behind it and put out a few
hundred releases that you could only get on vinyl. This got people going back
into record shops to gain collectibles and record companies are now putting a
lot more things out on vinyl. It something people actually treasure and collect
and the whole package of a vinyl record means something to people. When I use CD’s I will listen to them in the car but when I finish I throw them into the
glove compartment or throw it on the seat but when I think of listening to a
vinyl record I would never think of taking it off the deck and throwing it
across the room and I like to look after it and keep it in perfect condition.’
How far do you think that record shops are responsible
for this? ‘When I wrote the book last shop standing it was in 2009 we
only had 269 record stores left in the country. Now in 2013 we have 298 so that’s
30 more that have opened in the last 5 years than have closed which to me is
great news and all down to vinyl because you’re never going to see Tesco
getting out 12 inches next to the baked beans the way they did with CD’s. So
people buy vinyl from record shops as appose to getting them in the post and it’s
that reason why we have more record shops now than we did in 2009.’
What do you thing is the main attraction of a vinyl
record over a CD or download? ‘There is nothing wrong with buying downloads or CD’s, music
is now more popular than ever, we have more options of listening to downloads
than we did. The music industry tried to get rid of vinyl and tried to get us
all to buy are music collection all over again by buying CD’s and they did this
because when the CD was invented they said to the artists we cant pay you as
much because its cost so much to develop as on a LP so artists were getting far
less royalties on CD’s as they were on Vinyl records so therefore the music
industry wanted us as consumers to buy our record collection all over again because
they were making a lot more money on CD’s than they were on LP’s. There is
nothing wrong with LP’s I think the sound is actually better but the industry
wanted us buy CD’s so they could make more money off them. These days the
industry wants us to be downloading as they will make more money off them than
they would off LP’s and CD’s.’ What is the main target audience of people buying
records? ‘I think it’s more spread out now. A few years ago you would
find a lot of people buying records would be male and over 30. But since record
store day took off so many young bands now are putting stuff out now on vinyl.
It many cases it might be 500 copies of a 7 inch or a 10 inch or a 12 inch. I
still work for a record company I still go out and visit record companies every
week and about five years ago we would put about 2% of our leases out on vinyl
an now every key release that comes out we put out on vinyl and it comes out on
download and it comes out on CD. The record companies are making some really
good vinyl and it comes with a download card or it comes with the CD so you
could listen in the car and listen to the vinyl in your home. Things are
improving vinyl sales are going up by big percentages every year whereas CD
sales are continuing to fall. Digital sales are going up for not by as much as
someone like me thought a few years ago I certainly thought at this stage
digital would be a lot further.’ What was your initial approach to your documentary and
what sort of view did you want to get across? ‘Blue print media approached me and said they wanted to turn
my book into a film. I did think it was going to be very difficult to get a lot
the humour that was in the book into the film but it seemed to work. What we
tried to do was tell the history of the record shop so we went to the oldest
record shop in the world and we went to the oldest family owned record store in
the world, we went to a record shop that used to have the Beatles as customers
and a record shop that sold 500 copies of Bill Haley’s Rock around the clock when it came out. We showed all the good
things that happened but also we filmed a record shop closing down. But it finishes on a really positive note; we
interviewed a shop in Southsea called pie and vinyl that only sell pies and
vinyl. It shows these day record shops have to diverse to survive they can’t
just rely on all the things they did in the past. Rough trade is a perfect
example everyday they've got bands on, they've got an artist or a book reading
but they have an event on every day. They've got a café, they've got computers, they've got great merchandise and a great selection of books but there are so many
records shops out there who are like rough trade where they have groups on
every week or month and they serve coffee or they've got cafes. One shop said
to me we make a 300% margin on our coffee and we make 30% margin on our music, that’s
the problem with record shops, the profit on music is so small and I'm pleased
to see they’re actually surviving.
One of the big reasons why we lost so many record shops and
why record shops are opening now is because the government introduced a law
called low value consignment release 12 years ago and it was designed to help
dairy farmers of the channel islands and it meant anything shipped form the
channel Islands under twenty pound they didn't have to have VAT on it. So what happened
was a very clever company called Play.com realised they could ship CD’s into
the UK without having to pay VAT and before you knew it Amazon, Tesco and HMV
and all the big high-street supermarkets all set up operations in the Channel
Islands. So if you bought a CD off the internet 3 years ago 95% of CD’s plus
ones bought online were shipped form the channel islands to avoid paying VAT.
The government eventually scrapped this release and within a few months they left
the Channel Islands. Therefore all the prices on CD’s went up by about £1 or
£1.50 but the nation didn’t seem to really notice but for record shops it’s
been fantastic because it’s now a bit more of a level playing field. So if a
few years ago someone could go your selling this for £9 but on Amazon its £7
because record shops had to pay VAT so that has made a huge impact on record
stores as they’re working a much bigger margin than they were two years ago.’
During my research into The Vinyl Revival I was fortunate to discover a documentary called 'Last shop standing.' The documentary details the initial decline of independent record shops, the recent revival of records and the subsequent effect on independent record stores. It has been based on a book of the sane name, written by record distributor Graham Jones.
I particularly found a number of the clips useful as they use a mixture of montages and interviews and have a nicely chosen soundtrack. I would like to do similar types of takes in my documentary and feel that 'Last shop standing' has a relaxed, slightly edgy vibe which I have taken inspiration form and would like mine to have a similar atmosphere. the interviews are quite relaxed and intimate but done in interesting, raw locations that reflect the topic and add realism to the documentary and make the interviewees quite relatable. It has also emphasised the importance of a good soundtrack to add to the mood and message that is being put across to the audience.
I researched into documentaries and the typical forms and conventions involved with in them. In order to present the research clearly I have presented it in the form of a prezi.
I saw this video advertised on televison and found it quite interesting. It is a short film in a series of documentaries, produced by Google, documeting individuals inspirational stories about their interests and hobbies. This particular video is about a man, Andrew Willis, who has a passion for skateboarding and was given the oppurtunity to build a skatepark.
I particlurly liked this video as the filming is very bright and crisp. It also has a very positive and personal feel to it and keeps the viewer interested so that it appears less like an advert. I felt that it is a very clever marketing scheme as it subtly promotes google through out, as you see him using the search engine a number of times- on his laptop and phone. Howvever the focus is always kept on Andrew Willis and you tend not to consientiously take in the Google references and it does not feel as if it is an advert.
In terms of marketing for my documentary, I have taken inspiration form this and plan on using individual interviews from my documentary as an advert to prevent the feel of an advert and trying to sell something to the audience. This will be subtle and interest the audience without a forceful advert to entice them to watch my documentary.
I researched
into the target demographic of my topic- the vinyl revival in order to gage
their likes and dislikes so that I can create a documentary best suited to my
target audience.
I looked at the BPI website for this as they are a UK based trade organisation made up of the main major record companies and a number of independent record companies, representing 90% of all UK recorded music, therefore being generally very reliable.
'Older buyers dominate but young are becoming converts'
'While the poll shows 35 to 44 year olds to be the largest consumer group (28.5%), younger buyers are also seeing the appeal of the format, with over a third (35.3%) aged under 35. Just under half of respondents were married, and men made up the majority of the self-selecting sample (87.4%).'
Research by ICM suggested 18 to 24-year-olds were buying more vinyl records than any other age group under 50.
Consequently I hope to be able to give my documentary a relaxed, modern feel in order to appeal to a slightly younger viewer as well, however as it has also been shownh that 35-44 are also a dominant group buying vinyl. Therefore I hope to make a documentary that is fairly suitable for both to encompass as large an audience as possible.
