Journal

31^th of Dec, Uncle didn’t go on the sea until the last few days before I go back to UK.They spent 3days for some pile works in the good weather. He told me that it is not good to farming in winter due to the temperature and wind and let me come back in summer and make my film with sunshine and nice weather. They will have many different fishes and jellyfishes.

Although I didn’t go on sea this time, I learn a lot about fishing and problems that I need to overcome. I will try to figure out the way to overcome these problems. How to make the video stable and sound-recording is two major problems I need to solve. I need more researches and videos to enrich my knowledge.

The Shooter

In my opinion, documentary is the hardest kind of film as life is unrepeatable and the first reaction is the most natural movement which could only be caught once. The director is the brain and the shooter is hands. I think they are a whole as the same recognition to what or who being framed. The accuracy and sensitivity of the director should be completed by the shooter immediately.  When making a film in the real life, verbal communication is not enough to communicate after the shooter press the button. The tacit understanding between the director and the shooter is the key to catch the most valuable moment. An outstanding film shooter is also a director who completes story boarding in their head immediately. So, in this project, I want to be the shooter and make my own documentary.

Stability

It is undoubted that documentary is valuable because of its reality. It is also a vehicle for the creator to express themselves. However, the creator should respect and preserve the truth but not making the truth that they believe. As a documentary maker, I should show the story by only using the natural lighting and camera positions and angles. Framing on the sea is hard to preserve the stability the film which should be considered carefully. First of all, I need to keep myself stable then adjust the camera with my sense and decision. When facing accidence, I should adjust the camera with the most stable way. That requires a lot of practices.

Journal

25^th of Dec，After a week waiting, the day is still rainy. It seems not going to rain today, but not a sunny day, so I phone my uncle and ask if he is going to the sea. He said no, but he can bring me to the sea side to see how inshore fishing is like also take some shots as practice. We set out after lunch to a bay which is for small boat that only fishing inshore parking. They always set out in the morning and return at noon. At first I want to step on the boat and try to take some shots, but uncle said that it is impossible. Then when I really get on it I can’t move naturally, not to mention framing.

I wait for them coming back and take some shots of the surrounding. The small boat didn’t catch a lot, some of them only got one. They show me how the small sea eel looks like. It is my first time to see sea eel. I can’t imagine it is that crystal clear while they are black when they grow up. On the road near the bay, there are a small market that sells seafood that made by themselves. They show me the good that them made and let me take photos with make me feel happy.

Sound-Recording

Sound-recording is what I worry the most of my film. It’s hard for me to achieve what I want to achieve through the technique I have now. Usually I use the in-built microphone for sound-recording which is low quality. I also need to consider of sound-recording while I am taking the shot. For example, when taking a shot I need to listen carefully to what is the fisherman saying and adjust the camera to match the sound; when I hear some special sound I need to find out where it comes from with my camera. In other word, I need to shoot something that match the sound I heard. Therefore, a separate sound-recording device will be good which can overcome the bad sound-recording condition on the sea. However, recording sound separately is not convenience for me as I can not complete framing and sound-recording at the same time. While learning about sound-recording, I may need to find a crew to complete this task.

Journal

17^th of Dec，Before fishing on the sea, one thing a fisherman needs to do is to know well about the weather. To avoid going on the sea in bad conditions, they need to pay great attention to the weather report and the sky. In the day of waiting, I went to the fish market to see how fish selling is like. May be is not the busy day, there are not many people in the market. Fish sellers think I am a reporter because I am bringing my camera with me. They show me all kinds of fishes they sell and let me take photos. At the entrance of the market, I saw people killing fish. They are very skillful and killing fish like what was shown in the video. It take less than 20 seconds for them to kill a fish which is their unique technique and could not be done by normal person.

Journal

14^th of Dec，3 days later, my uncle comes back from the sea. I run to his home and told him I want to make a documentary about fishermen. But his answer broke my dream. He said fishing on the sea is extremely dangerous; it is not as simple as I imagine. Waves on the sea are big and the boat is no stable, lots of people lost their sea leg. He said his work is busy and have no time to take care of me. At that moment, lots of image that could be taken come up with my head, but how can I make the video stable when the condition is not stable? He also mentioned about the condition on the ship, a small cabin for 4 men which is cloudy and smelly is not suitable me. He told me that in the past, female is not allow to get on board because people in the past think it will bring bad luck. But I think what he trying to say is that is possible for female on board now. I need to find a way to get on the boat. Finally, we had a solution, which is go fishing with them offshore. That will be complete in one day so that there are no accommodation problems.

Journal

11^th of Dec，I went to my uncle’s home in the early morning. There is a sophisticated village in my memory. I used to go there and play with my cousin but seldom to meet my uncle. Every time I saw him he will bring us to the sea side and swim there. Unfortunately he is not home today too, but in the village. People keep asking who am I on the way my aunt bringing me home. It is a strong feeling to me that everyone in the village is treating each other as their family; the whole village is like a big family. There is no stranger in the village. When I get into the house, my granny is sewing fishing net. She shout my name and let me sit next to her. She was sewing fishing net skillfully and talking with me, sometimes she told with her neighbor. After I told her I want to make a documentary about fishermen, she bring me to her neighbor and show me another kind of fishing net with small mesh which is made by machine and used for catching small fishes in winter.

Journal

7^th of Dec, December seaside in China is cold and wet. People were wearing winter clothes and I could easily recognize who is the fisherman because my uncle told me that they will not been checked by customs and their dark skin. In the countryside, every man in the family is a fisherman. They use different nets for different kind of fish and different seasons. In winter, the net was made by cloth and nearly no mesh because the fishes are small at that time. When catching sea eel, the fishermen need to do some piling works in the chosen area. Then put the net into the eel cabin where connected with the pile by the net. The net was floating in the sea and moving with the current. The sea eel will follow the current and get into the net. Griping the net when the tide fall and release the sea eel. And wait for the next pile and fish again.

Long Lens

Usually, documentary film is using long lens. Everything is happening in front of you and you will not know when it ends, that’s why we need long lens and keep shooting. However, using long lens effectively does not mean following everything like a fly. A dedicated shooter should know how to choose the right thing to shoot and adjusting position, composition and view depends on motion, emotion and how thing change. Knowing the person’s feeling helps the shooter to get a better shot. The long shots in documentary always shock the audience through the actual time it toke which could not be achieved by final cutting. Sometimes it is necessary to abandon shooting technique to make a complete long shot. For example how to use auto-focusing instead of manual-focusing to avoid defocus. For my project, shots usually taken on the sea, many shots will be unstable and I need to practice more about that.