More Details on Film Production

Today I was pulled out of Illustration class to go listen to Ms. Johnson's brother, Jameel (sp?), who is a film director. He talked to us a little bit about what it's like in the film industry and showed us a trailer for a documentary that he made for a project while at film school.

I didn't get a chance to talk to him much, but he was very interesting.

Though not an official interview, this gave me a little more insight of film production...

At the Library

When arriving at the Main Carnegie Library in Oakland, I was astonished by the collection of books available.

Even then I could only find some of the sources I wanted.

Each source seemed to be a copy of the other, containing almost the exact same information, and information I happened to already know. However, one of the sources seemed like an excellent reference guide: a small book on short films and distribution.

I plan on buy this guide as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, at home I have several books on creating movies and writing scripts that I'm sure will be good sources.

I feel that this was a good research day though, showing me the wide assortment of material available at this library should I ever need it.

It's also a good day when I can use a Green Day song as a title.

Speaking of which, I looked up some information on using songs in film and TV. The prices are astounding, ranging from free (for simple exposure) to over $200,000. (http://www.howstuffworks.com/music-licensing.htm) I'm pretty sure I can rule out using any Top 40 songs in my documentary. I should start looking at independent artists and royalty free music sites in order to get music for my documentary, if it needs music at all...

Interview

I'm currently working on my interview questions.
The person I want to interview has yet to get back to me, but hopefully he will soon.

I've created 8 questions so far that might prove useful later in my research:

1. What other career fields come into play when editing a film?
2. What are some ways to keep organized while editing?
3. What challenges have you faced while editing and how did you manage to overcome them?
4. In what ways does the editor have an impact on the final product in terms of emotion and message?
5. How can a video be cut down, yet retain its original focus?
6. What needs to be done before the video gets into the editor’s hands?
7. How long does it usually take to edit a TV show?
8. How much footage should be captured to ensure that the editor has enough to work with?

It's been a while...

Recently, I've been working on my webliography; it has unexpectedly taken up much of my time these week, getting all the sources gathered and sorting through each one.

I've tried to get in contact with one of my dad's friends from high school, who is now a film editor for a soap opera (Young and the Restless I believe?). I think this will be a valuable source if I can get an interview with him.

No word back from the cinematographer yet coming to town. I'll still wait and see.

Yesterday, with the help of City High and the YMCA, I was able to attend a taping of the Steelers Huddle program at Heinz Field. It was interesting to see how they put the show together. It also showed me things I'll have to consider when taping my documentary.
Things like proper lighting (which I can find in several of my sources), microphones and sound, and organization. For example, at the taping they had note cards describing what to say and cameramen in the exact right position, along with what was going to happen and be talked about on each show. Though a documentary interview can't be scripted from the interviewee's point of view, it reminded me that I should create note cards of what is said so I can later organize all of it.

Maybe I should buy a cork board, index cards, tacks, and some yarn for all this later...

Researching by Watching

I've been trying to get myself into the "mood" of documentaries recently by watching them whenever I get the chance. Recently, I've watched clips of a documentary on Ben Franklin. This project will give me a chance to prove that I can do as good if not better than some documentaries, and I'm looking forward to that task.

Though the genre of my documentary and the ones I'm watching are somewhat different, the styles are pretty much the same. By watching them, I'm hoping to pick up on techniques of conveying information and organizing the information into a storyline.

Also, did you know...

• original documentaries were called "actualities" because they showed what "actually" happens.
• The term "documentary" was first coined in 1926 and covered a broad category of videos at the time.
• The first documentary as we know today made was South put out in 1919.

Documentary on Copyright

I watched a documentary over the weekend called "Rip! A Remix Manifesto" on copy right in the United States and how that affects peoples' lives. I watched it for several reasons: to watch how a documentary is edited, to see how the story is organized, to learn about copy right in movies and how that might affect me, and for entertainment.

This already has hit me with some questions...

How can I make a documentary that's interesting to other people?
Why will they watch my documentary?
What makes me want to watch a documentary?

Usually it is because I'm interested in the subject or because I want to hear an opinion. I'll need to think about how I'm going to make my own documentary appealing to others. This will be a bit different, however, since this is not an opinionated movie and simple a statement of facts and information about City Charter High School.

This leads me to another question...

How am I going to get this out there for people to see?

Through DVD's? Mailing list? Online resource?
I'll have to find that out.

Graduation Poster Draft

Did you know....

• Documentaries are some of the most successful movies because they are often low or no budget? This means that almost any profit made through distribution is a positive


• The first movies ever created were considered documentaries because they documented small tasks


• The most expensive documentary ever made, Earth cost over £8 billion, which is about 12.68 billion US dollars


• The longest movie ever made is a documentary, which was 24 hours long and named Grandma Martha

More to come as I find them.