Codes and conventions of interviews - Our post-filming update

Update 9

We are now in the process of doing extra filming to make up for a few clips we filmed which we feel are not of a high enough quality to include in our documentary. We initially filmed the history of tattoo's on the Mac computers, which meant that the quality was fairly low. So, we decided to re-film the clips but on the second time filming books instead, as this meant the clips were of a much higher quality. We feel that re-doing these clips will improve our documentary, as we want every clip to be at the highest standard we can possibly achieve.

Final Script

Voiceover Script Final Draft-

Tattoo or not tattoo? That is the question.

Tattoos are everywhere nowadays- it is an art form that has increased in popularity over recent years, with many celebrities and public figures sporting tattoos.

It’s a matter of personal preference- but how far does discrimination against body modification really go? 17 seconds

(Title Sequence) 6 seconds

(Vox Pops and Interviews) 18 seconds

The process of tattooing has been around for 5000 years created by accident through the use of dirt. However what makes this tradition so popular with the modern man of today?  How has such an ancient art form become a common and everyday occurrence?

One in five British adults have a tattoo, and the number rises to two in five American adults. This equals a total of 45 million Americans and counting everyday. With a shocking 36% of 18- 25 year olds and 40% of 26-40 year olds in the UK. 

We visited Solihull, West Midlands in order to find out the publics general view on the controversy of body modification.

(Vox Pops) 14 seconds

We targeted the effected age range of body modification talking to the student of Solihull Sixth Form College.

(Vox Pops) 14 seconds

Do people go to far with body modification or is that personal preference? Is being covered head to toe in tattoos acceptable?

We corresponded with well-known tattoo enthusiast Carl McCois, who proudly sports thirty tattoos of Miley Cyrus. He stated that it s a personal “choice’ and the individuals “responsible”. That “discrimination laws should only apply to those (who) have no control over how they look”.

Who are the people having tattoos? Who is actually affected by the discrimination seen towards body modification? We spoke to Principle of the sixth form, Paul Ashdown, on his policy of discrimination and expert of media Richard.  

(Interviews) 25 seconds

With 70% of women and 30% of men sporting tattoos in the UK its proves its ever growing along with the ever growing issue of discrimination due to this.

(Vox Pops) 1 minute 21 seconds

Stories are constantly published within media highlighting discrimination stories seen due to tattoos and body modification. But does anything change for the way we view people after these stories or do we just pass them aside? 14 seconds

(Interview) 25 seconds

People are joining forces sharing their stories of discrimination online and in the media.

(vox pops) 10 seconds

Is discrimination at all fair?

(interview) 14 seconds

Only you can decide whether your body modification will affect your life? Is this a real issue within society or do these people choose to be discriminated against? Only you decided what’s under your skin.

Update 8

We have been spending the past few lessons logging, organising and separating our shots. We have selected the clips we feel appropriate for our documentary and separated these from the clips that we will not be including in the documentary due to issues such as faults in the camera angles and problems with sound. With the clips, we have been completing activities such as cutting the best parts of long clips, and arranged them into the order of the story board.

In the next few lessons, our plan is to:

• Take some pictures of where we filmed our footage. We got this idea after peer-reviewing the other students blogs; we noticed that our peers blog had pictures of where they filmed and we thought this was a really useful idea, so intend to use this for our blog too.
• Record the voiceover of our script, import it onto the computers and cut the voiceover into desired sections of the documentary.
• Add some effects to our clips, e.g. fade in and out, as currently we just have clips one after another with no effect. We intend to add transitions from one clip to another to make the transition appear more smooth.
• Finalize our choice of music for the background of the documentary, and add this to selected clips. After we have done this, we will need to adjust the sound levels of the voice over and music.

Log Sheets

Story Boards

We completed storyboards writing out a draft sketch of the shot and brief detail to the music or voiceover, description of shot and length of time. This as a group allows us to plan the documentary together. It allows ideas to be shared and experimented with. It also means as a group we know the direction the documentary is heading in and allows us to write a scrip to coincide. These are a basic idea of the documentary however during the editing its likely to change. 

Plan for editing

Update 7

We are currently in the process of editing our clips, and integrating them together to create our documentary. During our editing process, we have came to the conclusion to film more footage. We feel that we require more background footage to aid our documentaries voice over. We plan to film more footage of real life people with tattoo's and piercings, as we feel this would really work to benefit our documentary.

Questions asked in our interviews and voxpops

This is our list of questions which we asked in our vox-pops. We also will justify why we asked these questions, and how they will act to benefit our documentary.

First Draft of Script

We have completed the first draft of the script for our documentary's voice over, including sources to be cited on-screen.

Plan for filming

Plan for filming
From this Monday onwards, we will be filming for approximately three weeks. In order to ensure that we make the most of these three weeks, we have produced a plan with dates, in order to ensure that we capture all footage we intend to do and we do so in an organised, efficient manner. As well as this, we created a timetable for filming.
1^st lesson: Today we will be familiarizing ourselves with the equipment and filming background footage. We intend for every group member to become familiar with the equipment. We will be going round the college, experimenting with features such as zoom and manual focus, tilts, handheld and pans, so that we can ensure when we film outside of college we know exactly how to work the equipment without supervision.
2nd lesson: Today we will be filming more background footage and some vox-pops. 
3rd lesson:More background footage and vox-pops.
4th+5th lesson:In this lesson we will be travelling to Birmingham to film background footage, and to film a tattoo studio and piercing studio. 

Timetable for filming

This is a timetable I created in order to establish the timetables of all members of the group. This allowed to prepare when filming times were available and the amount of time we had in order for filing and where was most approbate to journey outside the college or film interviews etc. 

Update 6

We are currently in the process of writing up drafts of our script. We are also in the process of creating a storyboard which will feature different clips of our documentary.

Update 5

We have now finished filming for our interview. We are now editing the clips and this is going well. We are organising which clips to include in our documentary and which are most appropriate for which parts in the documentary. We are also beginning to produce our script, and a storyboard.

Update 4

We have now reached the stage of assessing the risks that are possible to occur whilst filming. We have also observed codes and conventions so that we can make our interviews as successful and organised as possible. We have also arranged a few interviews and locations. 

Update 3

We have now finished our first week of filming - filming has been successful and has gone to plan, as we have followed our filming schedule and have filmed an expert interview, vox-pops, background footage and archive footage.

Update 2

Throughout the past few lessons, we have been filming our documentary. We have been to Birmingham, and Solihull, filming various voxpops and interviews with professionals such as teachers. We aim to get a variety of different peoples opinions from different age ranges to develop an opinion representative of the overall population and not just students.

Formal Proposal Topic Choice Documentray

Benefits of our research

Channel research and evaluation

Our research has provided us with a considerable amount of knowledge regarding the channels and what they have to offer. This ultimately enabled us to make an informed decision on which channel we felt suited our documentary best.

Target audience

Expert interviews

Evaluation of Questionnaire Results

Target audience Profiles

Sample questionnaire results

We asked 15 students their opinions on body modification. From this, we randomly picked out 5 which can represent the overall opinion of body modification. We gave the questionnaire out to range of ages which we feel would be most suitable for representing an overall opinion.

Our questionnaire

Questionnaire from sophieb96x

This is our questionnaire which we will hand out to 15 students in order to receive a general insight into general opinions on body modification. These fifteen students who we asked all provided useful, detailed answers which enabled us to draw valuable conclusions about the way body modification is seen throughout society. We noticed patterns where students continuously commented that they thought jobs should not be restricted/terminated to piercings which we can consider adding to our documentary. 

Risk Assessment

Student risk assessment from sophieb96x

Update 1

We are now in the progress of finishing off our research and are planning our questionnaire where we will ask for the opinions of the public on body modification.

More interviews

We aim to interview some reputable companies which we are interested in whether have any policies on piercings and tattoos. I have contacted the popular restaurant 'Coast to coast' and the independent clothes store the Oasis market.

Carl McCoid Interview

Emails to Possible Interviews/Locations

Email to Oasis Market : Dolly Rockers, Birmingham

Tyber Message to Paul Ashdown, Principal of The Sixth Form College, Solihull.

Tyber Message to Irene Mungovan, Paul Ashdown's PA.

We got this reply from Irene Mungovan.

Email to The Ink Shack, Solihull.

Email to Touchwood, Solihull

We got this reply from Touchwood 

Email to BlueBanana, Birmingham

We got this reply from BlueBanana instantly, so we decided to go into Birmingham and ask them in person to arrange something.

Email to Tattoos By Kirt

Interview planning

Articles to support our topic

From these articles, we have extracted the most important information we feel relevant to our documentary. This is the information we have chosen:

The Daily Mail articles- 

·      The University of St Andrews researchers have recently conducted a study where they found stigma still surrounds tattoos despite the increasing popularity among celebrities and society. Management expert Dr Andrew Timming, who led the research, explained that while he personally likes tattoos, many of the professionals he interviewed who are responsible for hiring new staff thought otherwise. He also quotes that 'Most respondents agreed that visible tattoos are a stigma'... 'Hiring managers realise that, ultimately, it does not matter what they think of tattoos - what really matters, instead, is how customers might perceive employees with visible tattoos.  It comes as the BBC reports that the Metropolitan Police has banned staff from getting visible tattoos. Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said the body art 'damages the professional image' of police.

·      Employees have also been told they must inform line managers of their tatoos, or risk disciplinary action. Dr Timming interviewed recruiters in 14 organisations including a hotel, bank, city council, prison, university and bookseller to get a broad view of their opinions on tattoos. A male manager said seeing a tattoo would 'subconsciously stop' him hiring the applicant, while another said 'tattoos are the first thing they [fellow recruiters] talk about when the person has gone out of the door.' Dr Timming explained: 'Respondents expressed concern that visibly tattooed workers may be perceived by customers to be abhorrent, repugnant, unsavoury and untidy. 'It was surmised that customers might project a negative service experience based on stereotypes that tattooed people are thugs and druggies.'

·      However, not all the managers were completely against potential employees having tattoos, although of the ones who didn’t mind their line of work was not 'public facing'. Dr Timming said: 'The one qualification to this argument is there are certain industries in which tattoos may be a desirable characteristic in a job interview. 'For example, an HR manager at a prison noted that tattoos on guards can be ‘something to talk about’ and ‘an in’ that you need to make a connection with the prisoners.'

BBC News article -

"Tattooing is on increase: habit not confined to seamen only," proclaims one headline, while a second article declares: "Tattoos are no longer the trophies of rockers, sailors, bikers..."

The first appeared in the New York Times in 1908, the second appeared on this website two years ago.

The story - that tattooing has "entered the mainstream" - is just one of a number of tattoo tropes recycled relentlessly over the decades, suggests Dr Matt Lodder, art historian and tattoo expert at the University of Essex.

Others include:

• Everybody seems to be getting tattooed, should we not be concerned?
• Surprise at women, the young or the old getting a tattoo
• The pain during a tattoo
• The issue of regret at having a tattoo

In the late 19th Century, Princess Waldemar of Denmark's tattoo was big news. As was the inked skin of Queen Olga of Greece, King Oscar of Sweden and the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. These were the celebrity figures of their day.

Modern day equivalents might include David Beckham, Cheryl Cole orDavid Dimbleby. Although the names, faces and places might change, the stories remain largely the same.

Almost 20 years after the New York Times reported in 1876 how tattooing had taken hold and how women were amongst those getting tattooed, the same title reported how tattooing was no longer uncommon and how a number of aristocrats were getting "marked".

Jump forward another two decades and the British title The Graphic was reporting, in 1917, how tattooing had entered society at large, via the sailor.

"Today," says the author, "it is in full force."

In 1933, Milwaukee Sentinel broke the news that tattooing was all the rage in London. Conversations among the "smart set", the Sentinel explained, ran thus: "How gorgeously divine my dear! Now you must really give me the address of your tattooer."

The author notes such conversations were once heard about "the new hairdresser, or the new milliner".

And then comes that now familiar line that "smart young women have taken up tattooing".

A piece in The Times in 1958 reported how tattooing was "a fine art" for people "not excluding the ladies".

A similar theme was taken up in 1964 by a magazine called Men in Danger, which again expressed surprise not only that women were getting tattoos but were making "men look like pikers (a gambler who only places small bets)". The eyes of any doubters were drawn to an image of a young woman, and a tattoo which read "I love Elvis".

In 1979, The Oregonian told readers how tattooing had leapt beyond the realms of "bikers, gangs and prisoners" and on to the skin of an "entirely different clientele".

The Oregonian went on to tread familiar ground in 2013 with a report that "getting inked has become increasingly common in the western world in the past decade".

"Once the mark of sailors and bikers, body art is now sought after by the fashion-hungry," said the Observer in January 2011.

This line might ring a bell with (very) long-time readers of Vanity Fair, which told the world in 1926 that: "Tattooing has passed from the savage to the sailor, from the sailor to the landsman. It has since percolated through the entire social stratum; tattooing has received its credentials, and may now be found beneath many a tailored shirt."

The Observer piece said the "burgeoning" tattoo scene was a "a long way from the stereotype of tattooing as the preserve of sailors and soldiers". The article was keen to point out, however, that "tattoos were once popular with Victorian aristocrats and even, it was rumoured, the royal family".

More than a rumour, in fact, as the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, was one of many European royals to be tattooed.

So what are we to make of all this?

The stories leave Dr Matt Lodder with a wry smile. Lodder compares media representations of tattooing with the film Groundhog Day where Bill Murray's weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over again.

"Sure, tattoos are not confined to sailors, bikers or convicts. My point is that they never have been. And strictly speaking, when the media says tattoos were 'once associated with bikers and sailors', that's true - they have been associated, but by the media.

"It is like same old, same old," says Lodder. "It is like, 'Wow tattooing is the new big thing, it used to be like this but now it is like this.'

"But what I can't quite work out is why that is the case, and why these myths persist. My working hypothesis is simply that if people can't empathise with somebody who has a desire to mark their body then it comes as a surprise and they go, 'Wow, that's weird and strange and people are actually doing that.'

For Lodder it was strange when Cheryl Cole got a tattoo that the reaction was very similar to the tone of the New York Times in 1876.

"It has to be pointed out that even though tattooing is popular, it is still kind of 'dangerous' in a way. There is a frisson of the counter-cultural, that tattooing is not hegemonic or sanctioned. It has never been morally safe, normative or accepted. It involves breaking the skin, of being touched by a stranger and of course there's the permanence factor. If it was true that tattooing was everywhere, and staid and boring, there would be no articles about it."

Established tattooists are happy to admit there is nothing particularly new in the phenomenon.

"Tattooing is not the new big thing," says Naomi Reed, manager at London's Frith Street Tattoos. "It has been around since the earliest civilisations. Everyone from all walks have life have been getting tattooed as long as we have tattoos recorded, from tribal leaders to the monarchy.

Continue reading the main story

Advice on tattoos

• Ask someone you know who has had a tattoo where they would recommend
• Visit as many tattooists as you can. Ask to see a portfolio of their work and certificates of training and hygiene/first aid. Take someone along with you if this makes it easier to ask
• Trust your instincts. Does the place feel, look and smell clean? Can you trust the tattooist? Are they open to questions? Do they explain things well? If you're not sure - leave

Source: BBC Advice: Tattoos

• NHS Choices: Getting a tattoo - the health risks
• BBC World Service - Why do we have tattoos

"Obviously tattooing was prevalent amongst sailors and the working classes but tattoos can be seen on different social groups the world over. Surprise at women getting tattooed is akin to being surprised at women wearing trousers or demanding an equal wage."

But there are still those who argue that someone getting a tattoo can be an event worthy of remark, says Nina Jablonski, professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University and author of Skin: A Natural History.

"Tattooing is a subject of fascination because it was, for all intents and purposes, forbidden for centuries," she says. "Added to the weight of the apparent biblical injunction against tattooing was the Victorian attitude that associated tattooing with the under-classes.

"So now tattooing still titillates because celebrities, sorority girls and accountants are now engaging in something that was previously forbidden and the province of gangsters and prostitutes."

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