Ideas Development

Spike Beecham, our contact.

Hannah took on the role of Producer and thus was the one to contact the person in charge of the record shop. We got contacted back by a man (named Spike) who wasn't actually the owner, but was the one in charge of the selling of the records on eBay, and was the only point of contact now, we also later found out we couldn't get put in touch with the old owner of the record shop since they fell out and there was bad blood between the two of them. He was reluctant to go along with the idea at first as he said he didn't really like publicity much.

However once we sent him a proper treatment of our idea he became more on board with it and more interested in the idea.

The shop when it was around.

One of the problems we came across was that the shop its self was now not there anymore and only a handful of records had been set aside from the 15,000 strong collection for a special day, therefore a simple matter of what we would film was an issue. One major positive of this idea was that Spike told us we could screen our film at a special record shop day if we were to make it successfully, this kind of exposure would be an extremely positive.

Since he was not in contact with the original owner and is more the latest person responsible for the records in a chain we wouldn't be able to do our idea of focussing on the story of the record shop and its importance in the Liverpool scene. Therefore we tweaked our treatment to instead use the story of the shop having to be sold online as an example of the modernisation of the high street and how independent shops are really struggling in modern times and are forced to evolve to survive. There also seems to be a bit of irony in the story since it shows how one of the oldest forms of music has to resort to the newest form of shopping in order to survive still.

Our influences for this one come from The Archive (Dir. Sean Dunne) which we watched in our doc screening seminar, not only because it looks at vinyls and shares a similar subject matter but because visually it's the kind of engaging while still being conventional look we want to be going for. Furthermore one of the films I rewatched thinking about this idea was Side By Side (Dir: Christopher Kenneally) this is because it follows a similar subject matter of a medium moving from an analogue age into a digital one. Despite being about film the debate of holding onto the past form vs embracing the future is one that is very much at the forefront of this documentary idea.
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Since the graffiti idea was predominately Oli's he was the one that made the phone calls, since getting Hannah to correspond with both contacts would be a lot of work, an unfair amount to put on one person. We found a company Zap Graffiti that Oli contacted that were very happy to get involved, the only problem was the man we got in contact with (named Kieron) was a bit too casual and instead of wanting to know when to meet etc he took more of a 'call me on the day' approach, meaning we couldn't set up anything concrete.

The companies logo

The company as its self says is all about engaging people in the 'positive' art form of graffiti, so immediately you can tell they are very pro street art, setting up a lot of leverage for a counter argument. It is also quite a good company to look at since in its list of previous clients there are names of quite big companies such as Virgin Media, The Ministry of Sound and The Tate.

We have also been allowed to film in the actual studio where the people do their graffiti pieces this will allow first of all for a very nice setting for our interview to take place, and furthermore give us more of a chance to meet different people and set up potentially more interviews, thus getting more opinions for our debate. The debate is key to the documentary since the whole idea of it is around the debate of is graffiti a positive thing  obviously at Zap Graffiti they will have very much one side of the argument covered, whereas hopefully some of the public we talk to will provide some counter to that and different thoughts.

In terms of this doc one of my main influences when thinking about it was one of my favourite documentaries, Exit Through The Gift Shop (Dir. Banksy) this is because it is also about graffiti and the idea of what is going too far and what is definite art. But in terms of this film it is at the complete opposite side of the spectrum, since it is around Banksy and other renowned street artist names. Our film would much more be about amateur graffiti artists and more their impact on the community rather than just a character study of how these people go about their work, which is what 'Exit' is more like. Another one from the doc screening session that we had that I think about in terms of this idea is Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul (Dir: Orlando von Einsiedel) since it focusses (like graffiti) on something that can often be seen as a nuisance but when channeled in a certain way can be used to benefit everyone and help the community. This is something that is very true about graffiti as it is about skating and is something I think we plan to cover in this documentary.