Poppy's Evaluation

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, Norwich, who actually won the league. It all seems very ironic. Below is a picture of my dad’s van where my brother has written NUFC and my dad’s friend has written LUFC. The themes seemed to follow me everywhere, it’s been inescapable. 

 The first step of making this film was to meet fans and collect stories. Braving going to the ‘roughest’ LUFC pub, The White Hart, seemed like an appropriate start. Me and Izzi set off and this is where I met my now friend, Stephen. After this visit, and given how we had met these quirky characters it felt more right to make a doc on Leeds fans, their stories, their lives, what they do. We later went with him and his friend to his beloved bowling club to watched Leeds play Sheffield. During this, we got some good footage, however lost half of it, this has taught me a massive lesson in being prepared.

Overall I feel I’ve done a lot of the film; conducted all the interviews apart from Kevin Sharpe's interview, which proved to be important, however ultimately couldn't use because of the endless problems with editing and sound. I’ve got cutaways, been constantly emailing people and chatting online to supporters, I’ve also got permissions for locations and people. Another role was the partially being the editor, which proved to be stressful and long. Many other people got back to me to me that wanted to an interview, however we didn’t have time to interview them. Julie Timble was one of those people, who’s husband hasn’t missed a game in 20 years, he even left his daughters wedding to go a Leeds game. I've put a lot of time and effort into this documentary and a part of me feels the film doesn't reflect that. What we definitely needed was more shots of them in the pub cheering and their antics we witnessed when drinking with them, we did have some footage of this, but unfortunately lost it. The two times we had food with the Norwegians would of also been good for the documentary. I'm extremely annoyed by the sound, we had limited sound design and the disaster that happened at the end meant we couldn't even begin to fix it. It's a shame, as in some ways I feel the sound levels being loud and quiet ruin the film. It isn't exactly the film I wanted it to be, none the less, I feel it sheds a light on this people. I like the choppy cuts and the different situations these people are framed in. If I were to do it again, obviously, it would be a much better film now I know what I know. Also, watching the film it doesn't seem, 'experimental', but I think how we came to making this documentary and the process as a whole was. 

I’ve realised through this that the lives of these people were more interesting, their stories and who they are. I feel we got too much about Leeds United, despite it being a Leeds doc. I love meeting and listening to people, I find stories and people from different backgrounds of my own so interesting. Documentaries are a passion of mine, and I've started planning my next one; a guy I know who sells ice creams and believes the queen isn't real. Through making Yes, Leeds, I feel the next film I make will be a lot better. I'm still in contact with most of the contributors and talk frequently to the Norwegian girl that was my age. Despite being slightly disheartened about the overall film, I'm confident in saying that we had the most fun out of any group, my favourite memory was Rich being on the shoulders of a Leeds fan they call 'Gorilla', singing, 'I've got Richie, I've got Richie, I've got Richie on my head, on my head!'. The enjoyment we had has just about weighted the stress.