Back to the tattoo Studio:

https://vimeo.com/mediafactoryrmit/review/490152915/cf76c74635

Elsa, Bingqing Lin s3757408

Real to Real_ Blog 1, Real to Reel_ Blog 2, Real to Real_ Blog 3. 

Back to the tattoo Studio

Logline

A Melbourne tattoo artist hopes to tattoo local residents after the COVIT-19 lockdown period is lifted.

Paragraph Synopsis

There are many stereotypes linked to tattoos and people who have them, and most of them are negative. Some people would think that only bikies and those affiliated with crime get tattoos, however, times change. A young female tattoo artist, Chrystal Eng will be sharing her idea on the stereotype of tattooing, and her experiences on the work in the past. Due to the Coronavirus, her work was affected by the pandemic. Therefore, she will also be telling us the difference of the work before and after the pandemic, for example, how she serves the clients under the restrictions. Besides, she knows that pandemic has affected the daily life of all of us, and it has had a negative psychological impact on many people, especially Generation Z and millennials. The 5-minute documentary Back to the Tattoo Studio will be exploring her work life and aim to inspire people to embody their self-worth and finding fulfilment.

List credit

A film made by 

Director                 Donna

Cinematographer Donna

Producer               Elsa

Editor                     Yuechen

Archive footage and photographs

All footage are self produced

Supervising Producer

Rohan Spong

Created as part of Real to Reel studio 

School of Media and Communication

RMIT

2020

Most of the time when we shoot documentaries, we always involve the “human”. At this time, for “human” we have a sense of free mind, which is different from other species. It is important for our ordinary people and the owners of some valuables have the right to portrait and the right to know. So we need to hold policies to protect others and protect ourselves.

First of all, in my opinion, we must respect and love the people we shoot. This is crucial because our subjects are human and we need to treat each other as equals. So we need subjects’ consent of their story and make sure they are willing to talk to us. Also, informed they know all the consequences which can happen and participate with it. Next, if necessary we have a responsibility to protect them from the risk of what saying something secret. Especially when you are journalists or reporter, preventing the risk can be your routine. Such as mosaic faces or change the voice for some people so that they can not be recognized and be retributed, and their story can be better presented to the public. Other “respecting” example refers to the week 4 class PPT(2020, Rohan) is subjects must give consent that they will participant and fully understand: 1:the overall goals of the project, 2: the intended audience, 3: Possible conflicts of interest. Every above prepare need to be done before the cameras on. Ahead to the end. I think as we respect them as the main character and our core creator, they have the same right as we have, they can preview the product before we published it.

Of course, protecting ourselves is important too. A lawsuit may occur if a participant feels they have been misrepresented by us. In very rare cases they may feel defamed or they haven’t given informed consent. So we have to make a personal release (Release Forms) that get as many as possible signed by the participants before film. We will also need to print a copy with it to make sure they understood the details we’ve already told them and agree with our shooting. I think Australia has already done an excellent job of protecting both sides.

Finally, I hope that everyone can cooperate peacefully and communicate as much as possible rather than go to court.

When I start with the non fiction media, I believe our job is to make a video reflect the real world and convince the audience this story truly happened in the real world. Also, as a producer, I hope that my production can bring to the public a meaningful and thoughtful moment.

In the practice of A4 in the Real to Real course, my group members and I made a short documentary movie to present the Tattoo worker’s life. Ever since I thought about the tattoo, it eminently brings me an image in my mind, that is needle penetrates the skin and shrill sound. From my experience, I can find that the things that produce great direct stimulation are images and sounds. So, I strongly recommend our photographer Donna to take an extreme close-up of tattooing. Because close-ups can emphasise the subject, it contains fewer details in the shot and provides higher quality focus and stimulation to the audience. It turns out, all my team members are happy about that and we make this shot as our opening shot.

Next frame is also a practical frame. It shows the character sit there and the background is moving, which present the information she is going to a place. It’s also a daily life for some people, come and back to the office and home. So it is very close to reality. In addition, the character does not have much movement but this image shows the high quality of reflecting the real world. It can refer in The wolfpack(2015, M. Crystal) too. The camera is no many moving, but the character and the frame is often alive, and the angle and hight are generally as same as a person’s field of view. Moreover, this movie’s director is very good at shooting daily life. She shows “convincing” to the audience by how she is experiencing the story you are looking at. Presenting various routine that as same as ours is clever.

Finally, to sum up, the static of sitting there is very immersive. You can also try the first-person perspective when you have too many similar shots, which is also very immersive. However, beginners need to practice constantly, you can start the interview with the interviewee looking at the camera. Overall, I feel that we have done a good job in this short documentary.

First of all, I have to admit that I am not the best collaborator. I think it is because I still don’t know what and how is the best cooperator. However, I will always try to search for my best position in the group.

I think I did well is I would try my best to do the offer that my group members gave. Of course, as far as I can do. Such as temporary title the folder and video in my spare time and other group members are currently doing other things.

We did not determine the individual’s responsibilities at the beginning. In my opinion, maybe the best way to being a group is we had a clear leader. Next time we need to improve that. For this production, we slowly divided the tasks according to each one’s claim. Of course, I believe people are good at doing different things. This is an excellent way to see everyone’s high light and wishes clearly. What I mean here is we should not impulsive decided at the beginning. But the same time, people could have a hard time taking responsibility for something. If you decide at the beginning, you can improve your efficiency to some extent. For example, this time, we have a document submit late. This is because responsibilities are not handed to the individual. If the duty is decided early, if the job is not done well, there will be a person to tack responsibility. So that person will do his best to complete the job.

I have a media account driving by myself. This is considered as a freelancer of media, I suppose. I am good at doing as a solo practitioner to create and shoot freely. Self-service working time is time-saving, especially when you are both actors, directors and photographers. I do not have to draw, the idea can be combined together in my mind, and it reduces a lot of communication time. But if the project is big and the model or lighting is me, then I have to go through a slow period to get the quality shot and it will be a hard time. I still look forward to the teamwork in the future.

Tattoo Life

Donna, Elsa, Yuechen

Archive footage and photographs

The protagonist’s interview 

The protagonist prepares tattoo equipment

A scene where and how the protagonist works

The scene of the protagonist’s studio

Adding

More footage from studio

All required words and thanks at the end of the work

Music at the beginning

Straighten out the order