So there’s a time to feel proud about what you’ve produced and then a time to cringe over it in a few years. I mentioned in my previous blog post that I’ve produced 3 interviews throughout my time here at RMIT and they all have completely different outcomes in both their style and their release.

I wish I could take this opportunity to analyse and mention one of the interviews that was particularly a huge learning curve for my craft in the documentary style and my boost in confidence as a filmmaker, however, I was not granted informed consent by the subject themselves. During our Wednesday class, Rohan stressed the importance of informed consent to be signed by every single person that appears in our films in the future and this wave of stressful memories clouded over me.

Informed consent: the practise of informing potential subjects, before the cameras roll, about the possible consequences of their participants.

But why didn’t this person decide to sign the form after the interview was conducted? First of all, this person is admirable and I have nothing but utter respect for them, however there were a few factors during production I wish I did and considered in order to have the outcome I desired.

Organise everything during pre-production. Rohan in our first class mentioned that in order to be considered for grant towards the making of your film you must have everything organised and documented from your pitch to your script. As an overexcited second year student with the opportunity to interview this highly regarded and established person in their field of expertise, I plunged into the production side of things and hoping to “wing it” until post-production comes along. Long story short, the disorganisation from the start kind of bit me in the ass as soon as post-production came along. You can never be too early to organise, research and document everything before going head first into the deep end of it all. Is it going to be in chronological order? Is it going to have some revelation at the end?

Stop. Collaborate and listen. One of the essential components of the studio is what I failed to even recognise throughout the entire process – collaboration. Sure, I collaborated with my fellow uni students in helping each other but I decided to embark on this journey solo without even consulting with my subject throughout the post-production side of it. I left everything to last minute where they weren’t happy with the flow and portrayal of their interview and work that I was purely fuelled by caffeine and lack of sleep throughout the remaining days until the due date. Most importantly, put egos aside and find a way to adapt your style into their story, never let your style overrule and dictate their story. The important thing to remember is that they opened up to you about their story and it’s only deserving for them to be openly allowed into the process as well.

Try and overcome that social hump. This one’s a tricky one for almost every one of us and most of it does come from experience, but we really do get nervous and awkward when it comes to initiating an interview with someone you barely even know. Firstly, I did an introductory interview in that is was candid and it was a recorded conversation between myself and them so that we were both comfortable and that I would enough content for me find a focal point for the main interview. I always have a set of open ended questions and back up questions to ask before the interview and group the questions that correlate with each other and separate them from the questions that are of a different subject in case they were needed as a filler. My mistake at the time was that the questions were too different and that I actually didn’t have a focal point that when it came down to post-production, it took me way too long to even condense the interview from 1 hour down to the required 5 minutes.

Film, film and film! Probably one of the only things that I managed to not mess up but it’s important to note that you can have enough footage. The b-roll kept rolling out throughout post-production and the exciting part is to decide which part of these shots are relevant for each section of the interview. Remember, you have the creative control!

Never neglect the technical stuff. If you’re using 2 camera’s make sure they’re on the same manual settings, everything is fully charged, you have extra SIM cards that aren’t at full capacity, lighting with correct white balance is key, clean audio that is recorded is key (obviously), lapel mic is on, everything is focused, everyone’s phone is on silent, and all mouth’s are shut unless necessary.

At end of it all, they were satisfied with what I produced. However, based on their experience in the past they were uncomfortable with the publicity of this interview in that they would rather keep it an educational level within RMIT instead of it blowing up all over social media. Certainly a huge learning curve for me but all in all, I was proud of what I was able to achieve what I was capable of both in my technical and social skills.