I completed a subject last year called True Lies, which explored the process of construction involved in making a documentary along with the different modes of documentary and what they generally aim to achieve. This was one of my favourite classes of the year and it gave me a newfound appreciation and curiosity for documentaries – never before had I considered quite so deeply how the actual process of making the documentary influences its motives and impact. Not only this, but I also had not properly thought about how the term ‘documentary’ itself is very suggestive of what the genre of filmmaking is set to achieve, that along with this term comes an inherent expectation that the content of a documentary is a truthful account of the subject matter conveyed.

My enjoyment of this subject drove me to put my name down for this studio, Ways of Making. Having had a couple of classes now and reading the studio guide, from my understanding this subject aims to approach the topic of documentary and, more specifically, the construction of a text, in a similar way to True Lies. That is by deconstructing the notion of genre and expectations attached to the making of a text, which may ultimately allow us to circumvent convention and convey an idea, topic, observation, etc. in a unique way.

What draws me to this topic and subject is my frustration with the division between documentary and drama as it stands so often at the moment. When I make films or produce music or art of any kind, I don’t like to be restricted to a set of rules in the production process. Bridging the gap between these genres opens up a very diverse range of possibilities in storytelling, and has the capacity to communicate to a far more diverse range of people.

At the end of this course I would like to develop skills applicable to both documentary and drama filmmaking in order to apply them in the making of future projects that I imagine will involve use of all of these skills.