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Alcohol Related Crime - Short Student Documentary Film

Foxy..

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Hey all, some of you might know already but I am a second year Film Studies and Video Production student at a University near London, UK. For one of my video production assignments I had to create a short portrait documentary about something I have knowlegde of. I decided to create a documentary about the Alcohol Related Crime in my home town of Aylesbury.

Without blowing my own horn, I hope you all can see the vast improvements in my filmmaking from things I have done before.. from watching, studying and creating films, I now know how to use light, sound, and where to place the camera. My editing has also stepped up a few nothces and am using highly professional equipment to make my films.

The hand in date for the piece is in two weeks time so I decided to finish the piece early to upload my edit to youtube to share with my friends and with everyone here at MJJC. I know there are many articulate, intelligent and youtube-literate members on the forum and I would love to hear from you, everyone and everyone who views the film which I am quite proud of. Constructive feedback is always appreciated and it would be great to get it from people on the board.

Also feel free to share stories about your home towns/cities and feedback your thoughts on the subject matter.

(Also please bare in mind that the quality has been reduced for youtube viewing, if you are interested in having the full quality version, I could upload to somewhere like megaupload for you all to enjoy)

'Alcohol Related Crime' - Produced by James Fox

 
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well done, mate. i'll get to the topic at hand in a minute, but i was feeling that short docu right from the beginning. it's a cool soundtrack too, music is always a big point of interest for me in watching any film. and i'm no expert in visuals or anywhere near but it all flowed really nicely and looked very pro. i'm glad you didnt' go full-on looking for "action" in every scene just like most of these mainstream sensationalist docus on alcohol and binge drinking.

now having lived a year or so in Newcastle, i've seen my fair share of alcohol-related twattery (more so than i did in north London). actually it's funny that i caught a documentary on either BBC3 or Channel 4 on drunken geordies just before heading there, and it was very exaggerated because they concentrated on one small area (usually inhabited by 12-14 year-olds or at least the minds of ones anyway) to somehow represent the whole place, and further indent the stereotypes of certain cities pushed by the media. especially cities whose night-life is ruled by uni students coming from all over the country/world.

and if you had asked me similar questions, i'd say that the yobbish mentality which partners the binge-drink culture is the true menace, not alcohol itself. Brits would have sod all to do if we can't get smashed and remember nowt about the night before. alcohol (and certain drugs) are good in moderation and to help liven us up before and during an event, but we as a nation are really taking the piss with how much we use and depend on it. i'm envious of other cultures (from my experience, French, some American ones, and even in Amsterdam) where they focus more on music/dancing and really interacting with others around them than just spending 3-8 hours out of their heads in clubs every other night. and we also spend far too long in pubs talking shit lol
 
Thanks ArX.. Appreciate the feedback.. I'm glad you enjoyed the flow of the piece, and the reasoning behind not using action upon action was to try and keep the film as balanced as possible, as I knew that 90% of people have a negative view on the town and its problems with binge-drinking. As I said, there are obvious problems, but I have interviewed people who think that it is exagerrated to try and remove bias.

As to your views, I agree with you, I have some footage I can upload from my filming where someone comments that it is only the UK that has such bad problems with alcohol and crime, it is not something that is even thought about on the continent.. Which is such a shame, I enjoy the odd drink and of course sometimes I enjoy the good old 'booze up' but shuffling around in a 'night club' (which are usually terrible) avoiding as many STD's as possible.. really not my idea of a good night out.. as you said, interaction, dancing and socialising is something semi-elequant to do with your time whilst enjoying a drink.
 
A nice big BUMP! :D Jokes aside, I really would appreciate some more feedback.. 53 thread views and only a couple people watch and reply.. Not a good statistic! I put a lot of work into this short film and if people watch it I would appreciate some sentiment!
 
Foxy.. said:
A nice big BUMP! :D Jokes aside, I really would appreciate some more feedback.. 53 thread views and only a couple people watch and reply.. Not a good statistic! I put a lot of work into this short film and if people watch it I would appreciate some sentiment!
Click to expand...

Impressive...
 
I think its a great piece, the quality looks excellent, and your editing has vastly improved... ive recently started a course where I have to create a 3 minute personal narrative video on an aspect of my personality, I'll post that when everything has been shot and edited...which camera did you shoot with if you dont mind me asking?
 
arXter said:
just spending 3-8 hours out of their heads in clubs every other night. and we also spend far too long in pubs talking shit lol
Click to expand...


.... sounds like Australia for the most part too :lol:



Great work Foxy I gotta agree with others I like the way this thing flows along and has the feel of an informative doco as opposed to a piece of sensationalism. Good luck when you hand it in :D though I'm sure you'll get a great mark for this :cheers:
 
Thanks big DB and L.J! Sorry for the late response but I have been at Disneyland Paris with the girlfriend for a few days. DB I used a Canon XL2 semi pro minidv camera...

canon20xl2gz4.jpg


Its a great piece of equipment to use, as well as the external microphones I added for crisp sound.. I also love using Avid and Adobe Premiere CS3 for post production.. Both are fantastic powerful programs giving me full control of the edit.

Thanks again for the feedback, I am glad that the piece flows well and is coherant.
http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/member.php?u=4717
 
I thought so! :) hehehe thats the same camera we are using for our projects, the software we are using is Final Cut Pro, but our lecturers did say alot of places still use Avid for some of the big productions in Hollywood. thats great man, hope all goes well when you submit it!

you gave me an idea for my documentary too... we dont work on ours till next year but I might focus on the staggering amount of drug abuse that happens in Scotland, particularly Glasgow where I live. Thanks for the inspiration mate! and I love the quote you have in your sig, sums up how I feel about film totally!
 
Excellent.. thats amazing you can tell from the colour and grading what camera I used, really impressive. Yeah Final Cut is my weapon of choice, but we are doing PC based editing at the moment so Avid is what I am settled on for the moment, but it is so much more complicated to use.. For professional music video, Final Cut is incredible.. Avid I like to use to cut dramas, I used it to work on some rushes from ITV's 'Wire in the Blood' it was flawless.

I am so happy that this project has even given you some inspiration for your future work. I have always heard about drug abuse in Glasgow but I would love to see some work from you on it too. Any help you may need, advice, feedback.. just give me a shout and I would be more than happy to answer any queries.. Are you more of an editor? I may come to you in the future for some tips if you are.. as I am more of a Camera Operator/Film Maker rather than an editor, but I do dabble in post production enough to know how to put things together.

Oh and any quote coming from Kubrick is wonderful!
 
I definitely will! thanks so much! Im not sure because with a lot of my videos I directed them or edited them based on the visions I had in my head so im not sure if I want to head down the directors route or the editing route, Id be happy doing either job, I dont think I'll be great technically with the camera or as an operator lol However, I cant wait to see more of your work and again as I said, good luck on your submission day! :) do you play it front of your entire class and get to give your critique? as well as others giving their opinions?
 
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