Sunday Update

 I haven't heard from my group members about the coach's approval for the Sunsations dance team at UM. In the meantime as we are waiting I have been doing some research and watching some documentaries similar to the one we may potentially create for this project. I was on the platform YouTube seeking for some inspiration and I found this dance documentary that I enjoyed and want to share on here. The element that stood out of me were the editing techniques of the introduction of this piece, I feel that it was very engaging and included credits and quick cuts of people, dancing as well as introducing an interviewee and her passion for dance. I think these three components combined with the song choice made it look amazing and I am hoping to use this as an inspiration for my group and I's documentary. I have made some goals for next week that I want to discuss with my group which is to, create shot list ideas, find a color palette, begin searching for nondiegetic background music, titles, and font ideas. I attached the documentary I watched for inspiration below▽▽▽

College dance team documentary idea

    My group members liked the idea of doing a documentary on the experience of college dancers, and because of their experience with dance they have some connections. The University of Miami has a dance team called the Sunsations and our idea is to do a documentary involving their team and the dynamic of dance in college. Although this idea would be convenient for us to work with considering this college has dance team members know the other two members in my group we still would need permission to create this documentary. There has been a few members of the team that we have reached out to that are eager to be involved and don't mind helping us create content for our documentary. The only concern that is in the air presently is that although dance team members would participate they still need permission from their coach before we can begin. As of now we are just waiting to see if this will be possible before more in planning can be done.

Group Meeting

      Our class participated in a group meeting virtually in breakout rooms on Microsoft Teams. It was a great way for my classmates and I to share our ideas and understand each other's plan for our projects and give  feedback. I was able to listen to other ideas for documentaries and short films and I gave insight on how to make their productions even better. When it was my turn to present to my classmates what idea I had for my documentary I discussed with them about how the topic may be related to dance but we are still deciding what team we would be able to interview and if this concept could actually come to life. I really appreciated the feedback I received. They stated that this idea is something that can be done considering  the environment that we are currently in ,and it isn't a topic that causes any controversy or would be too  complicated to film. 

      I discussed that my group and I want to follow the conventions of the documentary but also seek to make it unique and entertaining. They said on the topic of dance it would be best to illustrate a documentary on something more specific under that umbrella. They believe it would be more interesting if we focus on college dance or maybe a specific type of dance and maybe include some elements of the history behind it as well. They also mentioned that due to this being a five minute piece of a full length documentary it is also important to remember to keep that in mind when filming and editing. My peers also pointed out if their is a dance studio or college we want to work with within our documentary it is important to reach out to them as soon as possible.  Overall, the group meetings were very beneficial and I was able to get an outside perspective of how to make this production as successful as possible. Their insight and ideas will help me during this process

Getting started

 My group and I created a group chat over iMessage in order to share our ideas and make progress collaboratively. We also started planning and coming up with an idea for our documentary, but we are still deciding on a specific idea to base it on. We shared a google document folder that included a calendar, project instruction, blog post ideas, and documentary topic ideas. I think this will help us maintain organization and be efficient in creating our production. I am really hoping that we will come to a final decision on what exactly we will be filming in order to have something specific to focus on. The next step is to begin a more in depth planning process soon as well in order to have something to base our process on. I am looking forward to creating our documentary, I think we will create something great. 

Documentary techniques

Based on some additional research I did on the documentary genre, I recorded some typical documentary filming techniques that can be kept in mind during the creation of our production.

Voice-over
Voice-overs in documentaries can include commentary by the filmmaker. This can be 
displayed with additional background footage or added to the soundtrack during the 
production. This offers direct information to the viewers, which can include opinions and 
explanations. Voice-overs typically don't include audio of the words written on the screen, 
but the narration guides what is happening in the production.

Archival footage
This is content that has been archived that is inserted into a documentary to explain the 
background  information or historical element of the content. This footage is engaging and 
can add detail without the need for additional filming. 

Reenactment
This is the scenes of an that has been acted out using the information of the event. These 
scenes typical include information that is factual, and it gives the audience a sense of realism. 
Some filming techniques that show that the content is not real are  blurring, distortion, lighting
effects, changes in camera level, and color enhancement within the footage.

Direct and Indirect Interviews
Interviews allow individuals to  speak directly about events, prompted by the questions asked
by the filmmaker. Interviews on opposite sides of an issue may be shown to give the viewer a better
understanding of the topic. 

Wallpaper Technique
This technique is demonstrated with voice-over narrations and it is done in a more engaging manner.
 The screen cannot be blank, so visuals that connect to the narration are expressed, even if they do not
show exactly what is being said in the voice-over. This type of related visual is called wallpaper.

Actuality
This is the footage of real life events that is unlike scripted stories and artificial sets that 
are used in other fictional productions.  Documentaries are not pure actuality films - rather they 
combine actuality with explanation, commentary, and sometimes dramatization. 

Welcome!

     Hello, I am back and beyond excited to continue my journey taking AICE Media Studies for a second year. I am also looking forward to creating another production and documenting my process on my blog. This year in A level we have already done multiple projects and collaborated with our classmates to create content. I really enjoy bouncing ideas off of each other and combining strengths to create amazing film productions. My group and I are planning on creating a documentary for this year's project. I am really driven to put together a production that is something new and different than the short film intro I made last year and I can't wait to see how it all comes together.