Film File Sizes

The original file size of my film was over 700mb, which was too big to be burnt onto a disc. Therefore, the size of the film on the disc submitted for marking is 100mb, but the version I put on Youtube is over 700mb. I thought I'd mention this in case the file size affects quality when marking.

Final Film

My final film can be found here.

I am quite happy with how my film came out, and think that sometime's its worth taking risks to produce work. I do not intend for this work to be a portfolio filler, but believe it is quite powerful.

Ben Quinton - An English Romance

An English Romance by Ben Quinton follows the activity of a shoot and captures the regular occurrences at these events. The images cover a range of activities and sights, including the dead pheasants, the men at work, and transportation.

Some images have the composition and content of argricultural paintings, and depict the variety in pheasant shooting. Whether it's clothing, location, or dogs, diversity is included. What lacks diversity are the people participating in the sport shown in these photographs: they are all white men. 

Ben Quinton has an education in commercial photography and has been published in the Saturday Telegraph Magazine, the Guardian Weekend Magazine, Sleek Magazine, Foto8, and GQ Online. His personal work is mostly documentary and he is interested in different cultures.

The project is still in progress.

Making My Film

All of the skills I learnt from undertaking the Intro to Premiere Pro workshop came into play when editing this film.

I gathered my visuals and audio, and placed them in bins in the project window according to content ("visuals", "narrative", "atmos", etc). Then to cut the media before placing it on the timeline, I opened it in the source window. After watching through the video, I use the "mark in" button to determine where I want my visuals to start...

... and then the "mark out" button to finish.

The media can then be added to the timeline by using the insert button.

Audio can be edited in the source window the same way as moving image is.

After inserting audio to the timeline, it always appears in the "audio 1" row.

I kept "audio 1" for atmos tracks, and moved my narrative audio segments into the "audio 2" row, as linked video and audio automatically goes to audio 1. To move them, simply drag and drop into audio 2.

Once visuals are in the timeline, the accompanying audio to the clips are in the "audio 1" row and are blue. 

To remove them from the visuals you right click, and select "unlink" on the dropdown menu.

Which separates the audio from the visuals, leaving you free to delete the original audio.

When a clip on the timeline doesn't match the sequence settings, it shows up small in the frame in the program window.

To change this, you right click on the clip...

... click on "scale to frame size"...

And it fills the screen. 

When the film was finished, I rendered the work space, and then went to "export - media", adjusted the output settings I wanted, double-checked they were correct, and clicked "export".

Storyboard

My storyboard can be found here.

I paired my audio with imagery that alluded to or directly confronted the subject matter of the audio clip.

I opened with a shot of trees reaching towards the sky as I felt it was a good establishing shot, especially as it included nature. The atmos audio was recorded for a previous project, but I placed it with this as it is a natural occurrence - birds do sing in the woods.

The shots of the cookbook and vegetarian food with the audio about making a change to your life represents the changes I made to my life by going vegetarian.

The following images of animals in slaughterhouses directly relates to the audio. I chose no atmos for this, as I felt the power of the imagery needed to speak for themselves. Also, the accompanying audio from the video clips were not acceptable to me: there was either talking, or the atmos wasn't very good quality.

The next part of my narrative features a black screen and no atmos, as it signifies the other changes I went through to make my life more cruelty-free.

I started the next load of clips with a shot of cows running into a field, as I felt there had already been a lot of cruelty so far, and wanted to show the animals affected by leather to be happy (even though the cows featured are British dairy cows, where leather does not come from - the signifier is cows and the signified is leather). I paired this with audio of cows from a royalty free website. The following images of fur and exotic skin production does not have any atmos, as again, I wanted the graphic nature of these clips to speak for themselves.

The imagery accompanying the audio about zoos also does not have any atmos for this reason, and the visuals relate directly to the narrative audio.

Again, no atmos was used in the clips of animals being tested upon, to let the imagery speak. I included a situation shot of my Lush products, as Lush is a cruelty-free company, and royalty-free atmos of a shower accompanies this.

To preface the section about my dad shooting, there is a clip from a pheasant shoot where he successfully shot a pheasant. The audio that accompanies this is the Tascam recording from that moment. A series of location shots from the shoot, shooting paraphernalia from around my house, and footage of dad shooting accompanies my narrative audio, as it is all part of the shooting lifestyle. The atmos in these clips are a mix of birds chirping and the audio that matches the clip where dad shoots, in order to get the sound of the gunshots. I didn't use the atmos from that scene for the whole segment, as it featured dad talking to me, which I thought would not be appropriate.

The last segment does not contain atmos, as I didn't know what would be best to accompany a woodland scene, my bedroom wall, and myself playing with a puppy. I also think it is best to not have atmos, as my narrative audio is concluding the film, and I don't want anything to be a distraction to it. It might be annoying to see me speaking in the imagery and not being able to hear what I'm saying, but the in-camera microphone picked up people talking near me (and I was probably baby-talking to the puppy) which is not appropriate. I felt that the last shot should be of me, as it is a film about my choices to be kinder to animals through my lifestyle choices. That particular clip was filmed over a year ago, which is why I look differently than I do now.

Jo-Anne McArthur - We Animals

We Animals is a longitudinal project by award-winning photographer Jo-Anne McArthur that focuses on animals in the human environment. Shot in 40 countries and used in 100 worldwide campaigns, this project aims to show that "Humans are as much animal as the sentient beings we use for food, clothing, research, experimentation, work, entertainment, slavery and companionship." 

It challenges the barriers that humans have put in place to treat non-human animals as objects and not as "beings with moral significance". "The objective is to photograph our interactions with animals in such a way that the viewer finds new significance in these ordinary, often unnoticed situations of use, abuse and sharing of spaces." 

Aquariums deepen our belief that animals are objects for our use and our entertainment. Aquarium visitors spend a few moments looking at each animal. The animals spend a lifetime looking out at visitors but can never leave.

They say that dolphins are always smiling. This one looks extremely saddened. 

 An estimated ten billion food animals such as cows, goats, chickens and pigs are killed every year in North America alone. This number doesn't even include fish and other marine life.

The last dog available for sale at a meat market in Vietnam.

Every time someone pays a zoo entrance fee, they are perpetuating the myth that animals are on this earth for our pleasure and our use. 

Every human act in support of animal slavery and confinement perpetuates the belief that they exist for our amusement.

What separates a sanctuary from a zoo or any other institution that keeps animals in its care is that it places the best interests of its residents above all else.

Though humans use most animals for food, clothing, work and entertainment, there are a select few, the chosen ones, enlisted and bred to be our companions.

Turkeys on Thanksgiving at a sanctuary

There are many categories of images from this project on the website weanimals.org, so I chose the categories that interested me the most and the images that I found particularly moving. 

Jo-Anne has covered a variety of different aspects of how humans and animals intersect, and there are a range of happy subjects mingled throughout the more upsetting ones. The project has illustrated the many ways in which human interaction affects animals, in both positive and the more common negative ways, and is well suited to a longitudinal study, as there are so many ways in which we interact.   

Archive Footage

"Incorporating archival footage into your documentary film can bring a level of authenticity unmatched by other means, furthering the film's impact and reach."

This is definitely true when speaking about this project. In fact, I would not be able to make this project if it were not for moving image websites like Youtube, and a few websites that allow you to download a Youtube video. 

Most of the footage I have used is archival, and comes from sources like propaganda films by charities such as PeTA and the BUAV. Some of these clips I have seen in other propaganda made by other companies (some clips were included in the vegan documentary Earthlings), so I know that this is definitely archive footage. Some footage has come from trailers or commercials, and some has come from regular Youtube uploads. 

I know I am treading a line with using people's content, but a lot of documentaries use found footage and archive footage to create their films, as illustrated above. The documentary Blackfish uses archive and never-before-seen footage, apart from footage that features interviews undertaken for the film (e.g., with ex-trainers, divers, witnesses). I would not be able to illustrate the points that I am making in my video if it were not for using Youtube footage. Royalty-free footage is expensive (one website I went on wanted $71 for less than one minute of footage of a dog with his head out a car window), and a lot of the footage I have included I would not be able to film myself, mostly due to access issues (the inside of a slaughterhouse, for example). I also think that using archive footage gives it a certain aesthetic look that cries back to propaganda and guerrilla videos.

The way in which I use the footage also adheres to Youtube's fair use guidelines. 

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes

The clips of footage I am using are being used for nonprofit educational purposes - they are being used in my film to illustrate a personal point of view, and are not being used in a documentary context

• The nature of the copyrighted work: Using material from primarily factual works is more likely to be fair than using purely fictional works. 

All of the footage that I have used have been factual, there is no fictional work included in my final film

• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole: Borrowing small bits of material from an original work is more likely to be considered fair use than borrowing large portions.

In comparison to the overall length of the pieces that I am borrowing from, the length of clips that I use are never more than half as long as the original source. Also, I have used some videos that are over 5 minutes long, just for less than ten seconds of footage.

• The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work: Uses that harm the copyright owner’s ability to profit from his or her original work are less likely to be fair uses

I will not allow my film to be monitised in any way, as I see it to be morally wrong to profit by using aspects of other people's work without their knowledge. I will also not put it on my professional website because of this.

I will be uploading my finished video to Youtube so that I can link it to this blog page for viewing and marking, however I will make it so that it cannot be viewed without the source link, and I will not accept any monitisation offer. 

Tamara Kenneally - A Pig's Life

A Pig's Life shows the lives of factory farmed pigs, and is again influence by her interest in animal rights and animal welfare. The images show the daily lives of breeding sows and their piglets, who are killed at 4-6 months old.

"Pig factory farms are places where motherhood is denied. Sows are placed in small, metal barred crates called “sow stalls” during their pregnancies. They cannot move or turn around. They can only take one step forward and one step backwards and they can lie down. Nothing more. They are trapped here for 3 months until they are about to give birth, then they are moved to a crate called a “farrowing crate”. The farrowing crate restricts the sows movement just like the sow stall does. She cannot clean her babies. She cannot interact with them properly, she cannot comfort them and she cannot protect them. She is basically a trapped piglet breeding machine. She nurses her babies through bars whilst lying on a concrete floor. Once her babies are taken away, she is impregnated again and she goes through the whole miserable cycle again until she is no longer able to produce piglets or becomes ill. She is then slaughtered." 

The piglets have their tails docked, are castrated, and have their teeth filed without anesthetic. When they are old enough, they are taken from their mothers to be fattened up for slaughter in enclosures that are covered in excrement. 

"They never get to forage in the earth, wallow in the mud or see the sky. There is no happiness for these pigs. Ever. In these images you will see the pleading look in the eyes of trapped sows unable to care for their babies and the misery of young pigs imprisoned in sheds being fattened up to be eaten."

This project reminds me of a quote from Charlotte's Web that always makes me emotional: "Wilbur burst into tears. "I don't want to die," he moaned. "I want to stay alive, right here in my comfortable manure pile with all my friends. I want to breathe the beautiful air and lie in the beautiful sun." 

The project makes use of anthropomorphic expressions on the pigs faces, and by using this Tamara conveys the sadness, hopelessness, and fear that the pigs probably feel (or is that just me buying into the anthropomorphism?). It helps to highlight the horrible treatment of these intelligent animals, as do images of the pigs restricted by bars.  

Tamara Kenneally - Born To Die (The Life of a Broiler Chicken)

Tamara Kenneally is an animal photographer whose interests in animal behaviour, animal rights, and animal welfare influence her work. Due to her background in film photography, she barely edits her images, and uses natural lighting as she believes that animals do not belong in the studio. 

"The beauty of animals captivates me.
Their truth, instinct and innocence grounds me.
All I ever wanted to do was to be surrounded by animals, they tell you exactly who they are through their eyes and their behaviour.
Humans create so much pain for so many animals and without a voice they can’t tell their stories. I try to speak for them through my images.
I produce bodies of work which look at animal issues whilst also portraying the beauty of the animal.
I like to represent my subjects as the individual souls and personalities they are.
All animals are worthy of a happy, enriched life. All of them. The dog chained up in the backyard. The chicken at the factory farm. The bird in the cage. The tiger at the zoo.The pig in the sow stall. All of them." - artist statement

Tamara's stance on animals rights highly influences her series Born to Die (The Life of a Broiler Chicken). Amongst her images there is text explaining the difficult short lives that broiler chickens have (they are left in a shed to their own devices, it becomes too packed as they get older, they can die of respiratory disorders from breathing in the air which is polluted with their waste, they are selectively bred to grow into the size of an adult chicken by 5 weeks of age, which is when they are killed).

"Broiler chickens have a very special place in my heart. I’ve found them to be gentle, sweet individuals who create loving and emotional bonds with their friends and the people who care for them. They grieve deeply for their best friends and find comfort in a human who protects and nutures them. To rescue broiler chickens from their fate is a rewarding, yet also heartbreaking undertaking. To see these lovely chickens enjoying the sun on their faces, eating grass and dust bathing is a pure joy. But, to see them struggle with their enormous weight and know that one day soon you will loose them  due to their massive bodies and all the health problems that go along with that can often be a heavy burden on your heart. Taking on broiler chickens, you need to know that one day very soon you’ll be burying them because of their genetic problems. To be able to bury a broiler chicken with respect in their favourite spot in the garden is always so difficult, not only because you’ve lost a very important family member, but also because you know about the billions and billions and billions of other innocent and sweet individuals who never get the chance to be buried. Their bodies are eaten instead of being laid to rest."

The project is a work in progress, and features thousands of chickens between the ages of 0-7 weeks old. Tamara mostly shoots in colour, but believes that this project is deserving of black and white, as it "symbolises the lack of colour in these chickens short lives". 

Tamara's affection for chickens is very clear through her use of close up, almost "chicken portraits". Her work is anthropomorphic, some of the closer shots seem to make the chickens look sad, hopeless, and depressed, ultimately making the viewer feel for the them. As well as this, she also captures the conditions in which the chickens are forced to live their lives, the chickens stretch on for seemingly miles, with artificial light being the only light source they will ever experience. 

Edited narrative audio

Here is an edited version of the transcript of my audio recording. I have edited out unnecessary parts where I ramble or bits that I don't like to streamline the piece. These edits are relatively easy to do in Premiere Pro.

Audio Transcription

I felt that the best way for me to talk about how people treat animals is to have a free-flowing narrative. I set up the Tascam and decided to just speak, not following a script. I don't think that anything that I script will convey my feelings and also I’m not a writer, so I decided to just think “fuck it” and go for it.

This is the whole transcription, but I will edit it when making my film to cut out unnecessary parts or parts that don't flow well. 

More audio drafts

This is an alternative narrative audio draft. I wrote it to play upon my own personal experiences and to sound more like a guerrilla film by challenging the audience with questions. I think this is the draft I will use, as I feel it is more powerful and allows me to use more hard-hitting visuals.

Narrative audio draft

I am going to write out a draft narrative audio just in case I become stumped when I record a free-flowing audio. I will use my narrative audio notes as a guide.

Narrative Audio

I am thinking about what I would like to include in my audio narrative for my film. As this project has always been quite personal throughout all the changes it has been through, I will keep the audio personal and speak about my own thoughts and experiences in relation to animals.

I will make a list of bullet points of things I want to include. I don't know whether to write out a script, or whether to refer to the bullet points and have more of a free-flowing narrative.

• Always been friends with animals - Taffy (grandparent's dog, my first best friend), Sultan (rescue horse), Monty and Charlie (my dogs)
• Taffy would guard my pushchair at grandparent's house, carpet burn story? (wouldn't stop crying until mum took me to see him), good temperament, thought I was his puppy
• Visit Sultan every Sunday, he'd be happy to see me, I'd talk to him until he fell asleep on my arm
• Monty and Charlie - best friends, life is better with a dog, losing Monty was one of the most difficult things I've been through
• Was friends with Wendy the elephant at Bristol zoo when I was a toddler - she'd recognise me and sniff me with her trunk
• Only made sense I'd end up giving up meat
• Beef at 11 (cows were favourite animal of the moment), lamb soon after (didn't like the taste), pork after that (same - taste)
• Gave up chicken on holiday, came home and watched PeTA's "Meet Your Meat" which put me right off of eating "farmyard meat" (poultry and red meat)
• Pescaterian from August 2007 until 2010, became vegetarian for New Year's resolution
• After becoming more familiar with animal cruelty charities did I see other forms of animal cruelty I hadn't considered before - it opened doors to changing aspects of my lifestyle:
• No longer go to zoos - believe if you love animals you'd understand that captivity is detrimental
• Educated myself on the effects of captivity on orca, as orca are my favourite animal - went to Seaworld in 1999, never again, talk to people about it - went whale watching in Boston this year, one of the best days of my life
• No longer buy leather or suede products - will only use products bought before I changed lifestyle
• More aware about testing on animals - use cruelty-free products wherever I can
• Voted Labour in 2010 general election as they oppose repealing the hunting ban
• Dad has a lifestyle surrounding shooting, it has caused some conflict before but we respect each other's differences
• I believe if you love animals as much as you think, you'd try to change your lifestyle

Archive Footage

As my film is about how humans treat animals, I will be using archive footage to illustrate points that I have not and cannot film myself. Footage such as slaughterhouses, circuses (which in the UK do not contain exotic animals), zoos (I do not go to zoos upon personal principals relating to my views as an animal lover), marine parks, and hunting activities (such as deer stalking and big game hunting) will be archival, as I cannot capture that footage myself, either due to logistics or personal beliefs.

Here is a list of footage I need:

• Slaughterhouses
• Circuses and circus mishaps (escaped animals)
• Zoos
• Marine parks and mishaps (orca attacks)
• Big game hunting
• Deer stalking
• Fishing
• Shots of nature, the earth, etc

I will find this footage on Youtube or on royalty-free websites.

Blackfish

Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.

The 2013 documentary Blackfish focuses on the performing orca Tilikum, and the dangers of keeping the species in captivity. The documentary features archive footage and interviews with ex Seaworld trainers, marine biologists, and in one case, a diver who was involved in the capture of orca calves off the coast of Washington state in the 1970s.

The film includes facts about the orca species in order for the viewer (who may not know a lot about them) to understand the atrocities captive orcas have had to be a part of. As a brief overview for the sake of this blog post:

• Orcas live in pods with their families their whole lives
• They are sexually mature at around 15 years of age, and mothers calve around once every five years until age 40
• The average lifespan for a wild bull orca is between 40-50 years, a wild female 80 years and upwards (the matriarch of J-pod off the coast of Washington is estimated to be 102 years old)
• “Resident” pods eat fish, while “transient” pods eat mammals such as baleen whales, seals, dolphins, and sometimes birds. One female is known to take on Great White Sharks for fun
• Each pod speaks a different dialect – when orca from different pods are placed together in captivity they cannot communicate with each other, and form their own dialect
• 100% of captive male orca will have a collapsed dorsal fin, less than 1% of wild males will suffer a collapsed fin
• Orca societies are matriarchal, meaning that it is a female-run species. Males are often shunned to the outside of the pod when moving, and have obviously have plenty of space to swim away from an attack
• Orca calves learn hunting behaviours from the rest of the pod as they grow
• Orca are spiritual creatures to Native American and First People of Canada, especially on the west coast, and it is from them that their nickname “blackfish” comes
• Four people have been killed by orca in captivity, and although there are some recorded attacks on people by wild orca, no one has been killed by one in the wild
• They are the largest member of the dolphin family, and are toothed whales
• Their most common nickname is “killer whale”
• Seaworld often breed their females too young (as young as 7 years old), and have often inbred orca, as well as creating a resident/transient hybrid – something that would never occur in the wild

Tilikum is the largest orca in captivity, measuring 6.9m long, weighing 12,000lbs, with 2.1m pectoral fins, and a 2.0 tall dorsal fin that is collapsed to his left side.

Tilikum was captured in his home waters of Iceland when he was two years old, and taken to Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia, where he was housed with two adult females. Orcas live in matriarchal societies, and in captivity it is no different – Tilikum was bullied, chased, and raked by the two females, and was often kept in a darkened tank. To train the three orca for performing, they were fed when they performed behaviours correctly and had food withheld when they didn't. In 1991, marine biology student Keltie Byrne slipped and fell into the orca tank, where she was attacked by the three orca and killed; it took several hours for her body to be recovered from the whales. After this, Sealand was shut down and Tilkum moved to Seaworld Orlando, where he has remained ever since.

Tilikum has been involved in a further two deaths since his arrival at Seaworld Orlando. Daniel Dukes was found naked draped over Tilikum's back with his penis missing. It is unknown if Tilikum actually killed Dukes or whether he had drowned, but he had waited until the park closed and went into Tilikum's tank to have a swim. The most popularised death that Tilikum was involved in is that of Dawn Brancheau, a senior trainer at Seaworld, who was killed during a “Dine With Shamu” event. They moved him into the medical pen where he released her body. Dawn suffered many injuries in the attack, including drowning, scalping, a severed spinal cord, and her left arm detatched from her body, among many others. Tilikum was stopped from performing for around a year after the incident, and new regulations stemming from a court case means that the trainers are not allowed to perform “water work” with him (swimming with him, riding him, etc), and are not allowed to massage him by hand any more.

Tilikum is often kept separate from the other whales as he has been raked by them many times, but is often seen with his grandson Trua. Tilikum is the most successful sire in captivity – he has 21 offspring, 11 of which are still alive. However, the orca are bred via artificial insemination, which means Tilikum is masturbated by hand in order to gain a sperm sample.

Many of these points on Tilikum's life are raised and explored throughout the course of Blackfish, as well as the consequences of keeping these highly intelligent animals in captivity. It also includes the lies Seaworld tell the public, including the life span of the orca, as captive animals have a shorter lifespan than wild animals. Many members of staff are seen on hidden camera telling the public that orca lifespans are 30 years - “more than in the wild” - and that the orca live longer in captivity as “it must be because of the veterinary care they receive”.

The film includes footage of attacks upon the trainers, even by captive born orca, showing that it is not necessarily the trauma from being taken from the wild that could drive these animals to attack. Several attacks are shown, including a trainer being dragged and held underwater by Kasatka (the dominant female of Seaworld San Diego) – he escaped with a broken ankle; a trainer being dragged into the water by Orkid (another SWSD orca – the attack only stopped when another trainer opened the gate to Kasatka's pen, as she is the dominant orca, Orkid let the trainer go, and she escaped with a severely broken arm); a trainer riding on one orca's back as another jumps and lands on top of him; and footage of what happened in the “Dine with Shamu” event on the day Dawn died. Footage of Dawn's death is not featured, however, two 911 call recordings from the day are featured, as well as details from Dawn's autopsy report.

The use of eyewitness testimonies, especially regarding the death of Keltie Byrne, are emotive (the two eyewitnesses say that she screamed “I don't want to die!” as the orca attacked her), as is the account of the diver who helped capture orca calves (“I've been a part of a revolution and two changes of Presidents in Central and South America. I've seen some things that are hard to believe. But this was the worst thing that I've ever done, is hunt that whale.”). The use of ex-trainers and marine biologists hold validity to the claims that Seaworld and other aquariums and zoos that hold cetaceans do treat their animals badly. The finals scenes when the ex-trainers went orca watching in the wild was particularly moving.

This film is a must-watch for anyone who has an interest in sea life, the treatment of animals, and anyone who has been or is considering going to Seaworld, and the emotive footage and speech about how the orca are treated seems sure to change people's minds. There is no doubt that the trainers love the animals even if they are misled (“I know a lot about training animals, I don't know much about killer whales”). The film provides a good case to suggest that captivity is the driving factor behind the attacks on humans, and is very detrimental to both their physical and mental health.    

"If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don't you think you'd get a little psychotic?"

Click here to watch the trailer.