ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Within such a lot of archive there will be many narratives, not just one, so the main story will introduce the side stories. Look at some rostrum work maybe, to add more visual techniques to your shoot, good for linking themes.

11 years, 6 months ago - mark craig

I think some parallax animation as described by others would be great, but my advice would be not to overdo it. The simple power of a still at a certain point in the story can really hit the spot without always needing to sex it up. Depends entirely on the narrative of course, and your choice of style as a film-maker. If you want to incorporate some other items of ephemera as well as the flat photos, in other words things you can't scan, then maybe some good old fashioned flat bed rostrum camera or motion control could work for you. Or simply arrange, light and shoot with a 'normal' camera. One re-occurring technical anomaly you may encounter is strobing, or image flicker which happens when the pan is too fast, often vertical very bright / dark lines pass through frame. You will need to try slower moves or wider shots to minimize it, or stick to cuts and zooms. Good luck! Feel free to drop me a line if you want to discuss more. I'm a documentary maker with a graphics background, and once made a 20+ minute doc using only photos and answer machine messages: www.talktome.org.uk

11 years, 6 months ago - Tony Franks

Thanks Joe; I'm interested in your process and I've dropped you a message on your website contact page. Cheers, Tony

11 years, 6 months ago - Joe Fellows

Yes I can help. Parallax animation or 2.5D. I did a tutorial on it here which features some of my own family photos http://www.makeproductions.co.uk/cp-film
I am currently working on a documentary using this technique. Please get in touch if you have any questions http://www.makeproductions.co.uk/contact
Joe

11 years, 6 months ago - Dave Young

I've started to make a doc about a good friend and paralympian who sadly died last year. I photographed him extensively and filmed him a little back in the day, so I'm putting together a doc based around these assets and testimonial from his friends, family and rivals. Here's the taster tape so far, hope it helps: http://podfilms.tv/taster/

11 years, 6 months ago - Walter Miclo

In 1962 a French film named "La Jetee", a sci-fi film about a post apocalyptic world, was made almost entirely from still photos. It was a narrative film and not a documentary but if you look at it maybe you'll get some ideas.
Walter Miclo

11 years, 6 months ago - Ashley Briggs

Maybe look at the experimental documentary short, A Story For The Modlins. (Efficient and effective hand positioning of photographs to drive the spoken narrative). Ash.

11 years, 6 months ago - Tony Franks

Hi Mark,
I loved the clips from your film, and your technique for including photographs.
And I agree with you about potential overuse of effects, and your reminder of the power of a still (still) image.
Thanks for your input, Tony

11 years, 6 months ago - Bill Hartin

Ken Burns' is a good place to start in all the areas you mentioned.

11 years, 6 months ago - Tim iloobia

This sounds like a gift of source material, and also in terms of how creatively and diversely you can approach it.

Having little idea of what your narrative will be or could be, it is hard to say too much but will you be talking to surviving members of the family?
are there any audio recordings?
are there any particular stories attached to the family that are interesting to non-members?
The fascinating thing will be unravelling a sense of the families identity from the contents of the box, like a mystery unravelling.

perhaps you will film stuff with the family too?
I would avoid like the plague simple talking heads of people reminiscing as that could be really dull and unimaginative and saccharine, rather get them digging into crates and getting tactile with the archive. Spontaneous responses captured at creative perspectives.

The very idea of the crates themselves and the quantity of contents means that, if it were me, I would explore the physicality of the archive as much as the contents. Its such a tactile realm to go digging in.

filming photos as they are leafed through, placing glass stills on lightboxes or windows, working with negatives on enlargers or through magnifying viewers... so many options... and that is before you start taking liberties with animation techniques should you be inclined.
film and video footage is also something that can be projected or viewed on multiple different screens or projection surfaces.
Im envious of such an open starting point... good luck.
sorry not to suggest any links to visual references so hope this was not totally useless.
It just sounds exciting.
tim

11 years, 6 months ago - Eric Jukes

You don't mention film format or negative size. I've recently obtained a Fuji Frontier SP2500 which can do high speed scans of colour or b&w 35mm negative - slower if a higher resolution wanted. Slow if larger format negatives 120 film or 6x7 or mounted 35mm transparencies. I'm still doing final tests on this machine (I understand they were £67000 or so new). I bought it to do my own negative collection which goes back to the 60's plus wartime negs from late father and father-in-law with a view to doing a short documentary. I'm happy to digitise a few specimen negs free of charge if you want to check me for quality/resolution. Then if OK I'm sure we can arrive at a price which will be cheaper than commercial rates and no VAT.
You need to be extremely careful if the collection contains any glass negatives - they break really easily - you might need to come to an agreement in advance about those with the family in case any break! Or agree that you won't be touching them!
Eric

11 years, 6 months ago - Tony Franks

Thank you Walter and Ashley for the film recommendations; I will look for both of them online.

Cheers, Tony

11 years, 6 months ago - Tony Franks

I welcome more thoughts, from more Shooters, but I'd like to say a big thank you to Bill, Tim and Eric for their early responses:

- Bill: I'd completely overlooked Ken Burns. I've just looked him up on Wikipedia and this quote rang true: "His PBS specials [are] strikingly out of step with the visual pyrotechnics and frenetic pacing of most reality-based TV programming, relying instead on techniques that are literally decades old, although Burns reintegrates these constituent elements into a wholly new and highly complex textual arrangement." That rings true with me...

- Tim: The 11 crates are both a "gift of source material" as you say, and a mountain to climb. I've never started anything this ambitious before and slightly daunted by the sheer job ahead. Firstly, cataloging and sorting the material and then building the story. I have a key audio recording that can be incorporated and yes, I can interview some elder family members. But outlining the narrative will be the hardest part. I did like your comment about filming the "physicality of the archive"; that's really intriguing, and worth more than a list of links. Thank you for your valuable thoughts.

- Eric: The scanning part is also daunting (the archive has multiple formats), and here I will need to educate myself quickly. The offer of test samples and a competitive rate is very attractive. Can you email me seperately on tony@pocketfilms.com ? Again, thank you.

And I do welcome any other thoughts/ideas/pitfalls/links. Thank you Shooters.

11 years, 6 months ago - Tony Franks

Paddy- Thank you for the rostrum tip.
And Dave- Thanks for the link to your taster which looks very impressive and enticing. (I wish I had more film/video footage for my project..). Thank you both. Tony