Tom Pearson's Multimedia

After focusing our proposal and treatment we have put together a list of quesitons to ask our busker. See below:

Personal Questions

. What is your full name?

. Where do you live now and how long have you lived there?

. Have you always lived in Nottingham and where did you lived before?

. Do you have family or friends in the local area?

. What else do you do in your free time?

. Do you have another job and how long have you done it?

. On an average busking session how much money do you earn?

. What do you spend it on? Anything specific?


Nottingham Questions

. What do you think of Nottingham as a city?

. Are there any aspects of it you like/don't like?

. How has the city changed in the time you have lived here? For better or worse?

. Where is your favourite part of the city? Why?


Busking/Musical Questions

. How long have you been busking and how did you get into it?

. How long have you been busking and how did you get into it?

. Where did you learn to play guitar and how long have you been playing?

. Do you play guitar and/or sing anywhere else other than busking? If so, where?

. Why do you busk?

. Why do you choose to busk in this area all the time?

. What music do you listen to in your free time?

. Does this influence your busking style or even your mood and personality?

. What do your family/friends think of your busking?

. What is your opinion on modern pop music?

. Are there any particular modern artists you like/dislike?

. What do you think about most modern music being electronically produced on computer?

. Would you encourage more people to busk? Why?

. Would you encourage young people to learn a musical instrument? Why?

. Does it not bother you sitting out in the cold for hours and how do you deal with it?


Society Questions

. Do you enjoy meeting new people and are there any regulars that you see when you're busking?

. What do the regulars say to you?

. Have you made friends with anyone you didn't know before busking?

. Do you get any trouble from any of the public? If yes, who? What did they do?

. Who are your favourite types of members of the public? e.g. businessmen, couples, teenagers, the elderly etc. Why?

. Do you care what people think of you while your busking?

. What do you think they are thinking?

. Some people stereotype buskers as homeless people playing for money, does this bother you? What would you say to those people?

We recently had a seminar on visual grammar. It really got us to think about how shots are composed and that they are not just poised random elements. Everything is setup in a certain way. And as the classic saying goes "everything is said for a reason in film". Here are some shots from a film (not exactly sure what film but any comments below would be appreciated if you know), I'll add the notes I made in class so you can see what I picked out. I'm not going to edit my notes into something flouncy because when I was writing quickly the main most important factors that stood out to me were jotted down. None of the fancy writing, just raw visual perception and the words that accompanied my feelings:


Eye drawn from him along the wire to the hole of light. Possibly symbolic - hope, because of the way the shot is structured e.g. high contrast with a dark background and white, god like foreground light.


Lighting makes the two prisoners stand out. Very focused on those two. At first you see foreground prisoner but then drawn to background convict due to same colour. Colour proximity. Also a shot of power due to height of the guards in relation to prisoners. Sterile environment - crude / horrible / bleak place to exist.


Camera slightly above eye level. Somewhat gives impression of weakness & depression, looking down. The two shadows on the face makes one think about what character is thinking, e.g. confliction.


Character proximity - legs are almost overlapping, could mean are close but by the way they are sitting (outwardly and away from each other) means there could be some tension. Table segregates them like a barrier. Symmetry of other tables they are not full, just two people in shot. Does not feel restricted. Dullness of the colours - serious feel.


Bigger to smaller eye movement. Slowly drawn to background character - where are they looking? Background golden. (Didn't really feel much from this shot)


Man is on a tilt. Over the shoulder shot - feeling restraint from the man in black, probably to do with script and theme of a prison.

In our latest seminar we had to give a quick proposal on what we were doing and how we were doing it. Along with the general who's and why's it went fairly well.

I found a really great website called Scribd which converts PowerPoint presentations into a web format ready for embedding into websites such as this blog.

Here it is:

Sorry for that image which is blocking some of the text on the second page, just a general upload problem to Srcibd, the image wouldn't normally be there. If you've read the proposal and looked at the links I hope it paints a picture of the kind of documentary we will be making. It is by no means a traditional "sit down and talk" to the subject method (better known as "fly on the wall"), but instead a more stylistic approach which will create a very satisfying experience to viewers. Hopefully something different and original enough for them not to switch off.

To gain a wider knowledge on types of documentaries, it's important to do some general snooping and watching. When I say snooping by no means do I mean to go around in a prying manner. We know what we want to make our documentary about, in our case a busker, but we are still deciding a visual approach. This along with the importance of our audio means research is required so we don't just go ad hock on one thing. The two come hand in hand.

The closest thing to what we are doing now with our 4 minute documentary would be the brilliant 3 minute wonders that 4 Documentaries show. These really are great. In terms of similarity this is as close as you can get, that’s why I’m so excited! Here are two of my favourite examples.

Susan & Susan



This first one is called "Susan and Susan". It’s about a lady who finds comfort in slugs. The way they are so slow and peaceful relaxes her. You never see the lady speaking. Instead the use of strong imagery in conjunction with the metaphors implied. For example: there is one part where she is talking about her parents. Her father likes to drink and this causes him to become violent, whilst this is being described in the audio, visual images of a male doll along with the snail and some alcohol being poured creates a really good visual style. There is never a sit down formal interview; this is the success of the piece: A strong visual experience coinciding with the audio.

Three Cherries



"Three Cherries" follows people talking about their experiences in casinos, specifically on the slot machines. Once again you never see a clear picture of who is speaking, just simple voice over’s. It’s so simple but it works exceptionally well. Once again visual imagery here is very important. However more importantly, the audio plays a bigger part. Mixing in casino sounds with the audio tracks from their subjects, along with the video creates a fine documentary. Something I really like in this one is the added bonus of the text. It emphasises key points of what is being said. This is something we will try to use in our documentary.

After going around town to see where abouts we should film our documentary, we bumped into the "Jazz Man" himself (the person we are doing this on). The "Jazz Man" name does seem a little crude on our behalf as this is the name we have given him. We had a quick chat to him and asked him a few questions to get to know him better in order for character research. His real name is actually Sam, although he wouldn't give his last name to us or his age. No doubt they'll come later once we know him a bit better. We have our subject matter and still no hook. I'm positive that we will get one by the end of the weekend, but when asking ourselves the same question, you get the same generalised response. To break this it is necessary to do a lot more character research and gain depth into the subject of busking and of Nottingham itself. I think this is the next best plan of approach. It will allow us to create a working hypothesis for our subject, almost like a fail safe. So incase he is the worlds most boring busker, it won't flop. After this we can start fully constructing our documentary structure.



Here are some of the pictures from the recce whilst we were out in town:





And a quick video recce:




There are more pictures but I will be doing a proper Recce sheet soon. To come tomorrow.

Our initial ideas have been good but not quite good enough to make a documentary about. We are having a hard time trying to find our "working hypothesis" as Michael Rabiger suggests. Something that we want to achieve by creating this documentary. What do we want to tell people? How do we want the audience to feel at the end of it? Both deeper questions then they look. It’s all very well making a documentary on a busker, but it's what you intend to say about the said busker that is the most important part. The "hook" if you like. The only problem we are having is getting this hook. Sure everyone loves a busker, but if we were to just film him playing and talking about his life, it's just another boring story and is ultimately up to the busker himself to be extremely interesting to pull the documentary up.

The next plan of action before anything else is to get this sorted. I’m going to go ahead and brainstorm until I get it because this is now frustrating me quite some bit. I’m also worried that we don't have this done by now. Everyone of our ideas we suggest to our tutor has been shot down, but this is necessary in order for us to understand where we are going wrong and what makes a better documentary. Sorry for the rant and such a short posting.

On a positive note, I've recently done some Recce on the location we are going to hopefully be filming. Pictures to follow soon.

Let me give you a little info on the "Don't Panic" Franchise. They bring out monthly packs which include a competition voted posted and pack. Along with the main bit of random junk about the night-life and so called "culture" in certain areas (such as Nottingham) the only reason people pick up this promotional pack is to get the free poster. Because of course, anything free as a student is good!

The Don't Panic Pack is a unique free publication found in carefully selected independent shops, bars, universities and art spaces. Also distributed outside alternative music events and launch parties, it contains all sorts of arts and culture goodies and information for cities all around the world with the emphasis on design and the future of our planet.

At the heart of the pack find the Don't Panic Poster where a rotation of established and unknown, up and coming artists design around an issue that affects culture across the world.

Each month the poster is picked by the most amount of votes. The poster with the most votes will be put into that month’s edition of the Don't Panic Pack. In addition, each month has one word about which you must design the poster on. The one I have chosen to do was "Chaos".

After some brainstorming or as some like to call it "golden showering" to be politically correct, I came up with the concept of crayons! Crayons you ask, yes crayons. Kids + Crayons = Chaos. My drawing is also crude deliberately, a bit like a kid. I drew it in illustrator with the thought of chaos and messiness. I chose the red crayon to go off on a tangent and write the word itself. It’s always the red one that draws people in, and it’s the red that is more symbolic to the theme of chaos. Here's a link to it, vote if you please, it would be nice. And PLEASE click on the image to view the full size as you cannot see the detail in the small picture. Thanks.

----------------------------> CHAOS / CLICK ME<----------------------------