mojo43 Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 This is the first documentary that I have done. It was shot on Sony A7sii, Panasonic GH5, Sony Rx100m4 and a Phantom 4 pro. Would love to hear your thoughts! Editing a 30 minute piece is soooo much work. I applaud people who work in this format every day! Trek of Joy, Don Kotlos, arson519 and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitfabryk Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Love it because it's a interesting story and lovely images. mojo43 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Way rad! Awesome content and imagery. Good job man mojo43 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trek of Joy Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 That must have been a cool experience. Kenya is an awesome place. Last year I spent a week touring around with a Maasai guide they're are a really cool people. Nice job. Chris mojo43 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojo43 Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 1 hour ago, Trek of Joy said: That must have been a cool experience. Kenya is an awesome place. Last year I spent a week touring around with a Maasai guide they're are a really cool people. Nice job. Chris Thanks, ya they have such different lives. It is really different from Canadian living Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 2 hours ago, mojo43 said: Thanks, ya they have such different lives. It is really different from Canadian living I couldn't help but smile as the bull slaughter was run parallel with the dance jumping. Reminded me a little Coppola and the gang up at the end of the Mekong. Nice work One question though? In our busy over worked underpaid lives, did you for a moment, imagine of what it might be like to stay out there yourself? I ask this in spite of, and further towards the fact that one of the film's narratives threads revolved around 'home' and 'belonging.' My friends did this about Louis: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojo43 Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 14 hours ago, User said: I couldn't help but smile as the bull slaughter was run parallel with the dance jumping. Reminded me a little Coppola and the gang up at the end of the Mekong. Nice work One question though? In our busy over worked underpaid lives, did you for a moment, imagine of what it might be like to stay out there yourself? I ask this in spite of, and further towards the fact that one of the film's narratives threads revolved around 'home' and 'belonging.' My friends did this about Louis: Wow that looks amazing! I would love to see the full documentary. To answer your question, I think the reason that I am so drawn to desert landscapes is because I am scared of them. I great up in the forest and feel at home there, but the desert? Whoa, I can't even comprehend how people live there. Yet alone waking up to a giraffes and hyenas etc.. right outside your door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Kotlos Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Great work! It reminded me the La Soufrière from Herzog. Not only because of the absence of the expected sublime event but also human nature. Wikipedia describes it nicely: "Driven by either madness or complete harmony with nature, the subjects of Herzog's films exemplify life at its most spiritually extreme. The people who remained on the island had accepted their fate, and had given their lives to God. " User and mojo43 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salim Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 this is awesome! Too bad the ceremony date changed and you guys didn't too shoot that. Can you talk about some of the challenges of shooting this. Matching colors between 3-4 different cameras and also what you did about sound recording and what you would do differently next time based on what you learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 19 minutes ago, salim said: Too bad the ceremony date changed and you guys didn't too shoot that. I can understand that it would have been great to have shot the main character in the ceremony. But for me, I actually think the story is stronger that it didn't happen and that the filmmakers handled the situation in the way they did. Why? So often we get these happy Hollywood endings where everything works out, and with this ending, we come to know that the village and their old world system of governance is more important than a film project. I mean this in the best way. It's way stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salim Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 3 minutes ago, User said: I can understand that it would have been great to have shot the main character in the ceremony. But for me, I actually think the story is stronger that it didn't happen and that the filmmakers handled the situation in the way they did. Why? So often we get these happy Hollywood endings where everything works out, and with this ending, we come to know that the village and their old world system of governance is more important than a film project. I mean this in the best way. It's way stronger. maybe...but it's hard to know if the story would have been better or not. It'll always be an unknown. But to your point, I like how the main character reacted to his disappointment. So that really becomes the story in some ways. And I think for that reason, it could have been more interesting if the main ceremony and the anticipation for it would have been more prominent just to make the disappointment stronger and the reaction to it even more fulfilling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzynormal Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 If you're making an honest documentary, a director lets the events go where they go and then you build a narrative out of what happened. A good director can anticipate the shots needed and collect moments that will ultimately make sense. Still, salvage ethnography is always a challenge because so many biases of an outsider director will move the story in ways of which they're probably not even aware. Aside from that, however, the whole process is affected by the process of assertively observing, (which is what you have to do to get shots with a camera) but that doesn't mean valid compelling truths will not exist in the footage and eventual narrative. So it's been since the dawn of the genre. I mean, "Nanook of the North" is almost a complete fiction, but there's still something legitimate about it. mojo43 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojo43 Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 23 hours ago, Don Kotlos said: Great work! It reminded me the La Soufrière from Herzog. Not only because of the absence of the expected sublime event but also human nature. Wikipedia describes it nicely: "Driven by either madness or complete harmony with nature, the subjects of Herzog's films exemplify life at its most spiritually extreme. The people who remained on the island had accepted their fate, and had given their lives to God. " I haven't seen La Soufriere, but I will definitely watch it! Thanks for the kind comment. Herzog is amazing! 16 hours ago, salim said: this is awesome! Too bad the ceremony date changed and you guys didn't too shoot that. Can you talk about some of the challenges of shooting this. Matching colors between 3-4 different cameras and also what you did about sound recording and what you would do differently next time based on what you learned. Sure, I'll be honest. Due to being inundated with other projects, this doc was always being queued last to edit (which is why it took a year to release). We unfortunately didn't get picture lock until two days before the release. So during those two days I did colour and sound. It wasn't much time and I am not totally happy with the results. That aside, what I did to save time was that I would pick one shot from each day and match each camera to it. I then would use that preset to start grading the other clips. It worked out fairly well, but we weren't diligent enough about colour balance throughout the shoot. As for sound, we had a ton of wind issues throughout the shoot. I am not sure how much more you can prevent this when you are run and gun. I would LOVE to have a sound person on the shoot. That would have made things so much better. Also, for the next time I would definitely hire a colourist and a sound mixer. We just found out that we got into one of the film festivals that we applied for so I will definitely revisit sound and colour now. 15 hours ago, salim said: maybe...but it's hard to know if the story would have been better or not. It'll always be an unknown. But to your point, I like how the main character reacted to his disappointment. So that really becomes the story in some ways. And I think for that reason, it could have been more interesting if the main ceremony and the anticipation for it would have been more prominent just to make the disappointment stronger and the reaction to it even more fulfilling. It was really difficult when we found out the dates changed. At the time we felt satisfied with the footage that we got from the beginning of the ceremony. At the time we felt that maybe we would go down the road of not mentioning that the dates had changed. I mean, it was the ceremony. We would just miss the final parts which are apparently similar to what we filmed. Ultimately in the end we felt that this resulted in a better ending and definitely a more truthful ending. Also, it was really important for us to show the viewer that the 9-5 day doesn't exist in a lot of the world. These people are used to things changing like that. They don't care about clocks salim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salim Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 On 3/16/2018 at 8:13 AM, mojo43 said: Also, it was really important for us to show the viewer that the 9-5 day doesn't exist in a lot of the world. These people are used to things changing like that. They don't care about clocks excellent point mojo43 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.