This week I had arranged to film three clubs; boxing, lifesaving
and basketball. All three were accommodating but boxing were especially so. It
once again brings up the subject of how to treat the subjects of documentaries;
the boxing club perhaps felt that they were in need of promotion, grateful for
any attention. They were willing to do whatever I might have wanted in order to
promote the club and as such they may be expecting results from participation. At
the end of filming I tried to explain that I may only use a little of an
extended interview I was given to try to dampen expectations somewhat but it
has since occurred to me that this might only be my perspective of events.
Another filmmaker might not have felt the need to balance the equation between
those filming and those filmed. Another filmmaker would have created a
different dynamic between himself and the subjects of the film and would
perhaps not have felt the onus to create “realistic” expectations (ie
expectations in line with my own perspective).
I filmed the club for its entire training session but
noticed after sometime that I once again felt an obligation to stay for the
duration of the training. I perhaps need to be more clinical and to take what I
require. Having said this is I had not stayed until the end I would not have
gotten the extended interview, something that may be a saving grace in the
editing stage.
Friday the 1st March
I had arranged to film the basketball club having spoken
with the club captain, they had agree to wear their home and away jerseys both
for my filming (it would look better) and for their own ends (to use the
footage in their upcoming presentation). When I arrived to film the club
captain wasn’t there and they were not wearing their club jerseys (they all
were wearing different training attire). In a way it informed me as to where I
stood with the club, they could take or leave my presence. This impression also
informed my further interactions with the club for the rest of the training
session. For example I tried not to interfere at all with their training, just
letting them get on with it. The footage I got might not be as good as if I had
asked them to partake in certain activities that would suit the tone of the
film I am making but I got the impression that it was the best I could do.
Asking the participants to turn up wearing certain uniforms could be called off
camera directing in any case. After filming the practice game they were playing
for a while I was caught tinkering with the camera when one of the players
performed a spectacular slam dunk, all the players on the court then turned to
me to see if I had caught it on film (I hadn’t). This scenario made me aware
that they were aware of the presence of the camera and if only in this instance
it was altering their behavior.
Friday 1st March
The last club I had arranged to film was the lifesaving
club, I had originally wanted to film the water polo club as it is vibrant and
filmic but they are finished training for the year and club captain offered me
the chance to film lifesaving practice so I said I might. When the time came I
was free and since I had the camera I decided to go down to the sports hall and
film. It was an after hours training session and so it was quite late but I
found myself unable to capture the mood I experienced watching these athletes
train at such a late hour on a Friday night. They were getting ready for a
lifesaving intervarsity (who knew?) and so there wasn’t much dynamic activity
as I had hoped there would be. I was finding it hard to frame shots where there
wasn’t anyone chatting in the background and thus ruining the dynamism of the
shot. Not knowing what activities they were going to practice I had to ask
before I began to shoot, this was the extent of my interaction with the
participants. I filmed each activity in turn but realized halfway through
training that I would not have enough space on my memory card for filming the
rowing club on the weekend if I were to keep on filming. Upon realizing this I said
my thanks and left. The importance of filming the rowing club (even though I
could not film them in the end) meant that any onus I would have felt to remain
and film the whole session went out the window.
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