Going throughout my footage has
been a both interesting and tiresome process. I think I shot too much footage
that I believe is not going to be used. Still, I am transcoding, logging and
watching all of it, because here and there (among the footage I am not
optimistic with) I find interesting material that might have potential to be
useful or at least work as a cutaway.
However, at this moment I believe
that the material that is going to be the backbone for the story of my film are
the observational/participatory cinema
footage. I say “observational/participatory cinema” because some clips are just
observational, others participatory and in many cases both. The participant
might be doing something without acknowledging the camera (or so it seems) and moments
later might give us a commentary. As said before, I shot my 4 main participants
(so far they are 4, they might turn into less) going to work and performing
other activities of their daily lives. I understand that about 40% of my
material is like this (observational/participatory
cinema) following my participants to their workplace and doing other duties
of their daily lives.
During my field shoot, I also
filmed interviews with all of my 4 main participants (some of them were done
twice), 2 external sources, 1 expert and another 4 minor participants (they
were workers who wanted to create a union at a PF Chang’s Restaurant in Puerto Rico). I’d say that 50% of my footage
is sit-down interviews. Of these interviews (15 total), I think I might just use
7 of them at the most.
In the case of the expert, I don’t
plan to use the source, because I don’t want people who might be outsiders of
the issue to bring an analysis of the situation. I want that the audience to be
the analyst of the situation with what they see in the documentary. About the
workers of PF Chang’s that I
interviewed, I don’t think I might use them either. I filmed their interviews
and had conversations with them about their movement, thinking always of their
story as a secondary one. With the 20-minute limit for the thesis project, I am
sure there is not enough space to develop a secondary story. The other 10% of
my footage is landscape. I think that most of my final cut will consist on observational/participatory cinema, some
sound bites from interviews to support the story and some landscapes as
opening, transitional and closing shots.
The way I envision my finalized
piece at the moment is telling the story in a 24-hour cycle. I want the
audience to enter the 24-hour period of a generation that lives on a constant
wait and struggling for better opportunities. For this I am influenced by the
1959 Venezuelan film directed Margarot Bernacerraf called Araya and the 2003 Cuban film, Suite
Havana by Fernando Pérez. In their films they follow their participants and
stories throughout a 24-hour cycle. I want to intercalate the stories of my
participants and that each of the 4 stories gets cut all throughout the film to
a meanwhile. The documentary needs to be structured as my participants stories,
all about waiting and meanwhile.
Below the scenes identified so far:
- Activists protest at a
Walgreens establishment
- Inés Quiles hosts her
Radio Show at Radio-Isla
- Efraín Cortés drives to
work (Sam’s Club) the day of Storm Bertha
- Efraín Cortés uses his
lunch hour to attend a demonstration in support to Palestine
- Efraín Cortés gives out
electoral propaganda to college students
- Efraín Cortés practices
the lift weighting sport
- Paola Ilias looks for
documents to find a new job
- Paola Ilias has a
conversation with a college friend
- Paola Ilías drives to her
work (Econo-Supermarket)
- Efraín Cortés drives to
work (Sam’s Club) on a regular day
- Rep. Manuel Natal conducts
a press conference regarding economic challenges
- Efraín Cortés participates
in the Municipal Legislature of Moca
- Jesús Salgado has
breakfast before going to work
- Jesús Salgado gets on a
train to get to work
- Jesús Salgado rides a bus
and gets to his work (Board of Plans of Puerto Rico)
- Keishla Ramírez casts for
a character
- Keishla Ramírez carpools
to work
- Keishla Ramírez works as a
waitress (Rest. Platos)
- Nelson Escudero gives out
union propaganda
- Keishla Ramírez sells
handcrafted jewelry
- Conference of labor law at
the University of Puerto Rico
- Paola Ilias exits her work late at night
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