This week we had a personal consultation with Rohan and discussed further ways we could alter the edit to create a more powerful and effective production. Critiques included further editing to the sound and more party shots, but one suggestion that was made was to completely cut out a segment of the interview where Tristan talks about his diagnosis of an eating disorder. At first this worried me as within the original clips, Tristan placed a lot of importance on this period of time and I  felt it was a important feature of Tristan’s health journey. Whilst playing around with this idea though I quickly noticed that it really did make the production as a whole a much more coherent and effective story.

I feel that because Tristan is such a good story teller and held this period of his life with such importance to why he is who he is, it made me feel that it was a crucial part of his story. Now looking at the production as a whole, this section where he discussed his diagnosis with an eating disorder took the audience down a dead end and didn’t quite fit the general theme nor answer any questions to who Tristan is and what is happening to him.

This week we went back to the production to further edit our interview with Tristan. We aimed to focus on the suggestions that we had taken from the draft presentations in week 10. We decided to search through the original take of the interview to see if there was any footage that could neatly and efficiently conclude the production and luckily we were able to.

One of the major suggestions we had was that our draft edit left the audience wondering what Tristan was doing now and how he copes with his condition. Within the original interview, Tristan ends by breaking the 4th wall and saying quite a cheesy line which we felt as a group detracted from the overall feeling of our production. Through our searches we were able to find some footage where he talks about what his social life and describes himself as “young and dumb” in a fun, yet personal way. We felt this was a good way to summaries the production as he explains what he is doing now whilst also ending on an informative, but light note.  This ending also allowed us to use more of the B-roll of the party which is good, and through some clever zooming and cutting, we were able to exclude some people from the shots that we would be unable to get consent forms from.

Other details we played with were the sound levels of the music and Rohan showed us how to EQ our audio from the interview which has dramatically changed the tones in Tristan’s voice which helps the audience understand what he is saying better.

We presented out draft version of out Doco/interview this week and were able to get some useful and insightful feedback. Before presenting we were aware that the production needed breathing gaps, Tristan’s story is very fully on and crammed with information that needs to be processed. This was something that was reiterated to us and will definitely make the production more digestible for the audience.  Other things that we were aware of that need to be looked at is sound quality and levels. Tristan has quite a base’y voice and we need to be able to keep the music levels low enough so his voice doesn’t get lost in it.

Some things that we hadn’t though about was our ending. It was said there wasn’t much of a summary or wrap up of the production, we have enabled the audience to engage and care for Tristan but leave them not knowing how he is or what he’s looking for in the future. This is something we will be able to change, we had chosen no to add the last section of the interview due to Tristan breaking the 4th wall and looking straight into the camera lens, but i think it’ll work none-the-less.  More B-roll is another element that was suggested to us. This again is something we can do, and to not use the B-roll to cover out edits was also something pointed out. We do have some surplus of B-roll but as stated in my last blog post, some of it is unusable due to not having consent forms from randomers at my party.

Without thinking, when filming the party I hosted a week back, we didn’t have any consent forms. I also think it would have been a bit of a buzz kill to walk around to every person attending my party and ask them to sign a consent form so I can possibly use an image they might be in the background of. Luckily for us, most of the shots that we all like either only have Tristan in them,  have someone I actually know so i can get a consent form off them after the party or we can zoom in on the shot to cut them out.

Consent forms are becoming something I respect and resent more and more though this assignment and and preparing me for my future work.  On the one hand, they’re great as once you have one, you have near complete freedom/ownership to the photos/videos you have captured and only have to worry about the portrayal of your subject matter. On the other hand, if you’re having a drink, trying to enjoy your party whilst pointing a camera in random peoples faces, get a great shot and forget about the consent form… you’ve got a beautifully useless clip.

This week we briefly showed Rohan our main interview with Tristan and he instantly spotted something we hadn’t even thought about.. Tristan’s eye line. When we set up the shot we thought it would be great to have the different greys, browns and whites in the background to contrast against Tristan, something we didn’t think about whilst shooting was the massive amount of empty space next to Tristan on the left of the screen.  As he was talking to me on the right hand side of the screen we have ended up not using about half of the screen which is a big “no no” when it comes to interviews.

Luckily, I shot in 4k so it means that we will be able to zoom in, in post production, which is actually why we decided to film in such high resolution. It was going to be used for emphasis in certain segments of the interview, I didn’t realise it was going to be the saving grace of the interview. This has been a serious lesson for myself and for future interviews I will conduct, its just a shame we wont have that great detailed background in the production ;(

Another issue, (which is by no means as big) was due to Tristan having a very deep voice, there was a lot of bass present in the audio. This was something I was able to play around with a fix. Otherwise Tris has given us a great insight into his health and a lot of interview time to work with.

This weeks film which was made by Rohan Spong, our studio teacher, was a beautiful insight into the lives of retired artists and creators.  Within the film we follow three ageing artists Dudley, Ilsa and Edith who share  their stories with us,  their past work, what they’re doing now and what its like to live at Westbeth and much more.

I really enjoyed the cinematography within the film as I feel it paired perfectly with the stories we were being told. Long takes of NY city’s hustle and bustle paired with the slow progressing narrative creates a feeling of calm that we hardly see NY portrayed as. I feel the incorporation of archival footage also allows the audience to gather a better, more well rounded idea of who these people are and what they were trying to achieve with the work they created over their life time. As an aspiring creator, it filled me with so much interest and respect for these people, to see the passion they pour into their work, from the early moments of their career to the work they’re still doing at the time of filming.  The main message I took from this film was to never stop creating. This is something I feel is something I have to push myself to do but seeing Dudley dancing in the performance at the end of the film really reinforces the idea to never stop, to not over analyses every piece of work I do, and to push through.

The characters within the film give so much to the camera and are so involved with the narrative of the documentary and their own story, which creates such an engaging story and personal feel as the viewer. Dudley even thanks Rohan for the opportunity to tell his story which I find beautiful as most of the documentaries involving people I watch nowadays always feel as if they’re trying to uncover some scandal and ethics have to be considered in the production.

This week we finally got to interview Tristan. It has been especially hard to find a time that works for the interview as our group has a variety of different availability, but Tristan enjoys changing plans at the very last minute..  We set up in the back garage as Tristan pointed out, it might be nice to have a “dirty” aesthetic to tell his story of health in front of. We plan to contrast this with day shots of him in his house (which is immaculately clean) and in his studio which will try and visually tell two sides of his story.  We borrowed a lapel mic and LED lighting from the media techies which allowed us to do the shoot at night and get good audio quality.

There were some moments in the interview where Tristan would freeze or forget what he was saying, but he is naturally a very good story teller. I feel that one of the biggest challenges we will have from the edit is cutting down he story to a 5-6 min interview as we currently have 18 mins of interview footage to use. Having more is always better than less but I feel that being able to cut this interview into a short, bitesize form will prove difficult.  We plan to capture a load of B-roll next week as well as an interview with a friend of his to get some context of Tristan before his illness.

I will address my outlook on the documentary straight away, I didn’t enjoy it that much.  I don’t think that its the film that  didn’t enjoy but more so Timothy Treadwell’s character and the focus this film takes on his life and story.  Treadwell had been both an alcoholic and drug user as explained before his Alaskan adventures. To me seemed as if he was still intoxicated during his rambling interviews about his love for the animals and the immense passion he had for this mission of his to save the bears.

Now don’t get me wrong, I felt that “Grizzly Man” was a well made, insightful documentary that reveals a damaged, yet happy and enthusiastic man who found solace in the wilds of Alaska but there were just so many points within the documentary where I wish I could have just turned it off. The use of Treadwell’s camcorder footage is often beautiful and well captured, he seemed to know how to use a camera well and this would have made Werner Herzog’s life quite easy in post, especially as he captured over 100 hours of footage. But this footagehas a secondary function which conveys Treadwell’s madness and I feel this is what makes it so hard to watch for myself.  I feel it could be argued that the film lets you decide for yourself what the legacy of Treadwell is, but you could challenge this with the idea that, due to the hundreds of hours available to Herzog, why did he choose to portray Treadwell in such a way?

Within class this week we pitched our idea for assignment 3, having worked together we were able to construct a well described synopsis and treatment, the synopsis I will add below:

Tristan Peter Mansell is a young music producer who works full time at Woolworths. With a vibrant social life and deep passion for music, it appears Tristan’s life is outwardly carefree. Tristan confides a dark truth that complexifies the nature of his identity. He has been diagnosed with a rare immune deficiency disorder and has been told by doctors that he won’t live past the age of forty. As Tristan grapples with his trajectory in life, his mother has to come to terms with the prospect of outliving her own son.

The pitch itself went well and we were able to gather good feedback. Something that we had considered already but was reinforced to us is the dangers of filming whilst driving.  We will need to think about the approach we take when conducting these scenes and make sure that we aren’t putting Tristan or anyone else in danger of breaking the law or injury.  The further into this production we get, the more ethics are becoming something we will need to focus on and be aware of. There are elements of Tristan’s life that are very sensitive and even though he has this outwardly strong nature, we will need to make sure that we correctly prepare and consider all of the effects this production could have on him and his family.

Born into Brothels ( Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman, 2004) is a film that I love and hate. The reason I love this film as much as I do is because not only does it allow you to gather an insight into a life very few of us will ever get to witness, it does it in a beautifully portrayed way. The story line and shots used within are well arranged and a pleasure to watch, the journey the viewer is taken on is, at face value, is satisfying when we view these children being able to experience a life that they don’t have access to, but then you have to consider ethics.

Born into Brothels has to be one of the worst films I have seen when considering ethics, whether your considering consent from the children and the families, the lack of context and information left out of the film, the portrayal of Zara as the “white savior” and so many other elements, its surprising it was held so highly regarded on release,  so much so it won an Oscar.

The main ethical point I’m going to focus on is Zana and the “white savior” idea, and that Zana was the only chance for these children to get an education, we so Zara struggling to get medical certificates and other official documents to get these children into school, but there was little to no focus on the fact that all of these children are already completing school, within their neighborhood. Zara is positioned as the only one trying to help these poor children, but in reality there are many charities set up within the red light district that offer help to these families with schooling, daycare, transport which get no mention within the film whatsoever. There is one point in the film were a mother cannot make it to the showcase of the children’s photography as she had to look after the baby and cannot afford childcare, but through research for another class, there are numerous  charities that offer free daycare to mothers, but yet there’s no mention, which i feel encourages the audience to empathize with Zara’s struggle to get these families involved in her cause.

One thought I will end this rant on is this.. It was a beautiful chance for these children to gain a new skill of photography and I feel all humans should be able to experience as much of life as possible, many of the children really enjoyed photography and wished to continue it in the future. But when Zara left, how would they ever be able to afford processing film considering their economic backgrounds?