Home is where the heart is. An experience which I am going to cherish my entire life. Mainly because it’s a successful documentary shot in a day or two. Beautifully organized, well thought and easily accessible, we shot vox pops, interviews and some abstracts, to complete this documentary which connects me deeply with it being an international student and leaving away from home.
Vox pops:
This was the first time I was introduced to this technique of interviewing unknown people on the streets and getting some natural footage. I did this with my previously made group of 3 other people consisting of Cameron, Adil and Megan. Our motto was to focus on quality than on quantity, because I knew before hand that the many videos we shoot more will be task of segregating them. I personally like this exercise engaging with random people around and connecting with them on a platform called media. A day before shooting the vox pops, we finalized the questions that we would use for the interviews.
We 4 distributed the work and I made sure that I do something different this time than being a presenter. So I chose to do audio , Megan being the camera person, Adil the presenter and Cameron the arranger. We wanted a location which had some traffic such that we do not lose time searching for people. Hence we decided to shoot in the old gaol next to the building 9 with a decent background.
It was as sunny day and given that, we used the sunlight as our key light. We finally got some great interviews and hopefully good material that we could use while editing.
Interviews:
Unfortunately, I missed the intensives due to unavoidable personal circumstances. But thanks to my team and Louise, they helped me a lot get back and recover my loss.
I went through the footage the very next day, and I must say, everyone did a pretty amazing job. Specially the lights and the frame was set very well. I saw all the interviews by my fellow classmates and I am sure, I definitely missed the opportunity to redo what we learned in the tutorial the earlier week. I must say, I am an amateur, but one thing I noticed in the interviews is that, they were very long. I realised that we will have a hard time editing it. Overall, the interview session went great and I am sure my fellow mates would have learned a lot from the intensive lecture.
Abstract footage-
For the final stage, we had only a couple of B-roles to shoot, which we successfully did in the tutorial the following week. From my past doco experiences, these are one of the most important parts of a video as they make the viewer more interested in the doco, helps reduce the monotonous nature of the video and also works as a saviour in the rough times during the edit of the interviews.
As our documentary was about home, we shot many families, some sweet moments and a few general melbourne attractions in our reach.
Editing:
One of my favorite sessions have always been editing! Yet again, I received an opportunity to edit some marvelous footage. Let me voice this, so far, this has been the easiest documentary I have ever edited. Key reasons being-
- We shot some quality vox pops. They were short, to the point and expressive. There were a few loops which I realised while the edit like, the frames were not properly set, i.e the breathing space and the third rule was not properly encouraged. This could have led to a greater issue, but instead I chose to let them be the way they were, as it’s always experiment when you are working on the university level.
- The interviews on the intensive day, were just brilliant. My favorite was the luminous light setting. The audio for the interviews came out well, but the issue emerged when I had to put a vox pop next to the interview. Obviously, the quality of audio in both were different. Nevertheless, I increased the sound levels to max and added the noise reduction effect, and managed to get a decent sound.
- I always expect some colour issues when it’s a outdoor shoot, but to my surprise, all of the vox pops were well focused and maintained, except the last one where the man was over exposed. Through lynda videos I learned how to color grade and could successfully manage the color pretty well.
Sound:
I guess, I did a great job in terms of finding a background sound for the documentary. My ever-time favorite FMA (free music archive) helped me get this superb song. All I knew was I had to get a subtle sound to maintain the feel of the topic- Home. And honestly, I think, one of the most powerful asset in my edited documentary is SOUND!
anuritp 