Production Unit - Contributors

Liam Allan 

Liam Allan was obtained through a twitter message promted by a news headline we saw. We were behind everyone else as we had several failed ideas and were looking through the BBC news headlines online when we saw Liam Allan's story and read about him having to wait two years before his courtcase was heard. This wasn't the main thing that caught our attention however, it was that three days into court a mobile phone download was found on a disk and the defence requested to see it and when they were given it they found hundereds of texts that destroyed the case against Liam. We immediately wanted to get in contact with him however when we phoned people who had spoken to him and who's details we could find they said they could not give out his details due to data protection which was fair enough. I offered to leave my details and ask them to pass them on to him but they also declined that as well.

We decided we needed to try and contact him directly which was hard as his contact details were nowhere to be found so we decided to reach out to him on social media. Facebook was far too hot and he wouldn't respond to anything and we knew that already as the option to send a friend request wasn't visible. So we decided to try and direct message him on Twitter as his personal account was still accesable through his organisation Inovation of Justice. We adjusted my (very little used) account to make it seem more proffesional and messaged him with our idea for the documentary and explained it is a university project and how we wanted the tone of the doc to come across. To our absolute amazement he replied, saying that he was interested and would love to have a chat with us about it. I sent him a message with mine and Georges number on it and we both got a phone call from an eager Liam asking about dates for filming. At that time we didn't have confirmed dates so we chatted about the topic of the doc and the sorts of people and structure it would have.

Following the convorsation we agreed to get back in contact with him when we had filming dates or more info about the documentary. After a meeting with Simon with our new idea he seemed positive and interested about the project and the general topic was evidence being withheld by the police. After a few weeks of research and another phone call to Liam asking if he knew any organisations we could talk to about getting people to speak on camera about thier experiances, he passed us on to JENGbA (Jan Cunliffe) and Paul Caddick. With Liam it wasn't too hard to keep him on board as he is very much a public figure now and he embraces the spotlight and has no reason to shy away from the camera.

Jan Cunliffe

Jan was a very friendly person and was extremely helpful and open to convorsation whenever we phoned her. Our first point of contact was through JENGbA via email in which we basically pitched the idea to her and asked her if she would be ok with us filming her at the Innovation Of Justice conference as well as giving us an interview at some point in the future. She responded with her phone number and told us that it would be best to have a chat about everything first so we phoned her as soon as she replied and chatted about the project for a little while, answering any questions she had e.g. who we were why we were doing the doc etc. After finding out we were students and this was for our third year project however we would like to get it out after submission e.g. take it to festivals, she was very open to being a part of the doc and told us to phone her any time if we had any questions for her. Again it was a case of we will have to let you know closer to the time about filming dates but whenever there was a slight change to the idea or angle we would let her know and she would always be fine with it. 

When we got confirmation from UCA Farnham that we would be aloud to borrow their camera equipment we phoned Jan and re-confirmed with her that we would 100% deffintely be filming between the dates of the 18th and 25th of February (we had already told her we would most likely be filming at that time as it was the first study leave we had in February). Following this convorsation i sent her an email in early Feb to ask if there was a specific date in that time period that worked best for her as we were trying to construct a timetable for the shoot and who is getting filmed on what day. I didn't get a reply by the end of the following day so i called her the day after that and after a convorsation about which day would be easiest to get to her because of traffic etc. we agreed on the 24th. When it comes to "keeping hold of" Jan as a contribitor it seemed pretty obvious after our first few chats that she was in for the long haul and was happy to contribute on any level she could. 

Eddie Gilfoyle

Eddie was probably one of the highest profile cases we looked at and aquired as a contributor. He had already been filmed by several news and production companies and and although he was happy to be filmed at the conference and when we spoke to him in person at conference he said he would be fine to have an interview for the project, we felt like we needed to make sure we sustained a professional appearance. When i phoned Paul (Eddies brother in law) who's phone number was on the card Eddie gave me at the conference, he seemed a bit apprehensive. He wanted to make sure that eddie wasn't seen in a bad light and he wanted to know that he could trust us to help rather than hinder. Eddie's case was and still is such a sensitive one, as he is still fighting to try and clear his name so of course they welcome anyone who wants to get his voice heard but he also didn't know us really. We needed to keep assuring him that it wasn't going to be too much or over the top for Eddie (regarding the questions we were asking) and that it wasn't going to be just based on Eddie. The reason Paul was concerned about the amount of Eddie that would be in the documentary is because a documentary maker named Kate had already approached them and asked to film Eddie and make a three part series about him. This meant that they did not want to step on her toes by allowing someone else to film him however they agreed to it because they knew any exposure his story could get would be good.

After two phone convorsations with Paul we agreed the date that we would come and film him and although i was nervous asking this as i didn't want to come across bossy or head-strong i asked if we could film Eddie at his house and Paul said yes. Paul then explained Eddies living situation and expressed that we must keep it absolutely confidential and we both of course agreed. Following this dicussion We didn't contact each other until just before the shoot week and i sent a confirmation email checking they were still ok for us to come and interview Eddie, to which he replied that they were.

Peter CIPN

Peter is an interesting contributor, quite simply because we didn't actually intend having him in the documentary at all! Once we had filmed at the Innovation of Justice in the University of Manchester we were chasing up all possible leads for contributors, we had established the people who's stories we wanted to tell but we needed to obtain professionals or specialsts in certain areas that we could ask questions in regards to the cases we are looking at. We decided that we would need someone specified in Law, someone specified in Evidence, and someone specified in Psychology. We already had an idea for the specialists in Law because Liam told us that the barrister who was prosecuting on his case was very keen on speaking about the issue of annonimity in rape cases and failings in court. We also knew who we would like to obtain as our specialist in evidence which was Prof. Allan Jamieson from the Forensic Institute. He spoke at the innovation of justice about problems with certain types of evidence and how they can really either end up incoclusive most of the time or they can be manipulated to look certain ways. However there was no connection through Liam or any of the organisations at the conference that would lead to a Psychologist so i decided i would see if we could use the PR contact i had already etsablished at the Manchester Uni to see if there were any staff that lectured on Psychology. 

As it turned out there was a lady called Tammi Walker who had an abundance of qualifications in the field and did in fact run lectures in criminal psychology and other areas. I emailed her staff email adress and emailed the lady i had been speaking to about the conference when it was held in the university, however after a good few weeks and several emails i chased it up again and it seemed like Tammi was uncontactable, she was not replying to emails from either me or the organiser at the university. At this point i googled her name and saw she was an advocate for the CIPN (Counciling In Prison Network). In her profile i saw that she worked extensivley in prisons as well as conducting a lot of work on mental health in specifically womens prisons. With this information not only was i wanting to contact her as a specialist but i was also thinking she might be able to discuss or even get on board a female prisoner who has suffered mentally in prison and belives they are innocent. George and i constructed an email and sent it to the CIPN with our phone numbers attatched and shortly after recived a phone call from the founder and runner of the CIPN Peter Jones. 

Peter has an extensive background in mental health, and has undertaken training as a counsellor, graduating with a Diploma in Counselling in 1997 and obtaining a MA in Counselling in 1999 from Ripon and York St John. He is a recognised national leader in working with victims of sexual violence and trauma who disclose this both within the custodial setting and mental health arena, and he has presented his work at a number of national and international conferences. He has developed models of practice and pioneered work in this area both within and outside the custodial setting over the last 10 years. It is through this work that he has been challenged to explore more deeply the nature of regimes and their relationship to the patient and the healthcare worker and their impact on health. He has published a number of articles and books in this field. Peter was awarded a BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) Fellowship in 2009 in recognition of his distinguished contribution to the development of BACP and to Counselling/ psychotherapy in general. Peter chairs a specialist interest group within the World Health Organisation in relation to Sexual Violence and Trauma within custodial settings. He also chairs and leads the Well- Being in Prisons Network within Higher Education founded in 2010 in partnership with the Mental Health in Higher Education Network.

He was very keen about the project over the phone and explained who he was and asked when we would be filming etc. and i asked if Tammi Walker was still a part of the CiPN. He said yes he had worked with her before so i then explained that we had been trying to contact her to get her on board to which he replied "I'll do it!". Even though it meant adding another white male to the list of people in our doc his enthusiasm for the project out-shone everyone else at the time so we made the decision to welcome him to the project. 

Proffeser Allan Jamieson

As i mentioned before we had already met Prof. Allan Jamieson at the Innovation of Justice conference and he seemed to be a good speaker as well as being involved with organisations such as Liams meaning he would more likely be willing to contribute to our doc than say a forensic expert who knew nothing about the cases we were looking at etc. Prof. Jamieson's specialties are in: DNA, LCN DNA, complex crimes, drugs, drugs on money, CCTV, drugs and driving and many more. Not only does he work on national cases but he is also Involved in casework and forensic projects in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Having all these accolades to add validity to his opinions reinforced our view that he was essential for the doc and that if we needed to work around him we would. 

As it turns out that is exactly what we had to do. Due to the fact that Prof. Jamieson is constantly being called to court to give his opinion as an expert on the validity of the evidence in that case, we had arranged to film him between the 18th and 25th of January however just before the start of that shoot week we were informed that he had been called away and would not be around for an interview at that time. So we arranged with Farmhan UCA to re-book the equipment and had a secind week of getting any footage we hadn't managed to the first time, however this time i was in contant telephone communication with his secretary making sure (almost every day) that it was more likely than not that he would be there and that the date was still ok. 

Jerry Hayes

Jerry is a leading junior criminal practitioner specialising in high profile homicide, large scale drug importations, rape and serious sexual offences, fraud, money laundering and people trafficking. He also prosecutes rape and serious sexual offences. Jerry has appeared in a number of reported cases and presents television and radio shows as well as being a best selling author. Jerry was a member of Parliament from 1983/1997 serving in the Northern Ireland Office and the then Department of the Environment.
He has a very active social media presence, he had a twitter page and even his own political blog. We contacted him Via email and straight away he was very interested and up for the interview (he was also no stranger to a camera due to Liam Allan's coverage in the news). We emailed him a few more times asking about dates but he wasn't always very quick at replying so we asked for his number and we phoned him and had a lengthly detailed chat about the project. Jerry was very eager and a great contribution to the doc but in terms of responses we did have to work hard to get an answer from him however he is a busy man and an active barrister so this is of course completely understandable.

Production Unit - Handling sensitive subjects

We both knew from the start of this documentary that it would be hard hitting both on the audience and the people being interviewed. So in preperation i decided to do a bit of research into how others have handled filming people who are speaking about sensitive subjects that may affect them emotionally. Can i just say before hand that i wasn't going in blind, i knew how to use tact and common sense and to keep reasuring people but i thought there was no harm in looking into what others do as well.

Doug Block wrote his top tips on a website called IndieWire in which he says "Any advice I give for getting interview subjects to open up on camera comes with a caveat. On my own films I almost always work as a one-person crew, which inherently makes for a more casual atmosphere and greater intimacy (it also means my addled brain must juggle camera, sound, producing and interviewing duties all at once!). Nevertheless, the following tips will largely apply to most documentary interview situations. They’re not rules, just observations and lessons learned that have served me well over the years."


Doug Block is a New York-based documentary filmmaker who has won increasing international recognition as a master of the autobiographical film form. He also notes that most of the time he runs interviews as a one man band which is very similar to mine and george's situation when filming this doc. In addition to “112 Weddings,” his features include “The Kids Grow Up,” and “51 Birch Street.” He is also the founder and co-host of The D-Word, the online community and discussion forum for documentary filmmakers worldwide.

“112 Weddings” screened at festivals around the world, premiered on HBO in June 2014 and is currently available on iTunes, DVD and other digital platforms.

Doug's tips are as follows:

1. Beware of pre-interviewing.

It’s not fun to have an interview subject tell you a fascinating story or share a profound insight ​beforehand, ​leaving you to​ spend the actual interview trying to recapture the magic. ​When I first contact a subject​, ​naturally I explain​ what ​t​he film ​is about ​and how the​y​’ll fit in, but only enough​ ​to get them on board and agree to be interviewed. ​Even once I’m in the room with them and setting up, I talk about anything ​and everything ​else until the ​interview begins.​ The first time is invariably the freshest and best​, so do your utmost to save it for when the camera is rolling​.

​2​. ​R​elax.

For me, the goal of any interview is to make the subject feel comfortable enough to let their hair down and talk freely. To get him or her loose and relaxed, I’ll joke around, make fun of myself, tell stories — whatever I can do to make it seem like the interview is no big fucking deal. The same goes for myself – I need to be relaxed, as well. I try to focus on enjoying the conversation and learning new things rather than dwelling on how critical it might be to the film.

​3​. Don’t anticipate the answers. ​

Documentaries really can’t be pre-scripted. ​​Even if you’re in the middle of editing and think you know exactly what you need a subject to say, don’t try to force feed an answer. I do my homework and come with a long written list of questions that I keep close at hand. But, much like with actors, the preparation is all so that I can be totally in the moment when the interview starts. And then….

​4​. Listen.

Listen closely​, l​isten fully​ a​nd go where the conversation leads​ you​. ​This approach​ ​may take more work in editing but it ​will​ give you a wealth of​ great ​sound bites, I ​assure you.​ Don’t be afraid of silence, either. I often allow a subject to finish what they’re saying and simply leave things hanging. They’ll usually get uncomfortable and fill in the silence with more chatter. Even if they don’t, you’ll sometimes get an interesting expression on their face.

​5. Embrace evasiveness.

When someone evades a question it’s often more revealing than anything they might say. Pauses, awkward silences, grimaces and body language comprise a major part of the cinematic vocabulary, and makes the audience work to fill in what’s left unsaid. With “112 Weddings” I had my wedding couples sit side-by-side and filmed them mainly in a two-shot. What they didn’t say was poignant, often funny and endlessly fascinating. And spoke volumes about their relationship.

6. Be authentic.

Don’t try to come off as more knowledgeable or expert than you are. In fact, I sometimes like to do the exact opposite. I’ve found ignorance is often a very effective place to come from as an interviewer (and comes alarmingly easily for me). That said, it’s important that your subjects trust you, and trust that your film will be a good one. Before the interview, send them links to your previous films, or at least some of your more glowing reviews. Let them feel they’re in good hands, that you won’t make them look bad or get cheap laughs at their expense. And then protect them in the edit room. With that trust comes great responsibility, so don’t abuse your position of power.

Along with these really helpful tips from this American film maker i found some advice online from the one and only BBC! Of course i thought if they are advising on this kind of thing AND they are a british company i should definitely check them out. The article was titled "Balancing head and heart when filming sensitive subjects" and gave examples of situations BBC documentary maker Vanessa Engle actually had to handle and how she approached said subjects. I will copy the text of the article below and note which points particulaly helped me.

How would you approach an interview with a woman who had been raised in captivity for 30 years and brainwashed into believing that if she disobeyed her controlling father, major global disasters would strike?

Or an interview with someone who believes that, as a journalist, you are a mouthpiece of the fascist state and that an attempt was made on their life as they came to meet you?

Tricky, to say the least. This is exactly what BBC documentary-maker Vanessa Engle had to resolve for BBC Two’s revealing investigation The Cult Next Door.

“Nothing prepared me for how strange and unfathomable this story is. It’s very disturbing”, Engle told an audience at a BAFTA preview screening in London.

Initial meetings with key interviewees had been extremely difficult to secure. The first was with Katy, born into the Maoist cult led by her father Aravindan Balakrishnan in a small house in Herne Hill, south London. For three decades, until her rescue, she had little contact with the outside world.

Understandably, she was at first very reluctant to talk and kept cancelling over several months, despite long phone calls with the producer. When she did eventually choose to get in contact with Engle, the groundwork could begin.

Aravindan Balakrishnan and some of the cult members. He was later jailed for 23 years

Speaking to me after the BAFTA event, the film-maker described the “rigorous preparation” that was needed for each of the interviews she conducted. These were women who had been held captive by the cult leader and subjected to brutal physical and mental abuse.

She researched 40 years of press coverage documenting 75-year-old Balakrishnan’s Maoist movement, filling three lever-arch files of information for each person, to isolate exactly what to ask them.

“It was an eight-month process. I was fanatical about it,” she said.

To give the women a chance to come forward and open up to her, Engle felt she had to “create a safe environment” that would put them at ease: “You have to be aware that you are dealing with vulnerable people.”

The make-up of the crew was a part of that process. They had to be people who exuded “experienced, professional calm”. And if contributors like these are to feel comfortable, it is often best to avoid delays at the start so the interviewee’s nerves aren’t given opportunity to build, she advised.

Being emotionally intelligent was one of the most important considerations on this assignment, Engle stressed, and one of the most personally challenging, even for a film-maker of her experience. Past documentary credits include the harrowing Love You To Death: A Year of Domestic Violence and her examination of the cosmetic surgery business, Inside Harley Street.

There were aspects of the former captives’ delusions that they had not yet come to terms with, she explained, and which needed to be played along with to elicit responses: “I don’t have any training dealing with people who are delusional. You have to play along, but I had a moral conflict within myself.”

Although you have to hold it together and not let distressing subject matter affect you to the detriment of your interview, it is OK to show your human side, Engle maintains, and express genuine emotions to your interviewee.

“Think clearly at all times. You’ve got to be aware that it’s all on camera. But I’m not afraid of having feelings. I might cry and that’s fine.”

Vanessa Engle takes questions after the screening of her documentary at BAFTA

Another challenge in dealing with distressing reality is that it can be difficult to switch off afterwards. Engle admitted coming away from some of the interviews feeling depressed and even started suffering “night terrors”. She found herself worrying about her own son who was travelling in Asia at the time, and fearing for his safety.

“You become a barometer for your contributor’s unexpressed feelings. But you just have to deal with it,” she said. “You keep reminding yourself that you’re lucky it’s not happening in your daily life, and that helps.”

Engle explained how she had assured her executive producer Peter Dale that she would only make this documentary if she knew it would not cause the contributors more distress. That emotional awareness extended to the cutting room, she told me - making the correct decisions to omit material that might undermine the interviewees.

One of the cult members, Josephine, chose not to appear in the programme but her part in the story comes through in the interviews of others. After gaining her freedom, she continued to subscribe to Balakrishnan’s doctrine that journalists are tools of a British fascist state.

Consequently, her opinion differed to that of the other women interviewed, so it was important for Engle to consider Josephine’s right to reply when making the programme.

As she reminded me: “We had a duty of care towards her, even though she wasn’t in the film”.

With editorial sensitivities like these there will always be an element of emotional unpredictability that needs to be handled in a professional, intuitive manner. It is clear from speaking to Engle, however, that thorough preparation is just as key to controlling and directing such demanding interviews.

Production Unit - Nathan Caws Feedback

Nathan Caws is th Head of Finishing Editor at Ignition Creative and has worked on titles varying from Britains Got Talent, I'm A Celebrity, Saturday Night Takeaway, The Football World Cup, The Queens Jubilee, The Rugby World Cup, X-Factor and the Exposure documentary on Jimmy Saville to big blockbuster style productions such as Entebbe, Everest, Fast and Furious 8, Hard Sun, Goodfellas, Jackie, Logan Lucky, McMafia, Midnight Special, Now You See Me 2, Only The Brave, Pacific Rim Uprising, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Rellik, Taboo, The Glass Castle, The Missing, The Post, The Silence of the Lambs, Top of the Lake, Trainwreck, Warcraft.

When we sat down with him we briefly explained what the project was about and our angle on the subject. We then gave him some background information on our three contributors Eddie Jan and Liam and thier cases. Once he had a loose understanding of the background to the doc we then showed him the main parts e.g. the bulk of each interview and shots that we thought he could advise us on colour with.

(Clients Nathan has dealt with)

After seeing a large amount of the project he gave us some great feed back that we 100% agreed on with him. The points he raised are as follows:

• When cutting to the night time reconstruction shots darken them and then raise the highlights to give it a dark but cinematic look.
• On the shot that focus pulls on a picture of Jordan he is smiling which may be confusing imagery for the audience as he is meant to be a "victim".
• When there is a sharp cut with a white flash to a picture of Eddie and his wife the sound of a photo click is too loud and obvious
• The lamp in the background of Jerry Hayes' interview can be distracting because of how bleached out and bright it is, just need to mask it and fade it down slightly.
• When there is a shot that rotates around Liam outside the Royal Courts of Justice it ends on an angle that has a flashing zebra crossing light and that can distract the eye from the subject (Liam)
• Place the "Liam Allan" graphic as it cuts to him more to the left of frame (rule of thirds)
• Instead of pulling out of the shot of the Police car zoom in. If you pull out it usually means you are revealing something.

The only thing i didn't quite agree on was the smiling photo. I thought it was good to a have a photo of when Jordan was young and smiling because it symbolises happier times and that he was just a young care free boy when this happened to him. These changes have all been made now (exept for the picture) and we are just working on absolute final touches before we export it for the hand in on the 13th. 

Production Unit - Script writing for a Documentary

When setting out to construct a script for a documentary first you have t o break the project down to 7 parts (according to the New York Film Acadamy). The seven steps are as follows:


1. Short Pitches Green-light Projects

Before a script can even be written, you need a clear, precise, and short pitch. This pitch should be no longer than 5 pages because producers and executive producers are busy. They want to know that what you are offering is of quality and can be green lit.

2. Find Funding

Funding can be one of the hardest parts of the documentary business. Nowadays with technology, we can do a lot on a budget. However, you do want a quality feature-length budget that adequately fits your needs. This on the low end can amount to about $300,000. Find someone who shares your vision. This can be an individual with capital, a nonprofit organization, or even a network. What’s important to your funders is what will they get out of it? This can include recognition, promoting their cause, money, etc.

3. Blueprint Your Documentary

This is the time to organize and plan how the story will be transmitted to your audience. The outlined story is detailed in regards to how the film will play out. When you have this outline clear in your head, shooting the frame is much easier because you already know what you want. Some ways to organize is breaking down the outline into acts and having a topic for each one. Each of those acts culminate in the overall message that you are trying to convey. There may be some tweaking along the way, but the plan is there as a guide.
4. Writing the Script

A sample documentary script

You must work backwards. It is the only way to write a documentary script. Once you have collected your research, data, and interviews, only then can you write the script. It would be impossible to conceive what an interviewee is going to say and how that ties into your message. Once you have all of the facts and materials, then you can sit down and write the script and voice-overs.

5. Compel Your Viewer

Viewers want to connect with your project. Find compelling personal stories that will enthrall viewers. Emotionally, your viewers will open up and understand the complexity of the issue while making the issue entirely relatable. Every viewer wants to be transported somewhere else, learn something new, and then be motivated and moved by this information.

6. Declare Your Point Of View

Presenting the facts and reality isn’t always clean cut and unbiased. That isn’t to say that directors and producers spin a project a certain way but there is information that stays in a documentary and information that is cut. So what is it that you want your documentary to transmit? You will find that when you have this message, putting the entire script and production together is much easier and it is clearer to the audience regardless of whether or not they agree. They can still connect because of the clarity of the message. At the very least, the audience is given something to think about moving forward. As a director/writer/producer, you can be flexible and allow your story to unfold even if it’s not in the precise direction that you thought it would go.

7. Finesse Your Project

Be thorough with your writing and voice-overs. Writing and rewriting parts of the script is part of the process as you continue to define your message and refine the story. If you are using a narrator, you may have to readjust to your narrator’s style. Sometimes while you are fact checking, there may be some discrepancies so you want to make there that everything that you are presenting to the viewer is accurate and this is reflected in the rewriting process.

Documentaries aren’t an observation of humanity, but rather an opening door into our nature, into what drives us, what makes us fill with joy and weep with sorrow. Documentaries are real, with real people and dealing with real issues that are powerful and hit us at our core. Let your writing reflect those deep, moving messages and capture your audience emotionally.

When it came to our documentary we were strongly of the same opinion as Faith Fuller, the lady in the video at the start of this blog. We wanted to take the idea of the doc, write up a stucture for it and generalisations of what we thought our contributors might say going on previous convorsations we have had with them and then combine that with a shot list and that was basically our script. We didn't want it to be tto precised or calculated or come across like we had an agenda. Obviosly you have a vision for the documentary as a director but really my vision was mmore to do with the tone of the piece, how it was presented and how it would impact the audience, not too much the specifics of what the contrivutors would say (obviously what they said would have to relevant though). That is why when i wrote the questions for our contributors i wrote them in a mannor that would mean most of the answers to the questions would link in one way or another, for example I would ask about coping mechanisms to one of our contributors and then ask the mental health expert about coping mechanisms he has seen prisons/ ex prisoners have.


Something that helped me with the process of constructing this documentary is an article by online magazine ScriptMag.com which advisted when making a doc whether it's in the initial idea phase or several script drafts in you should always consider the following points:

• What are the documentary’s themes?
• What is the significant message of your story?
• Who are the main contributors and what are their goals and/or possible agendas?
• Why is the subject matter of this documentary important to you?
• See other documentaries that deal with your subject matter and explore what makes your project different.

These points resonate with our project especially the last one. I feel that our documentary tackles parts of the topic of accusations and imprisonment. We really look into what it is like to live with an accusation that isn't true and to have the stigma and labels of a criminal. 

Another video i looked into was the one below that talks about problems you can encounter when writing a script. The video is by a man called Michael Hauge who is an American story consultant, author, and lecturer who works with writers and filmmakers on their screenplays, novels, movies, and television projects. He is on the Board of Directors of the American Screenwriters Association and the Advisory Board for Scriptwriter Magazine in London.

Production Unit - Locations (and aquiring them)

Innovation of justice

This was the first location we filmed for the project and i aquired it through Liam and a lady named Sohpie Theis. We had contacted Liam through Twitter and he mentioned that he had started up the organisation Innovation of Justice and that he had a conference at Manchester University in a couple of months time. We thought this would be a great opportunity to go and meet Liam as well as get some test footage and experiance of what it is like filming live events/ things you won't have the opportunity to ask for another take. We asked and he said we were more than welcome however we wanted to liase with the University as well just so that all parties concerened were aware of what was happening with who. The last thing we wanted was to turn up with a load of camera gear and organisers/ university staff look at us as though we were from another planet. I went on to the university's website and looked in the staff tab, after scrolling for a second or two i found someone with the title of "Events Organiser", this was Sophie. I fired off an email explaining we were students wanting to film the conference for a project and that same day she replied saying that she would get in touch with the people who would have any concerns and get back to me in the next few days. Sure enough on the morning of the third day i recieved an email confirming we were fine to film just not to get any of the audience that were situated at the far left (as there would be a sign put up telling people that if they didn't want to be filmed they should sit there). I replied by thanking her and asking about the nearest parking as well as requesting a floor plan for the room that the conference would be in (i hadn't been informed which room it was being held in) so that i could plan where we would place cameras and not block fire exits etc. Again she replied hastily and i was able to plan for the shoot.

Forensic institute

One of our contributors, Proffesor Allan Jamieson who attended the Innovation of Justice conference, is a forensic scientist. He deals with proving or disproving evidence in cases all across the world, from Australia to Florida to as loca as Maidstone. When we spoke to him in person at the conference he said that we both seemed to be level headed mature lads and he would help us if he could. About a week after the conference i contacted his email however there came no reply, so i decided to email the his office's (The Forensic Institute) main email. His secretary got back to me a few days later and asked me to give more details about the project and when we were looking to film. I replied to her with the relevant information and after about a week i sent her another email asking if i could speak on the phone as it would probably be easier to talk about the project and how we would like to use Prof. Jamieson so she replied with her personal number and i phoned her up immediately. I told her about how Prof. Jamieson would be one of our "specialists" who will back statements up with his professional opinion. I also told her (again) the dates we would like to film. It was a possitive convorsation but the only thing she couldn't promise was his availability during our filming period, as he was a practising forensic scientist he is constantly being called to court at short notice. Unfortunately closer to our shoot week she confirmed that he had been called away and wouldn't be in the country however we managed to re-hire our equiptment and have a second shoot week and in that time he had not been called away and we were able to get our interview. 

Jan's House

Jan was found through networking with people and organisations associated with Liam and the Innovation of Justice. We found out she would be speaking there and decided to contact her, so we looked into her organisation JENGbA and found an email we could use to cintact her. After emailing to and fro and two conversations with her on the phone (one before the conference and one after) she agreed to being filmed at the conference and being interviewed for the project at her own home. I would say that Jan has been the easiest contributor to aquire and most easy to establish a location for. 

Eddie's House 

We had actually heard of Eddie Gilfoyle before the conference due to his appearance on a website by the name of INSIDEJUSTICE.co.uk. He has been widely reported in the news in 2012 and 2017 when he tried to take Merseyside police to court for misconduct on his case and we started to become familiar with his case the more and more we looked into it. So of course when we heard that Liam had been speaking to him and invited him to speak at the conference, i jumped back into the research i had previously started and got in contact through Eddie's brother in law Paul Caddick. I said that i would be at the conference and that myself and a fellow student would be filming parts of it for our project, following this i asked if it would be alright filming Eddie when he speaks and they agreed. Then when we were at the conference we spoke to Eddie and Paul in person and they gave us a number and said they would help us. After a few phone calls with Paul we established a date (that was within the same shoot week as Jan's interview) and a location which was Eddie's sister's house. From there on it was just a conformation phone call a few day prior to the shoot week to make sure both contributor and location were still available and then we went oof to shoot.

Peter's Office

This location was by far the most challenging of them all. We contacted Peter through the CIPN (Counceling In Prison Network) but when we had our initial phone call to the company and he answered and we discovered he was the head of the organisation we thought he would be a good choice as he seemed very enthusiastic about the project. When we phoned a second time to confirm the date and to enquire about locations he informed us that he had already booked the village hall out and gave us the postcode for it, which was situated in Dorsit. This came as a bit of a shock to us however we couldn't afford to lose the only psychological specialist that was willing to talk to us on camera so we maintained a pleasant and respectful tone and politely inquired if he had a study at home or somewhere that as a back drop could reflect his link with academia. He said that he didn't have anything like that at home but he did have an "office" so we said we would really like to see what the office looked like could he send us some pictures? To which he replied that the office is within the village hall and that we could make a decision on where we would like to film when we arrived. We agreed and thanked him but knew at this point that it would most likely not look like what we were after, so we decided to bring a few things to dress the set with. By a few things i mean 3 carrier bags full of books and office style objects as well as a three foot tall flat-pack shelving unit. When we arrived he greeted us and we went into the entrance of the village hall, immediately we decided the office was better however it was literally a room with four walls and a table. We moved the table closer to the window, pulled the blinds, set up a chair in the right position for the field of depth and then set up the shelf behind the chair and with a few tweeks, it looked like an office. 

Prison island

Prison Island was a bit of a last minute off-the-cuff light bulb moment idea really. We had been trying to get hold of prisons for months and months but everytime we got past the first barrier of contact and managed to establish a convorsation either written or over the phone as soon as they learned that we were not a large scale company such as the BBC then they did not want to co-operate. So it was towards the end of our final shoot week and we knew we needed GV's to cut to for when contributors talk about prison, however no prison was willing to help. It was at this point i had an idea, that idea was that it doesn't have to be a prison just look like a prison, which then lead to the question "where looks like a prison but isn't a prison?" Then i had the thought of an escape room, there must have been an escape room somewhere that resemled a prison? My first port of call was google, which promptly lead me to Prison Island in maidstone, i hadn't remebered seeing an escape room in maidstone high street but it turns out that's because it had only been open a week! All i did from there on was to phone the number given on google and it went through to to (quite coincidently) the manager and owner who agreed that we could come down on friday (i phoned on the tuesday) and film whatever we needed.

Goldsmith Chambers

The Goldsmith Chambers is where Jerry Hayes resides when not actively working on a case (which isn't very often) in a way you could say it is his office. This was one of the few locations on this list that required very little organisation and checking up on. Once we contacted Jerry through his email provided on the gold chambers website he suggested the chambers as a suitable place to interview and we agreed and we noted in an email a few days prior to the date of the interview that we would meet him in the chambers and he replied confirming that. We used google maps to get there (took the train and walked the rest of the way) and arrived with plenty of time to spare. 

Liam ITV Gallery

The location we filmed Liam at was the most last minute of them all. Liam is due to speak at the house of commons in June 2019 and we had been in communication with the house of commons and the PR section for quite a few months going back and fourth between people explaining who we are what we want to film etc. So it came to our second and final week of filming and we still didn't have a confirmed location, 3 days before we were due to interview Liam we were trying to think of places that were relevant to him. Then i thought of the idea that maybe we could try and film him somewhere that reflected his involvement in the news and how much he has been covered by the media. I still had a contact at ITN and i emailed her asking if she had anywhere at all in the ITN building that we could film an interview in. She got back to me almost immediately and said that she will get in touch ith her boss and find out what is available but she did ask if we could tell her (so she can tell him) what the project is about, where we would like it to go afterwards, how long we will be etc. I sent an answer to all her questions and the next day she replied, we were expecting a litte unused cramed room somewhere out of the way but she said that she had reserved the second ITV Gallery for us! We were over the moon about this and when we arrived there were no hitches or problems, we simply set up, shot, and de-rigged.

My House

The Jordan Cunliffe reconstruction was shot outside my house from 6:30 pm. This location of course was easy to obtain and i told all surrounding nieghbors that we would be filming a large group of young people and to not be alarmed if they hear shouting. There was a slight delay in contributors arriving but appart from that there were no problems with this location and we wrapped at approximately 9:30 pm.

Garage

This was another off-the-cuff location that we hadn't even thought or planned to use. We were using my grandparents house in West Yorkshire as a base to travel back to instead of hotels to stay at overnight. We would travel to the shoot location, shoot and then return back on the same day to my grandparent's house. This did mean more petrol however we save way more money in lodging fees and food expenses. When we returned from one of the shoots that was closer to my grandparents house it was only midday and george pointed out that my grandad had a garage, which had never crossed my mind before but we knew we needed to film a agarage for reconstructions for Eddie. I asked my grandad if he had a ladder and my nan if i could borrow a pair of  her shoes and they both said yes. I then asked if he could move his car out of the garage and once that was done we set the camera up and started shooting.

Courtroom - failed

Having a courtroom to film in would have been invaluable to our project, there were several poinnts in our project in which i knew i wanted to have tracking shots of a judge at the dock and people sat in a court however this proved impossible. Not to get people to act, but to get access to a courtroom. We emailed and visited in person; Medway Magistrates Court in Chatham, Medway County Court in Chatham, Maidstone Crown Court and Kingston Upon Thames Crown Court. I had convorsations with all of these places and they either passed me onto another phone number which dealt with media enquiries or told us there and then that they wouldn't be able to help. The reason we visited Kingston Court is because i was told on the phone by one of the media enquiry lines that places like the BBC often use Kingston when court isn't being held on a weekend. This of course was a dead end too as they said they could not help. The main thing i noticed which was the same for all the prisons, was that as soon as they found out we were not from a big company and that we were just two students they were not interested. The only place that held a glimmer of hope for a short while was Maidstone Crown Court. We walked into the foyer and through the metal detectors, had a chat with the security guard and was directed to a set of double doors on the left. As we walked there was a waist high counter with security glass from the counter to the roof, we stood there and rang the little electronic bell that was on the counter. A friendly gentleman appeared and asked what we were after and how he could help to which we told him about how we would like to film in one of the courtrooms for only half an hour just to get two or three GV shots. He gave us an email that wasn't on google and told us to email that with everything we wanted and what the project was etc. We sent the email off and after a week and a half we got a reply confirming that it would need to be approved by the Resident Judge, which inturn would need to approve it to the Senoir Providing Judge. Long story short, it was a no. 

Prison - failed

Prisons are one of the hardest places to get access to unless you are either the BBC or filming something that will paint the government/ Prison Governers in a good light. Prisons we walked into and spoke to as well as left letters for the Prison Goveners are; HMP Maidstone, HMP Swaleside, HMP Stanford Hill, HMP Cookham Wood and HMP Rochester. Much like the courtrooms we emailed and had phone convorsations even face to face convorsations but they all eventually ended the same way. Even the prisons we hand delivered letters to sent letters back saying either they couldn't help or phone the MOJ (Ministry of Justice) media inquiry line. Months and months went into trying to find somewhere we could film but in the end just like the courtrooms as soon as they found out we were not with any large scale company we were told nothing could be done. George found a disused prison owned by Canterbury Christchurch University however and we phoned them up but after a few emails they informed us the minimum they could allow themselves to do for an hour of use was £500. We decided (we already had the Prison Island footage by now) that the footage we would have aqquired would not have justified the money and we declined the offer.

Production Unit - Drone shots (Needs pictures)

When watching anything on TV nowadays it's hard not to find some kind of drone footage, from Relocation, relocation to The disappearance od Madeliene McCan, no matter the topic drone footage is inescapable. It delivers a very aesthetically pleasing shot of whatever it is flying over, i think the reason it usually looks so nice is because it's a point of view that people don't normally get to see very often. We knew we wanted drone footage in this project as it can be a good go-to for establishing shots, this coupled with the fact that we had a good friend who was a registered and licensed drone pilot, we knew who we were going to use.

Our drone pilot for this project was Joe Warilow, who we have known for the last couple of years and now has his own drone company called ZOOMD Ltd. ZOOMD Ltd is a Drone Photography and Video Company originating from Kent with the ability to travel across the country. Their Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved pilots utilise state-of-the-art SUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft System) technology to provide clients with stunning High-Resolution Videos and Photographs, which are provided in MP4 and JPEG/RAW format, respectively. ZOOMD Ltd is fully insured and underwritten by Flock Ltd.

Given the professionalism of the company and it's individuals we decided to employ their services in the understanding that they could use the footage on their showreel and that we would put their name forward to any possible networking opportunities we came across in the post-production and distribution of the documentary.

We decided to shoot all the drone footage we needed in one day, thus eliminating the need to spend money on food travel etc for the drone pilot coming out for another day. Our first location was the street adjacent to George's residence, a quick shot that pans up from the road to the top of the hill. Then we shot georges back garden as the drone took off vertically. This was done quickly and with no complications leading to us being able to drive to the next location promptly.

This next location was a very large park residing in a valley near Capstone. We had recce'd several park areas in Medway that had football pitches and this was the best location as it was so large there were very rarely people in every part of the park meaning we could capture some footage without worrying about accidentally getting people in shot who didn't want to get filmed.

Following this shoot we then packed up, parked back at georges and walked down to the train station at which we took a train to Depford and then Rotherhithe. This location had been established via google maps and a website called noflydrones.co.uk. We knew that we wanted a couple of good shots of the River Thames and some London landmarks if possible however almost all of the River Thames that runs through mid to central London is a no fly zone for drones. I followed the river's twists and turns to try and find some small point that we would be able to film and just before i approached the Ilse of Dogs right next to the Brunel Museum, there was about 800 meters of flyable air space that didn't impede on any other fly zones commercial or otherwise.

When we arrived at the London location we walked for 5 or so minutes and found the jetty that we had seen on Google Maps however it had been chained and locked shut because it had started to rot and become dangerous to the public. This would have been a problem if the tide had not been out when we arrived, so we found an entrance to the river banks and went down to about 15ft from the water's edge, the pilot got out a landing/take off pad and the drone took off. The reason for taking off on the river bank is the pilot as a part of the insurance agreement needs to take off and land with 15 meters space around them and if there are people in that space they must be people that are in your control e.g. crew.

After we got all the shots we needed we retrieved the drone just in time. I say just in time because each location we were shooting at had been insured for 2 hours, however these where not counted from time of arrival they were 2 hours within a set time e.g. 12:00 - 14:00. This was one of the biggest factors that meant we had to organised and arrive on time. Once the pilot had packed up on the river banks we headed back to the train and then back home.

Production Unit - What different lenses do

A good knowledge of lenses is key to successful shoot. If the director tells you how he wants something to look and you don't know what lens to use then you won't last long. This is why i researched into lenses that i hadn't used before, so that even though i was the director i could give suggestions and George and myself could bounce off of eachother. There are dozens of different types of lens available to use on a shoot, designed for use in a wide range of circumstances. Thanks to a website called Photograpghymad.com i listed lenses with their uses and noted where the points being made were relevent to our own experiances on location.

STANDARD LENSES

A standard lens is one with a mid-range focal length, typically around 50mm. They have an angle of view which is roughly the same as the angle that the human eye can comfortably view, meaning that they produce images which appear "natural" to the viewer.

Standard camera lenses usually have a fixed focal length and wide aperture, giving them excellent performance in low light. They are popular for a wide range of photography subjects, including landscapes, portraits, and candid shots.

MACRO LENSES

A macro lens is one designed especially for close-up photography. They have a different internal construction from normal lenses which gives them very good sharpness and contrast, meaning that they produce some really eye-catching photos.

Macro lenses are useful for photographing any subject at very close range. Typical subjects include insects, animals, and plants, but they are also popular for taking extremely detailed photos of everyday objects.

TELEPHOTO LENSES

A telephoto lens has a long focal length and provides a high level of magnification, allowing you to photograph subjects at a moderate to far distance. They tend to be bigger and heavier than other types of lens, although modern technological advances have made them more compact and easier to handle.

Telephoto lenses are popular for any type of photography where you can't get near to the subject, including wildlife and sports events. They are also commonly used in portrait photography, where a moderate telephoto lens will provide a natural, undistorted perspective.

WIDE ANGLE LENSES

A wide angle lens is one with a short focal length. They provide an angle of view beyond that of a standard lens, allowing them to capture more of the scene in a single shot. Extreme wide angle lenses are known as fisheye lens; these can capture around 180 degrees, making for some intriguing, almost abstract photos.

Wide angle lenses are useful for photographing landscapes, cramped interiors, and other subjects which won't fit into a normal lens's field of view. Fisheye lenses take this even further, and are popular for photographing action sports like skateboarding and surfing, where their inherent distortion gives photos a dynamic feel.

SPECIALIST LENSES

Finally, there are a number of specialist camera lenses which cater for less common photography needs. These include tilt and shift lenses for perspective control, soft-focus lenses for portrait photography, and infrared lenses for capturing light outside the normal spectrum.

A specialist lens is used to produce some sort of special or creative effect, and so they have limited use in general photography. However, they can be very useful if you need to photograph a particular subject in a particular way.

KIT LENSES

Many entry-level SLRs come bundled with one or two lenses, often called "starter" or "kit" lenses. These are good for getting you up and running quickly but they are generally very cheap, slow lenses with poor image quality.

A kit lens is great for getting to grips with your camera and figuring out what focal lengths you like using, but you should consider replacing it when your budget allows.

FOCAL LENGTH

The most important factor in any camera lens is its focal length. This determines which type of lens it is, and what subjects it will be able to photograph. Focal lengths range from just a few millimetres up to over a metre, and can be loosely grouped as follows:

Lens focal lengths, types, and uses

Focal Length	Lens Type	Common Subjects
8mm - 24mm	Ultra wide angle (fisheye)	Wide panoramas and skyscapes, artistic
24mm - 35mm	Wide angle	Interiors, architecture, landscapes
35mm - 85mm (50mm common)	Standard	General purpose
85mm - 135mm	Short telephoto	Portraits, candid
135mm - 300mm	Medium telephoto	Close sports, action
300mm+	Super telephoto	Far sports, wildlife, nature, astronomy

CROP FACTOR

Lens focal lengths are specified for a camera with a "full-frame" 35mm sensor. Most consumer DSLRs and all compacts use a smaller sensor, and this has the effect of cropping off the edges of the photograph, resulting in an image which is more "zoomed in" than it would be on a full-frame sensor.

This cropping makes it seem as though the lens has a longer focal length than it really does. We can calculate a lens's "effective focal length" by multiplying the real focal length by the camera's "crop factor". A typical crop factor is around 1.5x, meaning that a 50mm lens actually has an effective focal length of 75mm when fitted to this camera.

Before buying any lens, you should find out your camera's crop factor and use it to calculate the lens's effective focal length. This will ensure you end up with a lens which gives the desired effect.

PRIME VS ZOOM LENSES

A "prime" lens is one with a fixed focal length, while a "zoom" lens is one that can zoomed in and out to provide a wider range of focal lengths. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks.

Prime lenses tend to have better optical quality than zooms, and can usually achieve a wider aperture, giving them better low-light performance. Their lack of moving parts also makes them lighter and cheaper. On the other hand, the range of focal lengths offered by a zoom lens can provide more flexibility, making them suitable for a wider range of subjects.

The choice between prime and zoom depends on your level of experience and the subjects you intend to photograph. If you are a beginner, a zoom lens can be a better choice as it will allow you to experiment with a range of focal lengths to find what you like. For more experienced photographers, the improved quality of a prime lens will usually more than make up for the reduced flexibility.

APERTURE

A lens's aperture determines how much light it lets through. More often than not, a wider aperture (lower f-number) is preferable, as it will allow you to take photos indoors and in other situations with little or no natural light.

A wide aperture also allows you to use a faster shutter speed, which is important when photographing fast-moving subjects or when hand-holding the camera.

The down-side of having a wide aperture is the cost - lenses with wider apertures can cost significantly more than a normal lens. This is particularly true of long telephoto lenses, where an extra stop of aperture can easily double the price of the lens.

FOCUSING

Most modern camera lenses have a built-in autofocus mechanism which takes the guesswork out of getting sharp photos. Some specialist lenses may use a manual focusing system, so be sure to check this out before buying.

Some lenses employ more advanced focusing systems to meet particular needs. Silent autofocus is useful for macro and candid photography, where the lens sound can alert the subject and potentially ruin your shot. Internal focusing means that the outside of the lens stays perfectly still, which can be beneficial in macro photography where any movement could scare your subject away.

IMAGE STABILISATION

When photographing at slow shutter speeds, camera movement can cause blurring in your photo. Image stabilisation (IS) is designed to reduce this, making your shots sharper and allowing you to shoot at slower speeds without using a tripod. Optical image stabilisation is considered superior to digital image stabilisation, although it does cost more.

A lens with image stabilisation will typically give you an extra 2 to 4 stops of exposure, allowing for exposures 4 to 16 times longer without a noticeable increase in blurring. This can be very useful when shooting in low light, or when hand-holding a telephoto lens.

LENS FIT

All lenses attach to the camera using some sort of locking lens mount. These come in bayonet, screw-thread, and friction-lock varieties, and they act to attach the lens to the camera body and join any electrical connections.

Each camera manufacturer has its own design, and while they often look very similar, they are not interchangeable. When shopping for a camera lens be sure it has the proper fit so that it will mount on your camera. Most third-party lens manufacturers sell the same lens with different mounts to cater for this.

SIZE AND WEIGHT

You should choose your lenses based on the subjects and situations you intend to photograph rather than the lens's size and weight, but these can be important as a final consideration.

The most important factor is the lens's focal length - longer lenses tend to be bigger and heavier. Aperture also plays a small role in the lens's weight, with a wider aperture requiring a more complex, heavier internal construction. Any extra features such as silent focusing or internal focusing will also generally increase the weight, especially for longer lenses.

If you intend to shoot hand-held, a lighter lens is better as it will be easier to move around and won't ache your arms when used for extended periods. Heavier lenses are sometimes necessary, and you should support them properly using a tripod or monopod. However, be aware that this will reduce your mobility.

The size of a camera lens can be important if you need to carry it in a travel bag or pack it to take on a plane, where space is limited. For these purposes, some manufacturers make lenses which are lighter and more compact than their counterparts, but this will increase the cost.