I told you I'd be back... ☺
I made a documentary! It's called Pieces of Mind and it's about the feeling of change expressed through art. Before giving you the link to my piece, I think it'd only be right to give you a little rundown of what went into it all. You know, just like old times!
Phase I. RESEARCH
In class, we were taught the ins and outs of documentary. We focused on conventions and forms, which I took useful notes on.
I got a better feel for all of these conventions after watching pieces like Exit Through the Gift Shop and Cartel Land. Specifically, Exit Through the Gift Shop helped me develop ideas for my own piece as it largely stressed indirect interviews. They helped the piece unfold as a narrative of its own rather than a heavily structured piece.
I continued to research indirect interviews and how to properly form questions in order to elicit responses that will flow nicely when put next to another interviewees. Through further lessons in class and asking questions, I understood the importance of shaping your interview around your interviewee's responses. Making the interview a growing conversation was crucial in order to dig "gold" from your subjects.
Phase II. PLANNING
The planning for my documentary took place on Google Docs. When I finally landed on an idea I broke down the concept into 6 different parts to make production more digestible.
I. Set up the vast weight the concept of change carries
- setting up the table with all crafts supplies with a voiceover referring to how change is something everyone feels differently upon, however the word “change” is not stated
II. Introduction to experiment and change
Interviewees introduce themselves and that they are seniors in high school
What is change? [indirect]
In any way you chose to, 2D, 3D, simple, abstract, etc… Can you create what change looks like to you? [direct]
III. *interviewees begin creating what change looks like to them. TAKE YOUR TIME WITH CREATION.* (THIS IS ALL B ROLL)
IV. Ask questions in the process of creation
[all indirect]
Mentally, where are you right now? (Not referring to personal struggles, rather on a timeline of your life)
How will your life be different in a year (again, speak more mentally, less specifically)
What is your relationship with change?
V: What did you make?
Explain your creation. [direct]
Did you know this was how you felt? [indirect]
VI: the conclusion
Reflect. How does this extremely personal piece shift your perspective? [indirect]
Phase III. PRODUCTION
All filming for my documentary took place in one day. I first set up my interviewee's workspace with all supplies they would need for the main event of the documentary.
The scattered paper and supplies made for a cool look with a simplistic background. It captured the exact balance of art and minimalism I intended.
Next, my 3 interviewees individually completed their interviews. With my lended microphone and my fairly new camera (hello improvement from last year!), production was a smooth-sailing process.
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| My view of production |
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| My camera's much prettier view |
In-between all interviews, I had to shoot B-roll with my phone to fill in my piece and show a closer view of each creation. This was pretty self-explanatory and easy. I gathered all kinds of shots: high angle, close ups, extreme close ups, etc.
After all interview shenanigans, I did some solo production. I had 3 orders of business: intro, credits, and voiceover.
The intro sequence and credits were filmed back to back with the same style. I used the materials I gave the interviewees and cut out letters and pieces of paper to display my doc's name and all proper credits.
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| Title Sequence |
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| Credits |
I think these elements are what made my piece really come together as a whole. Yes, the intro and outro are short, but they pay attention to the details and aesthetic of my piece. I love how they came out.
Lastly, I recorded my voiceover for the first 25 seconds of my piece. This was simple, I connected the microphone I lended to my phone and recorded and audio clip. Not any interesting visual to see here! Just take my word for it.
Phase IV. POST-PRODUCTION
Editing took quite a while, as always. I used iMovie for practically everything besides the text on screen for which I used my other favorite editing application, Vont. Editing consisted of putting all my footage together (I had over 30 minutes of footage), and cutting out the unnecessary parts. I then had to sprinkle my interviews throughout each other which was the most challenging part of my post-production process.
My piece has a heavy use of jump-cuts, showing what my interviewees were working on while they continued to answer the questions I posed. This was the bulk of my editing, dealing with drizzling my interview audio over my B-roll shots.
I also layered music on top of my edited clips which really pulled together my piece. iMovie has nice features where you can fade in and out sounds over each other which made for easy and smooth transitions.
I ended up with my piece being 6:20, which fit perfectly into our given time frame of 5-7 minutes.
Phase V. ADMIRATION
Here she is, folks...
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