The Good
Conceptually:
- A relatively simple, but fairly solid concept; watching the trainspotters watching the trains, and reflecting on what I see in them.
Technically:
- I am particularly proud of the editing in Spotted, cutting on the trains wiping the frame works really well to remove any clear sense of time from the film. The footage is very observational, but I think this editing elevates the footage and makes it feel more dreamlike and abstract.
- The film is shot nicely; the characters are all framed well throughout, and there are a few standout shots which I am proud of – the two younger trainspotters stood together comparing notes, then walking down the platform and standing with their backs to the camera, perfectly lined up with the signpost and lamppost.
- I think the score is really strong; I can’t take any responsibility for this as a friend of mine kindly made it for me, but I really love how it sounds almost like the closing door tone you hear on a train. The repetitive score works nicely with the voice-over, it doesn’t drown it out or distract from it, and I think it works well with the editing to create a dreamlike world in the film.
Thematically:
- The voice-over adds a lot too the film, in an earlier version of the film I hadn’t thought to include the voice-over and instead the idea was to let the viewer come to their own conclusions on the characters, but I felt that this was quite empty and at times boring. It was also noted by some people who saw this early version of the film that what I was doing was stranger than what the trainspotters in the film were doing, so instead of reflecting on the onscreen characters they were thinking about me sat there filming them. Adding the voice-over deals with both these issues as it guides the viewer through the images and, to an extent, explains why I was there.
The Bad
Conceptually:
- The film is unethical; I didn’t get the trainspotters permission to film them. At the time I didn’t really consider this, I knew that what I was doing wasn’t illegal, and felt that that was all the justification I needed.
Technically:
- I think the film would have benefitted from being shot on a better camera, giving me more control over the image. It would have been nice to have been able to adjust focus and bring some more depth to the image, as it is quite flat. I filmed this on a miniDV camcorder as it was the smallest and most discreet camera I had access too, I also had some vague ideas about filming them in a similar way to how they would film/photograph the trains, but as the film shows, that isn’t as low-tech as miniDV, several of the trainspotters use DSLR’s, so there is really no need for this to be filmed on miniDV.
- I didn’t give the film any colour-grade or image adjustments. I think that I wanted to leave it quite natural and at the time I was really into the artefacts and slight distortion that came with filming on miniDV – I still think that the trains in motion look better on miniDV than they would have on a digital camera. But looking back at the film I do think a colour-grade could have helped make it feel more ‘professional’ (??)
- Some more sound design would have been nice. I left this mostly up to my friend who composed the score for me, there are a few moments where he added some seemingly diegetic sounds; trains going past and seagulls calling out, and these moments work really nicely, so maybe it would have been useful to have more of this. Also having the score ebb and flow more through the film instead of just staying at the same constant level would have been better.
Thematically:
- Some of the thoughts I convey through the voice-over are perhaps too personal and specific to me to be truly universal, and some lines could have been worded better. Everyone who has seen Spotted knows me somewhat, so the comparisons between myself and the trainspotters make sense, but to a wider audience I don’t know if this would be as clear.
Other, Similar Work
David Bowie is Dead – Mark Jenkin
Around the time I was coming back to Spotted with the intention of adding a voice-over I watched a few of Mark Jenkin’s experimental documentaries on his Vimeo (they are now private again). David Bowie is Dead, in particular, stood out to me as I really loved the way the stream of consciousness voice-over paired with the footage to conjure up a collage of the events being described.
The Wicked Shit – Joshua Gordon
The Wicked Shit was a documentary short I had seen prior to making Spotted which definitely had a big influence on how I wanted to make documentaries going forward – the honest look at people who have been sensationalised and (possibly) misunderstood. I think if I had spoken to the trainspotters who I filmed I would have likely gone for the ‘portrait’ style of filming which Joshua Gordon uses in this, just getting the subjects to stand and look into the camera as if having their photo taken.
Conor McBride 