Recording the feedback
Overall I was really pleased with the feedback Andi and I received. I think our pitch successfully communicated the ideas we have for our Retro Star documentary and with the panel’s feedback I’m feeling confident that we have a clear direction moving forward.
The main feedback that we received that was that we had a unique and interesting topic however for a 3 to 5 minute documentary we should try and focus in on one of our several different potential directions. Going into this pitch we had several ideas of who our main interview subject would be, possibly a Retro Star employee or customer but the panel really seemed to enjoy our Humans of New York inspired customer interview style. I think interviewing multiple people coming in and out of the store on how they found Retro Star, why they are there and what they are buying will allow us to capture a wide variety of the different cliental Retro Star has. The Humans of New York social media posts are always able to capture a captivating and intriguing story in a short amount of words so I definitely think that is a goal for us and it would give vintage clothing and the world of Retro Star the most justice. It was also emphasized to us that it’s important to not interview anyone we know as having a personal connection to an interview can possibly hinder how authentic their responses are.
In terms of the shots and visual ideas we mentioned, the panel agreed that this would be a very visually immersive story and that we should try and capture as much colour and texture within the store. They were also in agreement with our idea on having a tracking shot walking through the Nicholas building and up to Retro Star as that will emphasize the hidden gem aspect of our location. However they also noted that we should make sure not to over do it with establishing shots of the CBD, suggesting two or three establishing shots would be sufficient in setting the scene before delving right into shots of Retro Star.
It was mentioned that we should be wary of making our documentary come across as an advertisement or promotional video for Retro Star. I hadn’t considered that this could be a very realistic issue we might face so I was really pleased that a potential issue was brought up. Now as we move forward we can try to avoid it by focusing on what questions we ask, how we ask them and the editing process will also be essential to avoiding a promotional type documentary.
I am however disappointed that our presentation time was cut short as it meant we were unable to get as much feedback from the panel as other groups did. Whilst I appreciated the feedback we did get, the panel members all had very different careers within the media industry so it would’ve been beneficial to hear all of their opinions.