gmaguiredocumentary2021

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Final Statement

After much deliberation on the prompt, “Documentary”, I decided to take a ‘mockumentary-like’ approach to the genre. Looking to the 2007 animated film ‘Surf’s Up’ for inspiration, I took ‘Mockumentary’ to suggest a light-hearted film that resembles a documentary to a certain degree. I also noticed that mockumentaries have a theme of taking an aspect of reality and putting a twist on it. For example the film, “What We Do in the Shadows”, depicts a group of vampires that live together in a way that reminded me of student life. This is what provoked me to loosely do a film on student life in the midst of a pandemic.

I have realised that my first year of university doesn’t even closely resemble that of my older siblings’ leading me to realise that student life has seemingly taken on a new meaning. I wanted to highlight this new meaning, to a certain degree, in my film. Firstly, I started by culminating a series of short footage to act as B-Roll for my documentary. This was footage that would show the audience elements of student life that may be different to us such as dancing in the kitchen rather than in clubs/pubs like previous freshers or drinking with only a few friends in the living room due to lockdown restrictions. After discussing my B-Roll clips in a group criticism seminar I was pointed towards the work entitled, “Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore” by Mark Leckey. This film is a collage of VHS tapes from clubs in the UK between 1970 and 1999 and acts as a time capsule for the UK club scene. The footage holds the similar energy to one of my clips of kitchen dancing. Both suggest blissful and absent-minded freedom that comes with club dancing and youthfulness combined.

For my interview subjects I chose 2 of my housemates as I thought they would answer my questions in the light-hearted manner I was after and provide an appropriate level of engagement. For the questions I decided to ask seemingly random questions such as, “What is your favourite colour?” and “What is one invention you would un-invent and why?” before going onto deeper questions that would still allow a certain level of flippancy such as, “When was the last time you cried?” and “When do you feel most relaxed?”. I believe these questions were successful in providing me with a good basis for my film that is seemingly random while also making the film seem like it isn’t following any guides or narrative. I intentionally used an erratic structure to suggest the role of the pandemic on student life and how it has wreaked havoc across the world. I chose to record the interviews in their rooms as it was a place, they had made their own therefore they would feel themselves and be most comfortable and natural, I think this worked well.

If I were to make the film again, I would pay closer attention to audio quality, especially on the interviews, and I would also consider further how the footage is going to work together before recording. This is because I believe I spent too long trying to get the interviews together which resulted in a lot of used interview footage. These are just a few considerations for next time, amongst many others.

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Trials and Tribulations

I decided to call my film, "Trials and Tribulations", as it is a phrase that has been stuck in my head for weeks and I am not sure why. I'm taking it as a sign to call my film this since it began when we started this module. To back this up I googled the generic meaning of the phrase and Cambridge Urban Dictionary said this, "Troubles and events that causes suffering". Personally I find this quite fitting as my film is loosely based on the woes of student life during a pandemic.

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Quick Note on Audio

For the audio I kept it simple, just the sound of the interview intertwined with that of the B-Roll. One thing I did struggle with though was that I kept forgetting that I was changing the volume on my laptop before I was finished editing. This means that, every time I started editing I would change the volume of all the clips because it sounded 'off' and then the next time I would do the same as I got mixed up with the volume my laptop was set at and the clips. Not sure how to get round this one as I am not sure what audio levels I should be aiming for since some of my clips were too loud and some too quiet by comparison, so I couldn't just leave them all at 100%.

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Editing Process

I used Premiere Pro to edit this film, I am still developing my skills on this editing software so I am happy with how I managed editing this film. As I am still learning there were some limitations to my editing such as animation. I wanted to include one element of animation when one subject says, "Green", yet I couldn't quite figure it out. Next time I intend to seek help with this aspect and not leave it until it was too late to ask for help.

First, I imported my short films and began playing around with what aspects of my interviews I wanted to include. I wanted the film to be fairly short so that it didn't drag on too much but also to maintain the quick light-hearted nature of the film. Once this was done I began editing in B-roll and the exaggerated found footage to enhance what they were saying and to give an insight into the lives of my subjects.

I enjoy how this film turned out to a certain extent as there were limitations to my editing, as previously mentioned.

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Documentary and Propaganda - Article by MoMA

Due to my use of exaggeration I thought it might be enlightening to have a quick look into the background of exaggeration in cinema. Quite obviously I was discovered it was mainly used in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to evoke fear into its audiences. The countries would use wild propaganda to spread exaggerated nonfiction leading to a more devoted population. Thankfully the work of documentary filmmakers exposed this use (and abuse) of power.

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Struggles and Limitations

Along the way there were several issues I encountered, the first of which was with regards to motivation. I have found this module quite difficult so far as the Corona Virus is still taking its toll on our lectures and engagement with peers and lecturers etc. As a result of a year of studying this way I began to become less motivated as it has taken its toll on my mental health. Many students are also dealing with mental health issues that have worsened due to the Corona Virus and I think this is part of the reason I decided to do my film loosely on student life. I wanted to highlight just a handful of the things that have kept me going through my first year at uni.

Secondly after making my collage of, "um's", I was stuck on how to include them in my film as I really enjoyed the outcome and thought it a shame not to include it. After some deliberation and a personal tutor session, I decided to use it as an introduction to my film. As Steve Connolly spoke about, the introduction to a film is incredibly important as it sets the tone for the rest of the film. I believe this short intro will provide a good foundation for the film as it easily and clearly tells the viewer the tone of the film and begins the notion of a light-hearted film.

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Group Criticism Feedback

After an enlightening group criticism session, I have a few more ideas on things I could include in my documentary that would play along with the light-hearted feel.

Firstly we discussed exaggerating aspects of the interviews, for instance where Tilda exclaims, "Nuclear Weapons!", I could insert found footage of a nuclear weapon or explosion. This would really highlight the ridiculousness of her choosing cheese before nuclear weapons. I would like to use their words as triggers for further exaggeration.

Secondly I was asked what the journey of my film was. By asking that question it led me to consider the destination of my film for instance the impact on the audience. I believe I would like to show the audience the funny and engaging characteristics of my subjects. I find my subjects entertaining people from their quick 'quips' at each other to their comical analysis of the world.

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Interview Skeleton

This short film holds the parts of the interviews I intend on using, the blank gaps are just some of the areas I will insert B-roll.

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Guest Speaker - Steve Connolly

Guest speaker Steve Connolly came to discuss documentary filming with us, with special regards to a new film he has been working on that tells the story of his father in a documentary style. Connolly uses both found footage and his own footage alongside family photos etc to outline aspects of his fathers life. I enjoyed this film a lot, especially the way Connolly chose to use images of a forest and greenery every time he spoke in the film, a way of taking himself out of the film while still influencing it.

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"The Stuart Hall Project" by John Akomfrah - Presentation by Gemma and Zoe

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The Stuart Hall Project by John Akomfrah

These notes are my preparation for a presentation about the Documentary, "The Stuart Hall Project" by John Akomfrah, that I did with a peer. This documentary revealed to me how the first 5 minutes of a documentary are so important as it sets the tone for the rest of the film and outlines to the viewer the direction and angle it will be taking.

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B-Roll

These are some of the short films that I want to include in my interview films. I enjoy the energy of these films, especially the dancing clips as it highlights the characteristics of my subjects quite well. Some of these clips don't have my subjects in but I still may chose to use them as they work well together and contain friends of my subject thus parts of their personality. I intend to record more short B-roll films to further enhance the playfulness of the interviews.

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"Um"

As previously discussed, I was interested in seeing the thought process of the subjects as they answered the questions. This consideration means the subjects used silence fillers such as, the classic, "Um". I thought this would be quite an interesting and perhaps enlightening aspect to highlight. I noticed, after cutting out all of the, "Um's" that they differed in length and pitch depending on how much silence they intended to fill. For example, the long "um's" were placed where they got stuck or had to think about a subject further whereas the shorter ones were where they were in-between sentences, almost as if it was a coordinating conjunction thrown in just, 'willy-nilly'. However, I thought there would be more, "Um's" than there was, in fact I noticed a trend in which I would say an, "Um" before asking any of the questions, perhaps I should have included them in this short film.

This was a fun experiment.

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Interview Considerations:

I decided not to tell the subjects the questions before I asked them as I wanted their responses to be raw and natural. I also did this as I wanted to see the thought process in the video, I didn't want anything to seem scripted at all and I believe this worked well and provided the feel and aesthetic that I intended.

I also decided to tell the subject to remain quite lighthearted in their answers, no matter how deep it got keep similar emotions throughout. I did this to suggest the mockumentary, satirical style with which I wanted to echo. I think I chose the right subjects for this as they often talk about 'deep' situations and emotions while remaining amused and comical, they approached the subjects discussed quite lightly, just as I intended.

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Interview 2 - Nicole:

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Interview 1 - Tilda: