O.C.Mr.Clean. was a really enjoyable project for me. One of the main areas of development was definitely in regards to Premiere Pro and my manipulation of and towards the application and its tools. In earlier projects I stuck to editing on a singular file, coordinating with great difficulty all my edits on the one timeline which usually made for a messy and thus systematic confusion/break down (eek!). Whilst producing O.C.Mr.Clean. however, I used multiple files and documents to ensure that each article was safe. For example, I edited my intro that composed multiple video files at a singular time on one file, saving and then uploading the completed sequence into my end project file, keeping the whole and final project neat and tidy. As my overall project was organised through separated files of with different edits, I was then able to play with Premiere’s tools and effects without the worry of accidental errors that could have affected my project as a whole. Thus, I played with size, colour, speed and duration effects that contributed a more experimental feel to my project, equating with my objective artistic and visual based film narration.

I wanted to portray an artistic and informal expression within O.C.Mr.Clean. rather than the traditional interpretations of OCD like washing hands, and a possessed cleaning sequence. However, this wasn’t always my approach. As my intro was one of the first things I developed in the portrait, you can see that when thinking of characteristics of OCD I connoted a subversive and eery perspective of the experience people with the disease would suffer (the ominous song of Mr Clean). It wasn’t until I interviewed Max however, and thus was in post production, that my portrait became a lot more informal and less aggressive as Max communicated a more tender and passive view of his disease. In this way, I guess I was subjected to a moment of serendipity where I had to rethink the way I was going to portray Max and his disorder. Through the use of found footage I was able to not only visualise my approach but societal ideas about OCD. When typing into Creative Common domains ‘OCD’ there were a lot of clips that portrayed a contradicting spectrum of  individuals in either a state of ecstasy or depression. Using the intro as a dismissal of convention, I allowed the for a traditional cleaning ad to crackled and beep with sound effects of deterioration. By placing my title heading after the intro it re-engages and re-addresses the audience from it’s previous stimulation and ideologies to the interview’s more personalised and informal tone. Further, I included the director’s voice and questions to make the interviewee seem more humanised and Max not so much as an isolated character. This shift in narrative structure (where at first I placed Max on the couch to answer formal question), and then to the more comfort environment of outside opened up not only an easier and more organic discourse about his disorder, but allowed for a more personal insight into his life and surroundings (as you can see his outside area isn’t as immaculately clean in comparison to his inside interview).

Overall, the project definitely advanced skills in editing as I used both Premiere, After Effects and Audition whilst creating O.C.Mr.Clean. As I started thinking and coordinating my project early I don’t think there’s any physical elements of it I would change. However, interviewing techniques that make the interviewer comfortable and thus more engaging is definitely something that needs to be worked on if I want to go into documentaries professionally.