The first thing we wanted to establish is the production company and film name/ logo, and that's what we did. I started with and introduction to skateboarding by Kamel with him saying "skateboarding saved my life" I internationally placed this at the start to give the audience a feel of what's to come, instantly expressing the narrative of the film with powerful imagery of him skating in the desert in an empty road. I also edited this clip by enhancing the colours much like the end shots in the desert. The film intentionally starts and ends in the desert almost making a full 360, as if the audience have followed Kamel through his journey.
Kamel is then immediately introduced with a strong visual of the interview, this was shot with a f/1.4 50mm that created this dreamy Bokha complementing the vibe that is found within the desert shots.
The interview is purposely casual with Kamel not even talking to the camera but to the interviewee. I like this idea more than a hard core interview because a traditional interview doesn't represent the theme found with the skateboarding culture.
It also feels like the listener is a part of the conversation not being directly talked to. I carefully planned this to happen by arranging the location of the interview inside Kamel's old university, I felt he would be more relaxed in an environment he is used to and get even more emotional when he is interviewed about where he started and his dreams.
The next most important element was to establish the setting, in this case, Qatar. This is done by two cinematic shots of the iconic skyline of West Bay, Doha. The inspirational music is introduced as Kamel is introduced and the beats are timed to the clips.
I feel it was very important to tell a story and to do this I planned to link the content of the audio to a visual clip. For example, below is when Kamel talks about how these extreme sports were not introduced into Qatar until recently and the visual shows a few people from the community; one BMXing the other skateboarding. This represents the strong link we have together as a community and also the diversity of extreme sports now being offered within Qatar.
The next section (highlighted) is purely skateboarding, this allows us to meet the traditional conventions of a skateboarding film using equiptment such as a fish eye and long lens. This section is used to complement our main target audience that is skaters. These shots are straight after the introduction of Kamel and introduce a little bit more about the community.
One thing that I filmed and added into the film is the segment where I am standing still at the bottom of the skatepark with the fish eye and following people from the community around the ramp. I went the same way (anticlockwise) and stayed in the same position, looking at the bigger picture I wanted to add a fast segment that flowed and I feel I did that very well in this part of the film.
The music fluctuates in volume. When Kamel is talking, the sound is lowered to make it easy to understand what he is saying. I wanted to keep music playing throughout, making the film more interesting.
The next main part is the second skate part, this takes place in the temporary skatepark in Katara. We have set up two angles to capture this segment. One was a wide angle of the whole ramp and the second was a fish eye which was operated by Miles who was on the ramp. These two angles allowed us to create a smooth compilation of the whole skatepark, flipping between the shots making it more interesting and also making sure the editing has continuity making it easy to understand and the cut less visible. (highlighted)
Wide angle;
Fish-eye;
Below is the segment that I refer to above, to make this part more entertaining we planned to sync it with the music as seen in other skateboarding films. Making either the landing of the trick or change in shot sync with the beat of the music. This can make the tricks seem more impressive and helps with the overall feel of the film making it seem better and more professional.
The next part is Kamel talking about what he wants to do to help the community and "give something back". During this script sequence, clips are shown of both interviewer and Kamel in skating competitions. The interview creates a more personal connection to the viewer making the story have more impact and realism. The close ups are used to enhance this effect and making key elements more personal when the camera is closer.
Far;
Close;
The last segment in the desert is there to conclude the narrative and solidify it, the use of colour changed the connotation from a boring sunset to something from a movie, a fairytale., again reflecting Kamel's swords, "Skating is like a dream". All the colours were enhanced like the golds, reds and blues and the exposure was lowered creating a silhouette. This is a very powerful way to end the film, its really shows that the film is about skateboarding because of the unseen identity at the end. It represents how far skateboarders are going to skate geographically and also in Kamel's case pushing his education and family.
When I talked about the film making a full 360, it basically does, the production logo is shown at the end as well. I placed the logo on the same image we are using for the postcard and other products such as social media and the website. This is a powerful shot and also helps to create a sense of branding.
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