Documentary

Introduction

The purpose of the documentary project revolved around focusing on a certain subject and using their own words to tell a story, enhanced by certain appropriate visuals. The idea was to use filming techniques and strategies to depict a certain goal and viewpoint through seemingly objective and professional footage. Unlike the past two units we’d worked on, this one focused on preexisting conditions and documenting them in a truthful manner, rather than telling our own original story.

The documentary process for me was by far the roughest, as I found myself hitting deeper and deeper emotional lows than ever before, but what I actually learned through the process was extremely valuable nonetheless. In the pre-production phases I discovered much more about the laws of filmography than I ever expected to. I learned about the importance of the A and B cameras and the purpose of their separate lenses, as well as how to respect film direction through specific editing techniques. Overall, I found that I learned a considerable amount of information about how to tell a story through the editing of interviews taken.

Film

The ultimate product of these interviews taken was a film clocking in at a little under ten minutes long total. My partner, Dylan, and I focused on a topic he was rather interested in, which was a nonprofit organization called “Call of the Sea” up in Sausalito, California, devoted to reconstructing an old brigantine sailing ship for educational purposes. Aside from a couple modern features, the ship being built was mostly truly authentic in nature.

A behind the scenes look at the creation of the documentary film, using Adobe Premiere.

Its name was “Matthew Turner”, paying tribute to the eponymous famous shipbuilder from the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the process of approximately two months, Dylan and I were able to create a film documenting the ship and the volunteers working rigorously to build it. Through this project, not only did I learn an insane amount about the craft of documentary films, but I surprisingly learned a lot about the maritime history of the Bay Area.

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Before embarking (no pun intended) on the adventure that was the documentary project, our class divided into small groups to create a practice “mockumentary”— a style of documentary mocking a certain organization, trope, or subject. Our group decided to make ours about a fictional subculture of Freestyle students whose lives had been overtaking by the addictive hobby of dumpster diving. Within the span of only a couple days, we shot and edited the film, even going to the effort of sitting in an actual dumpster for true authenticity. The project helped us learn first-hand the intricacies of storytelling through the editing of documentary films, as well as the importance of upholding and respecting screen direction. And on top of that, it was probably the most fun I ever had on a project. Here’s the final result.

Part of the documentary process required us to add transcriptions to each interview. Here is an example of one of these transcriptions.

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Photo Gallery


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aiCF8bhbNRCe-VoPGQkXLqCDl7WgMToC/view

Research Paper

For English, we were required to write a research paper on our subject. It would use quotes from the interview taken, but would almost entirely be put in our own words, quite dramatically different from the style of the documentary film produced. Here is my final paper on the Matthew Turner, taking an angle that explains the importance of preserving history through museums and replicas.

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Interviewee Bios

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Brian Swing has been a volunteer on the Matthew Turner for almost four years, using

past woodworking experiences throughout his life to help the vision of the ship

come to life.

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Alan Olson is the project director of the Matthew Turner, and has had the idea of

building the ship around since the mid 1980’s. He is a passionate sailor with a

strong dedication towards community work and preserving history.

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Gary Piva is a deckhand and volunteer for preserving the Red Oak Victory

warship in Richmond, California. He is passionate about ships and spends

“half [his] life” onboard the Red Oak, helping to preserve its heritage.