For our series of interviews we filmed over a few days, mostly in a secluded area of RMIT, with the final video at the interviewees house, with the editing of each interview being done on the same day. This created a very interesting sequence of reflexive filmmaking as well as interviewing, as we were able to adapt our styles of filming each interviewee, as well as the wording of the questions improving after each video.
This is the way of creating online media I have really been drawn to, especially after seeing a few of our classes other works, where due to the flexible and adaptable nature of the internet, the ability to reflexively create new content based on the previous work, and still have the old and new content being able to function as a collective piece of content.
An example of how we adapted how we created our project is with the lengths of the videos. Originally, our plan was to have each interview be one long video, but after deliberating we decided it was too much to ask of our audience to sit through a 5-7 minute interview, and so after filming the first few interviews, we decided to seperate each question into its own video. In retrospect we really should have thought of this first, as it creates a more modular approach to our project, and makes it a much more interesting documentary project. By giving the audience the ability to navigate through what they are most interested in, we are hoping this makes for a more rewarding experience. After we knew we would be separating each question, we were able to give the interviewees larger breaks in between which we noticed really gave them more of a chance to give a more developed response to our questions, which has ultimately gotten us better content.
“To the documentary director the appearance of things and people is only superficial. It is the meaning behind the thing and the significance underlying the person that occupy his attention… Documentary approach to cinema differs from that of story-film not in its disregard for craftsman-ship, but in the purpose to which that craftsmanship is put. Documentary is a trade just as carpentry or pot-making. The pot-maker makes pots, and the documentarian documentaries.” -Paul Rotha.
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