DOCUMENTARY - DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER RESEARCH - DAN JONES

                                                                       Dan Jones

Daniel Jones is an English writer, historian, tv presenter and Journalist. I have admired Jone's work since watching channel 5's 'Secrets of the Great British Castles' Which Jone's had writing and presented, he captivated me with his youthful look, donning a black leather biker jacket, slick hair and a pair of jeans and approach to his presenting, looking deep into the camera with dramatic hand gestures and passionate tone, he tells you a story like its coming straight from a book, rather then the tone of someone just giving away information. 

Below are the images of some of the books he has written.

Jone's started presenting back in 2014 when his book The Plantagenets was adapted into a four-part series for Channel 5 which was entitled Britains Bloodiest Dynasty: The Plantagenets, which he become a hit with the viewers, Channel 5 had finally found someone who could appeal to a younger audience, not only was he informative but he was captivating in his approach to presenting.

Jone's went on to make the 12 part series 'Secrets of the Great British Castles'.

                                 Below is the trailer for 'The secrets of Great British Castles'

In April 2016, he co-wrote and co-presented a three-part docu-drama, with Dr Suzannah Lipscomb 'Elizabeth I'. I found this documentary more informative than my 5 years of history lessons at school, he even got me studying more about the Tudors!.

These are some examples of the shows that I have watched of his, but I wanted to find out more about him, something that the Google couldn't tell me so I reached out to him on Twitter ...

and I got a reply!!

I had to think long and hard about the questions that I was going to ask Dan because I didn't expect him to reply to me, let alone straight away and I wasn't prepared but I told him that I needed some time, as I may only ever have this one chance to ask him questions and I needed to get it right the first time.

A few weeks past and finally, I had the questions that I wanted to find out and below is the interview between myself and Dan Jones.

CB: Sorry it has taken so long for me to email you back, I am currently in pre-production with my documentary unit and it has been manic.

I have tried to think outside the box a little bit because I am not a fan of predictability, if you choose not to answer you can reply with 'no comment' the reasons for me asking you questions is so that I can learn from someone who inspires me rather then your background, I want to know if I can get your real feelings on certain subjects/thing/people.

so her goes. 

I have watched plenty of your documentaries, 'The secrets of Great British Castles' series was one of my favourites, if you could add anything to that documentary, what would it be?

DJ: Money! Budget is such a basic but critical determiner because it buys you time. Time to spend on research, time on location, time to set up better kit, time in the edit. Our budgets for the Castles were modest (although would now sound generous - as documentary makers in the UK are asked to work on vanishingly small budgets which in some cases are dipping towards and sometimes under £100k (roughly $130k) per tv hour) But of course, every producer will tell you that whatever you get it never goes as far as you want. And sometimes budgetary restrictions force you to be efficient - and creative.

All that being said I'm very proud of what we did with Castles. It was one of the first things that I made, I wrote much of the series and it has been surprisingly long-standing cult success thanks to its distribution on Netflix. I wish we could do more of them but has never happened for one reason and another.

CB: When you were briefed about the presenter job who was it they wanted you to appeal to? did it work?

DJ: Well, when I was recruited by Channel 5 in the UK back in 2012/13 it was because they wanted new faces on the network. I was young (ish) and had just published my second book (I'm on my eighth now). So I guess they saw me as an upcoming talent. speaking very broadly, the kind of history I do skews the male on UK television. I think someone said that to me at some point. Beyond that, nix.

CB: There are many historical; documentaries that do not focus on 'real people'  of that time and their everyday life's, do you feel like this should be explored more?

DJ: By real people, I am going to assume you mean ordinary people? As opposed to wealthy/famous/ruling class?

I think in fact there's a tremendous amount of history of everyday lives being made - there's a series on the BBC literally as I type this by the great Davis Olusoga, which is about the ordinary people that lived in a single house over the generations. But equally, there remains a solid and reliable market in what I call canonical history - the big stuff, the stuff everyone either ignores or forgets after school. It's pretty white, almost exclusively male and largely concerned with great deeds. Unfashionable, yes, but still popular with the regrettably un-woke masses. The misconception among many producers is that you have to stop doing stuff in order to shine a light on the histories of the marginalised. Like it's a zero-sum thing. But actually, I believe the key is to do BOTH - to service the more conservative market but also to promote unexplored historie and obscure lives.

CB: Now this is going to be a little more personal for me, I have been put into a group for this documentary with people whom I have never worked with before, I am older then my group (at least by 15 years) and I am outspoken, confident person - my group are not - what would be your advice for me to have a balance within the team but for me to also keep it moving in a positive way?

DJ: Shut up and listen. Try and think about how you appear to other people. Try and understand your natural place in the group and what people expect from you. Perform to it. Be patient. Give praise .. you know all that good stuff.

(I consistently try to do things. But I suspect. people who have work with me would not say I always live up to that ideal. I have quite high standards and a low patient threshold.)

CB: I have got to ask, what do your tattoos represent? who picks your wardrobe? it looks amazing on screen.

DJ: Don't really 'represent' anything other my mild and sporadically recurring addition to the process/pain/endorphins/smell/sensory and social pleasure of being in tattoo shops. I do my own wardrobe.

CB: If there was anything you could change about yourself as a presenter or historian, what would it be?

DJ: I'd instantly become more proficient in more foreign languages. They open worlds. Otherwise, I'm not one for dreaming about change. I like to improve all the time, but I am pretty relaxed about who I have become and where I feel like I'm heading. I'm a long way from perfect but like Popeye says, "I yam what I yam."

CB: If I was to make a historical documentary would you be a cameo? (this one is for the fun part of the interview)

DJ: Depends on the role! Good luck with it all.

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After receiving all of Dan's answers I immediately started thinking as to why he appeals to me as a filmmaker, he is true to himself, he is who he is and is definitely a 'go-getter'

I have learned so much about myself just by asking him these small questions and for my project, I will apply his strength and his approach to film making.

He got hired because the network wanted some new faces and I feel that I am definitely original to and I intend to remain who I am through the process, however, I will take his advice about being patient.

When he spoke about how much budget was involved in the making of Castle's I was blown away about how much documentaries cost, but I admired that he turned it into a positive light, saying that it forced him to be more creative because of the time and money in which they had, because on our documentary we have no budget so all of our stuff is going to be based on creativity and working with what we have, in regards to location, people and props.

I may have not done my research in regards to all the documentaries that focused on real people as he quite clearly pointed out, but in my opinion I feel that Jone's knows exactly what sells and what don't and feelings aside he is in the industry to make money doing what he has studied so hard for so many years to do and I feel like I challenged him with this line of questioning, but the only stupid question is that one that was never asked.

He gave me words of advice about how I should present myself within my group and this was much appreciated because I have been trying to work on myself. Dan works in the industry and too his own admission says he has the same issues so this has proven to me that it's a natural mechanism to be on guard.

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON MY APPROACH TO MY RESEARCH.

Reaching out to people has always been a strength of mine and I have done it throughout year 1 of the television production degree at UCA.

I feel that when making a documentary it is good to have that trait of confidence to be able to approach people and get results, it doesn't work all of the time, but over the last 10 years I have learned the skills of  'How to ask'. Some people can give a very rude response in regards to you even asking them, but perseverance is the key in all research and journalism.

So far throughout the documentary unit I have (so far) contacted the contributors and liaised with staff at UCA with risk assessments, spoke to some students and staff body, completed the call sheets and all the risk assessment that have been required, hire out the equipment and worked on the Audio side of the script, I feel like I should be doing more but also I need to be apart of a group and not take on all the roles because my team have asked what they can do as well and I feel like there is nothing for them to do in regards to the pre-production side, Taz is doing the production schedules and she is the director so I liaise with her about wardrobe and blocking on the day. 

I have been trying to call one of the contributors (Parana Caffee- Strood) for over a week but I feel like I should have just gone down there and spoken to them face to face, however we have a schedule that we are filming there on the 10th of May, if this is not possible we have a back-up, My friend owns a saloon around the corner and she said we are welcome to film outside, I called her last minute but she was fine with it, what I have learned about this course so far is that we always need a back up.