Making of documentary - 'Georgian Quarter - A journey back in time'

  Although we had two complete different ideas prior starting the filming, in the last minute, we surrendered our initial thought to create a documentary about either Cavern Club or the Liverpool football team to have an informational documentary about the mesmerizing Georgian Quarter, which is renowned for its rich history, 18th-century architecture and also for the so-called haunted area inside and near the boundaries of the Georgian Quarter, location presented interactively by the Shiverpool Ghost Walk.  

   Therefore, the whole shooting took place inside and around the district, aiming for an overall view of the Georgian Quarter's luxurious 18th-century buildings, an in-and-out image of the biggest cathedral in Liverpool, 5th in world, and a detailed tour of Shiverpool about the hidden meanings and stories in the maritime city. 

   I had the main position of the director and secondly, the sound mixer and the cameraman. Being the director was a tough job, since Amy and Tom won't listen to me the times I tried to kindly tell them what would be the best to be done, but I still believe that my creativity, passion and eager eyes helped the entire footage to be facile to read through it and for the meaning behind it to be understood. In Liverpool, I've spent my time mostly staying closer to the camera operators, trying to see through the camera's lens, but also outside of them, having a clean and precise perspective of the surroundings in this way. On the the post-production session, I paid close attention to what the editors were doing and gave them guidance where needed.

   My vision was to create an observational documentary with expressive moving images, using GVs and close-ups mainly (speaking of the visual aspect of the film), along with a voiceover that could complete the story written in the imagery (interviews and narrator) and that will enrich our narrative in the documentary, simultaneously.

Photo taken by Chloe Daniels

   Wanting everything to run smoothly and above all, the sound to be clear while having the volume required, I took the position of the sound mixer as well, directing or filming concurrently. Prior beginning the shooting with Shiverpool, I set and synced up the radio microphones, plugged the receivers into the two cameras and hooked the transmitters on the two male protagonists, then recorded one of their voice, while my teammate, Dominic, was filming the Ghost Walk. 
   
   Unfortunately, because I had to hurry up a bit in order for the shooting not to start out late, I didn't have time to think of  the gaffer tape I bought previously, which would've been a life saver if we had used it to stop the friction of the mic with the clothes. However, after listening to the audio on the laptop, luckily there are only a few bits with a distorted sound, which I believe can be fixed with ProTools.

   Still speaking of sound mixing, Dominic thought that he was the most suitable to be a narrator. Therefore, we met a few times afterwards the Liverpool trip and I helped him record his voice with the usage of a lavalier, audio that is going to be examined and then used later in the post-production.
  

   Another issue we sadly encountered during the pre-production, which continued until the very end, was represented by the lack of teamwork, me and Dominic having to do almost everything, since our teammates seemed too bored or tired most of the time, in spite of the fact that we tried to communicate and induce them prior the shooting days the importance of cooperation and hardworking. However, they accompanied us and helped us by carrying the equipment required on each day, but because Tom's footage of the Georgian Quarter wasn't enough, Dominic and I decided to shoot separately and leave the post-production team with more possibilities in this way.

   When we started the editing part, I helped in both image and sound with a few ideas of how the footage can be used in the documentary in order to make them understand my vision upon it or gave guidance to Jake, the sound editor, on how to use the ProTools' settings properly. 

   Moreover, I fixed the audio from the interviews and from Tom's footage, the audio levels on the mother project, color corrected the footage, included and edited the title and the original credits that can be seen below.

 

   Amy wanted days off when she thought that the documentary was almost done and it just needed the credits and title (which could be put on the last day as well, in her opinion). However, in reality the video needed a lot of attention, because the footage wasn't color corrected or adjusted, the audio levels weren't equal and there were some bits of audio that shouldn't be on the mother project. Therefore, I decided to go on my own (after Chloe and Dom agreed that it's alright), finish the editing and check everything, after she worked so carelessly for 3 days only. 

   The actual final version, after 2 days of working on it myself, can be watched on this link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DsScLJmXgb5teQoCvTaU-MWlLfE-iS_1  I am not assuming that it's perfect, but after she saw this, she just wanted to change the things I did just for the people to know that it's her work and it solely has her touch on it.

  
   Furthermore, for a precise and correct evaluation, I wrote down the ending credits that will be included later in the post-production session.

   Sadly at that time, we were still trying to figure out a way to get copyrights of an artist, ideally from Paul McCartney. However, I decided that it will be good if we will use a copyright free song from Youtube when only the credits are displayed.

   In addition to everything that I mentioned above, in order to help the producer with the paper work, I decided to get hold of the consent forms for the interviewees myself and hand them in to Dominic before leaving to Liverpool.















→All photos displayed above (except of the one specified) are taken and uploaded by me.