Here is my critical reflection for my documentary project “Pursuing Passion”
Before actually producing the documentary, we watched various already produced documentaries to study their techniques in preparation. One that stuck out early on was “Abstract: The Art of Design.” The documentary was solely about people who made their careers out of the art they are passionate about, designating one artist to an episode, which lined up perfectly with our topic. I especially liked how artsy and creative the docu-series felt with its editing and filming techniques. The overall style was unique and the b-roll was a big inspiration for our project. Throughout the series, a technique used is placing b-roll of the subject in action on top of their interview. For instance, in Ruth Craters episode there is a section where the b-roll is multiple angles of her on a desk, flipping through fashion magazines and taking notes.
This piece seeks to document the challenges of trying to pursue art in one's future as more than just a hobby and possibly living off of the art that one creates. The main obstacle discussed in this piece is the stigma around art not being a good-enough career, because it doesn’t provide a stable income, or it doesn’t ensure success, or it’s not an actual career, etc. A topic that may even be considered as taboo to some. We explore these ideas as the interview subjects speak from their own experience, like how Maria said she attended secondary schooling for law instead, believing that making a career out of photography was not feasible. In hindsight, we could’ve asked her to delve more into that topic and maybe we would’ve gotten more content there about her experience with college and if she felt unhappy in law school, longing to chase her passion for photography. Similarly, we could've asked her daughter, Isabella more about her passion for photography, such as how and when it started.
Our project is targeted towards a younger audience, mostly teenagers in high school, ages 14-18, who have an interest or passion for art and are beginning to worry about going to college, taking the “next step” and finding a career. Most of our interview subjects themselves were high school students, with the exception of Maria. Our reason for doing this is so that the audience can see and hear different viewpoints. While Santiago's parents don't approve of his wanting to go to art school or study art in some form, Daniela’s parents are supportive and she is only applying to well-known art colleges. Then there's Maria and Isabella, who are mother and daughter, Maria being a professional photographer and Isabella hoping to be as well when she is older with full support from her mom. All of the subjects were picked out with the intent to connect to the audience and have different situations that different people can relate to.
The content of our documentary was carefully targeted towards a high-school age audience. The voiceovers and interview subjects' answers were a good level of introspectiveness to allow for the audience to consider their own thoughts and opinions on the topic, how they feel, and what they would do. Additionally, having soft non-diegetic background music added ambiance and helped the piece sound less empty than it did with just the interviewees speaking the entire time. I do think our b-roll could use some improvements, there could be more variety or more creative shots to add some more visual interest which I believe our target audience would appreciate. Perhaps, interviewing the person while working or in their natural habitat, or inserting b-roll with diegetic sound in between interview segments to give some breathing room between all the talking would’ve worked well.
