Working solo worked very well for me. I feel as though I learned a lot as I had to be across all elements of putting together the documentary. This included planning, giving instructions, working a camera, filming, sound recording, editing, sourcing copyright-free footage, sorting through archive footage, sound mixing, and colour grading. My subject, Indie, is a close friend of mine and was therefore willing to speak openly to me about her story. I went to her house on multiple occasions to film and also recorded footage at a friend’s catch-up. These things would be trickier to achieve if working alongside someone else who didn’t know Indie.
I learned so many things from this project, the main one being to always take more footage than you think you will need. I had somewhat planned in my head what footage I wanted to go along with the audio, but in post-production, things don’t always go according to plan and match how you expect them to, so it’s good to have a range of footage to be able to use. Similar to this, I learned to take footage multiple times and from different angles; this then allowed me to cut them up and create a more interesting scene to watch.
I enjoyed working solo on this project as I had all the creative liberties. However, there were times where I got stuck, and bouncing ideas or splitting up work load amongst group members would have been helpful. However, this wasn’t too much of a challenge as Rohan was able to provide me with lots of advice and clarity, as well as feedback from my peers with the submission of my rough cut.
If I were to do something similar to this in the future, I would aim to record the interview first and then record my footage. I didn’t do this for this project, and instead, on the first day of shooting, I filmed Indie doing a collection of different things; however, I used almost none of this footage in the final film as it didn’t align well with the audio. I think having the interview recorded and putting together a rough cut of the audio is a good approach to start with, so then you can plan out what needs to be recorded to go nicely with what the interviewee is talking about.
Working in a group can often prove to be a challenge, as busy work and social lives make it hard to organise times to catch up and collaborate, film, and edit. Dividing tasks up between group members can also be tricky, as it can make a project seem disconnected and may disrupt the flow of a piece.
Overall, I really enjoyed working solo on this project, as I feel as though I learned a lot and expanded immensely on my skills.