WATCH MORE MOVIES! Suggested List of Films

How many films have you watched on AFI's 100 Greatest American Films of All Time List?

What would you add to this list?

Documentary Storytelling Assignment Examples

Reminder: RESERVE YOUR EQ at least 24-48 HOURS IN ADVANCE! Your equipment can be reserved using the link in Blackboard Learn only AFTER your treatment has been approved via email.

Example Videos: 
We will watch some of these examples in class but I encourage you to watch as many as you're able. 

When you watch the examples, consider:

• WHAT is the story or stories being told (what do you think is the filmmaker's message, or what do you take from his/her piece?) 
• HOW is the story told visually. What are the levels of filmmaking - technical skill, aesthetics/style, color, camera work, etc... being deployed to work in service of the media message? 
• Think CONTEXT, CONTENT & FORM.

Here are some (hopefully) inspiring examples:

Uptopia #3

D-Nice's "Experiencing the Dream"

Brian B+ Cross "KEEPINTOKYO" and "TEEBS"

Noisemaker Media's "Spanish Harlem Hop Park Jam" and "True School Park Jam Series 2010 Trailer"

pouringdown.tv - "of all the things that can happen" and "the skies uptown"

Examples from past 312 students:


Lynita Motes Art from Jana Patton on Vimeo.



The 15th Lake from Xavier Burgin on Vimeo.

Examples from projects on Vimeo:

 Harlem Elvis from John X. Carey on Vimeo.



Kickflip from I Am Los Angeles on Vimeo.



Look Up at the Stars, Portugal! from Matty Brown on Vimeo.



Shelter from the Storm from John X. Carey on Vimeo.


The Guardian from Carly Palmour on Vimeo.



D-Nice Presents: Experiencing The Dream from D-Nice on Vimeo.



2012 True School Park Jam Series Trailer from Noisemaker Media on Vimeo.


Please also see what other TCF students have done before you. Visit the right sidebar and look for TCF 312 Blogs and "Doc Storytelling" or "Portrait of a Place" in the blog post title.

Group 2 - 2 Scenes Exercise

JCM 350 - Hollywood Scene from Tom Klein on Vimeo.

Hollywood Scene: Director - Shelby Billman / DP - Thomas Meason / Editor - Tom Klein

JCM 350 - Auteur Scene from Tom Klein on Vimeo.

JCM 350 - Auteur Scene NOIR from Tom Klein on Vimeo.

Auteur Scene: Director - Lydia Eichler / DP - Ann Hill / Editor - Tom Klein

Group 3 Hollywood Style vs. Auteur Style

Group 3-JCM340-Spring 2018-Advanced Videography from Kristin Whitely on Vimeo.

Group 1: Hollywood Style vs. Auteur Style

Where have you been?

Around.

Around?

Yeah?

Yes.

https://vimeo.com/252641266

The Over Inquisitive Bathroom Buddy from Godfrey Torrance on Vimeo.

This Week's Assignment: Edit 2 Scenes & Watch a Documentary Film

For this week's assignments, you are to:

1) Edit your "2 scenes" and post them HERE, the COURSE blog. If you are having trouble logging in, please email me and I will re-send your blog author invitation as sometimes they get sent to your spam folder. Please post by 9 am on Thursday, before our next class meeting.

2) Watch a documentary that has an interesting storytelling and VISUAL STYLE. You can watch one of my recommends listed here or something you find on your own, but it can't be just flatly framed "talking head" shot cut to (obvious) b-roll shot. Find some VISUAL INSPIRATION!

Here are some examples of VISUALLY COMPELLING docs that have all different sorts of stories, subject matter and are all examples of very creative forms of documentary storytelling:


MONTAGE OF HECK
2015 documentary film about Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain
directed by Brett Morgen
[available streaming on Amazon Video]

Here's the official trailer:




THE DEFIANT ONES
2017 four-part documentary series directed by Allen Hughes for HBO about Jimmy Iovine and his business and creative partnership with Dr. Dre and their famous Beats headphones deal
[available streaming on HBONow and HBOGo]

Here's the official trailer:




EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
2010 documentary directed by the elusive artist BANKSY about his street art and the mystery of Banksy's identity and the phenomenon of his street ar
[available streaming on Amazon Video, YouTube, Google Play]

Here's the official trailer:



13TH
2016 documentary directed by Ava DuVernay about race, justice and mass incarceration in the US
[available streaming on Netflix]

Here's the official trailer:



STORIES WE TELL
2012 documentary by actor/director Sarah Polley which explores family secrets and is about the nature of a story and the power of storytelling
[available streaming on Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Video ]

Here's the official trailer:



WE LIVE IN PUBLIC
2009 documentary directed by Ondi Timoner about the greatest (and perhaps most crazy) internet pioneer that you have never heard of which makes you think about privacy, social media and our modes of communication today... mixed with the insanity of "reality" on the internet
[available streaming on iTunes video and Amazon]

Here's the official trailer:

TUTORIAL: Post-production workflow, exporting and Vimeo compression settings

For your individual video projects, like the upcoming Documentary Storytelling assignment, you will embed a compressed video (using ideal compression settings as suggested by Vimeo) and post to your individual blog.

For the group projects we film in class, you will embed a compressed file and post on this (class) blog. As a group you need to "edit" your group exercises (read: make an assembly edit or string out of shots), and post to this course blog.

Please type the title of exercise in blog post title form, and type of all group member names in body of post. Share any important notes such as type of camera, camera log information, etc.

+ + +

Here are the steps you will need to follow to export:

1. Set up your project file in Adobe Premiere

Most likely 1080 24P (but this depends on the camera and your setting filmed with)

2. Select Media Browser tab, select clips and File > Import > Folder

3. Edit your clips in sequence. Add desired effects and required titles (when requested)

4. When your video is finished, Export

5. To export FULL RESOLUTION Quicktime File:

File > Export  Media > Using Quicktime

Make sure "Same as Sequence Settings" (as long as your sequence is set properly)

This export will export HIGH RESOLUTION if you are exporting "same as sequence settings".

By cntrl clicking (or right mouse clicking) you can GET INFO (Cmd I) and determine file size. This file is NOT optimized for upload with Vimeo.

6. To export a COMPRESSED (or smaller file) Quicktime File:

Follow the settings noted here (shown as screenshots below)

VIMEO COMPRESSION SETTINGS GUIDE

What I'm Watching... at least this week

I am a recent "cable cutter" so I'm only using streaming platforms to view media. Yep, I'm kinda old... so, here's what I have been watching this week:

10. Grey's Anatomy - a few seasons streaming on Hulu

This show is produced by Showrunner Shonda Rhimes and her producing partner Betsey Beers. They are the powerhouse team behind Shondaland, where a TCF alum interned last summer (yep, I'm jealous too)! This show is a bit dramatic and soapy but the storylines and dialog are well-researched and come from headlines and medical journals. I am in love with the characters and will ride with them through every plane crash, car crash, crisis and armed gunman in the hospital.

I am missing Christina Yang and the presence of more Asian-American actors on-screen so here's one of a fan created video of Grey's moments called "you will always be my person":

9. ER -  every episode is streaming on Hulu

My first obsession with medical dramas was ER which was part of NBC's "Must-see TV" on Thursday nights. I used to watch this with my Mom while I was in high school. You can now stream all 15 seasons and 331 episodes on Hulu!

This show was born of the creative genius of novelist and medical Dr. Michael Crichton and was produced by Amblin Television and Warner Brothers. This is the longest-running medical drama in primetime television history.  This fictional telling of Chicago General featured a multicultural cast that starred folks like George Clooney, Eric LaSalle and Julianna Marguiles. If you have never watched this show and like this genre of television, go back and watch them all!

Here's the opening credits that introduces you to all of the characters.

8. Stranger Things - streaming on Netflix

I love the science fiction meets horror show created and showrun by the Duffer Brothers. Set in the fictional Hawkins, Indiana and filmed on location in Georgia, this show shares what it was like to be a child coming of age in the 1980s but when strange things happen. There is great cinematography and camera work on this show. Like with many sci-fi and horror stories, it's as much about what you can see and what's lurking around the dark corner, especially when the lights flicker.

Here's the trailer:

7. Grace and Frankie - streaming on Netflix

Old ladies with potty mouths - what's not to love? And yes, Frankie is my spirit animal!

This show comes from Mara Kaufman, one of the brilliant minds behind Friends. This show stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as unlikely friends brought together when their husbands announce they are divorcing them to marry each other. The show is a comedy that follows broadcast conventions but is shot single camera and the jokes are raw and storylines go there... this is not your mama's sitcom, well maybe it is, if your mama is like me!

6. Star - streaming on Netflix

This show is sort of so bad and melodramatic it's good. Stylistically it's like a television drama meets music video that is modeled like the Fox show Empire. It stars Queen Latifah, who I adore, and three young singer-actors who are doing anything and everything they can to try to climb the ladder to stardom. It's cheesy and cringe-worthy at parts and amazing all at the same time. I get these girls and think they really do live somewhere in Atlanta. 

Here's the show's season one trailer:

A here's a taste of the "music videos" in the show with "I Bring Me" which is the opening credits theme song. It's cheesy but so good in all the wrong ways. I love this show!

 

My favorite thing is this blog about every wig that Miss Carlotta (Queen's character) has worn on the show... the styling on this show is hilarious and incredible!

5. The Fosters  - old episodes are on Netflix and it airs Freeform

This is another soapy teen drama show with a queer twist. From showrunners Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg, which is produced by Jennifer Lopez and her Nuyorican Productions. 

The story follows Callie and her little brother Jude, who get adopted by the queer Moms of the Adams-Foster family. Jude is gay and has really progressive storylines, including a trans boyfriend for Callie in a more recent season. Free Form, the company that ABC Family transFORMed into (you get it, huh?) is soapy teen dramas but with a softer and more contemporary feel.

My summer in LA class visited the set and it was AMAZING to sit on their couch, which I may kinda sorta have done quickly. Also the actor who plays Lena has waved to me... twice. The actor who plays Jude stopped and talked to us during our tour & Fun fact: the actor who plays Brandon Foster was my hallway neighbor the C&IS IN LA class. I maybe sorta took my trash out whenever I heard his voice in the hallway. 

4. Weeds - streaming on Netflix

One of my favorite showrunners is Jenji Kohan who wrote and produced this Netflix original. She is also the mind behind Orange is the New Black and as exec producer of G.L.O.W. (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling). 


Her work is dark comedy that features mostly high-key lighting because you should be able to laugh at the absurdity of life in suburbia and life in prison.I've been called Nancy Botwin, just without the dealing... but I love me some Starbucks with a straw!

3. The End of the F***ing World - streaming on Netflix

This is a really clever British dark comedy that is also dramatic. It's a British television series that is based on the comic series The End of the Fucking World by Charles S. Forsman. The story follows the awkward and unlikely pairing of a high school boy who believes himself to be a serial killer in the making - he reminds me of a young Dexter, which is another show that I loved! So this sociopathic teenager meets angsty Alyssa and the two escape their boring yet tumultuous home lives and find them selves in trouble. 

2. Chasing Coral - streaming on Netflix

 I spent 100+ days living on the ocean teaching on a voyage around the world. I also spent 150+ hour of my sabbatical volunteering at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. I love the ocean and am passionate learning about it. This is an incredibly shot doc. There is a scene in the film about the challenges of shooting this --- it is a much-watch doc! 

1. The 13TH - streaming on Netflix

This documentary is directed by Ava DuVernay who is a brilliant filmmaker who was also the featured filmmaker at our very first Black Warrior Film Festival. After visiting us, she hired several of our students who continue to work with her today... ask about this in class!x

If you haven't seen this film, WATCH IT! It's tough to learn about this side of our country, but it is important, and the cinematography is BRILLIANT. Kira Kelly is my new favorite DP and one of the most talented women cinematographers on the rise.

... & up next in my queue is The Handmaid's Tale. I missed this during my sabbatical so now I want to watch it all. What else should I be watching right now?