How to make a trailer

Under all the pressure of university, I'm also working on several video projects outside of my coursework. So many projects in fact, that I've used one of my other projects as a presentation for this documentary class. One of my favourite vloggers recently put up a trailer to his series WhatImDoingRightNow, a showreel of all the best or most interesting moments of his daily vlogging channel.

Well, let's just say, I have a lot less subscribers and a lot less presence on camera in my videos. I might be a tiny bit camera shy, but I've been told that's hypocritical because everyone else constantly appears in my videos, so why shouldn't I? So in the recent weeks that has changed, and my face will appear in the channel trailer for my own tiny channel. Well, not my tiny channel in general but #TinyAdventures, my series of almost daily vlogs.

So on to how to actually make a trailer, well, let's start with the footage. I have about 140 videos of a bout a minute each, so two hours of footage to sift through. As walking feet are the most memorable returning motif in most of my videos, I'm starting with a compilation of my legs walking clad in different outfits and shoes, as well as different surfaces.

So where to go from there? Well, we will go up. There is more in the world than just the ground. The world is knowledge and people, food and travel, family and the beauty all around us. So that is what I will show, all the beauty i have captured in the 140 odd days I've been making these videos. Now we just need a good background track. Enjoy!

How We (re)Unite

It's going to be a long, long editing process

How to tell a story only using audio

As this course is called New Media Production, I believe there should also be some interest in the newish media of Podcasts.

99% Invisible

99% Invisible is a San Fransisco based podcast, about architecture and design. The combination of interviews, voice-over by the host Roman Mars and soundscapes creates and immersive storytelling experience. The love of the host for the podcast subjects is easily distinguishable and brings an extra dimension to the stories. The use of visual storytelling makes you feel a part of the environment that is talked about. It is an emergence into a world that you've never seen. 

No Such Thing as a Fish

The 'elves' (researchers) of the TV show QI have their own podcast. It is filled with weird facts and wonderful stories. The recordings are a mix of live shows and studio recordings. Although there are no soundscapes or effects used, the laughter and reactions of the host pull you in to their conversation. You feel like part of their group of friends, a bit like sitting at the same table in the pub. The facts are diverse and entertaining, as the facts in the TV show are. The title of the podcast is refers to in the theme song of the show as well as one of the first facts they ever covered.

Stuff You Missed in History Class

As the title of the podcast already states, this podcast deals with the happenings and people that are usually not talked about in history class. Now, I've never had history lessons to start with, but that does not take away from the fact that the subjects of this podcast are different from those you would normally hear or read about. The use of storytelling to introduce the subject makes the actually factual information so much more interesting. They clearly state their sources and they answer listener mail at the end of each podcast. This gives the lister the feeling that they are involved in the creation of these stories.

How do you interview someone?

The September Issue

Although most of the film is made by documenting the events, there are several people being interviewed. They are used as narrators and interludes between the chaos of creating Vogue. Most interviews take place in the the office or home of the person being interview. We don't know what questions are asked, but the answers are long enough to overlay the image of the talking head with pictures or footage. Shallow focus is used to make sure the interviewee is the main focus of the shot. We do not hear the questions that are asked to those in frame. Everyone in this documentary is constantly aware of the presence of the camera, so even if they are not being interviewed they are careful with their words, knowing they will exist forever.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

This films feels like one end of a conversation. You only hear the interviewers voice once, all the other times the subjects talk, answering unheard questions. However the answers are so long and storied that they can stand on their own easily. Their voices are heard over the images of the food they have prepared, the actions they need to do to get their ingredients and the customers enjoying their hard work. It's a history and look at the future all in one. There is little interaction between the different interview subjects. They don't have recorded conversations. There is only one instance that two subjects are asked the same question at the same time (when we actually hear the interviewers voice).

The War on Democracy

John Pillager uses many techniques in his movies to create a documentary that explains his views on a situations. For this he uses archive footage but also interviews. Some of these interviews are formal. They are sit down interviews where two camera's are used to look at both the interviewee and the interviewer. The use of shallow focus makes sure that we are focused on the people talking. There are also shorter informal interviews in which only the interviewee is seen. They are talking to a person, not the camera and look around them to show what they are talking about. The questions are always heard being asked so that we know exactly what the people are reacting to. There is B-roll footage used over the answers to illustrate the points these people are making.

How to use Archive footage

Many documentaries use some sort of documentary footage, it being CCTV, interviews or old news reports. I've decided to look at some examples of this, to see how this works and why it works.

The first movie I looked at is 'There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane' by Liz Garbus. It is both a reconstruction using archive footage and an investigation. After a horrific car crash in which 8 people died, the toxicology report showed that Diane Schuler had been drunk and high while driving a car the wrong way on a highway. Her husband and sister-in-law both stated that this was not something Diane would ever do, and decide to hire and investigator. This is all done using newly shot footage. However, intercut into this are clips of the highway with the cars, the news reports of the crash and the frantic phone calls that happened on the day. As the investigation moves forward, we get more archive footage to paint a better picture of what happened.

One of the documentaries that was discussed in class was 'Rich Hall's Inventing the Indians'. In this documentary they have mostly used footage from old Western films. Once again there is a narrative woven from archive footage and new material. This time however, there is a narrator to guide us through the story. Where 'Aunt Diane' tried to sketch an objective picture, Rich hall tries to make us aware of what the media is showing us and how it has shaped our views of the indigenous peoples. The use of archive footage is mostly to prove a point and to make us aware. By contrasting the realities of how these people actually live with what is show on film, we get a clear picture of how Hollywood treats anyone who is different from the white American. 

'Gimme Shelter' has lass to do with archive footage as the footage at the time was new. The movie was screened for the first time 1 year after the disaster of the concert took place. As in all the documentaries I've seen so far, it is an intercut of old and new footage. In this case footage of the concerts is intercut with footage of the concert planning and the band in the editing room reviewing the footage. This gives the audience breaks to think about what they've seen. The use of the band as both subject of the documentary and steering force by stating which pieces of footage they want to review is (so far) unique to this one film .None of the other films I've seen used their subjects as editing tools. Due to it being a film about the Rolling Stones, there is more music than investigation.

Due to the first documentary I made for this course being about my family, the research turns to the documentary 'Stories We Tell'. In this movie a family is being investigated by one of the daughters. The whole family is part of the Canadian entertainment industry as producers, actors and directors. The main focus of the film is getting people to tell their side of the story and in that way to get to the truth. Although there is some real archive material, most of the scenes in the past are acted out by actors. However, these scenes are all shot in Super 8 to give them an authentic look. News paper clippings are also used to illustrate the past. The cuts between modern interviews and past scenes is what gives the film its depth. Certain scenes are repeated several times in the movie to illustrate the way different people form different sides of the story felt like the events happened. 

For the love of (fa)mi(ly)

What is it like to make a documentary?

• Susan Sontag quote with family footage
• Susan Sontag quote with family pictures
• Re-cutting #TinyAdventures footage into a world according to me.
• My face intercut with things that make me me (planning, schedules, food, bed, books, DVDs etc.)
• Animation of me (think Waltz with Bashir)