1 x blog post considering the final artefact Imagine you are going to keep working on that media piece (e.g. to screen it somewhere else like a festival, or develop it into a different kind of work, and so on) – what would be the core things you would want to improve and extend and why?

If I were to further develop our documentary into something bigger, there would be a lot I would improve and aim to extend on. If I had more a lot more time to work on this project and really make it something I was proud of, I’d honestly start with reshooting it. I think that our camerawork is not bad, but once I began to edit it, I found slight flaws like camera shakiness or out-of-focus-ness in some of our shots and they either became unusable or had to be edited to hide the flaws. I would also definitely get some more compelling B-Roll that I would be able to use, some more thought-out shots from inside the shop and maybe more from her little country home in Braidwood. I would then go to a great effort to get some more quality shots, making sure everything was up to par. With this, I would also probably redo the interview, sadly because of the hammering sound throughout our interview, it disturbs the story a bit. If I could recreate it without this sound, I think it would add another layer of professionalism to the work.

Another layer that I would add to my work would be going through Beck’s archives with her, we had a lot of issues getting these from her (most of her photos would not share). This way, we could cherry-pick and really collect the photos and videos that we thought perfectly matched the story and would create really strong sequences of overlays over the interview. I think the archives we got were good, but there was not enough and did not exactly match the story we were telling but nonetheless, we had to make do.

I would also improve on the pace of our film because Beck had a lot to talk about, it was often hard to fit it all into a 5-minute piece and make it into a storyline. I found myself cutting up the interview a lot, pulling sentences and phrases from everywhere. I think if we were able to slow down the film, maybe cut out some things, more pauses – it would be an even better final artifact.

Overall, I am generally happy with the final product, film production has never been my thing so I’m glad I gave it a try. With Rohan’s guidance and feedback, I have learnt a lot in the course and will take a lot out of what I have been taught this semester into future projects.