During class Monday, Natalie and I gathered all of our footage and tried to make a story arc. Through moving clips around and discussing with Professor Smith, we realized our documentary addresses a point we didn’t realize before and that is the source of food and ingredients. Our documentary addresses the opinions of Easton’s recent restaurant development. Some people say that they are concerned it is going to end up pushing out some of Easton’s residents since it is becoming more expensive. Then we realized through our interview footage that many of the people being interviewed stressed the importance of quality, fresh, and local ingredients and the importance of eating clean and real food. What stands out is their passion. It’s really obvious to see how excited the interviewees are when talking about their establishment and food, their faces light up. Natalie and I are excited for our final product and we can’t wait to screen it.

As Natalie and I begin thinking about our documentary short film coming to an end soon, we have been working harder than ever to get everything we want accomplished. One obstacle we have been facing is the lack of response from potential interviewees. We discussed this frustration Monday night and it is definitely an obstacle that is hard to cross over. We had an interview planned for Tuesday and when we arrived and got everything set up, we realized we had a defective microphone so we had to embrace the embarrassment of asking to reschedule for today. Good news, we went today and the interview was great and incredibly useful to our overall story. Then we went to the Easton Public Market and did quick interviews with some of the employees. We tried interviewing as many as we could, but many appeared to be camera shy and were not comfortable with being on camera or being interviewed. We did get some business cards from potential people interested in a more formal interview and are hoping those work out so we can have a wide variety of speakers in our film.

This class has greatly affected me in the way that it has allowed me to develop a much greater love and appreciation for documentary films. This class has exposed me to premiere documentaries, but this was by far the best. I am starting to realize that there is a certain style that appeals to me and that is when a documentary specifically focuses on one person and one person’s life, but also representing a much bigger problem or picture. This documentary was groundbreaking. At many times it conveyed important information through comedy which was a unique stylistic approach and effective. It was appealing to a mass audience, but specifically, in my opinion younger generations. Bassem Youssef was a comedic character in general and has an interesting story about leaving his original career path of being a heart surgeon and pursuing his risky passion of being a comedian and specifically focusing on political and human rights issues. He is most famously known for being the Egyptian John Stewart. I felt touched when Bessam met John Stewart and every time John Stewart went to bat for Bessam and supported him, it made me feel hope that this world can be unified by something. It was frustrating watching what Bessam had to go through. It’s really infuriating to see simple rights that should not be messed with being completely controlled by authority. I thought Bessam would win, but he didn’t. He had to escape with his family for a better life, and many of the people involved in his mission and show had to do the same. The ending was one of my favorite parts. It showed Bessam talking to mass audiences and he spoke about comedy and laughter being a better weapon than a sword. I thought that was a great ending specifically because he encouraged people to keep laughing and to be fearless, have hope, and continuing doing what you care about. He also emphasized the point that a revolution is a process not just an event, which resonated with me. Overall, I obviously loved this film and I really hope it starts reaching the masses and ignites change.

I ran into a lot of obstacles with this interview.  From the comments on my rough cut, I realized that the headroom in Bobby’s interview shot was awkward. When I was filming I wanted to show the wall in Bobby’s room that was decorated in a way that portrayed his vibrant personality, but then realized how there was too much room above his head. I was going to re film the whole interview, but when I first interviewed him it took 2 hours and I had so much footage to cut down and unfortunately we could not find time to reinterview. I then realized that the audio of the guitar clips was messed up. I showed the audio to Mike to see if he had any suggestions and we tried to fix it on Final Cut Pro, but he told me I would need to re film it. So I asked Bobby and Billy if I could film them again. We ran into another issue when we were filming the audio a second time around. The room was too dark and we tried to fix the ISO levels, but for some reason it wasn’t working. I had originally shot the whole interview plus music clips on a cannon which was easy to adjust the ISO levels and then the second time around I shot on a Nikon. We spent a good 30 minutes trying to fix it, but we couldn’t. I had to decide whether to replace the bad audio but good visual clips or vice versa. I tried to include both after attempting to adjust the visual problems of the second guitar clips on Final Cut Pro. Overall, I loved filming this interview despite the obstacles I faced. I was fascinated in the interview topic and I love the message my interview tells. Although my interview isn’t as flawless as I wanted it to be technically, subject wise I think it is awesome and I love rewatching it.

Final cut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH7Ajwvrl2I&feature=youtu.be

I noticed that the opening shot was too blurry and shaking for too long, but once it focused it was disturbing to see what was happening to the building that was shot. The strongest parts of this video are the ones that include what is happening to the environment. The shots of the broken down buildings, the construction sights, the polluted are what stuck out to me the most. I felt like I could identify some part of the story they were trying to tell, but it wasn’t clear. I was confused about the inclusion of children and how that is and was involved in the story they were or are trying to tell. I understand blurring the shots with the children because they did not sign release forms to be filmed, but I also feel like the quality of the image took away from the message the B-Roll was trying to portray. Going forward, I think this group needs to clarify and think about the role the children are going to have in this film and to identify it clearly. I would also suggest focusing more on what is happening environmentally and show those clips, because that was most meaningful to me. I am excited to see where this documentary short will lead you.

I was very excited to come to this screening because I am from Connecticut and went to a day school where many of the students and some of my friends were from Newtown. I remember the day very vividly. I remember constantly checking my phone for updates on the details. I remember the confusion. No one knew what was happening or what happened for hours after the fact. I remember getting let out early and watching my parents cry over the tragedy. I remember singing with my acapella group a year later to the families who lost a family member. It was truly a horrifying and emotionally traumatic event that affected the lives of many and the entire state forever.

There was one phrase that was said in the beginning of the film that resonated with me throughout the rest of the film and that was “The world needs to be made emotionally aware.” Kim Snyder did an excellent job honoring this phrase.

One of the strengths of this film was the fact that it wasn’t completely based around the political picture or by the violent picture or about the attacker picture, it was about the emotions, the loss, the trauma, the support, the love, the hope, the belief. It was edited into this beautiful story that portrayed so much emotional pain but so much emotional growth as well. The interviews were so moving and to be honest some of them even made me cry. They were so powerful, everything in this film was so powerful. Watching this reminded me and brought back emotions I had felt during the time of the event, but I felt like I became closer to the event and the people through watching this film because it was an inside look into these people’s lives who were affected. How they’re feeling, how they’re coping, it was so interesting to watch and at some times incredibly heart wrenching.

I hope this documentary continues to reach masses around the world because I think it is truly special. It educates through emotion, not just fact, not just by visuals, but it makes you feel. I left the room wanting change. I left the room with the motivation to protest just like the people included in the film desired and did.

Overall, this was an incredibly moving experience, it was truly touching and groundbreaking. It gave me new perspective on the incident and I feel like it has opened my eyes even wider to the beauty of documentary filmmaking and how it can really touch peoples lives and help to change the world. Incredible film, incredible experience, incredible filmmaker.