My New Documentary Film

Tried...it loads but won't play. It could be me...P3, gig ram...plays everything else flash 9.08..I'll try a different machine later.
 
Hey Matthew,

I think you have had slow feedback to this for a few reasons. I can imagine the length of your piece being a bit of an investment for those on the forum, and lately, I don't think many people check the footage shot section, for whatever the reason. I scanned through it and will say a few things if you want some feedback.

First, the video imbed on your site doesn't work too well. Check into that. I went into the HTML and found the video URL hence how I was able to view it. You may want to include that next time since the site didn't work too well.

The topic is pretty tame. That isn't inherently a bad thing, but its hard for a viewer to be moved or to emote on such a benign topic. That's no criticism of you, but rather an observation of the subject matter as it relates to the viewer. Was this a class exercise?

Frankly, the style of doc isn't for me, but I can appreciate the journalistic tradition you are coming from and the pattern you are emulating. The car driving serves as a nice transition, though in terms of continuity doesn't seem to fit with the sunny, exterior interviews. Those Interior car shots also seem shaky and dull. When you're shooting, be sure to ask yourself the purpose of the composition. I had an austrian documentary workshop professor, and man, if there was anyone that made me defensive about why and how I did what I did, it was this lady. Needless to say, talent and insight can justify and reason out composition and style. Those exterior interviews also seemed a bit blown out, add some diffusion to even out the lighting.

Some of the interview location shot composition was stellar, others were less so, but you are definitely onto something. The interview at 5:30 & 14:30 both looked well lit and well composed.

And the Brigitte Bardot quote... Good call. Love her in Le Mepris and every other film she was ever in...


Good luck and keep on keeping on.
 
thanks everyone for the comments. I can completely understand what has been said about the time length. Im not sure why the video isnt playing on my site. Ill look into it.

grimrebes:

I really appreciate your taking the time to watch the video and give such great comments. Of course there were things that I could have done differently but I wanted to get feedback before I listed my problems during production. ALl of the interviews and traveling footage was shot in one weekend by myself. I has streap throat and as you can tell the weather sucked. This video is a class project and was a semester long project so we turned in 3 edits total (2 before this one). It was very unfortunate that my professor forfced his opinion on my piece a little too much and it frankly didnt turn out anything like I wanted it too. Originally I didnt even have the "Sunny" interviews int here but had to addd them later because my professor felt that I needed to broaden my interviews outside my family (even though that was the whole point). I mean, my grandma would still have the same opinion if she wasnt my grandma so I dont understand.

Just some food for thought. :)
 
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Hi Matt,

I think this doco is well put together specially for someone so young.
It's a unique topic which is why I watched it all the way through till the end, not many docos do that for me.
You have a great doco voice and it felt right for the piece also. It felt slow in some places but it went well with this piece.

To me a photo is a snapshot of a memory. A moment suspended in time. I find the older you get the more precious those photo become.
Thank you for a great story keep it up.

Michael Freudenberg
 
Michael

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to watch my film. I am still young, I've had a B-Day since the filming of the video - now 22.

I would also be interested in how you felt about the "aside" interviews with the guy and girl on the park bench? Originally this wasn't planned for the film but my college professor made me put it in there to "broaden the piece from more than just my family" which I thought was absurd considering that was the whole premise of the video.

I feel the same way about photographs that you do. I am very close to my family and living in a different city than them for 4 years while I was in college was difficult. Photographs were exceptionally important to me because of that. I could look at them whenever I felt lonely and feel better.
 
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