Production Journal

Authorship :: What role will you as the creator play in the video. Will you narrate, ask questions from behind the camera, be a character in the video, remove your presence from video, or a combination of the former options? How does this method help the message of your project?

Initially I was planning on being completely separate from the documentary. Mainly because I hate how I sound and am not very articulate. This failure to articulate is kind of expressed in my inability to clearly state what it is I want this documentary to be about. Because I have a lot of vague ideas. I want it to be about "the deeper meaning of movies" or "How can movies have an impact on the world" or "what is the point of movies" or "do movies have any meaning at all? Am I grasping at straws? Is my love of movies completely frivolous and I am trying to find some sort of validation that will ultimately result in me losing faith in all that I hold dear?

So as I have come to shoot some of the interviews I think it has become clear that the story here is somewhat about me trying to figure out what movies really are and if there is existential meaning in them or some other higfalutin term or whatever. Because I hope there is. And that's the story I care about.

So since this story takes me into account now, I think that I should have a bit of a presence. I don't like the way I talk or what I look like so I want to keep it to a minimum. At the moment I plan on having some of the questions I ask behind the camera be in there. Who knows yet about narration? I may go with title slides instead for explaining why I made this film and what I was looking for. We'll see.

Characters :: Who will be in your film. What will this particular person add to your project?

I will have all of my friends who care about movies who are willing to interview. I am not including other people who don't care about movies as much because I feel that they aren't as concerned with finding some sort of deeper meaning inside of movies. It would be interesting to get there perspective, but I don't think I have time for that within this project.

One person I want to be sure to interview is a fellow student named Barry Herbers because he is an encyclopedia of movie knowledge and also a very eloquent speaker.

Content/ Interview Questions :: Make a list of no less than 7-10 interview questions for each interviewee. As you create the questions think about the relationship between what you to include in the film and what questions might generate that material.

Do you think movies have a purpose beyond entertainment?

How did you see movies differently at a younger age?

Can you think of some movies that shaped your opinion on what movies can do?

What are some of your favorite films of all time?

Are there any movies you hate? Why is that?

Have there been a times where you saw a movie and it made you think in a new way?

Is it possible for a movie to "change a person"

Which movies were those and why do you think they did that?

Is style more important than substance to you?

Can you think of any movies that had more one than an other. Is there a particular style that you like most personally? Why? What are some examples?

What kinds of themes in movies resonate in your life? What are some movies with those themes?

Can a movie be considered objectively good?

What makes a movie good in your eyes?

Are movies better at impacting people than other art forms?

Can movies be substitutes for real experiences?

Can movies be thought of as people?

How much does the emotional core of a film matter to you?

Have movies ever helped you process things in your life? What are some of those things and movies?

What is the purpose of movies?

Shots :: Make a detailed list of shots you NEED for the video and shots that you WANT for the video. This list should include locations, b-roll shots, and the shots of the interviewee.

For this project I think B-Roll is kind of a difficult situation. I want the focus to be on the people and their opinions. Also, the subject matter is very abstract and hard to visualize. I plan on using clips from movies that the interviewees talk about when that happens, but it does not happen all that often. Sometimes the interviewees will just talk about a certain kind of character and not give a specific one. One thing I am considering is taking the kind of character they describe and seeing what characters best represent that description for me and using clips from that. I have not decided yet whether that would be ethical of me to do so. Because I am taking something they say and recontextualizing it differently with what I think. But isn't that what all documentaries do in a way? Aren't they all evil? Not evil, just kind of sleazy. Not necessarily sleazy in a bad way. Sleazy with good intentions.

So anyway, the only shots I currently plan on getting are those of the interviewees being interviewed. And those shots I steal from moments described in movies.

Anxieties and Obstacles :: Look through what you have written about so far and think through any obstacles or anxieties you have about your production plan. Write them down and brainstorm alternative plans.

I am most worried that the whole film will come out muddled and confused because the idea of it is still muddled and confused somewhat. It's getting clearer. but it is still kind of muddled and confused.

My other concern is that everyone will think I am very pretentious by putting in my own voice and making the film about me. About my "quest for the purpose of movies." I'm worried that it will come off as pretentious and I an arrogant person who is also fairly stupid. So my plan around that is to seem as earnest as possible. I plan on doing that by making everything seem as raw and putting into the final project the mistakes I make and my roundabout path to figuring out what the heck I'm doing. That is also the strategy I am taking to this blog post. I hope you don't hate it.

I'm also concerned it will be kind of boring with just having people talking for 8 minutes. I hope to put in as much B Roll of movies as possible to make it interesting. I guess I'll see if that works.