Creative Critical Reflection

 In the Documentary Impact, the initiation of a community-benefiting project is described and reflected on to inspire others to take similar initiatives. The documentary highlights the issue of plastic consumption and waste in the United States and explains how a student-led project aims to address this issue. 

The idea for the film arose with the initiation of the project Recycle Beyond the Bag (RBB) at the Interact Club at Cypress Bay. The concept of bringing awareness to plastic waste while also inspiring others to initiate projects similar to RBB made the idea compelling. Before the idea arose, several documentaries were viewed in class which prompted choices made later in the production process. The films all had parts of them that stood out, and that served as inspiration for the production of Impact. The film “The American Promise” uses a mix of direct and indirect interviews and natural feeling B-roll to tell the story of two African American kids that attend a majority-white private school in New York. The documentary “Exit through the Gift Shop” uses interviews as a narration to describe the events leading up to the opening of Thierry Guetta’s art gallery. The documentary series “Abstract: The Art of Design” uses a staged B-roll to create an artistic feel to the piece and does a great job of editing interviews together smoothly to create an episode catered to one specific type of art. After viewing the documentaries, and coming up with an idea for the film, the genre conventions had to be decided.

For the most part, Impact followed the genre conventions of a documentary. These conventions were inspired by choices made in the films researched prior. They include Indirect Interviews on either the left or the right third (not the middle), music in the background, using interviews as voiceovers at times, inserting B-roll during interviews, using some staged B-roll, and some not. Following genre conventions helped the piece feel educational and informative as it felt like the film was presenting facts about plastic and RBB, which aligned with the piece’s purpose to inspire others to initiate beneficial projects. Sticking to the genre conventions was also good because it would most likely attract the target audience of the film which is high school, males and females, who are passionate about sustainability and who want to make a difference in their community. Deviating from conventions could’ve made the piece overly artistic and distracting which could cause the target audience to lose sight of the purpose. For example, originally there was supposed to be an upbeat montage in the film which showed the box construction process and had a playful energy to it, but because that choice did not follow genre conventions and it did not match the tone of the rest of the film, it was decided that it was best to exclude it from the film.

Impact includes many interviews, videos of nature, staged B-roll, and music (when fitting) to engage and connect with the audience, in hopes of making an “impact” on them and their communities. Making the film engaging was essential to achieving the purpose of the piece, and the production choices that were made reflect this idea. For example, during the interview with the Environmental Specialist Margarita from Rotary At Weston, the subject takes out a bag full of plastic that she collected in the past few weeks from her house. This demonstration is not only visually engaging but also makes the viewer think about how much plastic they are consuming weekly. Another example of this is at the end of the film where Sofia discusses her passion for the environment and the success of the project while videos of plastic in wildlife and videos of pretty landscapes are shown. This part of the film is supposed to evoke an emotional reaction in the audience, furthering their connection and empathy towards the cause, leading them to get involved and foster change.

Making a documentary about plastic recycling helps highlight social issues related to the environment. Plastic waste doesn’t only harm nature, it also affects people, especially people who live in poorer communities who live near landfills or other polluted areas. Plastic consumption is tied to bigger problems like inequality and injustice. The film focuses on how the initiation of a project like Recycle beyond the bag which might seem like a small action, can lead to big changes. The company in charge of the project, NexTrex, makes outdoor furniture out of the plastic it collects meaning that future generations will witness the lasting effects of this project. This highlights the idea that anyone, no matter their age, can make a difference in their community. By showing how something so simple as recycling can be a part of a big movement for a cleaner and healthier future, this documentary can inspire viewers to take action and think about their role in building a more sustainable world.

Documentary Post-Production

The production process took up a lot of our time because not only were we filming a documentary, but we were also initiating the Recycle Beyond the Bag project. This meant that we had one day to edit... which was not the best idea, I know! but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. The day before we began to edit, Sofia and I were trying to figure out how we were going to edit the project. We tried using Adobe Premiere Pro and making a shared project but that didn't work out, and then we tried to make a shared project on CapCut, but that only gave us 1.0 GB of footage that we could upload which didn't work out either. We decided that what would be best is to divide the film into smaller parts so that we could edit specific sections of the piece and then put it together using Capcut.

Here is the note I made myself to remember which parts of the film I was editing (it was basically the first half): margarita what is the project why is it important with title name, Sofia how did you receive this project, what was the process like. get a team, talk to Boswell Zoom, publicize, girl making flyer, print flyers putting them up, get boxes, other boxes in the garage, build boxes montage, execute, going to teachers asking, b roll of built boxes I took.

I know that seemed like a whole lot of nothing but it worked for me. Initially, I was going to edit the beginning up until the end of the step-by-step explanation of the process. I ended up editing from the beginning up until the flyers were put up around the school because I was getting burned out and Sofia offered to take over. Above you can also see that originally we had a montage planned for the part with the box building because we had a ton of really funny and creative clips and we thought it would be a nice touch to the piece. During editing, we decided it was better to not include the montage because it did not fit with the tone of the film and would be too abrupt. Here are some clips we took that were going to be included in the montage. 

Before Sofia could start editing, she needed the completed first half of the film that I edited. There was a little problem though. When I tried to export the file from Capcut, it said that I had "Insufficient hard disk space." What does that even mean? 

After freaking out for a solid 5 minutes, I found a way to share the video through a shared cloud on Capcut and then she was able to access it on her phone and export it there. This did cause a delay in audio I think especially in the first half of the film which wasn't great, but since Sofia couldn't edit what I had already done, she couldn't really fix it when she realized.  

Overall, our editing process could've gone smoother if we had given ourselves more time. Maybe we could've had time to fix small things like abrupt cuts and minor delays. Besides the post-production process, our research, planning, and production went very smoothly, and I am happy with how our piece came out despite the obstacles we faced.

Documentary Production

The first step of the production process for Impact was getting environmental B-roll with plastic. Luckily, our school was full of plastic (it's a problem). During our Aice Media class period, Sofia and I  went around the school shooting videos of plastic in the grass, on the floor, in the garbage can, and anywhere else you can think of. We also got some aesthetic shots of trees, flowers, and butterflies to add to the ending sequence where Sofia explains how she feels successful (makes it emotional).

                                               

                                               

                                       

As I mentioned before, Sofia got a group together from the Interact Club and throughout the filming process, they would send us videos they took of Home Depot runs, discussions with teachers about the project, flyer creation, and more. We incorporated these videos into our film as B-roll and as footage to show the progress of the project. Sofia and Mr. Boswell also went on a Zoom call to discuss information about the collection of the bags and we included a part of it to explain what the collection would look like.

                                         

                                         

                                         

Next, we filmed Margarita's interview one day after school in the courtyard. She brought a bag of plastic with her to show how much plastic her family would consume in around two weeks, which worked great with our purpose. Her interview was very insightful and informational and we got a lot of great footage. One reason that Margarita's interview worked out so well with our documentary was that she served as a credible and trustworthy source for the information we wanted to present and she did it in a way that was engaging for the audience.

We then printed the flyer that was made for the project and put it around the school. We filmed some of the locations for the B-roll. We also built the Home Depot Boxes that people brought to put up in the classrooms of teachers who wanted to promote the project. 

                                           

                                           

                                           

That same day, we filmed Sofia and Mr. Boswell's interview in his classroom and that was the last of the content we had to film. 

                                       

                                      

Documentary Research/Planning

After viewing the documentaries, it was time to research the company sponsoring the project, NexTrex, and its purpose. Nextrex is a recycling company that collects plastic and converts it into environmentally responsible outdoor furniture. They have several drop-off locations around the U.S. and have partnered with other organizations such as The Rotary Club of Weston to get more plastic collection. Recycle Beyond the Bag is a project that helps NexTrex collect more plastic by having cardboard boxes in schools where kids can throw away their uncontaminated plastic trash. This project makes the plastic recycling process significantly easier for the younger generation because instead of going to a drop-off location, they can just throw it out on their way out of class, eventually increasing the amount of plastic collected by NexTrex.

Next, we thought about what specifically we wanted to make our film about and how we would approach it. After brainstorming, we decided that since we had about a week and a half to make our documentary, it would be unrealistic to make it about the execution and completion of the project because that would take too long. We then figured we could make it about the initiation of a community-benefiting project and how the project can make a difference in the community. Here is our initial planning outline (was slightly tweaked later): 

-Indirect/ direct interview of Margarita introducing the project and explaining why it is important

-Indirect/ direct interview of Sofia explaining the origin of the project and process (in between all of the B-roll showing the process, there will be cutaways back to the interview with Sofia and extra b-roll of sticky note/whiteboard shots)

-Get a team together

-Ask Boswell

-Publicize flyer montage (creation, execution)

-Build Home Depot buying boxes, creating boxes

-3rd step is asking teachers, to put boxes in different classrooms

-Interviews with Margarita and Boswell come back to go in-depth further about the project

- Direct interview with Sofia comes back fully where we hear someone ask do you feel accomplished? She explains her answer with B-roll engaging the audience

Additionally, we talked to the sponsor and teacher advisor of Interact Club at Cypress Bay, Mr. Boswell. We informed him about our idea and asked him if he would be interested in being interviewed for our film. He agreed. We then contacted the Environmental Specialist at the Rotary Club of Weston, Margarita, via text to see if she would be able to meet for an in-person interview. At first, we were only going to be able to do a Zoom call, but we figured out a day when we could all meet at Cypress Bay and film her interview. We then wrote the interview questions for Sofia, Mr. Boswell, and Margarita. Here are some of the questions we asked:

-How can these projects make a difference in these local communities (the environment and the people)? (Margarita)

-How has it been seeing your students take this project and transform it into a reality? (Mr.Boswell)

-What were some obstacles you faced? (Sofia)

After the questions were written and we completed the planning, Sofia put a group together from the board members of the Interact club and asked them to help her initiate the project. We decided on the name "Impact" for our piece, to symbolize the potential influence a project like this could have on our local community. We were now ready to start the production process.

Documentary Research (Viewings)

For my documentary assignment, I chose to work with my friend Sofia and create a documentary about a recycling project called "Recycle Beyond The Bag" that she was initiating through an Environmental Club called Interact. We chose to make the documentary specifically about the initiation of a community-benefiting project and how although the igniting of a big project can be daunting, it is completely possible and very rewarding. 

Before diving into the production of the film, a lot of research had to be done. In class, we watched a few documentaries that inspired us. The Documentaries "American Promise" and "Exit Through the Gift Shop" influenced some of the choices we made later on in the production process, such as the types of interviews and the structure of our piece. They also were helpful because they exemplified documentary conventions and went against them simultaneously, which helped us understand what a documentary was supposed to look like.

   

Besides watching these two films in class, we were also instructed to view the documentary series on Netflix called: "Abstract: The Art of Design." This piece felt less organic than the other two films because the film used a lot of staged and artistic shots to create the show's aesthetic. We used this as inspiration for some of our B-roll as we used a mixture of staged and organic B-roll in our documentary. This series helped us understand how to incorporate a staged B-roll without making the film feel fake or unnatural. These episodes also had a lot of interviews and did a great job of editing different interviews together to fit the purpose of the piece, which was helpful for us in the post-production process.

Once we became familiar with a few documentaries, and decided what we liked from each, we were ready to start researching recycling beyond the bag and plan our film.

ITS A NEW YEAR!!!

IM BACKK!! I am very excited to get back on here as an A-Level student and start working on new stuff!! This year I'm hoping to learn and grow from the mistakes I made last year, and hopefully be proud of the work I create. It feels good to be back blogger.

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

Here are the links to my two CCRS. Hope you enjoy!

CCR#1

CCR#2