Documentary Research

 Hey blog! It feels good to be back :)

In the very beginning of October, we began researching and learning all about documentaries because we later on created our very own (which I will get more into later)!!! 

It all started with some basic research on what a documentary is + it's key factors. 

Here are some notes I took in class!!

The first documentary that we watched in class was called:

I Think This Was The Closest To How The Footage Looked (2012)

For this documentary, a man recreates what he remembered to be the last day he had with his mom. The objects used each represent something. The man goes through the entire day using these random objects to show specific details. This was a very emotional documentary as it represents grief as a whole and not wanting to let go of the person you love. I really enjoyed this one.

The next documentary that we watched was called:

Abstract : The Art Of Design (2017)

Abstract, The Art Of Design is an episodic documentary (meaning that the documentary is split between episodes). Each episode is about a different form of art. Some of the arts documented include but are not limited to, interior design, digital products, architecture, graphics, and foot ware design. In class, we watched Ruth Carter's episode about costume design where it followed her experiences with different costuming that she has created. I really enjoyed this episode as it is something that I have always found fascinating. Unfortunately, I was not given the ability to sew or design in general, so watching an expert do it was so much fun :)

The third documentary that we watched is:

American Promise (2014)

This documentary was my personal favorite!! It was filmed over the course of 13 years as it follows the lives of 2 young men in New York. Overall, it shows their experiences (whether they are struggles or achievements) from kindergarten to senior year of high school. American Promise is very real and and heavy with emotions so I feel like it really hit me hard as I grew to really feel for the subjects, Idris and Sheun.

The last and final documentary we watched in class was:

Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010)

This documentary is a British documentary directed by street artist, Banksy. Overall, it tells the story of a French immigrant, Thierry Guetta who over serval years filmed multiple street artists, like Shepard Fairey, Invader, and Banksy. Thierry starts off by just filming these artists and tagging along with them but later on finds his "passion" for art and names himself, Mr. Brainwash. His journey is the central part of the documentary.

After watching full documentaries, we then watched two op-docs of our choice.

The first one I watched was: "Weekend Vacation" Opinion | Weekend Visits - The New York Times

The second one I watched was: "Roaches Lullaby" Opinion | Roaches’ Lullaby - The New York Times

Both of these op-docs really helped me when creating my own documentary because the docs we watched in class were on the longer side and these op-docs are on the shorter side, closer to what we had to make!!