Yasminmuat02's Blog

Reflection 3: Research Production

I initially started off with looking at statistics in relation to taxi driver abuse and assaults after discovering some of the past experiences that Abdul had come across. After carrying out the first rough pre-interview, we, as a group discovered some more information about the job itself and the tests that Abdul had to do in order to get to where he is today.  This then led me down the path of researching into the job requirements in more detail and the different types of carriages that are out there. As he had also mentioned customers and body language, I began researching the different body signs and what they meant in relation to emotions. After receiving some useful feedback from the class and the lecturers about our work, the group decided to change their research into going down the path of looking into the bad and good aspects of the job. I looked at issues raised over the years in relation to Coventry itself and the taxis in it and I found an interesting quote by a taxi driver who had said that policemen were prejudice against taxi drivers. This information that I found enabled me to turn them into questions to ask Abdul. To make sure that we had every aspect covered for the actual filming on the day, I read books and watched other documentaries to gain some inspiration and to help me to come up with new ideas. I read about past experiences of those who had created documentaries before which enabled me to warn the group of the areas to avoid such as making Abdul feel under pressure perhaps. Before holding the first professional interview, I did further research into taxi locations in order to discover a good area that would work well with the overall theme of the documentary. I found a few sites which I talked to the group about and from there we were able to combine our ideas and find a final relevant spot to film.

After carrying out this first interview, the group found out that Abdul did actually work for a company called ‘Trinity Street Taxis’ which he hadn’t mentioned to us before, so from this I was able to do some in-depth research using the internet about the company. Along the way I found out information about the change of location plans for taxis due to the increase of taxi licenses around the area which was what I had previously found out and had asked Abdul.

Due to the confusion of what the heart of the story was going to be to begin with, it enabled me to research a variety of different subjects related to taxis during the ‘research process’ and I was then able to narrow it down as we found out more information.

The production of the filming has been very hectic due to the first filming day ending with rain and lack of technical skill preparation. We were able to learn a lot from this which helped us with our second attempt of the interview. I specifically picked a sunny day after looking at the weather forecast to ensure that this would not happen again. As the group were stood by the media loan shop whilst I was talking about the tie clip microphones causing problems due to the unprofessionalism of the wires hanging down from Abdul, one of the media loan staff overheard and recommended to us that we use a wireless clip microphone. I hadn’t known that these were available to loan so this was great news. It enabled the cameras to be at a further distant without the view of the cables getting in the way. We were prepared several hours before Abduls’ arrival which meant that any last-minute adjusting was able to be done. Everyone was very organised and had a role in the production. I was in charge of holding the boom microphone whilst at the same time comforting Abdul and making conversation with him as group members packed various equipments away. I definitely think that this helped him to relax as it took his mind off the cameras having been focused on him.

To our delight, Abduls’ manager kindly allowed us to visit the offices and so we were able to take some great footage of what went on behind the driving. Sam and Laura took video footage using the PDX10s whilst I took digital photographs of the relevant areas that I thought we could include. Whilst we were in the taxi, we all took roles to film as myself and the two girls had different ideas of what and how we wanted to film. As the equipment was handed in back on the same day, it enabled the group to relax after a busy day. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of the filming as everything flowed well and I think that the first filming that we did enabled us to take on board the areas that we needed to improve on for the second attempt of filming.

I have noticed that the girls in the group have been more involved with the ideas of the visual side of the documentary such as camera shots and the editing itself whereas the boys have been more involved with the technical side such as the exposure on the cameras and the sound levels. This has enabled everyone to focus on a specific area that they enjoy the most. I personally think that I have taken a major part with the general ideas for the filming as I have expressed my opinion on the areas that I thought we should include (research wise) as well as the type of shots that I felt were important to include. I have been in charge of the paperwork behind the production and ensuring that we follow the rules and regulations.

Overall I am very happy with the progress of the documentary and feel that the group have shared similar feelings and thoughts of how they want certain areas of Abduls’ job to be portrayed.