Blog #10 Father & Deaf Son.
- Oliver Aspinall
- Mar 7, 2020
- 5 min read
I was given a piece of homework by my lecturer, by making a 3 minute documentary for the next monday lecture, which we get to show our work and get feedback. We were given a few days. So I had no other choice, that I have to wait till the weekend. Because I was working on my main project at the same time. It was difficult and a lot of last minute planning. I only had two different ways of approaching this.
The first idea was doing the mini documentary on the Carlisle City Deaf Football team, which I thought would be interesting because the team itself started very recently a few years ago. Like every club has its ups and downs, and theirs is all over the place, which was interesting, I was thinking about filming and asking a few questions why they joined this team and so on and the challenges the find being part of it as well. But never got round to asking people or even get confident to try and of course be part of everything at the last minute. Even try being involved from arriving to the changing room to the pitch and then of course the pub. But it wasn’t possible, which is a shame because I was hoping to show the interaction between teammates and the banter as well.
Second idea was doing a mini documentary on my friend Tom, based on his parents' experiences of bringing up a deaf child. Because it was the most crucial part of the decision making and changing a deaf child's life is very crucial because a little change can make a big impact on their lives. Initially first I was interested doing Tom’s mother first, because I knew from my upbringing that the my mother was interacting with me all the time comparison to my father, but on the night before Tom texted me that she won’t be available and she is kinda ill with a cold, so instead I decided to try his Dad, and then I was incredibly thankful that he was able to say yes to take part in the Mini Documentary. It was bad timing in my opinion as Tom’s brother was not well and so on, but I felt relieved about getting that green light to make the mini project possible.
As it was all done on the day before presenting day, it was all rushed and all last minute planning, at first I wasn’t able to use Tom’s house as a filming location, so I had no choice but to find another location instead that was the pub, the nearest pub to their house, I had an option of two different pubs but decided to go with the Fox and the Hound. Then I found the best room which was their pool table room. I said in the earlier blog about Tom’s video it was perfect background for a good documentary interview. The maroon background makes a perfect one because it's darker than the guest, therefore he or she will stand out in the duration of the interview.
I used the Canon C100 Mk2 and an Rode microphone that is attached to the C100 via XLR, which gives me clear speech and we record the whole interview under 45 minutes. Which is excellent, because timing wise, it was getting quite late. And it was a Sunday evening as well. Which the father, is a school teacher, and has work in the morning. So with everything quickly set up, and ready in composition. He arrived, the first thing we did was to make him comfortable as possible, and have an good understanding what's happening, e.g. what I am planning to film, what questions Im going to ask and make sure he's looking at the right direction, because, I did actually advise him not to look at the camera because I know it would make it not as professional as looking at the interviewee.
The questions were:
- Who are you? And What is your Role in Tom’s life?
- Did you have any knowledge of deafness before your son came into the world?
-How did you react when you found out your son was deaf? And What did you do about it?
- Your son has a cochlear implant. Why did you choose this path?
- What impact did it have on your life today after 22 years of bringing up a deaf child?
- What were your methods of communication as he was growing up?
- Did you have any contact with the deaf community before and after?
It went very quickly, I even repeated the whole interview a few times, to get the different answers and and enough footage to edit, to make the documentary look smoother.
Even after the interview, it was a good idea to get some B-Roll ready (outside of interview filming) of the father and son playing pool, to make it look like they are spending time with each other, and it was entertaining because either of them were not potting the balls in the duration of the game, which made filming slightly easier, as I try to film as much as I possibly can. Next I asked the both of them to walk into the venue to make it more interesting, and it was a good idea to show the place plus the interaction they both have between them both.
Next after a bit of filming with Tom for the other project, I rushed home in Glasgow, and started to edit the work. It took a while for a three minute video, and successfully finished it at 3 am in the morning without adding the music. The next morning was quite difficult as I searched for the right music that works with the documentary, but I did find one that I thought it worked with the Mini Documentary.
Then the lecture came, I showed my work, and I didn’t get much feedback which was a shock except two little things, one of them was questioning why Tom wasn’t asked questions or involved the documentary as much. And the second thing happened was the music, and a lot of my colleagues agreed that the music didn’t work with the video.
So back to the drawing board for the music, then after half an hour more ( I didn’t keep track of my timing) found the right tune and the right mood for the video, and of course crucial part of the video make it more accessible, which is subtitles, which is good practice for me for future projects. Then finally uploaded it to Youtube and shared it with the world on my work.
Overall, I enjoyed doing this project because of the rush and excitement of not knowing what the outcome would be, like thinking will it come together nicely or would it be a mess. But I think it was a success that it came together nicely.
You will find the link for my Mini Documentary on ‘Father & Deaf Son’ below.
Hope you enjoy it.
God bless
Oliver
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