What an interesting semester, so far in my learning I’d definitely say it was the greatest extent of collaboration I’ve been met with at university so far.
I felt that my performance in the studio, (for the final project at least) by design was not as intensive as I would have liked. By that I mean in that as Jordan was essentially DOP (Ellie and I were able to consult on ideal shots), Ellie did most (me and Jordan were also involved) of the edit, and we all worked on sound in the sense that we made sure it was all good. It meant that essentially my role, as this all-rounder extended to something like a production assistant, as I spent the time filling the gaps really.
This extends to but doesn’t just include
- making sure the edit was rendered
- ensuring the slightly tech stuff like the issue with the media server
- being the Vietnamese voice interviewer to get some extra interviews
- being part of the location and social actor scouting
- undertaking levels of research by engaging with members of the Vietnamese community in their native tongue
Like I don’t think I was being completely useless, but certainly in the scheme of things I feel like I had a bit more to offer and maybe learn within the context of the media production side of things. Especially as with our decision to not use a lapel mic essentially rendering one interview more or less useless (I thought it was a pretty good interview and talk) I think it goes to show that we probably had room to improve there with like sound. I certainly do feel like I did my bit, as much as it made sense to, which was good. I think one of the major things I wanted to stress, which I was able to stress was that I felt that it would be crucial for us to include the audio of the Vietnamese interviews in their original audio, as one thing that was discussed was providing a voiceover summary in English. I felt pretty firm about this due to the nature of the subject matter that we were broaching, about a Vietnamese market at the heart of the Vietnamese community, and this proved really important I feel once Long’s interview came along, which was maybe the best one. That one was facilitated through my desire to walk into the grocery around the corner, broaching the subject, which I feel like is something I really came to become more comfortable with this semester, making sure that I was okay with just being straight with strangers with what I wanted to achieve or what I wanted from them, and this facilitated some good film moments.
I think at my most inquisitive points as a sleuth was speaking in depth with members of the public and shop owners in Vietnamese and trying to find out more about the Little Saigon Market, as what we as a group all felt it was of the utmost importance that we could deliver a documentary that was focused more on the market and how it’s loss affected members of the community, rather than say the loss of the market, and the potentially suspicious nature of it all. My attempts to avoid this involved essentially asking in depth about what the market at the time offered, and how it now is. It was important to note that the Little Saigon Market was open essentially 7 days a week, which is something that Footscray Market does not have. It was also interesting to learn that locals of the West now drive to Springvale to do their groceries, something I learnt from my parents but an extension of what Long mentions in the film.
I think key insights I’ll take away from this is it really goes to show how synergistic a group of people can be when you’re all on the same page about intentions, but also how chaotic it can be before this synthesis is reached. I think I kind of threw Ellie under the bus by accident one of those weeks, and I hadn’t really considered I was broaching a sensitive thing, and I think we solved it pretty amicably once we came to, and we then made something really nice. We made the right decisions I think, like in the same way if you begin to write a draft and you change your mind about the idea that you have, with Gigi it seemed like interviewing her would not only take us a few steps in the wrong direction, we would also be strapped for time due to the time constraints that exist.
I think I could have definitely dome more in this studio, but really, if anyone goes into a studio, especially for this course, and leaves without feeling like the want to learn more, that to me would be so peculiar, because it seems so vital for us, to make sure that we continue to strive for our own personal development. One thing I’m slightly bummed about is that I feel like my idea for a documentary, one that concerned these obscure film locations, definitely possessed some sort of meat that would’ve been worth looking into if not making a project. I guess though, what that really means is that I just kind of have to do that on my own accord, with the knowledge that I’ve learnt here in this studio, in the future, which I feel like I certainly can.
