Intro Animation

     OK, so I know that I want part of my 5 minute extract to include what the intro to my docuseries would be. It's called (for now) Nothing Much Prepared and it's all about life being a little messy, with humans not really knowing what their doing half the time. That train of thought led me to wanting the title displayed in my intro to be done with magazine letter, you know the ones where they're all different and it's kinda scrapbooky in a way. Some people also equate them to serial killer letters, whatever rocks your boat. 

    Then after liking the idea, I realized... I have no idea how I would do that. But that's what the internet is for right? Research! Knowledge is power! 

    So I found this short and super helpful Youtube video by b_roll_bubba titled Magazine Cut-Out Title Animation | Adobe Premiere Tutorial. Amazing name by the way, I feel like I will be watching more of the videos throughout my process, I mean they literally have b-roll on the name come on now! It was also perfect because it taught me in premiere, which is the editing software I use :))))

    https://youtu.be/iAJEI07stqY

    I also stumbled upon an article by Fotor titled How to Make Text Stand Out and More Readable. Twas' a very good read, I'm not sure how it will help me but it probably will at some point. OH! You know what? It could help me with like social media and the magazine article I'm supposed to do. Look at me go! Thinking about the future. 

    https://www.fotor.com/blog/how-to-make-your-words-standout-and-be-read/

Op-Docs

     In class, our teacher introduced us to the New York Times Op-Docs. These are short documentaries made by independent filmmakers that can be uploaded to the New York Times official website. While they are not episodic, being just short documentaries, I think there is still a lot I can learn from them. 

    Out of the ones I saw, in class and on my own time. One truly stuck out to me, Pickle. 

    I will admit, at first I only watched it because of the name, I thought it was funny. But this simple, 14 minute documentary really stuck with me. I want my documentary to have similar vibes to it. Simple, a little goofy, but still heartfelt and meaningful. I really loved the short animated segments the documentary had, acting as b-roll that illustrated what the subjects were talking about. It's so good, I highly recommend it! As well as other Op-Docs, these people are super talented. 

    We had also watched an Op-Doc in class, that for the life of me I couldn't find when I looked and forgot the name of. But it resonated with me because it was so creative. The filmmaker used objects around their house to reenact scenes from their life as a voiceover essentially explained the death of his mother. It was so emotional and unique, I love it and hope to find something equally as unique that I can bring to the table with my documentary. 

    Here is a link to the NY Times Op-Doc page: 

    https://www.nytimes.com/video/op-docs

    Here is a link to watch Pickle:

    https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004769329/pickle.html?playlistId=video/opdocs-season-5

This New Docuseries is All the Rage!

    The title of this post is me manifesting if it wasn't obvious. 

    Again, the one thing I'm truly passionate about is hearing other peoples stories, and people watching. Remember how I said I had 3 initial ideas for my documentary project? Yeah none of those are happening, I scrapped them. 

    Funny story actually, I was listening to Tame Impala while in my history class after taking a pop quiz. Then a new idea hit me like a freight train and I think this one is good! I'm very excited about it and I think that's a good sign. 

    Basically I want my docuseries to be raw, relatable, and funny where it can be (with the necessary emotional beats as well). I want audiences to be able to gravitate toward it and feel heard, or seen. I had a eureka moment the other day where I realized that during most, if not all, of our lives we may not know what we're doing. But I didn't see it as something negative or morbid, I saw a kind of beauty in it. Flying by the seed of our pants and hoping everything works out in the end is a very human experience and it happens all throughout our life. It's such a meaningful and deep subject that other people may not think about, I' having a hard time putting into words. Hopefully I can convey it instead through my project. 

    I love humans. I love people. 

Brainstorming

     As I mentioned before, I've been thinking about this project since the beginning of the year. However I couldn't start coming up with ideas for I until we did our documentary project in class. I kind of knew that I wanted to do the documentary "package" for my portfolio project because I've always loved documentaries (especially animal ones hehe) and hearing stories, people fascinate me and documentaries work perfectly with my passion of giving people a voice. 

    So, as the year went along and I came up with ideas I think could actually work, because there were plenty that I immediately shot down, I'd write them in the notes app. I named the note FILM IDEAS. 

    The following are the ideas word for word on my notes app (sorry if they're a little all over the place):

Documentary #1

Subject: dance

Interview: dani, luisa, manu, Andre 

Narrate: me (use own experience)

Make it sections (acts)

Act 1: beginnings (baby dancers)

Act 2: growing with dance 

Act 3: hitting rock bottom (losing motivation) 

Shot ideas 

Filming me on tv screen when I was little dancing and then my mom saying I was so cute (spanish w subtitles) 

Sitting down and talking to the camera 

Interview luisa and manu with b roll footage of them at the bar (dancing)

Other ideas 

• music
• Losing motivation in gen 

Documentary #2 (episodic)

Subject: Something surrounding Hispanic culture in America (immigration, kids of immigrants, Language)

Interview: Family, anyone Hispanic in school (deem worthy)

Funny shot with luna (Mexican immigrant)

Overall documentar name: Heritage/Roots

Possible names (for episode)

• Como Like 
• Pero Like 
• Como Que Like 
• Pero Como Like

DOCUMENTARY #3 (episodic)

Name: more than a club

• DECA yeaaaa (theater, engineering, band, etc)
• Take advantage of states 
• Easy to interview 
• Clubs really become a family look into that 
• Make it personable (fun and funny and quirky and cool)

    I took the advice given by my teacher and "used what I know." 

    Dance, Immigration, and DECA. :)

Project(ed) Schedule

    I used a sample provided by our teacher to create my projected schedule for this project (haha nice). It is very likely that this will be altered as the project continues, some aspects may be changed or removed or added. I don't know what the future holds but here we go!

    

    Here is my general project schedule:

Week One:

- choose project type (probably documentary)

- begin developing ideas, subjects, themes, etc.

- research examples and general information on doing a docu series

- post introduction

- post schedule

 

Week Two:

- begin actual research examples and general information on doing a docu series

- continue to develop themes – land on final ideas

- work on how to get interviewees

- post to blog (wed, thur, sat, sun)

 

Week Three:

- continue research and plan project components (digital/print – very general ideas)

- develop outline of possible b-roll and filming locations

- make storyboard and list of b-roll

- schedule interviews if possible

- choose social media and open account (probably insta)

- post to blog

 

Week Four:

- continue research and plan project components

- schedule interviews if still needed and begin filming (try to get all interviews done if possible)

- document production process (for social media and blog) – pictures, videos

- post to social media

- post to blog

 

Week Five:

- continue to research/plan project components

- continue filming (focus on b-roll)

- start edit video component – edit while filming

- post to social media

- post to blog

 

Week Six:

- continue post-production of video component/ research if needed

- Begin planning of print component (research/ general ideas refine them)

- post to social media

- post to blog

 

Week Seven:

- research information relating to Critical Reflection (student examples)

- get any final footage if necessary

- work on print/digital components and editing

- post to social media

- post to blog

 

Week Eight:

- continue research relating to Critical Reflection

- finalize editing

- work on print/digital components

- post to social media

- post to blog

 

Week Nine:

- focus on creating Critical Reflection

- finish print component

- post to social media

- post to blog

 

Week Ten:

- create final, overall project reflection

- post all project components to blog

- Post Critical Reflection to blog

- last post to social media? Send off?

And so it Begins...

    It's that time again...! 

    Portfolio Project Time! I'm incredibly excited and immensely scared at the exact same time. I have so many ideas swimming around in my brain, I've been dreading and thinking about this since the beginning of the year, because I knew it was coming. 

    I feel like I'm in Game of Thrones this project is so daunting, it's like winter... and winter... it's coming. 

    Anywayyyy, time for everything to go wrong in all the best ways. 

    I hope you hate it. (I'm working on a new catchphrase, do you like that? I like the irony of it)