This week Jess and I presented our work in progress for the class – we put our interview of Wendy, the sewing tutor, together with some B-roll footage in the background and asked for everybody’s thoughts. The feedback we got was fantastic, so as we continue editing our footage we’re going to try to keep as much of it in mind as possible.

The first piece of feedback we got was to make sure our audience is informed about what the interview subject is talking about. Wendy mentioned Hilary (Community Services Development Worker) during the interview, yet the audience wasn’t aware of who she is or what she does for the program. While this was just a snippet (so it was difficult to give context), this is good feedback for us to keep in mind if we decide to go ahead with Jess’ idea of creating mini-documentaries separately (30-60 seconds) of single people, as well as the final film.

One suggestion that popped up a couple of times was to include archival photographs. Unfortunately we don’t really have access to any, and the sewing program is only three years old (not that we’ll be covering it in a historical sense). We think B-Roll footage should suffice and fill the role that archival pictures would, and we’re going to take the suggestion to include more B-Roll footage on board in places that we can. We were also given feedback regarding our selection of B-Roll, and were told we should include some shots of Wendy teaching. We have a few of these from memory so this should be no problem to fit in.

All in all, we were happy with what the class had to say and we’re going to try and use every piece of feedback that we can, where appropriate. Moving forward, we’re going to begin a rough cut of the main ~5 minute film, so hopefully we can show a sequence, or maybe even the whole film in week 11. After that we can use the feedback to cut our final film. If there’s one thing I’m concerned about in the future it’s music – I looked at a few royalty free songs for Wendy’s sequence but everything I listen to seems to miss the mark. The film’s tone is tricky to balance with music, so hopefully we can find something that’s right.

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

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Quite a bit to talk about this week – I’ll start where I left off in the last post I made. On the Wednesday during the break, Jess and I went to St. Albans and scouted the house where we would later film the sewing group, and Spoke to Ruby and another Good Shepherd employee (Hilary) about what they wanted the short documentary to be. They told us an ideal length of around 2 – 2 and a half minutes, and we conversed a bit about ideas they had. They talked about how they really wanted to express how the sewing group is more than teaching a skill that may be useful to people who want/need it, but is also about the friendships that are formed and giving the women something to look forward to each week. I mentioned that I wanted to explore the action part of the film we’re making more deeply in the week 6 blog post, and this meeting helped me understand how it could really make an impact. Many of these women are socially isolated and the sewing group gives them an outlet, a place where they can relax and do something they enjoy while forming lasting relationships. If we can properly convey this on screen then other women in similar situations may reach out and join the program.

After scouting the location and preparing all the necessary forms and equipment, we shot the next Thursday in the house. I think it went pretty well for the most part, with some small difficulties as all shoots run into, such as a few audio and technical issues. We spent the majority of the time shooting B roll footage to cut to, and I think we got some pretty good stuff. However only 10 – 15 minutes worth of interviews were shot. I think this will be enough for a 2 – 2 and a half minute video for Good Shepherd, but a 5 minute + documentary for our project? We’ll have to see during the editing process – Kim suggested going down again, which may be a good idea if we can’t put the film we want to make together. It may be difficult for a few reasons though, as participant consent concerns were a slight difficulty. All of the women were willing to be filmed except one, who decided she was okay with it halfway through (which made things a bit confusing). As it’s a documentary, the film’s identity will continue to progress as the editing (and potentially more shooting) process progresses, and I’ll continue to update how the it is coming along.