Documentary Showcase

 My documentary will be shown in the first session, but I do suggest staying for the second half as well.

 

Free Admission!

The Broadcast Communications Capstone Documentary Showcase

Tues/Nov 16

Two sessions featuring seven digital short documentaries
Mueller Theater, MCC

5:30-6:30...Session I presentations are: Titan Glory: How One Man Changed a Program by Jonathan McAfoos; Scenes from an Italian Restaurant: An In-Depth Look at Ladies of the Dukes in New Castle by Lee Biermeyer; and Life on the Road: The Culture of Motocross by Mike Hazlett. 

6:30-7:00 INTERMISSION with REFRESHMENTS

7:00-8:00...Session II presentations are: Tradition of Coaching Excellence: The Story of Lindy Lauro by Adam Plyler; The Real Work: The Bahamas by Kayla Zoller; A Team by the Bay: The Erie Seawolves by Robert Maleski; and Taylor Made by Corey Emanuele.

An Important Guy

            To satisfy a 300 level course for my film minor, last fall I registered for a History and Film class. The class was taught by Dr. Russ Martin, and will forever be one my most my memorable classes at Westminster. Although the class only met once every Tuesday for three hours, the work and discussions from that class remained priority over all other classes and responsibilities. The class changed the way I viewed film and history, a fine indication Dr. Martin did his job. After the first two classes I understood the overall message of Dr. Martin’s lectures and the majority of those to come: Films will never be historically accurate, and that’s fine, as long as the viewer understands that.

            Dr. Martin is known throughout the campus for rigorous and thorough editing of students papers and I’m sure he had a field day on most my writing assignments. However, every week I felt myself growing more confident in the class and how to approach it, not as a film minor but a student at a liberal arts institution. I began to participate in class more and write thorough and meaningful essays. While I can’t say I was a shining star in the class by any means, the class significantly improved my writing and intellect. I learned a good bit of history I wouldn’t have learned in any of my core classes and put an emphasis on the “liberal arts education”. All of this, without question, is the direct result of Dr. Martin teaching the course.

            It is for this reason I extend an invitation to Dr. Martin to come to the presentation of my capstone documentary. A person understanding of many cultures and an avid film buff, I think Dr. Martin would, at the very least, appreciate the effort that was put forth into this documentary. Although the project is just under twelve minutes, it is my hope he can take away the message of the film. If Dr. Martin is present, I look forward to hearing feedback, criticism, and thoughts on my work. While many professors here at Westminster College have shared a vast amount of information and challenged my point of view, Dr. Martin’s sessions from the “History and Film” remain concrete in reflection and I think for that, he deserves an invitation.

            The capstone documentary showcase will be held on November 16, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. in Mueller Theater. My documentary, Life on the Road, is tentatively scheduled in the first slot at 5:30.

       

        There are hundreds of film festivals in the United States. The one that catches my eye is the Cleveland International Film Festival. Yes, it is close in proximity to Westminster College, but that is not the reason I chose to enter my short documentary into it.

        The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is known for accepting very diverse films with emphasis on culture and values.  The board members tend to place artistic over commercial values. The CIFF wants to help its audience learn as well as being entertained.

Since my short documentary’s emphasis is on the culture of motorsports rather than statistical information, I feel this festival will fit my style better than a film festival with emphasis on documentaries. My documentary holds no pressing issues or “antagonist’, nor does it really chronicle a story, but is more or less a reflection of one of America’s subcultures.

        I'm unsure of the exact criteria for judging the festival, but I'd imagine the panel would be very diverse, cultured, and look for specifics of what makes a great film/documentary. The CIFF also has 16 other sub- categories including "Family Films", "Tour of Duty", and "American Independents".

       The 2011 CIFF will be held from March 24- April 3 to mark their 35^th anniversary. If my film is accepted and qualifies to be shown, I would definitely attend the festival. However, as exciting as it would be, I couldn’t stay the whole week due to conflicting class schedules. But I look forward to maybe finding a loop hole and attending regardless of my work’s qualification. I have never been to a film festival and would find it very exhilarating to meet up and coming film makers from across the world and have up front face to face insight with some of the great minds that will be entering the Cleveland International Film Festival.

Things To Look For

       Influences are everywhere for me. From television programs, to magazine articles, to film, these influences can either reflect a positive or negative attitude towards something. When it comes to working on my capstone documentary project, influences from multimedia are the primary influence.

          

      Not pertaining just to documentaries, I will start with production that had the most positive or inspiring influence on me. The first is Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore, or really just any documentary by Moore. The reason why I appreciate and value his work is the same reason why his biggest critics despise him. Michael Moore is able to manipulate the majority of his audiences. But for the sake of blog content I will not get into details or all his films, instead just use Bowling for Columbine as an example.

          

      Moore effectively uses the three act structure or classical paradigm in his film. Moore’s film has a beginning middle and end. He is also able to introduce us to the problem (gun violence) and the hero/protagonist (himself representing the American people), a climax and resolution (since Moore can’t stop gun violence by himself he makes the viewers aware of steps they can take). Michael Moore makes this work for him because he follows a structure we have been seeing since we were small children from The Wizard of Oz to The Simpsons, everyone can identify with his means of communicating with us.

          

     Building off of the basic three-act structure, Moore is able to incorporate his own means of storytelling throughout his documentary. Whether it is from crafty editing or letting his opinion coming through narration, Moore makes sure the audience gets the point he is trying to establish.

           

      We’ve all heard how Moore only puts in select clips from his interviews with people like Charleston Heston but the audience doesn’t ever know what is taken out of context, they are only left of what Moore will show them. While this method may not be entirely truthful, Moore does an outstanding job of entertaining his audience and giving them exactly what they watch films for- a conflict. Unless a person has absolutely no respect for filmmaker Michael Moore and detests the very product he delivers, most would have a hard time arguing Moore doesn’t make good points and even better entertainment.

           

      Moore will come out through my project in the sense that I will have control over what the audience sees in my documentary. I hope to have enough material to put a certain “feel” in my documentary. This “feel” will lean towards a reflective look at the culture of motorsports and the people involved in its community.

           

      How I approached my subjects and interviewees is hardly the technique of Michael Moore. I had a more subtle, yet professional, approach when I explained to those that participated in my interviews. This method is one I learned doing packages and stories for The County Line (Westminster College’s weekly news broadcast), which is essentially the format of any local news broadcast. I particularly watch Pittsburgh news channels not only due to their proximity of my hometown, but also their professionalism and integrity to their viewers. With the combination of practices I learned through courses at Westminster and personal preferences, I know what to look for in a newscast (lead stories, breaking news, and novelty packages) and what doesn’t really fit into the broadcast.

          

     Through watching documentaries like Bowling for Columbine, and local newscasts, as well as HBO sports segments like Hard Knocks (as I’ve mentioned in previous posts), I found the best way is not to copy or duplicate any one of these. The best method for me is to find the most compelling features of all my influences and incorporate those into my own product.

        

      I’m planning to use the best camera shots and interviews (Hard Knocks) to drive the story, and use a rather heavy narrative voiceover (Bowling for Columbine) to convey a sense of direction and that “feel” for the project. Going against the grain of local news broadcasts (which aren’t documentaries anyways) I will use some background music and graphics to highlight certain moments in Life on the Road, going with the newscast format, however, I will use straight forward narrative and true to context bits of interviews.

           

     At the same time I am utilizing the best features from my influences, I will also stay away from elements that make a product unappealing. Fundamentals such as a shaky camera shots, bad audio, a wavering storyline, or no compelling video (boring shots) will be in the front of my mind when I am reviewing my final product during post-production.

             

     There are many other great influences in my life that go beyond Michael Moore films and local broadcasts but no one wants to read about all the things that catch my eye. 

I have an expert!

           Most of my friends consider themselves to be somewhat of a film buff. Whether it is from them working at a movie store, families routed in movies, or have just taken a few film classes their college offers; they simply know how to watch a film. Yet, none of them can really be considered “experts.”

            During the trial of my post production on my mini documentary I am going to need critical, unbiased feedback. As much as I like having friends tell me “It looks good.” or “Yeah, I’d watch it.” Their input will not really alter how the final product will look.

            That is why I decided to have Dr. Suzanne Prestien as my on campus expert to review Life on the Road. Dr. Prestein teaches Public Relations, English, and Film Studies courses at Westminster College. I’ve had Dr. Prestein for a few classes and know she is capable of constructive criticism, yet, can give credit when she likes something.

            Dr. Prestien received her PhD at Case Western in American Studies with an emphasis on Film. When most film studies minors, such as me, come to Westminster they are usually introduced to the film program by taking Film Studies 101 with Dr. Prestien. She also teaches a cluster course incorporating gender studies and film. In most of Dr. Prestien’s classes, even ones not regarding film, she effectively utilizes in class films to highlight important lessons.

            However, Dr. Prestien, isn’t foreign film and film noir, she has a particular soft spot for documentaries. Some of her favorites are The Thin Blue Line and Hoop Dreams. I’m sure Dr. Prestien’s background, love of documentaries, and expertise will provide me with helpful feedback. I’m planning to let her see progress when I reach about the halfway point and then again at full completion.

All About Drew

My capstone documentary takes a look into the life of motorsports culture by following Drew Carl through his day to day tasks. However, I think it would be good if everyone knew just a little bit about Drew before they view the documentary in November.

I met Drew sometime during my freshmen year in high school. At Chartiers-Houston High School, classes usually graduate with give or take 100 students, so it didn't matter that I was a freshmen and Drew was a senior we had similar interests and kept with the same group of friends. Naturally a bond formed.

When Drew graduated he went to a local community college for computer programming. However, every time I had a chance to see Drew he was usually talking about going to some race on the other side of the country or how he was fixing up his ATV's.  By the time it came to be my senior year in high school Drew had decided to start his own business E-score. Coming from a small school and having a close friend prosper at such a young age gave me something to look forward to.

The downside of Drew having his own business is that he had to spend most of his time (not to mention his entire summers) building up his company. As a result, I lost touch with Drew and saw him during an occasional Penguins game during winter breaks. This all changed last spring when I had to make a 15 minute documentary. Through trial and error with bad ideas the only logical action to take was to get in contact with Drew and see what his summer was like. Of course, Drew had to be spending a vacation (or his down time) in the Grand Canyon-his cell phone never received my calls.

Finally, Drew returned my calls and said he would be more than happy to have me come with him on a couple of his business trips.

Before I really had time to prepare to make this documentary I was throwing my bags in the back of Drew's truck to begin a two week adventure to Minnesota. Fortunately, I was able to catch up on all my preparation (and tell old stories with Drew) during the 14 hour ride into central Minnesota.

During the ride I also found out Drew was a bit camera shy and realized that would affect my interview process. So I began writing questions to "soften" Drew up, questions I still wanted to know but didn't think there would be room for them in the documentary. I asked Drew how he got started and why, his plans for the future, his outlook on the industry he is in. To my surprise, Drew gave some in depth answers and his cooperation encouraged me to ask some of the questions I decided should be left out.

The interview with Drew went really well and was able to find some "nuggets" in his answers. If I could go back and change anything, I would have interviewed Drew while he drove his truck (or at least find out a way to get ample lighting to do the interview.

My main concern for viewers of the documentary is its' lack of diversity. During the interviews, no matter how differently the questions were worded, the subjects gave the same general answers as those before and after them. I'm hoping I can find a clever way of editing to make this work for me.

Ups and Downs

     As the deadline for my capstone approaches the weight on my shoulders seems to become heavier. This is mainly because I am worried how my final product will turn out. I have plenty of material (cover shots, interviews, and action shots) and more than enough time. My biggest difficulty is getting past the video logging stage.

     The logging stage is going through all of the material and determining what you want to use and where it is at. I find this the most difficult stage of post-production because it is very tedious. Looking through 80 minutes of video to be condensed to around 15 minutes becomes quite the process. It is here that I have to decide what is good, bad, and just usable. Labeling shots and interviews then categorizing them into their own folder is time-consuming and requires the patience/organizational skills that I am grateful I developed during my time at Westminster College. On the bright side, once I get into the final editing process my production speed will likely pick up.

    The area in which I am so comfortable with is my camera work. I am lucky enough to have a great friend who let me borrow his Canon Mark II. To say the least, it is outstanding. Once I was able to figure out the complexities of the camera it became very easy to use. Shooting in HD will always give a documentary a better, more professional look. With the Mark II I was able to make ample use of lighting for interviews, and it also captured great audio.

     In hindsight, having such great shots is probably what has been delaying my logging process. I can’t make up my mind which shot is better or where I should cut off from a shot. Eventually my weaknesses will be overcome by my strengths and Life on the Road will be finished.