Documentary Production: Pre - Production

Pre-Production

Path of an aspiring Pianist

Idea

Lewis Peart is an aspiring pianist who is recently studying at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester. I have decided to create a documentary based on his skills and abilityies of using the piano, and how he plans his future; in order to gain his ambitious dream career of becoming a professional pianist. 

Chetham's School of Music

Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18. Although admission is based solely on an audition to demonstrate musical potential and talent, the school regularly obtains good exam results. It maintains links to the cathedral by educating its choristers and holding regular concerts, and many Chetham's students have become professional musicians. Its ensembles, such as the Big Band and Symphony Orchestra, and many students have won awards for their music.

Chetham's School of Music or occasionally familiarly known as "Chets", is a specialist independent co-educational music school in Manchester city centre in North West England. It was established in 1969, incorporating Chetham's Hospital School, founded as a charity school by Humphrey Chetham in 1653. After becoming a boys' grammar school in 1952, the school turned to music as its specialism, and became an independent school. There are approximately 300 pupils on roll, making it the largest music school in the United Kingdom. The oldest parts of the school date to the 1420s, when the building was constructed as a residence for priests of the church now Manchester Cathedral; these parts are listed buildings, along with other parts of the complex. The site houses Chetham's Library, the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. A new building to replace the Victorian Palatine building and allow easier access for visitors was completed in 2012. The school is a registered charity under English law.

       

Documentary

Path of an aspiring Pianist

In this Documentary I have portrayed the prospect and future aspirations of a young ambitious pianist. I used different film techniques to establish this film; I had chosen to portray the film in a Journey Documentary structure, to display the insight of the chosen subject.

I thought this would also be suitable for the structure and overview of the film, because of it being present day; it was the exact time the subject was progressing towards a certain goal/achievement.

Through pre-production I had planned out certain subjects to include such as: How he began playing the instrument, His interests in the chosen profession and his aspirations etc. I planned these certain topics through the story of the film to create a fluid and responsive style that would maintain the attention of the audience and keep them entertained.

When filming I had a set of topic sections which I wanted to use for the documentary in order to keep a fluid and intriguing structure.

Topic Sections:

Introduction - About Lewis

• How he began/First Lesson
• His Passion for the Art
• Chetham's School
• Future Ambitions 

The film techniques I had used in the material are listed below:

• ·         Interview
• ·         Observational Footage
• ·         Match cuts & Cut-aways
• ·         Voice over
• ·         Text – Title/Name tags/Credits
• ·         Sound/Audio – Diegetic/Nondiegetic/sound bridges
• ·         Lighting- High Key/Back lighting

I thought the overall final product was a good quality film. It had turned out to be what I wanted it to be, It had hit every target which I aimed for.

Although I would liked to of made more improvements such as: Filming inside the college, but because of the college being closed for two weeks in the duration of production I decided not to wait that long in order to film. Time was valuable and if I had waited for two more weeks, it would of colided with the timetable of post production/editing.