16 Teeth: Cumbria’s Last Traditional Rakemakers (2009), directed by Rii Schroer, England, 2:29 min.

FIGURE 9.1 John Rudd, one of Cumbria’s last traditional rakemakers. Rii Schroer profiles John and his son, Graeme, in a short-shot doc on a Canon 5D Mark II.

(© 2009 Rii Schroer. Used with permission.)

Technical data: Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II (standard picture style) with Canon 24–70 mm/2.8, Canon 50 mm macro. Merlin Steadicam work with Nikon 28 mm and Canon adapter. Background audio recorded on the 5D Mark II, with additional audio recorded on a Marantz PMD660. The work was edited in Final Cut Pro with conversion to Apple Pro Res.

FILMMAKER BACKGROUND

Born and raised in Germany, Rii Schroer followed the more practical route at university: economics and business administration. After getting her degree, she got a business job in Hamburg and moved there. As she worked for about six months, she became drawn to Hamburg’s “vibrant photographic scene,” where there were “lots of lectures and exhibitions,” she says in an interview. She saw a presentation by Kent Kobersteen when he was the picture editor at National Geographic, and it changed her life. The lecture included a discussion about how the magazine’s photographers work on stories. “It somehow clicked,” Schroer remembers distinctly. “I decided that evening to become a photographer and went to a secondhand photographic fair a couple of days later to buy my first camera (a Nikon F90x).”

Schroer spent a year studying photojournalism and then moved to London “to work over the summer holidays.” She says, “[I] was drawn into the amazing photo scene there, and started contacting the local papers to get some work experience and earn my first, although very moderate, money with photography.” Schroer enjoys the “fast pace of news reporting, but also the technical aspects of photography. To work for the national papers doing news, but also work on feature stories, seemed to be a logical next step at that time.”

Although she studied photography and found her passion there, Schroer said she was “interested in film from an early age, again being exposed to a brilliant cinema in my hometown, which showed all the classics and interesting European and Overseas releases.” She played around with “little camcorders,” but photography and cinematography didn’t converge—as with many of the filmmakers in this book—until the release of the Canon 5D Mark II. “I often thought some stories I photographed for the papers would be better told with video or as multimedia pieces, so the new technical developments came as a blessing” and provided an “interesting way to tell stories,” she explains.

At that point, “I took filmmaking seriously,” Schroer says. Although she admits that there are “different thought processes and skills needed in doing photography or video,” she finds that “there are more similarities than differences. At the end of the day, you are trying to tell a story, work with visuals, and have the joy of engaging with people from all walks of life, no matter the medium.” So whether she shoots video or photography, the story (and outlet for it) will determine the best way to do it, whether shooting photo, video, or both in combination.

MAKING THE PHONE CALL

Schroer first saw the story about the rakemakers, John and Graeme, in a local newspaper. She called them to see what they were like and talked “about their work and lives in the remote village of Dufton in Cumbria, England.” She discovered that “they were great, down-to-earth characters and the old, dark workshop and working practices he described sounded perfect for shooting this piece with a DSLR camera to make use of its low-light capabilities.”

Once she had the feeling for her characters, Schroer decided that the “initial idea was to get a fresh take on an old tradition and to find those little quirky moments that put a smile on your face.” With that, she had the beginnings of a story concept. Rather than writing a script, she and her assistant “formulated our interview questions.” After speaking to John on the phone, she was almost ready to shoot.

ON LOCATION

Before pulling out her camera, Schroer remembered the first lesson in photojournalism: “It is often crucial to be able to build a rapport with the people you meet in a very short amount of time,” she says. This rapport comes easily for Schroer. It’s in her nature. “I love to be with people from all walks of life and enjoy having the opportunity to peek into other people’s lives. Wherever you are, a smile can open lots of doors,” she adds.

And sometimes it does come easy. “John and Graeme gave us a great welcome and made it easy for us,” Schroer explains. “I guess it was a nice change for them, to have us around for a day. And yes, we took our time in the beginning, had some tea and laughter before pulling out the camera. Our preparation was simple. Kind of a ‘shut up and shoot’ approach.”

Schroer worked with Tansy Sibley, her assistant, who wrote an untitled article that would accompany the video on vimeo.com (see http://vimeo.com/4231211). They defined the questions for the interview. They also made sure the “equipment was in full working order, batteries charged, and so forth,” which gave them the freedom to then “go with the flow.”

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TV NEWS AND DOCUMENTARY JOURNALISM

After getting to know their subjects and getting them relaxed for filming, “We decided that we should start with the sit-down interview first,” Schroer says, “as it gave us a framework for the story and a guide to focus on certain visuals over the day” (see Figure 9.2). As they talked during the interview, Schroer says she “made mental notes of things that I found interesting for close-up shots, although a lot of them did not make it into the final edit, due to the time-constraints of the piece.” After the interview, she took a series of stills, portrait pictures. Then they just “let them go on with their jobs, following them around. The 5D Mark II allowed us to keep it small and intimate during the shoot.”

FIGURE 9.2 After getting her subjects at ease, Schroer conducts an interview, providing her with stories and ideas from her subjects before she starts shooting action footage to visualize her piece.

(© 2009 Rii Schroer. Used with permission.)

Schroer shaped part of her cinematic style by avoiding a TV/video news style and instead utilizing documentary film techniques. Video news often

By taking the time to build a rapport with John and Graeme, Schroer engaged a more cinematic “look” by utilizing these documentary film techniques:

By following John and Graeme around as they worked, Schroer got “a lot of material,” she explains, but “it was pretty clear whilst shooting which bits had the potential to go into the tight, short edit—for example, John talking about his worn shoe (see Figure 9.3), atmospheric shots, such as the silhouette whilst John is working in front of the window (see Figure 9.4), and so forth.” These visuals—which include a photographer–cinematographer’s keen sense of how light and shadow can be used to visualize and shape the mood of a story—add to the cinematic feel of the piece and show us what the characters do and feel. Rather than having a reporter tell us what her characters think and feel, we see and hear them.

FIGURE 9.3 John Rudd points out his worn shoe in Rii Schroer’s 16 Teeth. A 28 mm lens was used for camera intimacy, Schroer says.

(© 2009 Rii Schroer. Used with permission.)

FIGURE 9.4 John Rudd passes in front of a window in one of Rii Schroer’s powerful images in 16 Teeth. Her images, shaped with an awareness of lighting, are used to show us the story.

(© 2009 Rii Schroer. Used with permission.)

A PHOTOGRAPHER TRANSITIONS TO HD VIDEO

Schroer notes how easy it was for her to adapt to the HDSLR world. “[When I am] working as a press photographer, the camera feels like second nature to me and I have a wide range of lenses available,” she says. However, Schroer hadn’t mastered all the intricacies of the camera until later, such as the picture style. “As this was one of the first video stories being shot on it,” she notes, “I used a standard picture style. I now use a ‘user defined’ picture style (sharpness and contrast all the way down, and saturation down by two notches) and do grading in post production.” She’s learned to shoot it “flat” in order to allow more room when color grading in post.

In addition, the small size of the camera worked to her vantage, as Schroer believes the “5D Mark II rather than a regular video camera was less intimidating for John and Graeme.” She also feels that the shape and size of the camera helped, as well, in making her subjects comfortable. “The camera looked more like a stills camera than a video one,” she explains. With the camera being less intimidating, she was able to build the intimacy with her documentary subjects, helping to provide that cinematic feel—especially with the use of close-ups.

However, the hardest part for Schroer was “the lack of decent focusing controls [which made] accurate focusing challenging at times.” Audio was also an issue, so they “decided to record the audio separately on a Marantz PMD660, and synced it with the piece in postproduction.” Most of the shots were locked down on a tripod, while moving hand-held shots were done with the Merlin Steadicam “to achieve a more vibrant, intimate feel,” Schroer says.

They also decided not to bring any lights, using “available light only (in contrast to the still pictures taken of them, which were separately lit),” Schroer explains. This also allowed them to “easily go with the flow and also test the camera’s low-light capabilities,” she adds.

For Schroer, composition “happens intuitively and is certainly based on my experience as a stills photographer. I make sure to film a good variety of wide, medium and close-up shots, and decide on the spot which lenses to use, depending on what is happening. For example, the opening shot of the rake was filmed on the 50 mm macro lens to make use of the shallow depth of field possibilities (see Figure 9.5). John’s shoe scene was filmed on a wide 28 mm lens, being close to him (see Figure 9.3). It was important to us to achieve intimate sequences of them, so the wide angle seemed to be a good choice.” Thinking about which lens to use to best tell the story places Schroer into the cinematographer’s frame of mind, as opposed to that of the videographer, who shoots mainly to illustrate a story instead of shooting to tell the story visually.

FIGURE 9.5 The opening title shot to 16 Teeth. Schroer says she used the 50 mm macro lens to “make use of the shallow depth of field possibilities,” a key function of cinematography. Take note of the narrow focal plane along the edge of the rake.

(© 2009 Rii Schroer. Used with permission.)

Schroer also had to face dark conditions with automatic exposure—meaning that “most of the shots were automatically shot on the widest open apertures. Now I mostly shoot around f/5.6. It seems to be a good setting for not being too shallow, especially when moving, but gives enough depth of field to not have it look like video. For that reason I used a Nikon 28 mm lens with Canon adapter for the steadicam work to be able to select aperture settings at around f/5.6 and to be able to move without losing focus,” she says.¹ The Nikon—with its f-stop settings on the lens—was one of the options for which 5D Mark II owners had to adjust aperture manually before Canon’s firmware update later in 2009.

Zoom lenses are an essential part of Schroer’s toolkit, especially “if you don’t want to carry too many lenses around and need to be rather flexible. I have found the Canon 24–70 mm a reliable workhorse for most situations, with the 50 mm macro lens for close-ups in the bag.” But for her beauty shots, she likes to utilize primes: 24 mm f/1.4, 85 mm f/1.2, and a 100 mm macro. Using multiple lenses for a shoot also sets her into the film world and helps differentiate her work from typical video news pieces.

APPROACH TO EDITING

After getting her footage into the computer, Schroer transcoded them into Apple Pro Res. As she edits, Schroer looks “for those little moments I find surprising, fun, and visually entertaining. I have great respect for the craft of editing. As a one-man/woman operation though, you go with the flow and a lot of it comes down to intuition and recapturing the fresh thoughts you had” after you left the scene, she explains.

“What did you find surprising or did not know at all, what made you laugh? It is simple questions you try to answer and then put together, to make a piece that feels authentic to your experience,” she notes about her process when editing.

At first Schroer considered showing the story of rake making but in the end focused on the characters. “We did film all the steps of how the rakes are made, but in terms of the story, we were more interested in showing Graeme and John’s characters and their love of what they do, than, for example, creating an informational piece about a dying tradition.”

In the end, the editing choices revolved around her goal “to capture the kudos of Graeme and John, their warm, down-to-earth characters, and their joy and pride in the work they do.”

DSLR ADVANTAGES OUTWEIGH DISADVANTAGES

Rii Schroer loves the adventure and flexibility in shooting with a DSLR camera that can both shoot stills and high-quality video. “For my line of work,” lains, it “opens up amazing possibilities in offering full multimedia packages to clients, shooting stills and full-frame HD video with one device, achieving cinematic quality in a small or one-man/woman team. The system is very adjustable. It can be used small for a ‘fly on the wall oach’ with not more than a tripod or small rig, or used more elaborately on rigs with focus pulling, glietracks, jib-arms, whatever one can think of.”

Like other 5D Mark II shooters, Schroer found getting accurate focus, “especially in low-light conditions challenging,” as well as the audio issues. But because “there are ways of getting around these challenges to create the story you want to tell,” Schroer feels the quality of the image outweighs the disadvantages.

By taking advantage of images—by telling the story through the lens of the DSLR camera rather than a reporter’s voice, allowing her subjects to take center stage, and engaging a cinematographer’s eye for lighting to help set the mood—Schroer prosvides a short digital film that’s far more cinematic than reports found on TV news. And that’s a goal more video journalists should try to attain in their work.

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