Although it has been a while since my last post, I can sincerely state that I could not be more excited to commence my blogging journey once more. The blogging aspect of the AS level 2 minute film opening portfolio was a deeply formative and impactful experience and one I will always reflect upon fondly; I thoroughly enjoyed dictating my entire production adventure through this innovative writing mode and wholeheartedly missed expressing my ideas and over-sharing my inner-monologue on Lights, Camera, Blog, an activity I am thrilled to reignite now.
"Action!"
Diverging away from the AS curriculum, recently, I have gained much familiarity with documentaries as taught in my A level class, a new variety of the media sphere I was previously unfamiliar with. Thanks to TStok, I have had the opportunity to both learn about different documentary aspects, including typical conventions of the genre, and view many amazing pieces, all of which aided me when it came time to create my own extract.
The first major stride we took as a class was the lesson on the documentary genre as a whole. Below, are the notes I took regarding that lesson, which I later used as a guide for my production process.
As can be seen, my notes specifically detail the major documentary conventions common to the genre. For example, in the middle of the page, I distinctively noted the typical use of a handheld camera, archived footage, and indirect/direct interviews. Together, this bundle of knowledge allowed me to become increasingly familiar with this category of film, setting the perfect base for my research on the topic to flourish; without this lesson, completing the documentary project would have been near impossible.
Following our initial introduction to the documentary genre, we began viewing full length pieces in class, the first one being American Promise, directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson.
American Promise follows the lives of two main subjects, Idris and Seun, through their lifelong journey in the American education system while attending a private school in New York City. Undoubtedly, this was my favorite piece shown in class; the raw emotion, honesty, and weight American Promise carries translated very well, thus allowing me to absorb a great amount of additional knowledge on documentaries. The major facets of the extract I included into my research on documentaries were the interviews and b-roll utilized. The mixture of indirect and direct interviews was an extremely interesting and unique aspect I had never before encountered in a documentary; the stylistic choice taught me that conventions do not need to be either followed or broken, they may be bent as well. Furthermore, the documentary's b-roll deeply illustrated the importance of a handheld camera in such pieces; the naturality and casualness of the footage created a sense of honesty in American Promise, therefore accentuating the importance of abiding by the specific convention.
Another documentary I thoroughly enjoyed viewing in class was the episodic piece Abstract: The Art of Design. Specifically, the episode highlighting Ruth E. Carter.
The episode of Abstract following Carter highlighted her work as a costume designer in film, a topic I found immense interest in. In terms of technical facets, the episode introduced me to an innovative and deeply valuable form of b-roll: staged b-roll. Previously, with American Promise, I had merely viewed organic b-roll, as the documentary simply followed the subjects through their daily lives. However, Abstract's demonstration of Carter, at times, required produced or performed footage in order to convey the story. For instance, in one segment, a hand cutting and stitching pieces of cloth is depicted while Carter discussed the hands-on labor she contributed during her time in musical theater costume design, a choice likely made because the filmmakers may have lacked actual archived footage from that time. I found this technical introduction profoundly necessary in order for my understanding of documentaries to magnify.
On my own, I was tasked with viewing a couple of short, opinion documentaries published by the New York Times. Below, are the links to both the pieces I watched.
Together, both these extracts provided me with additional, meaningful lessons regarding documentaries. The Price of Certainty and No Guns for Christmas were valuable in the archived footage they presented. The op-docs demonstrated to me how truly impactful and moving archived footage may be to an overall piece. In addition, the pieces illustrated perfect examples exemplifying how to correctly execute archived footage; the use of the convention in the extracts excellently demonstrated how archived footage should be approached and emphasized the value of the technical aspect in documentaries.
As a whole, the research I accumulated from the multitude of documentaries viewed and lessons taught in class allowed me to dive deeper into my documentary journey, soon prompting research specifically related to my own op-doc: Shifting Success.
I could not be happier to be back!
Lights, Camera, Blog!
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