Documentary Year 3

 The survey was completed by people predominantly in the age group of 18-24 and was a mix of males and females. It was clear those that took part were aware of the platform Onlyfans, some even knowing someone who uses the site to create content. However, it seems most don't own an account themselves to access content from the site and although they are aware of Onlyfans they know very little about the site other than what it is. Overall there were more positive opinions on those that work within the field of sex work on Onlyfans, but this was a surprise as it seems the negative view is more common in general public. The most intriguing info we got from the survey was that it was very clear that being in a relationship with someone who posts content on Onlyfans was not something they'd want to do. This could be an interesting topic to explore in questioning. Finally, it was clear that most would be interested in a doc on this topic, reinforcing that this is a good idea to develo...

 We decided to do a survey to get a rough idea of what people know about Onlyfans as a site to possibly help with what questions/topics we will cover in the documentary. Below are the questions we sent: How old are you? What is your gender? Have you heard of the platform Onlyfans before? Do you know what Onlyfans is? Do you know anyone, or do you yourself, have an account on Onlyfans to create content? Do you know anyone, or do you yourself, have an account on Onlyfans to access content? What statement do you agree with the most? - I know very little about Onlyfans and who uses it I know a lot about Onlyfans and who uses it I am very familiar with Onlyfans and use it myself What is your opinion on people using Onlyfans for sex work? Would you be in a relationship with someone who sold explicit content on Onlyfans? Would a documentary that explores and focuses on people who work within Onlyfans interest you?

 As we are unable to record an interview for our teaser, I think the best way to present our idea and film is to build up the negative stigma around the Onlyfans industry. For example, in the intro of our documentary we are going to show news headlines, comments and Youtube clips of people slandering the industry and those that work in it. Then we will introduce our participant who will work from the ground up at restoring the view of the industry.  So I suggest for the teaser we use the footage we will use slandering the industry with music playing underneath, but with each negative comment on it we find positive ones, to build the idea we are going to explore the argument. So if we show a clip of someone saying 'If you work in Onlyfans you're disgusting' we can combat that with a positive video/view on working in the industry. This will tease the argument we are going to explore and also hype up the documentary. To add further elements we could narrate some parts where we...

 I previously mentioned Louis Theroux's documentary, 'Selling Sex', as a documentary that explores something not too dissimilar with the topic we are exploring. After further research I found that one of the participants within this doc in fact complained after the release of the documentary and even wanted to be removed as she felt she was mistreated and misrepresented in the film. I wanted to address their issues, so that we can possibly avoid them if we are fortunate enough to get a pps for our doc. One issue mentioned was the individual felt silenced as parts of their interviews were not used where they aimed to 'educate and destigmatise'  the sex work industry. If this is true, then the documentary fails in creating a truly balanced argument, as if you don't show the sides of why it is good and beneficial then you can skew the perception of whatever you are representing. In our documentary the idea of detigmatising the industry is something we definitely wa...

 Then there is Eisenstein's montage theory that suggests there are five different types of montage editing, these being: Rhythmic, Metric, Tonal, Overtonal and Intellectual A metric montage is where each clip is the same length of time, so it creates a beat in the edit. This is something that is used very often and can make the viewer have a better experience without them really knowing why. A rhythmic edit is where each sequential clip are matched to further the narrative and progresses the world in that scene A tonal edit is a montage that depends on the tone of the scene, it matches the emotion of the scene. Overtonal on the other hand is the edit of the montage deferring from the emotion in the scene. For example a kids birthday party being edited in a way of a horror movie, it can create a weird feeling in the audience and could also foreshadow a possible event. I will definitely look at using a metric montage as it can make the scenes flow nicely, but I won't be too fixat...

 In this workshop we looked at editing and different theories that exist within it. Editing in the early days of film was never truly appreciated, with the First Academy Award for editing only being introduced in 1935! but form this workshop we have seen how it editing has developed as a field and become to be a respected process within filmmaking. The first thing looked at was the Kuleshov effect, this is where the viewers derive more meaning from two sequential shots rather than just one. It was found that even if you kept the first shot the same and differed the second a new meaning could be derived form it. For example if the first image was of a person in a close up giving plain direct address and the next shot was of food, we could work out he is hungry. However, if we changed the second shot to a picture of a coffin we could derive a different meaning that he is grieving and sad. This effect highlights where meaning is generated and how important the edit is at creating that...

Pudovkin's five principles of montage and where montage is used for different effects: Contrast - compare to opposing scenes Parallelism - matching two scenes through similar elements i.e jump from one period of time to another Symbolism - cut is symbolic of something Simultaneity - things happening at same time often juxtaposed (cross-cutting) Leit Motif - musical element, cuts intertwined with music and beat. These are montage cuts that I have been aware of, especially Leit Motif's as cutting on a beat is something I enjoy doing. For this documentary project on an Onlyfans worker, I feel the most beneficial one to take form this is parallelism or simultaneity. I feel I could edit some parts to show a change over time, where she talks about the positives have positive b roll and lighting etc, then shift this when things begin to take a turn. At the moment this is just an idea at the moment but it's interesting to see the different options.

Walter Murch's Rule of Six is about where to do the best cut. There are different important things to look out for with every cut you do; you have to make sure the edit gives emotion, continues the story, the cut is at a point that makes the most sense, cut according to where audience need to look, whether or not the scree is in full us and to keep in place with the 180 degree rule. All of these have different importances and have different weightings: Emotion 51% Story 23% Rhythm 10% Eye Trace 7% 2D Plane of screen 5% 3D space 4% This is important to take into account as when you can't achieve all 6 you should sacrifice the ones with less weightings and therefore less importance. In other words, you should not sacrifice the emotion of the cut placement to benefit the 3D space, as the emotion is the most important thing to consider with every cut. This is great advise to take for editing as there have been many occasions where I have edited something and found that where it is ...

 Due to the times we are in, there is every chance that we will struggle and maybe not get a pps to interview. This is why we have prepared a plan b for our narrative where we will look to do an expository documentary with poetic elements. In this doc we would look to give stats and information on the history of sex work to present day and how technology has increased accessibility to sex work/ sex sites creating social issues across the board. From females body image issues, to male confidence dipping due to a lack of approaching partners in real life. From this we would then end on a rhetorical about what the future may hold and the issues that there will be in the future. This would be an informative documentary, using news broadcasts, youtube interviews etc as footage to use (with copyright). This would be just as affective and engaging for the viewer to watch, a similar style to 'History 101' on Netflix, but instead of a focus on animation we would use more poetic/metaphor...

 My group and I went into a video call the other day to get more of a solidification on the narrative arc we would follow, by creating a template we could use for whatever participant we are able to get. Below is the template for if we are able to get a participant: Start:  News articles, Youtube videos, comments all negative opinions that are out there will be shown, possibly get small headshot interviews with general public to get an understanding of what people know and their opinions on Onlyfans. This starts the doc with the negative perception some people have of Onlyfans and allows us to introduce the pps with a positive feel as to combat he negative opinions from the start. This balances it out making it more of a fair argument. Exhibition:  Introduce to creator, past and why they chose to start an Onlyfans. Stats, is their much money in it. Is it worth it. B-roll here, day in the life, setting up cameras and lighting, scroll through their socials, how they promote...

 In this workshop we identified the paperwork that would be required to fill out for the hand in date and also for when we record the project. These include the release form, consent forms and locations forms. These are all necessary forms to fill as they will protect any breach in consent, as it allows the participant to be well informed on what they are consenting. This has highlighted what we will need to fill out to clear our project for 'production'.

 Just a few days ago a new UK lockdown was announced for a month over November. This means we will no longer be able to do in person workshops or meet in person as a group to discuss our project. This is a massive set back as it may also deter anyone from accepting to be part of the documentary. This is something we will have to overcome by possibly preparing for our main interview to be on zoom and for this reason we will have to make two storyboards to fully be prepared for both possible outcomes.

 From this workshop there were two parts of lighting that we looked into. One was more in depth on the inverse square law and the other was how we can use lighting differently i.e key light, fill light etc.  First of we looked into Lumens, Lux and Foot Candles. All of these are different measurements of light; lumens calculate how much light is needed to light a certain area, used predominantly by architects. Lux's and Foot candles are both looking at how bright a subject is from different positions away from the light source, but Lux's use a metric measurement and Foot candles use an imperial measurement. 1 foot candle = 10.76 Lux Softer light = diffuse Different lighting techniques: Key - main light, strongest Fill - fills shadowing areas caused by key light Back - creates 3 dimensional scene, differentiates subject from background Side - one side, ominous one side dark one side light, connotations Practical - Candles, tv, light from everyday sources  Hard/soft light Bo...

 This weeks reading explored the benefits of lighting, where to use it and how to use it. Again this was a reading that reaffirmed some already known benefits, but also enlightened me on a few other things. Parts of the reading I was already ware of was that 'lighting provides an emotion from viewers' subconsciousness'.' i.e dark lighting, sad, low mood, light lighting, happy positive etc. Lighting is essential in any media whether it be photography or film, it is what helps achieve pictoral beauty.  What I took from this reading is how light can be used. It can be reflected, refracted, filtered and absorbed. Knowing all of this gives much more flexibility in how we can use it. Another big thing I took from the reading was the 4 basic attributes of light, this is something I was yet to hear about lighting, but once reading it, it was simple enough to understand. The attributes are: Intensity - brightness of light, Angle - low or high different connotations, texture - ha...

 Independent research found from 'www.xsrus.com', on the site they give their working outs, graphs etc.  Onlyfans take 20% cut of any income through subs etc. 2019, over 60,000 content creators and 7 million registered users. Today fair to say at least 10 million users.  Average revenue per creator per month ($250) averages sub fee ($8.7)  Onlyfans could be described as a glorified pimp. Top 1% of creators make 33% of all the money, top 10% of creators make 73% of all the money. In other words, not evenly distributed and thus new creators don't get anywhere near the money as the top 10%. Most creators probably lose money in the overall. Most accounts take home less than $145 per month (after commision) Median take home revenue is $136 per month, if you take $15 minimum wage into account, to make it worth while, creators need to spend less than 9 hrs a month on Onlyfans to break even. In other words, 20 minutes per day! This info is whithout looking into tip money, wh...

 Within this workshop we looked at lenses and how to create a good depth of field for our interview. A good depth of field is not completely necessary in a documentary, however it can be a very visually appealing aesthetic choice, one that we may find ourselves using if we are able to film our interview in person. Depth off field is the distance between the closest and farthest objects that are in clear focus where everywhere else is out of focus. To alter your depth of field you must alter your f-stop (aperture), the lower the f-stop the smaller your depth of field and vice versa. The benefit of using this technique could be to make sure everyone is focused on the participant and only the participant. But it could also help if there is anything in the background that our participant wishes not to be seen. For example a family photo or something personal that cannot be moved. Using a depth of field in this case would keep the participant in focus and remove any issues in the backgr...

 The reading for this week focused on how to portray your story through various filming techniques. Overall it was more of a re-cap on previous information that I already knew, but by highlighting the most important things it will help us to not forget to use them in our project this year.  What was most beneficial about this reading was that it didn't just highlight the different techniques to use, it followed this up with why this technique is used for different things. The best thing I took from the reading was the explanation of why it is beneficial to film close to a participant. Not just to possibly get a better shot or better audio, but to feel close to the participant as if they were close to the audience themselves. This would be extremely useful in our documentary, as if we frame the participant closely to the frame, they will be more inclined to listen to them and thus get a better understanding as to why they took the career path they did. This is important for the...