The interviews were well-planned and the overall documentary reflected it; however there was not much planning done for the b-roll and it showed. If I had to go back and redo the documentary, I would have filmed more b-roll either in the dark room or of the editing process of the mother daughter duo working together. I also really did not like the b-roll of the astronaut on the sidewalk. The only reason it made it in the final documentary was because we were lacking b-roll and needed to include something art related. The overall b-roll was complicated to plan because of our topic; it was easy to film something related to art, but as far as b-roll on making artistic hobbies a career, it was more complicated than we expected.
I also did not make the connection that the voiceovers for the documentary had to be one voice. I now understand that the voiceover is important for continuity and it therefore makes the documentary flow better. So, I would definitely go back and fix that as well.
I am very happy with the way the interviews for the mother and daughter duo (Maria and Isa) came out. The lighting was well done as well as the professional environment; the only issue was the direction in which Maria was looking for her interview. We were in a corner so it was hard for me to be to the side of the camera conducting the interview. It would have been a better idea for me to simply move the entire interview in that case.
The lighting for Santi’s interview was also weird due to its location and timing. It was very difficult to get the time for the interviews since the interviewees kept changing schedules around and the time and location of Santi’s interview reflected it. Santi’s interview got pushed back due to how long we spent filming Maria and Isabella’s interview. We were planning on filming in the library and then we were subsequently told we could not film there, which led us to almost film outside but it was the time of sunset and we did not want lighting to be an issue as well as lose the continuity of indoor interviews.
Overall, there’s a few minor things that could be fixed up. But, for our first documentary project, I think it was well done and we stayed on task with our topic. I would like to change those little mistakes, even if it is just for me.
I think that the topic ties well within my peers and age group in general because there are a lot of people I know who do want to make a career out of an artistic hobby. Some of them are being supported by their families and some are not, which is what I felt engaged many of the viewers.
The documentary challenges conventions because it brings up the controversial topic of having a career that is not only a 9:00 am to 5:00 pm job, but also something that somebody genuinely enjoys and is not just doing it for the money.
The documentary represents social groups and issues because there is a stigma within the art world that you cannot have a successful career which supports you financially, hence the term “struggling artist.” It’s no shock that the highest ranking jobs are technology and medicine oriented (far from the arts). This stigma fosters insecurity around artists and therefore discourages them from pursuing their passions. I think this documentary did a good job at showing that it is very much possible to make a career out of an artistic hobby, and not to be afraid of doing so.
