Week 15

It is bizarre to think that this semester is already at an end. Although directing my 495 Documentary has been a trialling time, I am thankful for all that I have learned. I learned that I must scout for a suitable production team in advance and require a portfolio of previous works in order to determine whether or not their style will be suitable for my film. This was my first film as a director and it was extremely difficult to maintain a clear picture of what I wished to convey throughout production. I am quite happy with the storyline created through the interviews, but I wish I had time to re-shoot or schedule an additional film shoot to gather more in-depth answers. I also learned that you should constantly be thinking about b-roll. My team shot hours of b-roll footage, but we forgot to gather more diverse b-roll (such as establishing shots that depicted an organization's building).

My experience with Waterfowl(ed) has also clarified that directing documentaries is the career option I wish to pursue after I graduate. I find the puzzle in filming a documentary absolutely fascinating because you see the story unfold before you at every shot and how each individual you interview is interconnected. As an anthropology major as well, I found myself curious to expand the project into a cultural ethnography on the people to advocate to help the environment and wildlife while others do not within our societal culture.

Druscilla and I have one final meeting to finalize our Post-Production plan. I will be completing the finishing touches to the film once my brother has created a musical score to accompany it. Hopefully Waterfowl(ed) will be accepted into some film festivals!

Week 14

There was not too much done this week due to Thanksgiving break. I chose to stay in Wilmington instead of flying to see my family so I would be able to complete my film projects for this semester. 

Since my editor will not be able to meet until later tonight, I edited Waterfowl(ed) as much as I could. I added additional b-roll and I also began adding lower-thirds and titles. I was very pleased to hear that everyone in class thought my documentary had a good narrative arc and meaningful b-roll. I am very pleased with my first directorial debut. With all of the difficulties while producing this film, I have grown and learned a lot as a documentary filmmaker. A good portion of our later footage looks stunning, but I wish this was the case for the entire film, but you live and learn!

We have also completed budgeting from pre-production, production, and post-production costs. Druscilla and I also discussed changing the postcard design I originally created. It is a bit murky and our website, indiegogo, and film are not as mundane.

I have scheduled an additional editing session with Luqi on Thursday, but I believe we may be able to complete the majority of the film by tonight. I am also hoping to submit it to the Student-Screening tomorrow afternoon. 

Week 13

I am ecstatic to say this week was our final week of filming!!! We managed to schedule an interview and two days of b-roll shooting. It all went quite well. The weather managed to be in our favor until Sunday morning. It was raining and cold the morning we returned to SkyWatch Bird Rescue for our b-roll reshoot. Amelia was accommodating and pleasant as always. When we told her that we would be donating any additional funds from our film, her expression was priceless. Amelia's reaction assured me that my documentary is addressing a worthy cause that needs to raise awareness.

After reviewing the footage in the editing lab, I was not extremely happy with Dr. Gnyp's interview. It is slightly out of focus and the lighting is a bit flat, but if there is anything that I have learned this semester, it is to take what you have and make the best of it. The b-roll we shot at SkyWatch and around Wilmington was stunning. I think my DP has finally learned to use the FS100 to its full capability. Sad to say that this did not happen until our last week of filming.

Sunday afternoon, I met with Luqi for another editing session. I confirmed the narrative structure for Waterfowl(ed) and Luqi helped me cut out redundant or unnecessary information. We cut down the film to roughly under 15 minutes. Color-corrections are completed. All we need to complete now is edit audio and add some more b-roll where it is needed. Although the footage within my film is not the best quality, I believe the story I have constructed will make it a suitable documentary.

Cucalorus Reflection

I attended the Devil’s Tongues shorts block, which screened The Babysitter Murders, CROW HAND!!!, Disco Inferno, Fuck Buddies, Man Without Direction, Ramona, and Trust. This was my first year attending Cucalorus, and I must say this shorts block was a great way to start my experience. I am a huge fan off all things horror and gore. Each of these films covered the wide spectrum of horror film genres from demonic gatherings to campy prosthetics. The shorts block was held at Jengo’s, which provided a cozy and relaxed atmosphere. Everyone felt comfortable to laugh, scream, or moan in disgust during the screenings. However, the late night gathering at Jengo’s backyard was also occurring at the same time. The noise was extremely loud and took me out of the films, especially hearing drunk girls whining about how cold it was outside. The director of The Babysitter Murders, Ryan Spindell, attended the screening, but I was extremely disappointed that they did not organize a Q&A for him. He did talk briefly before the screening, but I would have liked to ask him questions after viewing his film. Ryan made an excellent point that not all horror films need to be feature length, that some of the scariest stories don’t take a long time to develop. He said he is greatly inspired by The Twilight Zone and how their episodes, although short, left a huge impact upon the audience. I completely agree with him and I feel most theatrically released films lose their sense of horror because of this ‘need’ to have a longer runtime. The Babysitter Murders was better than an recent horror film I’ve seen in theaters.

Another phenomenal screening I attended was The Anthropologist. This was the number one film I needed to view at Cucalorus. I was excited for it ever since it caught my eye in the film listings. The Anthropologist is exactly the type of documentary that I wish to create for my career. I was even presented with the amazing opportunity to meet and converse with the director of the film, Jeremy Newberger. I was in the Filmmaker's lounge to kill some time before the screening of The Anthropologist, and Jeremy was sitting right across from me as I was talking to my friends about how ecstatic I was to finally see the film. My dream career is to do exactly what he does and it was inspiring to meet someone who has had a successful career in this field. Jeremy also directed The Linguists, which addresses the death of languages and how the studies of linguists help preserve endangered languages. I even viewed this film for my linguistics course a few semesters ago. At first, I was terrified to start a conversation, but he ended up being very welcoming and offered me terrific advice in pursuing anthropological documentaries, such as how to scout for a topic and how to prepare for travel. We exchanged contact information and I hope I will be able to contact him to kick-start my career! The screening overall was fantastic except that someone next to me was obnoxiously crunching on some popcorn they brought. The Q&A afterward even included the anthropologist herself, Susan Crates! Having anthropology as my second major, hearing her insights and studies in person was inspiring as well. This was without a doubt the best experience I had while at Cucalorus! 

Week 12

Since our film shoot last week had to be cancelled, Druscilla confirmed and scheduled a new film shoot for this coming weekend (Nov 20-22). This will be our final film shoot for Waterfowl(ed)!!! 

We will being interviewing Dr. Joni Gynp, a veterinarian for the Cape Fear Raptor Center and Rocky Point Animal Hospital. I reviewed the interview questions I originally wrote and revised/edited them. Our interview with Dr. Gynp is scheduled for Friday at 8am. 

Amelia has also already confirmed for a reshoot of b-roll at SkyWatch Bird Rescue for this weekend. 

For our third day of filming scheduled for this weekend, we will be traveling around Wilmington to gather more diverse b-roll. We plan on going to Greenfield Lake, Hugh McCrae Park, Hewletts Creek, and also on UNCW's campus. I also went through SkyWatch Bird Rescue and Carolina Waterfowl Rescue's websites again to collect more photos of waterfowl injuries. 

I would have liked to have met with our editor this weekend, but she was a full-time volunteer at Cucalorus. We are planning to meet this coming weekend to trim down my 'rough' rough cut, which has a run time of 18 minutes. 

Week 11

This week we originally had two film shoots scheduled, but all of the FS100 cameras were already checked out of the equipment room and we had to postpone them to the weekend of November 20th.

I met with our editor Luqi and we completed color corrections of all of the b-roll I will be using so far. I also completed an 'rough' rough cut of Waterfowl(ed). Right now, the film is at an 18 minute run-time. Amelia has so much to say and it will be difficult to cut out a lot of her input without addressing the issues I wish to focus on. I still wish to include a veterinarian for the film to provide an alternate view, but I'm not sure if it is necessary.

Again, I definitely need to obtain more diverse b-roll to incorporate into Amelia's interview. I also collected many photos from both SkyWatch and Carolina Waterfowl Rescue for waterfowl injured by fishing lines, volunteers, and oil spills.  I believe this archive photos will provide the audience with a realistic view of what these organization deal with everyday without exploiting injured wildlife on film.

I believe the most difficult task I have to face now if condensing my film into a 15 minute cut without losing vital information needed to provide the audience with adequate knowledge on how to prevent harming waterfowl.

Week 10

This week I met with our editor, Luqi Zhao, and we began color corrections. We color corrected the Amelia Mason, Jennifer Gordon, and Dr. Mallin interviews so far. Luqi has been an amazing help and the footage is already looking festival ready. The biggest issue we are facing in regards to color-corrections is that Dr. Mallin's setting is mainly green, but his face is very pink. These color palettes are very close together when color correcting; we will hopefully find a way to fix this issue.

The Waterfowl(ed) Indiegogo campaign has been a huge success! After 11 days of being live, we are already 152% funded. Kathleen Scott, a San Diego producer and conservationist, found Waterfowl(ed)'s campaign and said she is looking forward to my film and would like to see updates!

I have also put together a list of festivals I would be interested to submit to, which include:

• International Wildlife Film Festival
• RiverRun International Film Festival
• Colorado Environmental Film Festival
• Margaret Mead Film Festival
• Cucalorus Film Festival
• Vancouver International Women in Film Festival
• Women's Independent Film Festival

This weekend, we have our B-roll reshoot at SkyWatch Bird Rescue and generalized b-roll (lakes, rivers, fishing, trash, drainage, fertilizers, retention ponds) scheduled. We are hoping to schedule an interview with Dr. Gynp for Friday morning, but Druscilla has yet to receive a confirmation. 

Week 9

This week we did not have a film shoot schedule, so it was quite quiet. Druscilla and I officially launched our Indiegogo campaign. It will last 45 days and our goal is to raise $500 and have the unused funds donated to SkyWatch Bird Rescue.

Druscilla created a Facebook page and we have already had 62 people like Waterfowl(ed)'s page. I hope to build a stronger following because we have only received one donation so far. We were able to begin most of our Marketing and Distribution assignment.

We are still having issues contacting Dr. Gynp for an interview. We have collected enough footage to support my documentary, but I would still like her insight available to add if needed. While editing our footage, I have thought of a lot more b-roll that needs to be included in the film such as fishing, drains, retention ponds, and feeding geese bread.

Druscilla confirmed and scheduled our reshoot with Amelia at SkyWatch Bird Rescue for November 8th. The interview footage was fine, but we need to reshoot b-roll. Luckily I have had time to think more thoroughly about what story I wish to tell through Waterfowl(ed). Amelia will be the main focus holding the academic narrative together. For our next b-roll shoot at SkyWatch, we will capture Amelia's daily routine while caring for injured birds, the grounds, and more of Isabella, the swan.

Week 8

This week we accomplished a lot towards Waterfowl(ed). On Tuesday, we filmed Dr. Mallin, who researches freshwater quality and pollution. I believe his professional insight will provide a greater depth to this film. The only issue with this shoot was the 'humming' room tone in his laboratory, which we used as the interview location.

We also scheduled our film shoot 'road trip' to Charlotte this week. We left Thursday afternoon and Druscilla's family was very welcoming and allowed us to stay for the night. Very early the next morning, we finally filmed our sunrise b-roll. It was absolutely stunning and I'm extremely happy with the footage. However, we did have some issues regarding our sound recording. Our XLR cable created a terrible buzzing sound, so we had to use the shotgun mic for the remainder of filming.

Later that day, we drove to Carolina Waterfowl Rescue to film our interview with Jennifer Gordon. This was the most difficult shoot I've had to deal with yet. Setting up the lighting at the barn location was extremely stressful due to the loud ambient noise of the surrounding rescue birds. We collected a massive amount of b-roll!

The only film shoots left to schedule include an interview with Dr. Gynp (a vetinarian who works closely with SkyWatch Bird Rescue), b-roll of retention ponds, feeding geese, drains, fishing, and a reshoot of b-roll at Skywatch Bird Rescue.

Week 7

This week we rescheduled our "sunrise" shoot at Greenfield Lake Park for Friday morning. To our misfortune, the second we set up the camera, it began to pour down rain. We left with no footage and numerous mosquito bites. We will have to reschedule this b-roll shoot yet again, but I think I will change it to a "sunset" shoot to make scheduling much easier (plus we can sleep in).

We have also scheduled Dr. Mallin's interview for Tuesday afternoon and we hope his expertise in environmental water quality will create more depth to our film. Druscilla is still trying to get in contact with Dr. Gynp to schedule an interview. She has already confirmed she was interested.

We will be traveling to Charlotte to interview Carolina Waterfowl Rescue this weekend. Their facilities, although damaged from the hurricane, are very impressive and they have an abundance of waterfowl patients. On their Facebook page, they posted a video of Casper, a goose, who lost his entire beak. We hope we can use him as our "recovery story" because although he was severely injured, Carolina Waterfowl Rescue believed he had the strength to survive. The video showed Casper eating food, despite not having a beak.

Week 6

This week we planned on filming our 'sunrise' shoot, but due to the hurricane storms we had to postpone it. However, we did schedule an interview with the Chair of Wilmington Ducks Unlimited, Chris Coleman. The interview went very well and Druscilla did an excellent job finding a suitable office location on campus within a few days notice.  I plan on editing together a rough cut of both Amelia and Chris’ interviews this weekend.

I plan on shooting some additional B-roll this coming week, if fair weather will permit us to do so. We will be filming our ‘sunrise’ shoot at Greenfield Lake Park, filming additional lake footage (and possibly kids feeding wild waterfowl) at Hugh McCrae park, and filming a retention pond in my neighborhood at Marsh Oaks.

We are also planning our road trip film shoot to Charlotte to interview Carolina Waterfowl Rescue. Druscilla has confirmed that our film date will be Friday, Oct 16^th. We will drive to Charlotte the night before and stay at Druscilla’s parents’ home in kind. Carolina Waterfowl Rescue is a larger organization and we believe they will add more depth to the narrative construction for this documentary without overriding the focus on Amelia Mason.

Another goal this week is to complete our Indiegogo campaign to begin raising the necessary funds for this documentary.

Week 5

This week we had our first film shoot at SkyWatch Bird Rescue. It was scheduled for Friday morning, but Amelia was called out for an emergency rescue and had to cancel. We rescheduled for Saturday morning. The shoot went well overall and Amelia was a pleasure to interview. Unfortunately, due to the terrible weather, the b-roll we shot outside looks terrible. I hope to schedule a reshoot and to use my Canon 60D so we can use my zoom lens to get extreme close up shots of the waterfowl. Luckily, we decided to film Amelia’s interview indoors so we will not need to reshoot that.

I am not very pleased with most of the footage taken at SkyWatch and I may start scouting for a new DP. The only issue is that it was difficult to find a DP in the first place. Adam was very nice to work with, but several of his shots did not retain focus for more than a few seconds. The footage was not very consistent stylistically (ISO, aperture) and this made it very difficult to color correct. The Sony FS100 was great for the interview, but did not seem suitable for the outdoor footage. Hopefully the Canon 60D will have better results.

Week 4

This week we have scheduled and confirmed our first expert interview shoot with Amelia Mason at SkyWatch Bird Rescue. We will be filming on Friday, September 25^th, at 10 am. I emailed Amelia some of the interview questions so she will have an idea of what I will be asking.

Our Director of Photography will be Adam Fackelman and our Sound Mixer will be Taylor O’Steen. These crewmembers are not confirmed for future shoots, but I am hoping they will be able to continue so the film’s visual and audio style will remain consistent.

I also had a break-through in my research. I found two new experts that will add depth to the film. Dr. Gynp of the Rocky Point Animal Hospital has worked closely with SkyWatch Bird Rescue in medically treating (via medication or surgery) its rehabilitating birds. I believe she will provide an insight to how severe some injuries or illnesses are due to common human habits, such as feeding birds bread and improperly discarded waste (plastic, fishing lines, etc). The other new expert is Jennifer Gordon, the Executive Director of Carolina Waterfowl Rescue. I believe this wild bird rehabilitation organization will provide a better ‘recovery bird’ subject needed for the film because they cater primarily to waterfowl. The only concern is that its location is more than 3 hours away.