Research of Documentary

 Research for Documentary Production

In preparation for the upcoming Documentary Production, my teacher showed the class various documentaries and taught us techniques such as Indirect Interviews and B-Roll; we watched several successful documentaries. In these viewings, we learned detailed aspects of documentary filmmaking and how to communicate a story or topic in a pleasurable yet artistic way. The first feature-length documentary we viewed was "Exit Through the Gift Shop," which told a remarkable story of a filmmaker who eventually turned into a street artist from following around so many others of that kind. 

"Exit Through the Gift Shop" taught me much about interview usage and how to make it flow within a story, something I was very peculiar about before going into documentary research. With his tight editing and indirect interviews, Banksy made the story flow beautifully, and his choices were spot on. We also viewed a previously student-made documentary about skateboarding culture; as I can't recall the title of the piece, it inspired me much about my product. As both our productions cover an activity many engage in, it gave me much insight into interviewees and what type of questions we should ask them, in which we get the most effective and efficient answers.