much needed update

I have made significant progress since my last journal entry. I have important the vast array of photos I discovered on FLICKR into final cut professional where I have been assessing the potential of each image in contributing to the documentary. I am being exceptionally careful with the amount of images I introduce, only images which have a particular effect and have adequate connectivity with the messages of my interview subjects are to be included. As a result of such vigilance, I have very few images which meet the requirements, and must continue to search for more photos.

So far, I have determined the use of a series of sunset photos which particularly suit the messages of the final. interview. For the section where Louise is discussing the way many individuals live in a state of ‘reaction’ rather than fulfilment, I have found three complementary images of large crowds which illustrate this state of ‘reaction’ in the crowds of blurred street figures. In Final Cut Professional I discovered the increase in total duration created by the inclusion of images will be relatively limited because an image becomes unengaging to an audience after around three seconds (this is an educated calculation only).

Today the opportunity presented itself to complete another short interview with Simon. This interview differed from the others in the documentary because it dealt with two specific examples of a fulfilled and a unfulfilled individual. I managed to record the interview in a decent light with a simplistic but aesthetic background. This adds around two minutes of footage as well as some much needed variety. This week I plan to find some of the last photos I will require and import the latest interview into the editing program. In addition I will be conceptualizing with more ways in which I can address the research criterion.

Major update

It’s been a significant period of time since I last completed an entry for the project. I have since completed a third interview and imported the footage into Final Cut Professional editing software. Despite my efforts I actually only have around three and a half minutes of interview footage, ideally I would have around four or five minutes. I have thus decided to supplement the interview footage with a variety of symbolic images. In discussion with my interactive media teacher, I discovered a photography web sight called Flickr, images from the site can be copied and independently used, providing the creator of the image is credited. With the inclusion of images I can increase the duration of my project as well as enrich the already strong messages communicated by the interview subjects. I have imported a soundtrack that suits the ideas communicated and visuals. So far the search for appropriate images has been reasonably successful. It’s essential to use only images that directly relate to the ideas being communicated. I have acquired images of busy city crowds to complement the last interview segment where my interview subject is talking about the many individuals who go about life without much thought about what fulfilment really is. The three interview subjects each communicate different ideas with some overlap, David discusses the role of enjoyment and challenge in fulfilment, Simon discusses the need for balance between satisfying our own desires as well as tending the needs of others, and Louise discusses the importance of balance in obtaining fulfilment in her life as well as the way in which many individuals live without much awareness of fulfilment. I have found over a dozen images that would be complementary to each of the interviews. When fulfilment is discussed in terms of joy and fun I will use images of those who appear to be enjoying the feeling of fulfilment, for example a Buddhist monk laughing, a mountain walker standing at the peak of a mountain and boys swimming together at sunrise etc. When Simon discusses the role of helping others in developing fulfilment, I will show an images of a group of aid workers helping others or a crowd raising funds for charity. Obviously it would be unproductive to saturate the project with images when my interview subjects are strong and convincing, I hope to balance the use of images so as to enrich each interview segment but not to dominate screen time.

Second interview complete

On the weekend I recorded the second interview segment with Simon on top of the top of a multilevel car park in town. He talked about his perception of fulfilment for around about a minute and a half. The set for the interview was excellent, with many buildings and streets stretching out into the distance in the backdrop. I set up the interview with what little sunlight we had, coming in from the side, avoiding any glare problems for my interview subject. In terms of audio the production went vary well. Simon spoke reasonably loudly with clear articulation and pronunciation. Simon talked of the need for balance in fulfilment and the elements he thinks are required for that balance. In the two interviews have recorded I can see very little need for much cutting. Even still I need to cumulatively capture interview footage at a quickening rate.

Quick Update

This weekend I will be recording my second interview. I have already investigated the set of the interview (atop the Argyle St. car park. The back drop is superb for the interview and there are four potential spots I can film at, if the lighting or colour is inadequate in one spot I can simply move. I will however require reasonable weather conditions as the location is very exposed to the elements. In the event of excessively loud wind or rainy conditions I will have to postpone the interview. Organizing interviews in locations away from home is proving rather difficult and considering the relative shortage of time, I need to start conducting interviews in more conventional and convenient locations (such as the beach near my residency for example)

watched Outfoxed

As I mentioned in a recent post, I will be watching a few documentaries to gain some insight into documentary film. Today I watched Outfoxed (Robert Greenwald, 2004) The documentary exposes the right wing bias of Rupert Murdoch’s FOX NEWS channel, disproves the FOX NEWS slogan of ‘Fair and Balanced’ and looks at the techniques that Rupert Murdoch's republican news channel use for their manipulative journalism. I could write pages detailing the content of the documentary, however I find it more useful to analyze how this fine documentary was created and the techniques that are applicable with both my project on fulfilment and big budget documentaries

My first observation was that the director featured a range of interviews with credible subjects, former FOX NEWS reporters, producers and others with previous experience in FOX. The director, Robert Greenwald had obviously devoted a significant portion of his resources to conducting interviews, there were numerous segments from these interviews and for the most part these ‘talking heads’ were very informative. Because the Outfoxed team interviewed so many subjects, only the most interesting and informative parts of each interview were included. This is a key learning point for anyone planning on making a documentary like myself, always gather a large amount of interview footage, so in post production you can choose to include the most interesting parts of each interview.

I also observed that the documentary supported the messages of its interviews by providing examples. For example, after an interview segment about FOX NEWS reporters saying “some people say” when their comments are unsupported, the director Robert Greenwald provides us with a number of FOX NEWS segments where we can clearly see this technique being demonstrated. Using credible evidence to support a point of view allows a documentary like Outfoxed to be transformed from a collection of theories, into a strong argument that challenges the audience’s beliefs. Although my documentary is more about exploring a topic than changing beliefs, it’s still invaluable to recognise how much stronger documentary film is when claims are supported or illustrated in some way.

first interview

On Saturday I managed to capture an interview with Dave lasting around forty seconds. Everything he said was intelligent, meaningful and worthy of inclusion to my film. Dave discussed some of his general views on fulfillment in a fairly personal way. It was exactly the kind of footage I am looking for. Even in capturing a short interview I had to really consider the lighting. I positioned the camera and conducted the interview so as the sunlight was hitting Dave’s face from the side. Obviously if the sunlight is coming from behind the camera and directly hitting the subject they will have difficulty looking at the camera because of the glare factor. I am feeling much more motivated now I have actually captured some footage and the project is properly underway. I should have started filming my project months ago so it important to keep up the momentum and capture a substantial amount of footage next weekend.

Got camera

I have now purchased my own camera and tripod. It turned out that the widescreen lens would be an excessively expensive feature and we decided the extra $250 for widescreen would be better spent on the tripod. The camera itself is a SONY DCRHC52, its basically a reasonable quality student camera. It has all the necessary for small budget productions and student films. Selecting a tripod was more difficult than it may have seemed considering the extensive range. The most important feature we looked for in tri pod was how smoothly the head rotated when the camera was attached. We bought a mid range tripod which allows for smooth panning and tilting action, should prove invaluable for my upcoming project. Conveniently, the camera features a built in level and a gage which determines the angle of the camera.