DIY! - Other Things to Remember

As you get done with different edits, it’s really quite important to have others watch your film.  If one person shoots and edits the film, objectivity will be lost.  Have people in film production, as well as regular people, watch your film.  Write down all their comments and sort through them.  There will be some comments that are off base, however, take very seriously the comments that people have in common.  If you find yourself having to explain a lot about the film, all the information that you’re telling probably needs to be in the film.

Pay for a screening to get people to watch the film.  It’s better if they don’t know you, because sometimes the feedback is better.   Have them fill out questionnaires.  Your introduction at these screenings should be short. (“Hi and thank you for coming.  Let me know what you think about this film.”  Exit the stage and start the film.)  Don’t talk about it.  The film should speak for itself.

As a filmmaker, you must find your voice and stick with it.  The film should get a point across and it should be the same point, whether or not you are present for the screening.  I found that people react to images and information on an emotional level.  It’s important to keep this in mind when editing the film.  

I had difficulties in creating the structure.  I thought that the information alone would speak for itself.  It didn’t. I really struggled with the structure of the film because I thought it made sense, but when I would screen the film for people, after seeing it, they would be so shell-shocked from all the information that they were unable to carry on any sort of rational discussion.  I resisted being in front of the camera, but after hearing again and again that the film needed some sort of structure, I decided to put myself in the film as a last ditch effort.  I borrowed a camera and shot about 7 tapes (most of the tapes were spent trying to figure out how to use the camera) and used the footage for less than one minute in the main film, but it’s enough.  The pictures in D.C. also provided both structure and some sort of (comic?) relief for the viewer.  I’m not sure exactly what it lends, but it somehow helps the film.  Although the level of questions is varied and the film starts out overly simplistic, they are methods to build both an arc and the complexity, as well as lighten the film.

It was also structured based on people’s emotional reactions.  After having people graph or draw their emotional reactions to the film, I found that after the Foreign Aid section, people were emotionally drained, so the Values section was positioned right after it. It pulls the viewers’ emotional reaction in a different direction, giving their minds time to take a break from all the information that was given to them in the previous sections.

Editing is poetry and there is great strength in editing.  Be careful and treat the notion with respect.  There should be a sense of timing to your film.  Because Considering Democracy deals with serious issues, all the sections are less than 7.5 minutes and they all follow a similar pattern.  Get familiar with the subconscious impacts that many editing techniques have.  A fade has different uses and should be used in a different manner than a straight cut.  That said, it took me a really long time to figure this out, and a lot of people gave me really good advice and feedback throughout the process.

The working title of the film was Growing Democracy, then was changed to Considering Democracy, and was still a hodgepodge of views and statistics until the structure with 8 questions and the weaving editing pattern was brought into the film in November 2007.  It has taken a long time.  Persistence is really important. 

Remember to have a sense of humor. I made it around the world with my camera and equipment in working order, then was shooting some pickup shots with the globe when the camera, tripod and all, fell into a stream. It happened less than a mile from my house.

Finishing a film project is like finishing a house.  Think about how much it will cost and how long it will take, and multiply the final numbers by 3, 5 or 9, depending on how you feel on that day.

DVD Authoring

Even if you have exported your project out to tape, even though you have compressed it into an .avi file and have watched and listened to it on different platforms, once it is transcoded into an mpeg file for the DVD, the footage will sound and look slightly different.  I think that Dolby Stereo is also encoded when using Adobe Encore, which may have also affected the final outcome. When I was really tired of looking at the project (getting headaches looking at the project) I was really hoping that it would be done, only to find that the nature of the audio had changed.  I went back and made more changes and now, maybe now, it might be done.  After pushing through the headaches, I do find that I like the project more after changes were made.  Remember, the DVD may be all that people see of you.  They don’t see the years of blood, sweat and tears.  They see a button that doesn’t route where they want to go.  Take the time to fix it, yet remember that there will always be things to change.  It’s a fine line of deciding to let go and keeping some sanity.

Have resilience and persistence.  Even if you’ve been telling people for three years that you’ve been working on a project, it will be even nicer once you can say that it is done, and that you’re proud of it.  I’m not necessarily proud of the effort, being that it took me so long, but I am proud of the final project.  There’s a difference.  Make the changes and push through the frustration.  It will get better and easier.