my experience of making a documentary

Introduction

Film-making is a process where you have a limited time of expressing and telling a story. If you think about it, it is quite stressful, because you have limits, that makes your imagination being in some way planned and put in order, that draws you lines that cannot be crossed, so you don’t lose focus. I started to feel this when practicing on a one-minute short film, which was given as one of the first practices for us as a group in the University. It was a time limited short film, with given rules of what is expected and how; which gives a frame, that keeps your short time precious. It is harder, but I think it is also a good practice of not wasting time and being able to say something meaningful in a short time period, because I believe that it is not about the quantity, as much as about the quality. I especially felt it while doing this assignment; the two-minute documentary. It is such a limited time in which you have to take the audience in and tell the story in a short, understandable and enjoyable way. Even more so, because it is about real people and real lives that are right next to us.

Team

Films are not made alone, and so of course I was in the group of making a documentary with my course mates – Emils, Matas and Juste. I found this assignment very interesting, cultural and educational, for it let me learn more about the whereabouts of Greenwich, as well as meet an extraordinary personality that lives in it. We made the documentary about the Greenwich Gallery and its owner Tony Othen, who also has been a photographer all his life and displays his own work there sometimes as well, as for example when we interviewed him and filmed the gallery, at that time, those where his pictures that where put up and can be also seen in the video. Originally, we were a bit of a different group composition, because Juste was in another group, and we had a different member as well, Drago. Drago never really showed up to classes so we didn’t see him and, in the group chat, he wasn’t very responsive. It was just me, Emils and Matas who worked together then. I did not like the fact of not knowing if the person will show up sometime or not, because that makes it harder to plan, trust and understand who is or will be working part of the project. Juste joined us almost right before shooting, having some difficulties with her group members, but as she jumped in with us, I felt it was very natural and easy. She was right away a part of the planning and wanting to take part as much as she could. As a team, I would say we worked pretty well together, obviously there is still a lot to learn, but we respected each other and communicated so well, that it helped working together easy.

The idea and the planning

The idea of the story for the documentary was originally different of what Emils and I came up with. The idea felt interesting and intriguing, the teacher thought that as well, when we pitched the idea. Unfortunately, the person that we had contacted to do the interview with, wanted to do something that was not really an interview or what we needed. I then learned how important it is to know not only what you want but what you need, because we did not need the idea that he suggested, because that was not the assignment we were given. It would not have given us the needed material that we could work with and we would have waisted our time more for his interests then ours, because it was not really a compromising situation where both sides could get out the wanted outcome. Either way, I am actually very happy that it turned out like that, because it opened another chance for us, where we had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Tony Othen and see his gallery. As Dr. Seuss said it in his book “On Beyond Zebra!” (1955), “Oh, the things you can find if you don’t stay behind!” Even though it is a kids book, it has the simple truth of if you keep moving and looking, even when failing, you do not stop and eventually will end up with good things, finding what you need, just like we did with the gallery.

It was Emils and my idea of doing the documentary on the Greenwich Gallery, so one day me, Emils and Matas went down to the gallery to ask if it would be possible to do an interview and film it. We met the owner, Tony Othen, who when we started talking to, we knew right away that we have found the story for our documentary, because of how kind and opened he was and how happy he was to help out right away. After explaining the given assignment and talking about the actual filming, we took his email address to contact him and set the date of the filming. We did that, because we still needed to book the cameras from the University and know if they were available to book. After we booked the cameras, we contacted Tony, to ask if the date of the availability for us would also work for him, which did. When the filming date was set, we started planning of the responsibilities each one of us would hold in this project. We all came up with some questions to ask to Tony, but the main interviewer was Emils, who put them together and also recorded the sound while asking the questions. Me and Juste where behind the cameras.

The shooting day process

Before we went to the gallery, we met up in the morning to go over everything so we would be as professional as we could, knowing what to ask and also make sure cameras where working properly, so there wouldn’t be any awkward situations when we get there. We put them up before in school, making sure we’ve done everything right as well as checking them before going to the gallery. Everything went as planned with the equipment, there were no problems and we where ready to go make the documentary. When we got there Tony was very welcoming and offered us coffee, which I felt was a nice way of him making everything more natural and casual for people that don’t really know each other. It felt like a nice “ice-breaker” for everyone, though it wasn’t like we didn’t feel comfortable, we did; at least I felt like we did. I definitely felt good, but this just helped out even more to make a more relaxed atmosphere between everyone. While Tony was making coffee, we where setting up the place of where will Tony be sitting and giving the interview, where will the cameras be, how close will they be, what angle will each camera be filming from, where does the light come from, etc. I was behind the camera that was responsible for the close ups most of the time. We changed the camera positions a few times while filming the interview so there would be different angles of shots. Matas, however, was not available to be on the actual shooting day due to work.

The after taste of shooting

I personally would say that the interview went fantastic, because Tony was so interesting and opened, we did not run out of things to talk about, which also had two sides, the positive and the negative. The positive part was that we had more than over a one hour of footage, so we had a lot of material to choose from and to work with. The negative part, I felt, was also the choosing part, because there were a lot of great footage and a story we wanted to tell and show, but the time limit on this documentary did not allow it, so we had to narrow down on which part of the interview we focus on more and not lose that frame. Keep it interesting and meaningful for the audience who did not maybe fully see the whole story, but feel like they captured the sense of it. But me and my teammates talked that we would really want to edit and make the full movie of the story, because we are really passionate about it.

Editing

On this edit we were split in two groups and I was with Emils. I feel like Emils is very good at editing as well as he does it quit fast, and, since I was very sick during editing time, I was not able to be as much part of it or meet Emils to do it with him, but I trusted him very much; as well as we felt like it is not necessary for the both of us to sit by one computer and edit together, rather I was being part of it by knowing the script and the scenes he was putting together. Through out the edit, though being sick, we were constantly communicating and talking about it.

Conclusion

I would very much enjoy doing something like this again. It was practical and creative. It makes you get out of your comfort zone as well; at least I did, which I like very much and appreciate. It makes me grow as a person, as well as gives me more experience, because the two-minute documentary required us as a group to go out and look for a story. Not something you make up or someone asks you to do it on something specific, which is not bad, but I feel like going out and talking to people, looking for the story and not waiting it to come to you, inspires you and makes you find a story that makes you passionate about. This assignment also made me realize of how much I still have to learn and how much I am looking forward for more assignments like these and the experiences that awaits me further through out my film course.

Refrences

Thegreenwichgallery.com. (2019). thegreenwichgallery. [online] Available at: http://www.thegreenwichgallery.com/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].

Seuss, T. (1955). On beyond zebra!