This weeks workshop involved critiquing some student’s work in it’s early stages of being edited. Though my work was not critiqued I felt that I could apply a lot of the advice that was shared during class.
One common critique that stood out for me was how people where choosing to pace their documentaries. Timing is everything and silence isn’t a scary thing. While it may seem that with only 3 minutes of footage for a documentary a lot of dialogue is needed in order to cram as much information as possible into the short amount of time, this often leads to confusing, jumbled meaning and content that is hard to follow which leads to the audience being disinterested.

What I also found interesting was the different styles people had chosen to use. While some people were interested in having the subject filmed, others were more interested in having the subject recorded and the film would be suggestive of what the subject would speak about. I chose to include both of these things in my recent edits.

Sometimes I think it is easier to critique something from an audience’s perspective rather than a film-makers perspective. Most people watching won’t be too distracted by the specifics but rather the overall film and whether it was enjoyable. This comes in handy when I get too caught up in my own work. Sometimes just taking a step back from the minute details and looking at my work as a whole instead of separate cuts and fragments makes it easier for me to understand if my work is actually heading in the right direction.