Thanks to your classmates from last semester, part of this class has become easier.And thanks toy your classmates from last semester, part of this class has become a little tougher.
Because people relied too much on the interview and not enough on the images to tell the story, I added a new assignment: tell a story without a formal sit down interview. (Remember, the web is a visual medium.) That’s a challenge because the story will need to be told visually, and in a large part without words.
So perhaps you might want some inspiration?
Last night I just saw an amazing documentary that was created without a single interview, yeah,without a single word. It’s a documentary film called Babies. It follows the first year in the life of 4 babies across the world.
Babies?
If you know me, you’ll know I’m not a baby kind of guy: I don’t have any kids and many of the babies that I have encountered have been treated more like the baby Jesus than human beings.
So I should have hated this movie. (Regina, my partner, asked me: “Whatever possessed you to rent THAT movie?”) BUT I loved it! It’s a brilliant story. It’s all show, and no tell: no experts, no parents telling you what to feel. You experience this entire movie by watching it and thinking about it. It’s not really about babies (at least I don’t think so) ,rather it’s about life…from the specific to the universal.
And there is not a single word spoken!
Check out the trailer:
As you’re searching for a subject for that assignment that must be created without an interview, think about what you see every day, not what someone tells you…
Great feature storytelling in text, audio and video shares the same mantra: Show, Don’t Tell. Give me Visual Evidence, please.
Here’s some inside info on this film that you can use:
1) How did they do this? Time. Lots of time. 400 hours of footage. Years to edit. Of course you don’t have that time but don’t expect to turn this assignment around in a day or two.
2) every single shot in this doc is made on a tripod and it really makes a huge difference. You’ll notice how they waited for action to happen in the frame. Very patiently waited. Which is why it takes time.
enjoy!
