Yes, Leeds

I feel this post is needed, I'm now writing the blog after the due date, however we have been given the weekend to hand in our film. We currently have a not finished version of the film as a place holder. The team were in for 19, 20 and 21 hours.... It was one step forward and two steps back, eventually leaving at 6:30 in the morning. We colour graded the whole film and the audio just wouldn't link up, we couldn't figure out why. Rich didn't sleep after going home at 6:30 and quickly retuned the The Electric Press at 9am in order to salvage the film and find help... AND HE DID! Lee helped us and it turned out the DSLR footage was shot on 23fps not 24fps, Lee showed Izzi, Rich and Liam how to do it and they finished it. The sound now matches up, however, it meant the precise matchings of audio meant the sound levels are even worse than before. That was a long, long couple of days working.

Rich, Obviously editing Kevin Sharp.  An accurate representation of how editing feels.  Slightly loosing our minds during the process Endless Editing Endeavours; hours spent creating a narrative.

After our first few initial meetings Poppy presented an idea that we create some sort of football fan based mocumentary – this was just the starting point. As a group we all had slightly different plans on how to go about this and we all started reading up on Leeds united and doing research. One Monday afternoon Poppy and I thought we’d throw ourselves in at the deep end. The Merchant was the first pub we visited, after a quick conversation with the bar maid we realised there was only one option – to go to Beeston, that’s where the fans were!. Stepping off that bus I felt a sense of unease; it was an atmosphere I was not used to. Walking into The White Heart – a pub known for hosting notorious Leeds fans, I must say was quite a daunting moment. Eyes glared at us in disbelief as two young southern girls entered an unfamiliar territory. After a second of awkwardness we went straight in an announced that we were creating a documentary on Leeds fans; and the intimidating chara...

Our initial idea of making a mocumentary about football hooligans quickly developed into wanting to tell the real stories of Leeds United’s wide array of fans and characters in a documentary format. Poppy and Izzi bravely went to the ‘notorious’ White Hart in Beeston and this started the snowball of funny stories and wacky characters which grew to be at the heart of ‘Yes, Leeds’.  We wanted to convey those ‘stories you hear down the pub’ into documentary format, with our key aim being to find out what it means to be a Leeds fan and whether the club’s notorious disorderly nature is an accurate representation of this West Yorkshire Club.  My prime role on this experimental film was cinematographer and researcher. In terms of cinematography I provided much of the interview footage in the film. My favourite interview was with the Norwegian fans in their hotel. They were all fantastic characters and really embodied the true spirit of Leeds United; through thick and thin they w...

Editing this documentary has been complicated, we worked hard to get a narrative. My main role was editing and I had minimal time to do colour grading, but got there in the end. The documentary was difficult at times as we didn't have a soundie or a cinematographer, leaving me to step in for sound on three occasions. Despite knowing nothing on sound, the audio I recorded wasn't actually that bad. There was one occasion where I wasn't there to help film because I work constantly all weekend, but I was always on the group chat sending  Leeds united videos and keeping up with updates on social media. I also emailed many people to get permissions, and got a few replies and we used some footage in the clip.  We've met many people along the way and it's been fun to film, yet stressful.  what you think about it in creative context 

Yes, Leeds began as a mocumentary, formed from the perception I have of ‘football hooligans’ not quite living up to the nature of the word ‘hooliganism’. It seemed perfect to create a mocumentary on Leeds fans, given the idea I had of them being disorderly, frequently reinforced by how my Norwich obsessed family talk about them. It also seemed perfect, as I know a lot of people that believe they are, 'hooligans'. For example, my cousin, who wears stone island jackets, is an avid Tommy Robinson supporter and likes to cause ‘havoc’ at games. An example of this ‘havoc’ is him getting arrested for stealing a croissant when on the way to a Norwich game. Given my knowledge on football fans, with the combination of living in a city where the most ‘disorderly’ fans exist, seemed like the perfect combination for a mocumentary. An added notion to this was that Leeds United were/are in the running for the premiership after a long 13 years down, only to be battling with my own team, Norw...