Critical Reflection On Documentary Project

My documentary is a promotion of a foster care organization that also conducts events and drives to make kids feel stabilized and supported. The project I undertook was after spending time volunteering on a Thanksgiving food drive, capturing the actions of the volunteers to pack and present the food into bags that will ultimately be handed to the kids. The style of the video was greatly influenced by abstract, close-ups, cool shots, and easy visuals were used to emphasize on what the volunteers are doing.

The movie displays foster children, volunteers and leaders. Candid shots of food bags organization and packing were taken in handheld and wide shots, which demonstrated commitment and collaboration. We also conducted the interviews with the vice presidents and other leaders in stages to provide a context and background as to why the drive is important and its effect. This combination made it possible to take a sincere and decent glance at the work of the organization.

To make the viewers stay interested, I combined a combination of close-ups with shots featuring a bigger area of the working place and included a reflective soundtrack that sounds uplifting and encouraging. The combination of the observational shots and interviews, which was inspired by both Abstract and Exit through the Gift Shop, ensured that the documentary was energetic and easy to understand as well as to follow through.

Researching these documentaries helped me in decisions relating to framing, pacing and music. The combination of cinematic images, interviews, music, I was able to demonstrate how much the volunteers are committed to their cause and produce an interesting and well-finished story that embodies the vigor and intention of the Thanksgiving food drive. 

Post Production

Now came the editing part... I am terrible at editing like not even a youtube tutorial could save me. Thankfully my partner is amazing, every time she edits any of the projects I am left in awe. I obviously still offer any help for editing cause I can definitely try. And honestly this may be bad but since she had her medical emergency, it worked out great to finish the doc, she wasn't able to go to school the following day, she was able to complete and make the documentary perfect. 

I also know that she always gives her 100% to make sure that the documentary is the best thing it can be. But this also produces her to be extremely vigilant and wants to fix and change everything and this can definitely be very time consuming and put herself in more stress. This also is the reason that always her editing turns out amazing because she sees the little things and makes the projects into the best thing they can be. 

I was working on finding music for this doc because it had to the perfect soft music but still happy but low at the same time. It was a struggle to search for it in the search bars and then from there find the best one of each music finding site. In the end I was able to find honestly a couple good ones but my favorite one was one on pixabay. It did take a while to find maybe around an hour or so.

Production

 The filming for this documentary was honestly chaotic with some things we had to face, but we were able to make it work out in the end. We had many things that we had in mind to film about the Thanksgiving Drive. 

The filming of our only volunteer was a quick interview that I actually could not attend to. But I was present for the filming of the Vice President. Setting up for this interview was pretty easy I would say, we were able to borrow a tripod, which honestly took us a couple tries to figure out but not too hard, made it easy to set an area. The lighting in this area of the house was good and helped us out haha. This interview seriously opened my eyes to how deep and important this organization is, I mean my partner told me about it but it never really set in until this interview. Especially since this interview my partner was on camera duty and setting her in frame, I was the one who did the interviewing and well these answers were basically directed to me. She was sooooo great to interview because she is so incredibly passionate about this organization and all the help that they produce. She explained everything perfectly, like I had never heard about a lot of the things she mentioned but I was able to understand right there while she was explaining. 

For the b-roll, my partner lives only a couple houses down from where they collected the bags for the drive so she would go and help organize and film while doing that. She also was able to film her buying her bag at publix which was great b-roll to include into the doc. All of that was great. 

Then the morning of the assembly came and I woke up and had breakfast and my partner texted me that she had a medical emergency happening and wouldn't be able to go film with me. So we then called over facetime and made sure we had the same thoughts about the shots we wanted to get from the drive and who exactly i needed to interview for our doc. Thankfully I was able to collect all of the roll. 

Planning The Documentary

When this project got first introducer to us I didn't have any idea whatsoever come to mind about what I could do. So when the time came to pick group members, I turned immediately to my friend who I have worked on majority of projects for this class with. She already had an idea in mind. When she shared it with me i knew that it would be perfect for this project. 

My friend is apart of an organization that helps foster kids here in South Florida called Kids In Distress. I had heard her talk about events that she has participated in this organization and I thought it was a super nice cause. But I hadn't learned about the student led part of it, and much less did I know that she was the social media coordinator for it. This helped us out a lot because she had direct access to many important people that were super willing to help.

We only ran into one big problem with this plan. There are some legal issues about the kids being photographed, videod, and interviewed. She contacted the Vice President, and we got the permission as long as no individual kid was interviewed and no names were shared. 

As soon as we got permission, we immediately started making the outline to organize the way the documentary would connect so information would flow and be entertaining. 

We created several outlines. Our first one included the intro to what the organization is and does, focus on tutoring sessions, a deeper dive into the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive, and then a full circle conclusion. When we started to schedule when we were going to film b-roll and interviews, we found out that we were not allowed to film at the location because they had a designated photographer and videographer and no one else is allowed to record but them. We then had to remove that from our plan of being in the documentary and move things around on the outline. And we had to mainly focus on the Thanksgiving Food Drive. 

For scheduling the interviews, my friend asked the vp and we got an immediate response of a yes, she has such a deep passion for what they do and was glad to share it. However findiing volunteers that were willing to share deep information was tougher. But at this point we had plenty of information that we could use. So we created the questions for the interviews, I worked on the questions for the adults we had planned and she worked on the questions for the volunteers. Then we were ready to film! Here is the final outline.

Researching Documentary and Short-Form Documentary Styles

Back for A level. The project that we are working on currently is the documentary project. For this project I had to conduct some research. In class we watch many different kinds of documentaries such as episodic, regular docs, and opinion. 

The first documentary we watched in class was Abstract: The Art of Design, specifically the episode of Ruth Carter based on Costume Design. After watching this doc in class we were assigned to watch an episode at home. I decided to watch the Ilse Crawford based on interior design. After watching both od these episodes I realized they both had a lot in common and follow like a guide. The purpose of the show Abstract is to show the connection of everyday lives with design and how art can be used to solve peoples' problems. In every episode the various designers are doing whatever they want in all kinds of art styles and it takes us through the process of how their thoughts are translated into real work. To make the designs inspirational and dramatic, the show attracts bright colors, ingenious camera angles, and close-ups. The music played in the background is selected to fit the vibe or style of the designer, and it tugs our emotions and draw us into the mindset of the artist. Interviews and voiceovers take us through the creative process such that we understand why the art exists and not what gets made.

After watching the episodic docs, we watched the documentary called American Promise (2014) that was directed by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson. This documentary follows two African American boys over the course of 13 years as they navigate the education system. It demonstrated how documentaries can represent social issues through lang-term storytelling and personal perspective. This documentary is filmed as natural as possible it does not have very professional use. The directors filmed using handheld camerawork, natural lighting, and real time. sound because of the naturality of the doc. Scenes unfold without narration or heavy editing, allowing all moments to happen naturally. The doc has the use of indirect interviews and this lets the audience learn about the boys through everyday conversations instead of formal questions. Such techniques make the doc personal and real and allow viewers to attach with the subjects. 

Next we watched Exit Through The Gift Shop, by Banksy. It follows Thierry Guetta recording street artists such as Banksy, prior to him "becoming" a street artist. The shots taken by Thierry with shaking hands are intertwined with the shots taken by Banksy after some time. Banksy used calm, ironic narration, creating contrast and shaping how we later see the events. Quick cuts and lively music show the early excitement of Thierry, while the slower scenes with dim lighting, and reflective narration highlight moments of doubt about his authenticity. To add other view points, there are interviews with different artists. Overall, handheld shots, rapid cuts, lighting, and narration are all inviting, and the movie becomes intimate, lively, and mind-blowing. 

There after, we were allowed to pick which two op docs to watch. Modern Goose follows a goose navigating an urban environment. The filmmakers combine long shots of the city with close-up of the goose movements. The camera angles and natural lighting at the height of the goose ensure that the viewers are attached to the experience of the goose. City sounds are mixed with the soft sounds of nature and no voiceover is involved, the images and the surrounding sound speak everything. These techniques make the documentary feel observational and immersive. 

Christmas, Every Day is a story of two pre-teen sisters who are happy being aspiring social media influencers. To make it as intimate and as natural as possible, the director uses stabilized, fixed shots using natural light. Their expressions are framed in close-ups and the music, the bare-bone music, allows their voices and movements to shine. This combination of visual and auditory techniques allows the audience to observe their daily lives and pressures authentically, creating a personal and reflective tone.

Film Opening And CCRs

 Film Opening:

Am I to blame?

CCR 1 (Podcast):

Reel Talk

CCR 2 (White Board Animation):

White Board

Its Finally Complete!!

I can't believe this project is finally over. It feels like just yesterday I was coming up with ideas, and now it's all complete. This has definitely been one of the most challenging but rewarding projects I've ever done. There were so many moments of excitement and creativity, but also a lot of stress and frustration. I had no idea how much time and effort this would take, but looking back, I wouldn't change a thing because I’ve learned so much from this experience.

At first, I felt overwhelmed with everything that had to be done. From brainstorming ideas to filming and editing, every step of the process pushed me out of my comfort zone. But through it all, I learned how to manage my time better, stay patient, and trust the process. There were times when I doubted myself, but seeing the final result made it all worth it. The first time I watched my completed project, I couldn’t help but smile because I knew how much work my partner and i put, as well as our actress, had put into it, and it felt amazing to see it all come together.

This project taught me so many new things that I did not expect. It taught me patience, teamwork, new skills, and participation. I loved this project, and I found it so fun because it put a lot of my skills to work and let me show off what I knew. Working with my partner was an amazing experience. We had a lot of fun while putting together our film opening, and even with our complications and challenges, we were still able to succeed and do a great job. A little behind the scenes of us goofing off while creating our set:

This video also reminded me of confetti so i thought it fit the mood for the reflection of the film.

We put all of our hard work together and collaborated beautifully, staying organized and pacing ourselves well. I am very proud of myself and my partner by the end of this project. All the skills I put to work, and even the ones I learned, are very useful and exciting. My partner and I chose a genre we love and got to create something out of it.

Working on my CCRs taught me how to edit better and stay organized with my blog posts and schedule, which helped me correctly pace myself since this was such a big project, and I am a frequent procrastinator. This really improved my time management. I liked using the blogs to keep track of everything I was doing so I could reference it later.