NEA Research - How to Make a Ken Loach Film

   Although Ken Loach is a director and producer of films, meaning he constructs a plot and specifically chooses actors for his productions, his works have a high degree of verisimilitude. For example, 'I Am Daniel Blake' is a film about a man attempting to claim unemployment benefits and failing after a health issue, which is a prevalent topic for today's society. Loach only creates a basic structure of a script, allowing for the actors to improvise and make their dialogue more naturalistic.
   Therefore, it may be helpful to study the series of YouTube shorts entitled 'How to Make a Ken Loach Film' because the way he depicts reality and uses his actors shows a lot of parallels with the conventions of a documentary.

1 - 'Work with the actor's instincts'
   In a lot of scenes directed by Loach, the actors react to the event as it happens in order to get the most naturalistic response. This will be very helpful to apply to my documentary, as it will be interesting to provide a general plan but allow the young musicians to explore what they think is most important to them personally. I will also have to be taking a lot of footage so that I can get some 'Behind-The-Scenes' material and also be prepared for unexpected content.
2 - 'Surprise is very important'
   It will be good to give the people I will be filming with an idea of what I will be looking for. However, more realistic/innovative material will come from unexpected questions, prompts etc.
3 - 'Directing is about confidence'
   When I make a mindmap or storyboard for my documentary I must know what I want the outcome of it to look like / what I want it to achieve. I might look over the remit of BBC Three again and set out what I want the audience to learn from my documentary. This will give me the confidence I need to ask the correct questions and get the correct shots.