Ben's Week 2 blog entry

The more time I've spent going through my footage, the better I feel about what I have shot. I don't know if this is a normal thing, but I remember flying back home from my field work and thinking, "wait... do I have enough to create a film, do I have a story?" I've held onto these doubts for the last month, even as I have been logging, but doing our initial cuts for this class, the better I feel. I can see my characters develop in a new way and stylistic choices that are consistent throughout my footage.

This last week, I have focused on finishing transcoding. Prior to a few weeks ago, I was just logging my footage straight from Adobe Premiere. I was watching it back in Premiere's video player and logging in Word. It was a little annoying going back and forth. However, when the discussion opened up between Jennifer, Tristan and Irene about the need to transcode all files, even if using Premiere, I was a little worried. When we first started talking about it I felt like I was taking a step back in my process. I felt like I was stepping away from a more pressing step, logging. I completed transcoding all my files a couple of days ago and now am happy I did. It gave me the chance to organize all my files and bins more precisely. It gave me the change to rename all my files as well. Now that this step in the process is more complete, I feel much better stepping back into logging/transcibing/editing. I am a little over halfway through logging and have completed about 1/4th of my transcripts. I should be completed with both in the next week and a half. Although, since I was originally logging in Premiere and have since transcoded all my work, I will need to go back in my logs and update the file names. Won't be too hard, but will be a little tedious.

In my transcoding process, I organized all my footage into four basic bins. I like starting very small and basic and then growing out. They are:

1) B-Roll of Prison (20%)
2) B-Roll of Tutwiler (30%)
3) Choppin Cotton (15%)
4) Interviews (Includes observational footage) (35%)

The material in my interviews bin includes formal sit-down interviews, as well as informal observational footage that includes dialogue.

I have completed a number of sit down interviews, but I feel like the footage that is most intriguing is my observational. Looking at my footage again, I think will include a lot less sit-down interviews than I originally thought. Considering that the initial idea was to create a more informational documentary, with statistics and infographics to shed light on the complex private prison system, it seems more digestible to let the characters directly affected to tell their story and let viewers walk in there shoes. I find myself looking at the people I spent a lot of time with in Mississippi in a new way on the computer screen.

Due to the inability to capture Anthony Robinson on camera, I have been pushed to consider other options of documentation. I have gravitated toward the films of Jean-Pierre Gorin in my research. I came across his film, My Crasy Life after a relative of mine from LA posted that the film was available on the criterion collection via Facebook. Was drawn to the film, first and foremost, because it deals with the post-migrant Samoan life in California, which affects/interests me on all levels as a Samoan-Californian. Once the film started I was immediately hooked. Gorin utilizes fixed scenes, voice actors, a robot car that acts as a narrator, and formal sit-down interviews in this film. I was amazed by the complexity of methods used to document this particular experience. I find myself wanting to use Anthony as an unseen narrator, much like the robot in My Crasy Life and allowing those that are visible on camera, to be secondary characters. The tactic portrays the issues and creates a story arc, but the narrator ties what is seen on the screen to the larger societal issues. His film Poto and Cabenga also utilizes a unique narrative choice, by allowing the narrator (Gorin) to speak over a blank black screen. This has an interesting effect, as the listener is completely focused on what is being said, in comparison to being distracted by unfolding visible action.

I have also watched The Arbor (Barnard), Poto and Cabenga (Gorin), Into the Abyss (Herzog), Narco Cultura (Schwarz), and Whore's Glory (Glawogger) for stylistic influence recently.