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Week 11

Week 12

Looking back at what I thought I was going to be making when I signed up for this studio, I can say that this final film looks very different. It has definitey been redefined by the restrictions of COVID-19, and the welcomed input from Victoria. I had been envisioning a desktop-documentary from the very start, and I’m glad that we slowly moved away from that to create something more cinematic and resourceful. The restrictions from COVID-19 didn’t seem to faze me, as we were pushed to find new ways of gathering and generating content – skills that I think will be great to have practied for future projects.

I think we were given the answer to the prompt: How can we make documentary which engages in new ways of representing and experiencing the environment?  when the restrictions were put in place, because we were forced to engage with different ways of representing the environment through limited media. Our film would have looked very different if we were able to go to stores, production facilities, and talk to people face to face. Because of the restrictions, we were forced to look at what we could use at home, from the internet, and through the affordances of text on screen. We didn’t represent the environment through landscape shots or in-person filming. We took on more materialist approaches like maps and iconography (water cut out of textiles, for example), to communicate things happening around the world. I liked playing with this experimental style as it made me think outside of the box, and disconnect from some traditional documentary tropes that I would otherwise fall back on. I have to thank Victoria for our constant refining of ideas that helped us navigate these constraints. There were some real revelatory moments where we were able to be super creative, just by conversing and reflecting on different ways of using the media we had available to us.

This project made me think more critically about how voiceover and visuals can pair together to tell a story, and how important it is to think about this balance from an audience’s point of view.

If I were to continue working on our film, I would probably elaborate on… everything. How cotton is one of the most toxic products in the world, how much clothing goes to landfill each year as a result of mass production, issues regarding trade and living wages. How brands aren’t transparent enough and there are few things that hold brands accountable for their un/ethical practices. Basically, this topic is very interesting and I don’t think a 5 minute film does it justice! Our film is only the tip of the icerberg. I would love to continue exploring this outside of my studies – in film or through other mediums.

Something that stood out to me from the reading this week was to designate tracks specifically for voiceover, ambient sound, sound effects and music. This is something I needed to hear as my organisation in Premiere Pro is normally pretty horendous. I also thought this is a technique I could use as well for visual tracks – often I will do a lot of layers of text and other elements, and it would be proactive of me to create designated areas to work on these so I don’t get confused.

In saying this, my organisation has been ok so far – I’ve been getting used to dumping everything on my harddrive and keeping things in neat folders – a BIG step up from my setup last year. (I’m slowly getting better.) And the shared folder Victoria and I have created has been great so far to collate materials and share what we’re working on.

Since we presented our last rough cut we’ve incoporated a section on our own wardrobes, as well as the history of denim – something that was suggested in the pitch. Through writing out our script we have been segmenting the film into actionable chapters that we can then allocate to either one of us, which has been helpful to get things done. The feedback we recieved on the latest rough cut was that there’s a distinct style to each chapter, and it could work to our advantage to move the story along and keep people engaged.

We’re still in the process of writing the script as we go along – at the moment we are working on Chapter 4, where we’ll be discussing sustainable initiatives and brands. So far it has been difficult for us to figure out how much information needs to go into our narration, and what can simply be visualised on screen. Time limits are also important – I need to keep reminding myself that this is a 3-5 minute film, not a feature length documentary. It’s hard not to go down a rabbithole of sustainable issues and initiatives. Because of this, I think it will be difficult to get to the conclusion I was hoping for: where we can pointedly evaluate some of the more specific issues in the system, as well as the whole question of ethics. We’re thinking at the moment that it might have to end on a more personal note, where these questions are more subtle and subjective to our experience.

References:

Fox, Broderick, Documentary Media : History, Theory, Practice, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/RMIT/detail.action?docID=5103711

Our script is available here: (Request access) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ud4jcNmQYpnVTHdGMRoMrdm4Tdn8ritH1R4zBUFapUY/edit?usp=sharing

As we mentioned in the pitch, I think it’s important for Victoria and I to be involved in the story-telling of our film, because without it our film would be impersonal. We are consumers ourselves – I’m in the middle of changing my consumer behaviour to be more sustainable, and Vic is in the process of learning more and more. So our presences are important. Should our presence be made through voiceovers? I think it’s a possibility. Both of us have quite calm tones to our voices, neither one of us I would say have a quintessential documentarian voice – which is a good thing for our film because we want it to be casual, like a friend having a conversation with you.

Something to keep in mind is that “narration should back up a visual instead of trying to overpower it. Also, if something is being shown visually, then there is no need for the narration to mention it as well.” I keep trying to enforce breaks in the narration to pace the amount of speaking, and I haven’t really considered that we should be endeavouring to show information throughout, rather than tell. This point from the reading is also inspiring to do a major edit of our lengthy info-packed narration: “This technique is about withholding as much information as possible until the point when it is absolutely necessary to provide it to the audience”.

At this point what’s driving us to write the narration is the fact that we are fascinated with the subject matter. Just by doing research we find crazy insights, amazing sustainable initiatives and flaws to the system. I’m hoping (fingers crossed) that these range of emotions will be something our audiences can experience through our film – it all relies on the info we include! It’s a big topic so it’s going to be hard to narrow down and cut things out.

Reference:

Das, Trisha 2007, How to Write a Documentary Script <http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/programme_doc_documentary_script.pdf>

This week’s topic of being resourceful put some things into perspective for our project moving forward. I’ve been pretty set on using the desktop-documentary style so far, but it might be worthwhile to look at other elements to compliment this. First, since we’re wanting to include a personal element to our story, it would be useful to create footage in our own environments, with what we have access to – our homes, wardrobes, laudries, etc. There was a suggestion in the pitch to show denim being worn – we might be able to show our relation to denim through shots of use interacting with denim (folding, wearing, taking out of the wardrobe, etc.) We could also look at using items we have (our clothing) and use them in interesting ways. Stop-motion using illustration might be another option. Stills that can be annotated or illustrated over.

Victoria and I are finding that a kind of “playful” tone might be what we want to go for, addressing the insanely inadequte fast-fashion system with a bit more cheek and a lighter lens.

I tried experimenting with stop motion this week, using my clothes to create themes of abudance and waste. Stop-motion has been on the cards for a while, and Vic and I have discussed overlaying lots of fabric and things to allude to the idea of mass production and hoarding. I also attempted the idea of perishing jeans for some reason… I’m not sure that fits our narrative though. It did help me figure out that an hour of work creating a stop motion ends up with a 20 second video. My compositions need a bit of work – I think they could be more hyperbolic. However I really like the denim stacking up – I think it sets a standard aesthetic for our film. (Even though it’s pretty minimalist).

https://youtu.be/6R4Xi-3h0_Y

(Copy and paste into browser).

Some useful feedback from the pitch included focusing on the origin story of denim to give some background – how capitalism comes into play, where denim is made, the history of denim and the working-class jean. This is definitely something I’m interested in learning about to begin with, so I’m happy to work on making this an element of our film. I think it’ll provide more insight into how the system has room for improvement.

There was also the suggestion that it our ending could be open-ended, to let people decide for themselves what they take away from the film. Which is something to think about – at the moment I can’t envision how it would finish that way in a formal sense. But maybe the poetic/materialistic visuals we’re creating will give some room to end on a pensive note.

Sound design this week! One of my least favourite things to do in documentary films… Anyway. Here are my thoughts:

I really connected with simplicity of the use of voice and hand-held footage in Call Confession (Confeso) by Arturo Aguilar. The granular noise effect through the phone was something I could see us replicating. There is a feeling of chaos throughout the voiceover – not something that we are looking to convey through voice. However I do think that’s a tone we could experiment elsewhere with through sound effects, ambient sound and archival/found voices (e.g. news anchors, CEOs or activists speaking about fast-fashion/sustainability). I also liked how the voiceover wasn’t diegetic. It was always paired with shots of the environment, or even stills of art (which I think can be more thought-provoking and profound if you pair it right and edit well). This might be the trick to getting a more poetic balance with our voiceover – (I struggle with finding this balance!!)

Some of the questions that stood out in the reading, Style: Audiovisualizing the Documentary include whether we would characterize our sound design to be realistic or interpretive. I think our film will take the interpretive route, as our film relies on showing materials, rather than us being among the action. We’re sort of distanced from the real space, so I feel like our sound design will reflect this. So, for example, any sewing machine or wash cycle sounds might be more overt – I can imagine these being layered over stop motion sequences that are more stylistic in nature. I think we’re quite happy to distance ourselves from the “realistic” soundscape, because we don’t have the tools to make a traditional on-site environmental documentary. An interpretive style suits our approach – which is meant to be us two discussing and navigating our wardrobes & the issue of sustainability from home.

Victoria and I have been inspired by the film The Grand Bizarre, where this interpretive sound-effect style is really prevalent. There’s a lot of ocean sounds, sewing, even randomly gathered music. And this really pairs well with stop-motions and a lot of movement. The sort of stock-sound nature of them creates a sort of satire that we really engage with, and we think this could be a good way of communicating the frenzied nature of fast-fashion. (I’m very interested in materiality in film, and I’m slowly learning about how to do this in smart way. I’m not there yet, but I’m hoping I can learn a thing or two from this project.)

This was my experiment with some of these elements at play:

https://youtu.be/3EVHaNa8-f8

(Copy into browswer).

Moving a little bit away from sound design… What I took from the Hum, Buzz, Gurgle/ Ecological Soundscapes in Poetic Ecodocs reading this week, was that I don’t have to use environmental harm as a “bad guy” in my film in order to inspire my audience to think ethically. I interpreted Warren’s analysis of Bennet’s theory of enchantment to mean that there is something worthwhile in recognising things in the environment that we can be grateful for, as well as aspects of sustainable efforts being done – which can therefore promote an audience towards activism. In other words, taking a more poetic and positive approach can be more motivating, rather than the jarring, traditionally male-voiced approach that presents black-and-white actions for people to take.  I think there is absolute merit in recognising what is being done to the planet’s detriment, because information about the situation should absolutely be discussed and communicated. (That also comes with me thinking of documentaries as a form of video-journalism… Perhaps more of a traditional way of seeing things, I suppose). I think the way to go about presenting arguments in documentaries is to think about things in a way that isn’t black-or-white. Recognising the issue from a bunch of angles, giving your audience food for thought (and not an absolute answer), and paying real attention to the affect your film has on your audience. Oh, maybe what the reading was trying to communicate was that documentary form can move away from the journalism-style and more towards art, so that there is space for your audience to connect with “visceral… meaning” in a way that isn’t entirely constructed by the values of the director.

References:

Call Confession (Confeso) 2018, directed by Arturo Aguila

Fox, Broderick, Documentary Media : History, Theory, Practice, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/RMIT/detail.action?docID=5103711.

The Grand Bizarre 2018, directed by Jodie Mack

Warren, Shilyh “Hum, Buzz, Gurgle/ Ecological Soundscapes in Poetic Ecodocs.” In Annabelle, Honess Roe and Maria Pramaggiore, Vocal Projections : Voices in Documentary. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury, 2019.

Week Two’s topic was ‘activism’. Although I definitely feel more comfortable with the idea of ‘covering a scene’, which implies having some distance from the social actors involved, talking to a few members of the Climate Rally gave me a greater understanding of the event, and it was fun to feel involved. Overall, filming among the crowd was great and I thought we each got great coverage of what was going on. Doing vox pops was uncomfortable as always. I’m still working on not being too intrusive, but coming across as engaged and like-minded, as well as having an encouraging presence.

In the editing room I was impressed with the amount of coverage that highlighted the atmosphere of the event. We managed to get some decent coverage of the speeches – which I could then cut up and use to different effects. I found it useful to print out a list of shots and highlight which edit they would be used for (I know there’s a name for this but I can’t remember – I think it might be contact sheet). This was time consuming but helped me organise my thoughts. I also transcribed each vox pop and speech, and gave timecodes for the dialogue I wanted to use.

This week in Documenting the Environment we discussed our ‘creative voice’, as well as ‘what a documentary can be’.

I describe my creative voice to be “inquisitive”, as I like to start with a point of curiousity and branch out. In Native Flavours, I started at “what is it?” and went on from there. What I like about documentary is that at the heart of it, you’re asked to explore a topic of interest and extract information or affect your audience somehow. I think what my work is lacking is a directness; a feeling of impact and relatability that audiences will be able to comfortably digest. Where is the reason why? Where is the reason to be frustrated, relieved, involved? …At the same time I love the idea of pensivity and reflection. In the past I have attempted to convey this through artwork (specifically illustrations), and b-roll, but I haven’t gotten this to “click”. So I want to explore other creative possibilities to do this. I guess the “feel” I want to create for my videos is arty, thoughtful and refined.

As I want to focus on unpacking the idea of sustainable fashion this semester, I decided I would start this week’s exercise by narrowing my options down to a topic I’m familiar with: thrift stores. I visited a few local thrift stores as well as typical fast-fashion retailers. The structure I envisioned would be that I create a contrast between fast-fashion and slow-fashion, but I soon found in the edit suite that it would be more interesting to focus on consignment stores, and provide an expository-style narration on what they are. I think this element makes it less of a documentary and more of a video essay. If I reflect on other expository documentaries, the main difference I believe is that narrators typically speak from fact to fact, and there is more scope to their discussion. Other elements including statistics, interviews and vox pops could have developed my video more.

However, I found the process of recording narration to be useful, because it allowed me to dwell on sustainable fashion and get my head around how complicated the topic is. (There are so many questions to be asked when the idea of ethics is involved. For example, I kept asking myself, how ethical can it really be? How practical is it? Who is it really helping? Why is trend important? What brands are/aren’t endorsed?) At this point my head was swimming with ideas, but I eventually came to the conclusion that this video was just going to cover the basis of what a consignment store is, and it could provide a foundation for further exploration later in the semester.

This brings me back to the idea of ‘what a documentary can be’. For me, this semester, I want to explore documentary as a way of investigating ideas further. A medium to build a factual foundation of ideas, and then ask more subjective questions of ethics.