When I wrote ‘what I want from Real to Reel’, I focused on illustrating my intention to finish the semester with media work that reflected my hopes of ‘preserving moments in time through honest and raw depictions’. Whether it was through taking photos, filming or writing, I wanted to give a platform to people and places that make the world what it is. I’d like to say that I did meet these goals through creating a photo essay and documentary. Both allowed me to discover, record and amplify untold stories. This however, came with challenges.

For my photo essay Family, I not only wanted to present a general honest depiction of the milk bar but a personal one fuelled by nostalgia. This gave me the confidence to try out various ways of photographing the milk bar due to my familiarity with the space. In saying this, it was still nerve wracking being the one in control of the shoot. I had to navigate myself through the small milk bar in a way that would allow me to capture the images with breadth rather than be unflattering squished images. Furthermore, I had to ensure that the questions I asked to inform the essay portion of my work were sufficient. That they could be answered with ease as opposed to instilling discomfort. Overall, this work gave me the confidence to to be more ambitious for the documentary as I wanted to explore how my technical and creative knowledge could be translated to motion.

For A Model Son, the subject Kevin was at first a stranger to me. I found it quite difficult during the pre production stage to unpack Kevin’s story and plan the filming locations as I wasn’t yet sure if I was depicting his life truthfully. But I learnt that in the same way I was learning about Kevin, so would someone watching the documentary. I kept that in mind during production and so, I am happy with the result.

Overall, I am satisfied with this semester due to learning about the production of truthful and thought provoking non-fiction media.

The intention of A Model Son was to create a short documentary that would tell Kevin’s story and simultaneously, inspire viewers to reflect on their own ambitions and not be afraid to combat adversary. I think that A Model Son achieved this purpose. I am proud of my group and I for making a documentary that reflected our aims. This was possible due to Kevin’s enthusiasm to participate and the ability to collaborate. In saying this, I am proud of the way in which editing enabled us to succinctly tell Kevin’s story. Furthermore, I am proud of our ability to time sound with visuals. For example, the opening scene utilised the camera clicking sound to navigate the visuals thereby playing a storytelling role. It was fun to experiment with how the topic of modelling could influence our stylistic editing choices.

Commencing the editing process, I started to see the documentary take shape. I could imagine how I wanted the documentary to look more than from what was written in the treatment because I could play with what we had filmed. It was through this that I realised that I would do a lot of things differently the next time. After learning more about the structure of the documentary such as building the story first and then adding in the necessary broll, I’ve realised that I would want to film a lot more the next time. For example, changing locations of the interview to ensure the viewer isn’t in one place at all times. Whilst we strayed quite heavily from the treatment, it was still very useful but I think it can be even more useful moving forward as I am more comfortable with the structure of documentaries. In saying this, I’d like to improve my pre-production skills as it is important to build the necessary foundations before production.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed making this documentary and so, now that I have a better understanding of what goes into making a documentary, I want to be more ambitious in my subsequent projects. Furthermore, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, my production and collaboration skills have improved immensely.

A Model Son came to exist because of the collaboration between Natalie, Madeline and I. I want to it be clear from the beginning that it definitely takes a team to make a documentary. With any collaboration comes the slight worry that differing opinions will result in conflict and lead to unproductivity. In this case however, I valued that each of us could bring a different perspective and that we could agree on what would ultimately reflect Kevin’s story. In saying this, a good collaborator is someone who commences a project with an open mind rather than dominating the project with their own views. Furthermore, the project was able to be made because we were all available to put our all into it. Therefore, face to face communication is useful in being a good collaborator. For example, we were able to test different editing choices in real-time with one another. This enabled us to communicate our reasons for wanting the edit to be a certain way. Whilst there were times when this couldn’t be done and work had to be completed individually, we kept in contact online. This meant we could message or send through recordings of what we were working on in order to receive feedback. In saying this, I have learnt that feedback is important for collaboration as it keeps team members motivated to continue working as they are and/or improve. Collaborating for this project has shown me that every person is equipped with strengths and so, can shine in a group setting because they are given the opportunity to showcase their skills, learn from others around them as well as teach people too. I have felt that I have come out of this project with an improved ability to communicate with not only my team members but those who participated in A Model Son. We are in constant collaboration throughout our lives and so, it is rewarding being able to work alongside people who share a similar goal to mine.

I have chosen to reflect on the two versions of the opening sequence of A Model Son. The first sequence is very high energy. It depicts the model life as flashy and subsequently, with no flaws. This however, detracts from the high stakes involved in pursuing a career in modelling. In particular, Kevin’s story is ingrained with combatting adversary. As this became the aim of not only the sequence but the entire documentary, it was necessary to change the sequence to reflect this. Therefore, through making the first version, we were able to recognise what worked and what needed to change in order to finalise the opening sequence.

Kevin is presented as a mysterious man in both versions of the sequence. This was a good starting point for editing the opening sequence as the viewer is left wondering who the man is and in turn, what we will learn about him. Whilst this was a strength of both, the way we chose to present this in the first version was too enigmatic. The reason being that it was extremely short. Whilst we see a mysterious figure who is having their photo taken, we don’t know where he is and if he is a model or not. Therefore, a weakness of the first version is that it lacks establishing shots. Furthermore, the stylistic editing choices were too upbeat and so, conflicted with our aims to instil a sense of mystery. We wanted the opening sequence to indicate that the story could go either way rather than be destined to be an upbeat documentary.

Therefore, the second version included establishing shots of the photoshoot as well as a more plentiful selection of mysterious shots of Kevin. I’m particularly fond of the shots of the ferris wheel and so I think that that strengthens the opening sequence as it is visually appearing. Furthermore, the sound of the camera clicking was timed with each shot. This rhythm allows the viewer to expect something more and keep their attention on the documentary. As for weaknesses, I think that there could have been more variety in shots. For example, rather than us always spectating Kevin, there could have been shots from his or the photographers perspective in order to immerse the viewer further into the world of modelling.

Synopsis:

At the age of 18, Kevin Xiong realised the only way to achieve his dreams was to travel halfway across the world. As an aspiring model living in Melbourne, Kevin faces pressure from his parents to focus solely on his studies and obtain a job in a more conventional field. With an uncertain future, Kevin now faces two choices: continue his study and please his parents, or follow his dreams and risk the consequences. A MODEL SON is a four and a half minute documentary that empowers young people to stay true to themselves, even if it feels like the world is against them.

Student Names:

Madeline Kosasih

Natalie Stewart

Isabella Susnica

Production Roles:

Directed, Written and Produced by:

Madeline Kosasih

Natalie Stewart

Isabella Susnica

Directors of Photography

Madeline Kosasih

Isabella Susnica

Editor

Isabella Susnica

Assistant Editors

Madeline Kosasih

Natalie Stewart

Sound

Isabella Susnica

Colourists

Madeline Kosasih

Natalie Stewart

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Backyard. This door took me by surprise. It’s someone’s own private access from a park into their home. It makes me wonder about the connection we have to nature. There’s a lot to admire in this world and so, we must make the conscious effort to do so more often. #door #doorsofinstagram #building #melbourne #melbournearchitecture #architecture #home #house #iphone #shotoniphone #backyard #nature #suburb #suburbia #autumn #park #garden #environment #earth #serenity #calm #positivevibes #sun #sunrays #australia

A post shared by @ deadenddoor on May 25, 2019 at 8:46pm PDT

Instagram Video 3

How did you author the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Using an iPhone 6s, I filmed this in one shot. I was simply walking through a park when I made the discovery of this door. I looked at it for quite a while prior to filming it because I was so surprised to see it. When filming it, I wanted the park to be visible in the shot in order to give context to the door. Therefore, the final product leaves the viewer needing to give the video a second look because the door isn’t immediately noticeable. Furthermore, I shot the video vertically rather than horizontally. I don’t have a specific reason for this choice other than that it was most convenient and I could capture a large portion of the ground and tree whilst still focusing on the door due to it being centred. But, because of my decision to film vertically, I wasn’t sure how I wanted to prepare it for publishing. If I left it in its full size then I felt the video was visually too long in a feed. Whilst I had the option to zoom in on Instagram, I needed to have the cropped video available in my camera roll in order to add the white bars. This meant that I downloaded the app RFV (Rotate & Flip Video) which allowed me to crop the video. I then ran the app through Square Fit but this time rather than bars at the top and bottom, I put bars all around. I felt that this gave the illusion of a framed photo. Then, once interacted with, comes alive through the subtle motion of leaves swaying. In turn, I muted the video.

How did you publish the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?

As I mentioned above, I took this video as I was going for a walk. Therefore, it was a spur of the moment video and so, I only took one video. Whilst there was the option to film the door up closer or film other parts of the park to give context, I ultimately decided to keep the video as one single take. The original video was roughly 10 seconds but I chose to only publish around 6 seconds of the video. The reason for this being that not much changes throughout the video and so, I don’t want to bore the viewer. In saying this, I didn’t want it to be too short either as I wanted the viewer to spend enough time viewing it that they can feel the serenity translate across the screen as they watch the leaves sway and the light filter through. To add further to the moment of serenity, I included a caption that reads as follows: ‘Backyard. This door took me by surprise. It’s someone’s own private access from a park into their home. It makes me wonder about the connection we have to nature. There’s a lot to admire in this world and so, we must make the conscious effort to do so more often.’ I intended to give context to the video as well as present a thought in the hopes that it resonates with the viewer by including a caption. Therefore, whilst Instagram is highly focused around the visual elements, the caption provides an empty space to add depth to the content that is published. Furthermore, this invites viewers to leave comments on the post, which makes the account more personal. I think that through these means, the other affordances of Instagram such as the story function become devices of valuable communication between follower and creator. For example, creators can post text, images, video, music and more to their stories. This adds to the experience of being in someone’s digital world.

How did you distribute the video you published on Instagram to other social media services?

For this final post, I gave Twitter and Tumblr one more go. Again, the distribution process was very simple. This week however, I tried to increase my presence on these two apps. For example, I followed some Tumblr accounts and went through the hashtags in which my posts were tagged in the hopes that I would find some accounts similar to mine that I could engage with and subsequently, would engage with mine. This however, hasn’t shown any results. Therefore, I wonder if the users of Twitter and Tumblr engage with posts differently to Instagram users. On Instagram, I’ve found that hashtags are effective in directing traffic to my account but this may not be the case for Twitter and Tumblr. Therefore, whilst some affordances are found across all platforms, the communities are different and so, some affordances are put into practice more than others depending on the app.