Critical Reflection

 

Link to Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iKG_A3sIxI4J0Mm6jil14FGIZ0fbrfry/view?usp=sharing

I learned a lot by making this documentary. This was my first time making a documentary as prior to this I’d only made short films. I was really excited to shoot my first interview. Interviewing was a completely new process for me. Prior to shooting my interview, I watched a lot of interviews that were focused on sensitive topics. As I was speaking to a veteran about his time at war, it was important for me to be professional and respectful. Watching interviews on sensitive topics, such as drug addiction and trauma, gave me a sense of the tone I should use. It also gave me a sense of how I should progress the interview into sensitive topics.

Interviews are an essential convention within documentaries. We used them to progress the documentary and section the documentary into two clear areas, the first half being the interviewee's experience at war and the second being how the gym helped him transition into civilian life. We also wanted to use indirect interviews rather than direct interviews. Using indirect interviews gives a sense of realism to the documentary. It makes his responses feel more genuine without the questions routing his responses. It was also essential to include the interviewee's credentials when he was first presented. This is another common documentary convention. Also whilst editing I included a suspenseful sound effect at the start. This was meant to emphasize the switch from the introduction to the interview. The background music was also meant to be mellow as I didn’t want it to take away from the seriousness of the topic. 

Our documentary doesn't challenge many conventions. We didn’t want to make it too abstract as it was our first time making a documentary. At the end of the production, I didn’t want the documentary to seem confusing. Because of this, we decided simple would be better. Maybe in the future, I will challenge common conventions but as of right now I wanted to get familiar with the basics of documentary production. 

From the topic, it's evident that our documentary focuses on a specific societal group namely veterans. Our documentary represents veterans through our interviewee Justin, a U.S. veteran. In addition to representing veterans, he represents PTSD in society through his descriptions of the experience of transitioning from military life into civilian life. The gym community is also touched upon during the interview. Specifically, the community is described when Justin speaks about how the gym has helped him. 

After creating my first documentary I learned a lot. The major difference I noticed compared to shooting a short film is the production process. The interview is such an essential part of creating documentaries. I realized whilst shooting the interview that organizing the shots by the question order was a great decision. This way the b-roll shots I got could correlate directly to what was being said during the interview. The planning process prior to editing and shooting helped me a lot. Planning was so important in having a smooth editing process and filming process. It removed a lot of potential confusion that could have wasted my group's time and our interviewee's time. 

Our documentary is geared towards people with veterans within their families, veterans, and the general public. The discussion about fitness helping veterans with PTSD is meant to engage people with veterans in their families to encourage their veteran family members to find relief through fitness. Furthermore, the graphics used throughout the production are meant to create awareness of PTSD for the general public. Its important people understand how prevalent PTSD is among veterans which the graphics helped do. Veterans are engaged in the discussion of war and the transition from military life into civilian life. The experiences that our interviewee described are relatable to other veterans. They may feel they experienced the same challenges that our interviewee has. 

Overall, creating my first documentary was a really fun experience. I learned a lot during this process and I can’t wait to make another!