Editing the Documentary

The first sections of our documentary that we began to edit were the interviews. Due to complications with the School's server system being down, we did not have the images to begin editing the opening titles, so we could not start from the beginning which may have been easier. We did our editing on Abode Premier Pro, and the first slice of editing we approached was cutting out the interview questions asked by us to the interviewee (Tattoo artist and Rachael's uncle). We did this by dragging the clips onto the timeline and using the razor tool to cut between each answer, to be able to get a definite cut-off point for each section. We placed the interview with the tattoo artist before the interview with Rachael's uncle on the timeline, as this is the order they'll appear in on our documentary.

After this we began to edit out the questions in the Voxpop, and all irrelevant filming (e.g. the mic getting in the film framing - would be unprofessional to display). This eliminated us actually using two of our interviewees for our voxpop, as the filming quality was poorer than what is eligible to use. We edited these out using the same technique: the razor tool. This just left us with the remaining interviewee's opinions with us to work with. We placed this on the end of our timeline, to match its place in the documentary.

Leaving this behind for further editing, i then dragged the filming of the girl getting a tattoo onto the timeline, placing it between the two main interviews between the tattoo artist and Rachael's uncle. I then attempted to edit out 30 seconds for us to use in the documentary, using the razor tool once again to cut and delete all unneeded film. (However this later got changed).

When we had finally re-took the photos for the opening titles, and Rachael had filmed the photos all side-by-side as a printed out JPEG image, Radu and me began to lay it all out on the timeline near the beginning (leaving space for the short-section Montage of tattoo images that would be going before it). All the images were saved as 'JPEG' files, and we uploaded and dragged each one onto the timeline separately. The first image we edited was of the 'T' image, were we set the viewing time and then adjusted the image to fill the screen appropriately. We did this to all the images, setting them out in order to spell out 'The Human Canvas'. We then set a flash inbetween each of the images, using a shorter-timed white colour block situated on the timeline above, and used a quick cross-dissolve to create a flashing effect. After doing this we rendered the work area so it would flow smoothly. At the end of this sequence we placed the full filmed title, and the dissolved this to black after a few viewing seconds. Until we uploaded the backing track for this (Linkin' Park - Crawling), we had this section finished.

Examples of editing:

Permission for the Music:

To be able to use the music that we chose to include in our documentary we needed to write to the company to ask permission for it, as it legally belongs to them and could be seen as copyright. The following images are screengrabs of the emails i sent to the each of the companies that owned the rights to the music:

Filming the Documentary:

Within terms of filming for our documentary, we have filmed 2 interviews, a voxpop, cutaways and the opening titles.

For the interview with the tattoo artist, we visited the our interviewee in his actual workplace - Global Tattoo Studios - and filmed in his surrounding work area. We did this to make our interview more authentic, as the mise-en-scene was already set-up all around us. The area we actually chose to to film the interview, was chosen as it perfectly outlines the effect we desired the create, mainly based on tattooing as an art (e.g. the massive explicit tattoo images seen in the background). We had trouble whilst filming with the door alarm constantly going off (as people entered/exited the shop), however we feel we have obtained enough film to be able to avoid this disturbing the footage we use in our actual documentary. My participation in this interview was filming with the camera, whilst Rachael asked the interview questions. We both helped sort the framing for our footage.

Our voxpop was filmed in Liscard village, within the shopping area. We chose to film in front of McDonald's and the street, as it plainly shows the viewers that we were interviewing the general public, and not a targeted audience biased towards the topic (such as only filming people with tattoos). Also, it more-so follows codes and conventions for this style of filming. My role within filming this was once again filming, and holding the microphone above the interviewees for them to talk into. Radu held up the images to our participants of the voxpop and asked questions such as 'What do you think of these tattoos?', 'Would you consider getting this done yourself?' and 'Why?'. We both helped to gather up volunteers with opinions to film.

We attempted to film the voxpop twice. The first time, we experienced troubles trying to find willing volunteers to film and also experienced abuse from passers-by (mostly due to the way we were dressed, as we were dressed up for Halloween in school). We also had troubles with the tripod being to small to film with, and even after trying to balance it on a bench we still had trouble. When we came back the week after to film however, we were delightfully surprised with the good feedback we hadn't been offered before more people were intrigued and interested to take part. We learnt from our mistakes, and made sure we had the correct equipment to film with, and chose our framing with confidence.

Setting up:

The Images used for Voxpop:

The interviewees reactions:

The cutaways for our documentary came from a variety of places. Some are images that were obtained from the Internet, other images are ones which Rachael took of friends/close-relations, and we even filmed some footage whilst in the Global Tattoo Studios - e.g. equipment, Ed Hardy posters/tattoo images, drawing ideas, old-school tattoo tools and even the chair in which it all happens. We all helped to film the pans over the military images for the starting voiceover, and the tattoo images of the lizard man and the Tiger-man for the voxpop:

To do this, we needed to stick our printed images on a black background, and find the right lighting to film in so the image can be clearly seen on the screen. We stuck them to a wall as our filming would be straighter and look more professional.

Here i am filming one of the military tattoos, making sure to pan both up and down, and zooming in to get the whole picture in the frame.

Finally, the filming of our Opening titles. To create this we got some paints from the art department, and painted each letter of our title 'The Human Canvas' on a different part of Radu's body. We then used a camera to take the pictures individually for the opening titles. We took these images both with flash and without flash to see which sort came out looking best - we ended up using the ones without flash. I painted the letters, Radu was our canvas, and Rachael took the pictures. We then uploaded the images onto the computer, Rachael re-arranged them into a full-screen title, printed it off and then we filmed that too for a few seconds. This time however we stuck the image to a white background - another useful blank colour to use as a backdrop for our filming.

Interview Questions


Tattooist Interview:

1) How did you get into the profession?
2) Tell me about the most unusual tattoo you have ever had to make.
3) Tell me about the different designs you do?
4) Do you do tattoo removals?
5) Tell me about the most popular tattoos that people get.
6) Tell me about your favourite tattoo.
7) Tell me about your tattoos.
8) Tell me about the different tattoo designs you do.
9) Tell me about the process of tattooing.
10) Is tattooing an art?
11) Tell me about the tools you use.
12) Tell me about the inks you use.
13) How do you get the tattoos to stay on the skin permanently?


Person with Tattoos interview:

1) Tell me about the time you got your tattoo.
2) Were you scared of getting a tattoo?
3) Tell me about the parts of the body you got it on.
4) Tell me about the designs you chose.
5) Are you planning on getting any more?
6) Tell me about the designs you are thinking of getting.
7) Tell me about the reason you chose to get a tattoo.
8) Tell me about your parents view of tattoos.

Task 8

Running Order for Tattoo Documentary:

Documentary: The Human Canvas
Channel: Channel 4
Scheduling: Wednesday evening, 8.00-8.30pm
Duration: 24 minutes


Montage of images of peoples tattoos (music in background)
20 seconds

Opening titles (flick through each letter of ‘The Human Canvas’ that’s painted on body parts) display on split screen to show title.
15 seconds

Still images of old history tattoos e.g. military ones. Voiceover asking the question ‘Where did they come from?’
30 seconds

Interview with tattooist – cuts of tools etc.
1 minute 30 seconds

Footage of girl getting her tattoo.
20 seconds

Interview with person talking about tattoos, opinions and showing their tattoos
1 minute 30 seconds

Voiceover cut to prison break (show map tattoo) how this glorifies tattoos. Cut to lizard man and voxpop of reactions to him.
35 seconds

Interview with Cheryl Cole on tattoos1 minute
30 seconds

Interview with Cheryl fan who has copied her tattoo. Her inspiration.
1 minute

Voiceover explaining celebrity craze of tattoos whilst showing cuts of celebs different tattoos
20 seconds

Archive footage and pictures of Hell’s angels and about them. Rock music playing. Voiceover explaining how it makes them individual
1 minute

National identities and the different tattoos that countries get. Pride in their country
40 seconds

Voiceover about Jehovah witness’s with a shot of church.
10 seconds

Interview with a Jehovah’s Witness about not allowing tattoos in their religion.
1 minute

Montage of religious tattoos – voiceover explaining each tattoo
30 seconds

Interview with Muslim man about his views on them
1 minute

Interview with Tattooist. Point of view shot of fast motion around tattoos
40 seconds

Archive material of Miami ink (Hawaiian episode). Shows the tools and the symbolism of their tattoos
2 minutes


Advert Break – 3 minutes


Interview with doctor about tattoo removal. Cuts of removed tattoos
1 minute 30 seconds

Shots of horrible tattoos and shops
30 seconds

Show a tattoo badly removed – Archive material
20 seconds

Interview with person who wants their tattoo removed
1 minute 30 seconds

Voiceover asking if tattoo is an art form, show footage of art and tattoos
20 seconds

Interview with art critic on what he thinks if they are an art form
30 seconds

Show lizard man and tiger man. Voiceover on how people want to look different but other people don’t get it
30 seconds

Voiceover asking where will we be in the future with tattoos? What will they look like?
25 seconds

Total time: 24 minutes