For assignment four, I made a short video documentary which was proven to be more challenging during times like these. So I had to think outside of the box and make the very best with what I have. I remembered that we could use archival footage, and that sparked the idea behind my documentary; SBP for Humanity. As a result of flying solo, I had to think creatively of the whole concept by myself, dig through years and years of archived footage, as well as contact the high school I went to in order to ask for their consent and gather even more media materials to assemble the whole thing together. This may be a lot of work for just a single person in the given time frame. I also had to clearly communicate what I had in mind when asking for the footage. Therefore, speaking as a solo media practitioner, we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves or beat ourselves up just because of our shortcomings and limitations from working alone.
While I can’t be the judge of my own work, I do have to admit that the whole process wasn’t as challenging as I initially thought it would be. What I initially thought would be a disadvantage of working alone, I’m actually satisfied and proud of myself for being able to pull through and create SBP for Humanity, because it’s very near and dear to my heart. Not only was my class the very first batch to undertake the project, but I’m also glad that we voluntarily decided to document the entire process back then. I’m particularly satisfied with being able to collect sufficient archival footage from the school in addition to my own collection that correlates with the narration. I’m happy with the decision of leaving the diegetic audio in for some of the footage, as well as finding and adding particular sound effects as well as atmospheric sounds, and created a similar, if not the same, ambience.
However, despite my accomplishments, there’s definitely still room for improvement. With COVID-19 aside, I would like to be able to use more technical equipment and experiment with it when shooting my own footage. I would also like to get out of my comfort zone and make non-fiction work about those who are outside of my social bubble, not only to expand my networking, but also because there are a ton of interesting stories out there that are worth telling.
