Production for Documentary

    Alright, the day to film our documentary has arrived. My group and I met up at the destination requested by our subject and began to set up the equipment. We picked Nati to ask the questions so that our subject would feel the most comfortable. Due to a weather inconvenience, we asked Diana Szabo, our second interviewee, to also join us for the filming day. 

    We wanted to interview our main subject, Susana, first so that we remain focused on our main topic. Mya was in charge of the main camera and audio, Yoav was in charge of the second camera, and I was taking notes and translating what our subject was saying since we wanted her to talk to us as comfortably as she wanted. She spoke in Spanish, so I took a whole bunch of notes about what she was saying so that

I could give them to Mya, our editor, who is not as fluent in Spanish. 

    Nati conducted the interview very well and made sure to capture every essence of the story through Susana's responses. Once Susana was done telling us about her beautiful and tough journey, we began to capture B-roll shots of her flipping through a photo album. We asked her to tell us about each picture and help us visualize the story more deeply.

The shots of the photo album really tie the piece together while also serving as our B-roll. Susana finished guiding us through her photos, and it was time to conduct our next interview. While Nati interviewed our second interviewee, Yoav was in charge of the main camera. At the same time, Mya and I took turns using the second camera to get clips and different angles of items that highlighted her home. 

    Nati finalized the interview with Diana Szabo and we began to wrap up our filming day. We made sure got everything we needed, thanked both of our subjects, and concluded the production of our documentary. We were very satisfied and excited to start putting it together. 

The Planning of The Documetary

     Once it came time to start planning our documentary, my group and I met up and started to brainstorm different ideas, topics, and subjects we would like to focus on for our piece. We came up with a bunch of different ideas: a documentary on the process of putting on a theatre production (at Inside Out Theatre Company), a student investigative on being overworked, a student investigative on high school lifestyles (Cypress Bay High School), etc. Finally, one of our group members, Nati Szabo, told us about her grandmother's tough immigrant journey.

    As she explained and told us a brief background of her grandmother's story, we all agreed that we wanted to pursue the goal of capturing this story. My group and I began to plan the structure of our documentary. We assigned roles, came up with a list of B-roll shots, developed interview questions, and structured the pacing of the story.

Pre-Documentary Outline

Documentary Outline

From there, we made sure we got everything approved and received feedback on how to make our interview questions better. Once we were given the approval to create our piece, we began to plan days when we could meet with Nati's grandma and interview her for our documentary. We gathered as a group and started discussing dates when we would all be able to attend. Finally, we made our schedule and gave ourselves one main filming day, a backup filming day just in case, and the rest of the week to edit. 

    As our filming day was nearing, we continued to prepare to take on this project. We wanted our piece to be visually pleasing and have a high camera quality. Therefore, the day before our filming day, my group member Mya and I, went to BeaconTV and checked out some filming equipment. We got all the necessary equipment we needed: camera, audio, lights, etc. After gathering and finalizing everything we needed, it was time to film our documentary. 

Research

     Before developing our own documentaries, there was a whole learning process we had to go through. We began by learning what a documentary is, the conventions, and everything needed to know about documentaries before embarking on such an extensive project. 

    

Once we all had a good understanding of what documentaries consist of, we then began to watch full-length documentaries that would give us a good foundation of styles, techniques, and concepts of documentaries. We viewed pieces like "Exit Through the Gift Shop", a Netflix docu-series called "Abstract", New York Times Op-Docs, and my personal favorite, "American Promise". 

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Abstract: The Art of Design

The New York Times: Op-Docs

American Promise

    All these documentaries allowed us to experience a variety of pieces with different topics, styles, and techniques so that we understand all the necessary materials and tools we can use when creating our own pieces. These documentaries helped me know how the use of indirect/direct interviews will impact the piece, the prominent use of B-roll, and overall helped me fully grasp the concept of documentaries. 

    Each of these documentaries was very different and unique from one another. Therefore, with such an exploration of documentaries my group and I knew what style we were going to aim for when creating our own piece. 

Welcome Back! ;)

     Hello blog, I am back! It's been a couple of months since my last blog and now it is time to start blogging again. But this time, there will be new and more exciting content... 

    I can't wait to see where my creativity will take me next and all the new pieces that I will be creating. Stay tuned as I document the journey and process of this extensive new project! Tag along...