The initial inspiration for my project came from watching the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, directed by David Gelb. I watched this film several years ago and it has stuck with me since, making me want to tell a similar story. The film centres on the work and restaurant of Jiro Ono, a 3 Michelin Star sushi restaurant run by him and his sons. It covers his life leading up to present day, how he operates now and what the future holds for him and his restaurant.
The film style is very distinct and will inform how I go about filming my own documentary. There are several specific things that really stand out to me in Gelbs style. The first is that everything is filmed with a very shallow depth of field, using a wide aperture. To do this I will use a combination of my 50mm f/1.8, 28mm f/2 and focal lengths towards the telephoto end of the range. The reason I think this is important is that it not only fits with current aesthetic trends, it also isolates the subject being filmed very effectively, drawing the eye to what is important.
The other stylistic choice I would like to emulate is the use of slow-motion sequences to show detailed activities. I think it helps boil down the very intricate and often quite fast paced movements in the kitchen, allowing the viewer to fully appreciate the intricacies of cooking. This will be done using either my current camera in 720p 60fps or a 1080p hired camera, depending on the quality required. Filming in a high frame rate and slowing footage down will also help smooth out the movement in video shot with an un-stabilised lens, which by 50mm and 28mm both are.
Time lapses are also a key feature I would like to bring to my documentary. I think that they will help balance out the slow motion portions and help give a better understanding to the overall flow of the kitchen. To capture time lapse footage I will use the intervalometer function on my camera to take a photo automatically every few seconds.