Inital Research

    

    I've came to the decision to do option 3, the documentary package. I really enjoy all aspects of documentaries. This past year I've been watching lots of documentaries my favorite viewings being Thirteen Lives, Free Solo, and The Alpinist. I just find learning about a person, place, or thing through a documentary very engaging. I learn a lot about a variety of topics I would probably never research myself through documentaries. 

    My experience creating a documentary a few months ago was very insightful. I learned a lot about what it takes to actually create a documentary. I found the whole process very entertaining. I choose option three because of how much I enjoyed creating a documentary. As this is a 10 week long project, I wanted to ensure I would enjoy the creation process. I specifically like how documentaries use interviews to progress the storyline. The questions help guide the story. During the planning process using the questions to segment the different scenes is very useful. I think it allows a piece to flow well. I liked how my last documentary turned out but I definitely see a lot of places I could improve. This project is where I can get redemption. 

    

    For today, I want to begin my research by overviewing documentary conventions. I think its very important to fully understand documentary conventions prior to experimenting. I don't want to create a confusing piece that feels unprofessional. Since the first documentary I made was a few months ago, its important to remind myself of the various documentary conventions. I found a very insightful YouTube, seen bellow, that outlined documentary conventions.

    Watching this video was a great start to my researching process. The video went over how to find a worthwhile idea, research, create a story structure, filming, audio, and editing. One super useful tip for research is using Vimeo to view various documentaries. I completely forgot about Vimeo, I was going to use just YouTube for research. Another thing it reminded me of is to have the interviewee not look directly into the camera and the importance of properly lighting a scene. Overall, today was a great start to my research process. I will continue to research into documentary conventions and inspirations for my piece.