Calm Before The Con - Reflection

Initial Ideas and Testing:
When I thought of comic con as part of my documentary piece I thought it wouldn't have worked as comic con was going to held in May when the documentary was due in.
But then it hit me… If I couldn't go to comic con, I could go behind the scenes of comic con to show the people and fans that the famous convention brings in every year around the world. Which made me think of an edge in which to tackle the documentary….

My first Idea was to shows three aspects of comic con...

• The fandom
• The gaming community 
• The cosplayers 

With these topics in mind, I thought of finding three characters to represent those topics to get the best out of characters as well as the segments they felt most passionately about.


When me and my partner Plamen showed our first rough cut of our documentary to our tutor, she told us that we needed to concentrate more on the characters. So I had to rethink my idea and new idea was to show more of a passional side of my characters which Plamen and myself managed to get from our interviews with them. We had a puzzle but just all the pieces were in the wrong place, all we had to do was find the right pieces and put them in the right order.



Written Pitch and Synopsis:

THE CALM BEFORE THE CON

Tag Line:

A survival guide explained through 3 teenaged individuals about what it's like to be at one of the biggest pop cultural events in the world, comic con.

Because when comic con starts the place where it is held will be packed full of people estimated to be around up to 100,000 people. Because when you get incise the centre of where it's held, it is like a battle ground to get to where you want to go.






Research and Development:


What Really helped with my research was the fact that our documentary had the aspects of fantasy and fiction to it.


I found a documentary about one of my favourite concepts... Dragons!!!
The Last Dragon (2004)


























This Documentary (although it was fake) showed what historians thought dragons looked like and what they did to serve. This also showed a story where a young explorer comes across a dragon specimen and by analysing it do covers it's nature and it's origin.

The techniques in this production was more like a film when it comes back to the story of this explorer. Close ups, still wide shot of his surrounding with the dragon and the places he goes to, it feel like we are following this man though out his journey but then becomes more of a documentary when the footage of the dragon as humans thought where like in the past comes on and like documentaries such as the blue planet, a narrator comes on and explains in detail what dragons prodigally did to service.

But yet due to it's infirmity and music, I was hooked to see if this dragon really was for real because being a dragon fanatic I was glued to the screen, hearing how the dragons served, how the DNA mutated, and how their bodies could produce fire.




Comic Con was also about creativity and the art of making and constructing costumes. I found a documentary on Netflix showing that similar proses called Being Elmo (2011).

Showing the life of puppeteer Kevin Klash, the documentary showed how he became fascinated by puppets and how he makes them come to life by constructing colourful characters that are loved by many children.


This shows the same passion for people who like to make cossplay costumes as well as what they do with their talent by being a totally different person.


Using lots of images from his past this documentary showed a progression from childhood to adulthood pursuing a dream. The quality was quite higher then I anticipated and showed behind the scenes on how Seseme Street was made, some information I didn't even know which got me surprised and once again due to it's infirmity I was hooked to watch more and more.





My 3rd Documentary I came across from Netflix, Video Games: The Movie (2014)


The Movie, a feature length documentary, aims to educate & entertain audiences about how video games are made, marketed, and consumed by looking back at gaming history and culture through the eyes of game developers, publishers, and consumers. The film is not just another film about the games industry, but attempts something much more ambitious; the question of what it means to be a 'gamer'.

This documentary had a lots of interviews from game makers and developers but I admit what got me hooked on this documentary was in fact the celebrities who are interviewed on this production. Because in some cases (especially for me) it's something you don't see very often, popular celebrities playing computer games.


Using a lot of fond footage from games and plenty of commentary this film showed me what it was like to be a gamer. For some including our interviewer Liam, they did feel like they were isolated and anti social but to them video games are a way of seeing the world in a whole new way. Seeing it from a more exciting, less stressful, and magical kind of way that lets their imagination take hand as they go on an adventure into their computer screens.




Visual References from shooting:

Production Prep:


Early Stages of The Script (First Draft)

Public Release Forms:






Refection Overall:

What went well -
The cooperation of my interviewers who helped us out so much and thanks to them we managed to get the project done before the deadline.

The way they represented their each of the segments as well as other question to the best of their abilities and it even went to the point where they were telling person things about themselves and how that tied into their passions and interests.


What didn't go so well - 
The organisation for this very stressful at first after the previous muck up that me and Plamen did when it came to our first documentary idea which didn't go so well in terms of people not cooperating to be interviewed. Therefor in came to a point where me and Plamen had to drop the idea and go straight to the comic con idea.

Our teamwork was lacking as well. Since me and Plamen are lone film makers it was hard for us to put faith in each other. But slowly but shorley we admitted we needed to spend more time together making the project instead of keep our distances and leaving the other guy in the dark.

Continuity for another thing. With the interview with Rhiannon our cossplayer, we forgot the clip mic had to go under her shirt so the wire couldn't be seen. When we saw that mistake it was so embarrassing but we took it as a side of learning as this really was our first time making a documentary.

The sound was all over the place. The sound from where we interviewed Liam Terry had an annoying background noise which came from our clip mics and we couldn't get rid of it. Rhiannon Was too loud as well which was really uncomfortable as well.

What to do next time - 

• Be better prepared for the worst so you can move on to another idea if one goes wrong.
• Better teamwork and to have faith in your partner/ team.
• Make sure to get to grips with more of the documentary terminology and make sure that the mice are set up correctly.
• Better Setting up the shots in terms of lighting, and shot types. (e.g. Mid shot showing head to shoulders)
• Make sure sounds levels are 100% smooth for each shot

Conclusion:

This was a very fun project to make and was an experience that has strengthened the bond between me and my Bulgarian friend Plamen and taught us lone film makers the meaning of the word team work. From a serious idea termed into something weird and fun, showing real teen lives and the spirit of their passions and fandom when it comes to this special event.