This week in Documentary as action we focused on an array of media tech stuff and peer assessment, which is extremely handy for those beginning their editing, as while we would like to think by this time we are pros, there is always more to learn. In our Monday class we had a lovely professor come join us, and share his wisdom in how to work your magic with Ppremier. The short cuts and tips that he gave us have I’m sure increased everybody’s skills and confidence. An example of what he taught us was the J K L button tools, a way to stop, start and cut without having to go press the cutter tool all the time. This can also be done with the I and O buttons, for input and output to grab footage we don’t or do like and plop it somewhere else. We then were given footage to fiddle around with and apply our new found knowledge, and off we all went, stretching our minds, encoding the information through action.
In Friday’s class some students presented their work in progress so far. It was great to see everyone off to a start, however it was obvious that everyone it at different stages of making their documentary film. Some students such as Kimmy, have been filming their subject by just experimenting and seeing what works, and other students such as Christian, are at the editing process of their documentary, where they are asking feedback on more specific things. Lots of other students showed some interviews that they have begun with. All the interviews that were shown such as Jeremy’s and Sarah’s were really great, and received some great feedback; however,there were obvious things to fix. At this stage in the semester, it is obvious that everyone is just focusing on getting the information out and then later on in the semester all the refining will happen. This is evident as all the footage that was shown in class was very informative and important, however needs to be tightened, more succinct, and therefore more engaging.
The feedback that students received for their work in progress so far was all very valid and constructive, and it’s obvious that everyone has learnt a lot about what makes a great documentary. If we compared our attempt at constructive criticism at the start of the semester to now, there would be a great difference. Everyone is starting to notice the smaller things in a shot, and also envisioning the potential of a shot within the whole documentary.
It was also great to see that everyone agreed with the student’s feedback and will take each other’s feedback in a constructive and supportive way.