Yes, Leeds

I joined this project from the beginning as I knew the team well and had seen previous work of theirs that had done very well. I also really had liked the idea of the mocumentary as I love working on docs but had never really tried anything very comedic. I said from the beginning that I would be the sound recordist and boom if necessary however I would not have liked to do the sound design as I had just done that on another project and would like some more practise first. Not long after we had decided it was to be a mocumentary the original plan changed to just being a standard documentary on Leeds United supporters and here is where primarily Poppy and Rich found contacts. Our first few meetings with the contributors we didn't film we did this because we thought it would be best if we got their trust and got to know them first, this was actually very successful and I talked to several of them for a few hours. The first interview that we recorded caused a lot of difficultly fo...

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...

After attempting to sort out the sound on the fish and chip shop interviewed the struggle became too much and we left it out. The editing process has been long and difficult, but me Poppy, Izzy and Rich have managed to get the film down to 4 minutes, which isn't bad considering the interviews came to about 3 hours. Despite getting the film cut together in a way we agree is alright, we didn't manage to mix the sound as time ran out. Along the way we've also lost footage, this acts as a learning curve to all of us. We had to much footage and so little time to edit, so despite the sound, we are still fairly content. We've been in every day for about 10 hours each day, today we've been in for 11 hours, this is how we feel... Here's an example of a colour correction I did for the film; - Liam 

A long week and a half editing with Poppy... At this point, I want to die. However, I'm powering through, me and Poppy have been editing all week and Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. This is unheard of for me. The documentary has absorbed itself into my sblood since first meeting Geordie in The White Hart. Even got a tattoo like the Norwegians... - Izzi

Throughout the making of our film, all of the perspectives on Leeds United fans have been from the fans themselves, something I thought we were lacking was an alternate opinion, perhaps from a player who actually played for the White's. Through a friend's Dad I managed to get in contact with ex-professional footballer Kevin Sharp who played for Leeds. I emailed him and after many re-arrangements I managed to get him in for an interview. I prepared 8 questions, spanning from his own experiences playing for Leeds and walking out at Elland Road to fan encounters and Leeds' disorderly reputation. I shot and recorded sound for this interview as well using my own DSLR and a Rode microphone. The interview went really well, Kevin was a really nice guy and was happy to discuss the fans from a players perspective, something that was interesting and insightful. After the interview I transcribed the 15 minutes of Kevin talking ...

On the 8th of April I got the bus down to Elland Road to watch the Leeds u23's side take on  Professional Development League South winners Ipswich Town at Elland Road. So many  fans  had told us that the only way to experience the  atmosphere  of Elland Road was going  to a home game and being there to experience it, however unfortunately due to the sky high prices and a sold out run into the end of the season we were unable to do this so this was certainly the next best thing.  As I walked up the steps and saw the inside of Elland Road for the first time I really felt like I had a better understanding of this great club and why its supporters are so loyal. The stadium is a fortress, a sea of blue and yellow, the 'Don Revie' stand at one end, Leeds United's way of thanking their most successful manager. Even though it was not a first team game, at least roughly 1000-1500 fans attended Elland Road to cheer on the team's developme...

Kevin Sharpe Rich has been in contact with Kevin Sharpe, an ex Leeds United player, however he can only do the interview... Tomorrow! The film is in for Friday. Rich is going to conduct the interview, edit it and see if we an quickly put any footage in the timeline. Rich has also got some brilliant cutaways from when he went to an LUFC U23 match. He also stood about 10 metres away from the fans beloved Bielsa. Despite having a long break over the Easter, only to be extended by me unfortunately having an operation, the group chat was constantly flowing with ideas and videos we'd found of Leeds United videos. I feel we've worked hard and I hope the documentary reflects that.

Other Interviews! Through Tom (on the course) we interviewed his brother and dad and his brother's friends dad also. Tom's dad runs a football club in Pudsey so we went to watch them train. They had some really interesting things to say. One of the guys called Dave, was in Turkey when the two Leeds United fans got stabbed and killed. It was interesting as he has a big persona, he seems to joke about everything, much to his son's embarrassment. Despite this scary persona, Dave bowed his head when Tom's dad mentioned the two Leeds United fans that got killed, suggesting he didn't want to speak about it. During this process I am reminded constantly of how football brings people together, yet now I've been introduced to an event that has ripped apart this togetherness.  Dave, who was also in the service crew, jokes that the bad reputation of Leeds was 'deserved' and he didn't want it to be spoiled by, 'a few idiots coming in and behaving well'....