Documentary and CCR

Website and Poster

https://whuddifsounds.wixsite.com/no22

https://whuddifsounds.wixsite.com/no22

https://whuddifsounds.wixsite.com/no22

link

Final Entry

Day Forty

(excitement)

This is it. I'm done with my project. Right before I went to Orlando, my dad bought be a laptop which was a blessing. I took my footage with me and planned to edit but I didn't anticipate just how rigorous the programming class was, so I only edited around 15 seconds of footage on the trip. As soon as I got back however, I dedicated all my time to editing. It is currently 10:34 PM and all my project components are don. The CCR and video are being uploaded as I'm typing this to YouTube and my following blog posts will have them included.

It was a journey. The editing process had me wanting to rip something into shreds. But I got it finished and I am pleased with the result. I still don't know how other people will react to it, but that's how I felt last year and all went well for me. The poster was an absolute nightmare to make. I had all these pictures I took on the day of Omar's game I knew would be the ones I use for the project, but I didn't really plan out how I would make it come together. At first I thought I would use paint, but it gave me no artistci freedom and all of it's fonts were too basic. Then I went online to try and fine a website where I could make one on the web. The only good one I found would run me 40 dollars so i decided to use my digital art skills to some use and downloaded the trail version of Adobe Illustrator and did it there. I am pleased at how they came out, especially the cool lower part of the alternate one I made.

After exporting my documentary today, I almost had a heart attack as the video and audio did not sync up whatsoever after the first minute. I thought it would be a nightmare to fix but all I had to do was separate the audio from the files and export again which took me no more than 5 minutes.

Last year, I tried to do my CCR with no script and wasted an hour fumbling over my words. So guess what I tried to do this year? The exact same thing! After four takes however, I realized it wouldn't work and just decided to write my script. I feel like I covered all bases and I kept it at 15 minutes exactly which was an absolute miracle.

Overall, I had a good time making it and I'm honestly sad I won't be doing another project like this in this class again. I loved this class and I can really say it changed my perception on a lot of things, especially my future and career choices. I would like to thank Omar, Joel, Ms. Stoklosa(immense gratitude to you as both a teacher and person), my parents, Lil Wolf, and my parents

Signing off,

Jose Puche

Entry Fifteen

Day Thirty-Five

(I hate football)

A random day of filming occurred today. Yesterday I asked Omar if he could film but he was working, he told me if he had a delivery, I could be a ride along. But, there was no phone call, Stressing over the fact that I only have one day of filming pretty much, I  knew I had to do something today. I hit him up, hoping for an answer that pleased me. And let me tell you, I was. Not only did Omar have a football game today and not only was it one of the few football games in the same county as me, but it was also the last one he would be doing all year. I couldn't believe my luck(or the fact that Omar didn't tell me about the game earlier). Luckily my schedule was free and I immediately drove over to his house so we could go out to the High School where the game was being held at the same time. He comes out of the house with a gleaming smile (his grillz were in today) and told me

"Make me look good today, you already know I'm going to be crushing sh*t".

Alas, his team suffered a crushing defeat, but it was not a complete loss on my part. I got fantastic footage of the game, the neighborhood where the game was being held in, and made some new friends. Sadly, Omar got an ankle injury early in the game(that I didn't document because I was busy looking back at footage I just took) and was taken out of the game. After a little pain relief and some rest, he was back in the game like a trooper and committed a fantastic run to sack the quarterback. I got a really good sideline interview at halftime of his charisma. With his team down and an ankle injury holding him back, the whistle blows and he looks at me, smiles, and goes "back at it". That's what I want to show. His overwhelming love for what he's good at and his optimism of everything in life. He made everyone around him a better person, and made sure I felt welcome in a place where I don't exactly blend in. After some banter with the football team and nearly every single one of them telling me to "make sure I got them in it" or "make me famous", I left the game and drove home

Entry Fourteen

Day Thirty-Two
(that's it right there)

Today was a pretty uneventful day but I there was some progress. With spring break and my trip to Orlando creeping up, I really have to wrap up my filming soon. Today I found out I'm taking a bus to Orlando so my freedom as far as where I can go to film while I'm there is limited, but I can still get decent footage on the way there. I have filmed a lot of "on the road" b roll which is symbolic for Omar's journey and something I would use as transition if I were to produce the whole documentary. It really is unfortunate that I don't have a laptop, as I could use all my time holed up in the hotel room editing. But, it's really not a big deal, just another road block and an initiative to really grind the final days of the project. But back to what I did today. On my way to school I got some footage of Cypress Bay and it's student body. Omar went to Cypress and I can use that footage as cutaways while he speaks on it. I filmed the crowbar close up and decided that I can't do the stylized reenactment without it looking stupid with my gear, so again, it's something I would do with a budget if I were to complete the whole documentary. After Omar told me about his mentor and someone who "taught him what it is to be a man", a football coach at Cypress called Coach E, I tried to find him and potentially ambush him for an interview about Omar. No one seemed to know who I was talking about however. I have so much footage at this point, but how much of it can I really use? Hopefully nothing new come in my way and I'll find time to edit tomorrow, but with deadlines for a lot of work being tomorrow, I feel I'll have to manage my time.

 Anyways, I feel I've kept whoever reads this blog in the dark for too long, so here's quick some behind the scenes footage at Omar's house. His son, Santi, kept interrupting us, but it's really hard to get mad at him. The thumbnail I'm currently seeing of the video looks to be of the poorest quality, and I hope it wont look like that on my blog. If so, I apologize.

Entry Thirteen

Day Thirty

(...)

9:30 AM Today I will film with Omar, guaranteed. He works at a local Italian restaurant as a bus boy and I'm going to do a quick interview on his break and then leave with him when his shift ends. He'll be in his uniform, which is good visually to reflect the struggle of taking any job available to you. I want to start making music for the documentary but I'm confident I can work with what I already have made in the past, though making some absolutely original for it would be the best. I need to have some footage and roughly edit it together to have the tone though. The limit is roughly five minutes which is scary but I don't know in which way. Part of me thinks that it is too much time without me having to use bland filler shot but I've known myself to over shoot and go ridicolously over the time limit. My problem with the short documentary I did earlier in the year was having a really strong intro to the piece with wonderful variety, and then never coming back to it and blasting the viewer with interview after interview. This project is concerning me a bit more because the subject is exactly the same, so I don't even have the variety of different interviewees. I wanted to start it off with some establishing shots of the city of Miami and Hialeah, of which I only have random b-roll of Miami I filmed for a music video I did last year. I want to do a time lapse as I just drive around the rougher neighborhoods with maybe a voice over and some hip hop music to start the documentary. All of this has to be shot this week for sure, as next week I have an obligation in Orlando for a programming course. I'll bring my camera to capture some last footage of maybe the jails(UPDATE: There are many jails just in my county that I can film, however there are only three prisons in the entire state of Florida that are maximum security. One in Orlando. Might pay it a visit or get some drive by footage) on the way there and overall b-roll, as I don't have a laptop to take with me to edit on my down time.

10:30 AM Just did a great interview with Joel(Omar's brother and my friend) at school. I liked where I filmed it as well, a slab of white bricks that reminded me much of prison.

7:00 PM I just finished my interviews with Omar(the first ones) and I had a good day of filming. I brought my phone with a clip on fish eye lens I have that gave some of the b roll(driving, walking up to his house, Omar playing with his son) that urban skate look that really appeals to my target audience. Also, as he told me the story of his assault case and I thought it would be cool and easy to do stylized cutaways as he tells the story, reenactments of the incident performed by his brother who looks a lot like him. I learned a lot about the prison system, and I got this great shot that could be faded in from his mugshot for a really good shot. He told me about his friend who went to prison and not jail, and said we could arrange an interview but he isn't a subject I want to really portray to get across my message, and I really want Omar to be my sole subject. In total I have around 60-70 minutes of footage, but I had to redo some really good bits because my SD card had to be swapped out because it filled up(I never delete footage off it) and I missed out on getting around 10 minutes of Omar talking about his youth and upbringing.

Also, here's the address for that prison.  25 minutes from where I'll be staying:

7000 H C Kelley Rd.
Orlando, FL

Let's pay it a visit.

Entry Twelve

Day Twenty-Nine

(ruh-roh)

A recap of my day. I texted Omar to follow up with our earlier plans to spend some time at his house, then go out to film. No reply for about two hours. I started to get frustrated, I texted his brother knowing he was working to no avail. in those two hours I left him voicemails and kept texting him, concerned about his absence. It was only until 12 AM that he texts me with an update. he told me his ex-girlfriend had an unexpected obligation and he had to take care of their son, Santi, until 3 PM. This was devastating to me, because I knew that his girlfriend lives in Miami Gardens(forty minutes from me on a good day) and that he had to clock into his shift at Pizza Heaven at 5:30. He told me he would prefer me not to come to him and would try his best to make it back to my city with around half an hour to film. Not nearly enough. I took off a day of school for this so I'm angry at this but, c'est la vie. I got decent b-roll and tried to do an interview in quite possibly the loudest house I've ever been in. Omar's life is busy, at all time doing whatever he can to make money or tend to his kid. We have rescheduled and I'm slightly behind now on my planned schedule but it's not something to worry about. I just need to make sure things go my way for at least one day. Although today for the first time Omar saw how prepared I am for something he didn't expect me to be as I to as I was. he let me guide him into shots and has more faith in my cues, so it wasn't a complete waste of a day. I have my questions ready and filming locations chosen, so I'm confident in my ability to knock out what I need to do in a single day, but I don't want to jinx anything.

I will start building my website this weekend, leaving spaces blank where I need to put something it, just so when it comes to the final parts, all I have to do is put what I have to in it's rightful place.

Entry Eleven

Day Twenty-Seven

(leskeddit)

Although I originally didn't want to share these, I feel like it's important to show my development in planning. So here are my questions I plan on asking Omar when it's time to sit down and interview him 

-What is your name

-What is your age

-Tell me about your youth and upbringing, notable memories or impactful moments.

-Did you do good in school

-What out of school activities were you involved in(I'm looking for answers relating to his track career and the beginnings of his bad behavior)

-Tell me about your parents. Their degree of support and advice.

-Tell me about the city you grew up in and what's it's like.

-How similar are you to your brother in your opinion

-What were you passionate about in High School

-Do you remember living in the Dominican Republic and do you feel it has made you who you are

-What was the first genuine trouble you got into.

-Tell me about your first encounter with the law.

-Was was your first impression of prison, being there for the first time

-What did you learn after you got out

-How did people change when this happened. Who was still there for you

-What about every other time you've been arrested. What stood out to you

-Emotionally, help me understand what this feels like.

-(I'm going to tell him the facts about imprisonment I wrote about earlier) What do you feel about all this

-Where do you stand now and where do you plan to be. What has to happen

There will be improvised questions, that I know for sure. I need to have at least two cameras set up to film him, otherwise my whole interview segment will be monotonous, a mistake made on my documentary project done earlier this year.

Or film in different locations, on different days, but that concerns me as far as time and scheduling.

To all this I say, I am ready. And let's get it!

Entry Ten

Day Twenty-Five

I'm sitting in class right now doing a background check on Omar. I won't give his full name on here per his request but I found more mugshots that I anticipated just from searching his name and home County. Six arrests in total. The earliest one being the one I've been talking about. Everything after that is a non violent offense; a mix of drug possession charges, parole violation, and one that I don't even understand, "county sent - FEL". That one adds a whole other mugshot and arrest for a charge that I couldn't identify, even through research. Any workplace(any person with his last name and knowledge of the state he lives in, really) can access this information. He looks like an absolute felon on these websites promoting "reliable background checks" for employers. I remember the times when his little brother would tell me about his struggle in finding a job. One violent charge nearly six years ago and nothing to imply that he'll act in that way agian(not to mention he was only 19 when it happened). What are you to do when you have a kid to support, you can't get a job anywhere because your job application is a one way ticket to mugshot scrapbook, and you're twenty six years old? The system is failing way too many people and rehabilitation is nonexistent, nor do they guide you in the direction to be able to find anything at all to do for money. It's built to make you find other ways to make money, end up back in prison, and come out to the same situation. It feels like a single arrest for a lot of people is a life sentence. Don't get me wrong, there are people who deserve to be imprisoned, but non violent offenses and mistakes made when we are young are far from defining who we are as a person.

That's why I do it

 

Entry Nine

Day Twenty-Five

(whuddif)

I found this opening scene from the Marcel Wehn documentary Solitude(2010) to fit in with the exact feel of how I would want mine to be. Since I plan to make my extract the opening scenes, this was extremely refreshing to find. How the subjects were introduced along with how both the diegetic and non-diegetic sound played out are exactly how I planned to execute them, cinematically. As Michael Moore said in his Indiewire article "Don’t make a documentary — make a MOVIE". 

That article is a read worth your while from THE documentary film maker. Things like how you react behind the camera is how your audience will react and not telling the audience what they already know and talking to them like they're stupid (I might have to reconsider including those facts I talked about two blog posts ago). In order to make something good, it's important to listen to the greats and thankfully in that article, Michael Moore told me his "rules for making a documentary film". 

Entry Eight

Day Twenty-Two

(Psalm: 22)

This week has been the least uneventful when it comes to working on my project to be completely honest. I have decided (I think I decided this subconsciously a while ago) to fully immerse myself in the documentary about Omar. I might do my Last Night idea just for fun though. This blog post will be covering where I'm at and what I plan to do in the coming week. I feel comfortable at where I stand, especially with the project's extension(or did I dream that), and I know that I have everything I need to make the project look exactly how I want it to (fisheye lenses, a wide angle lens, and proficiency in final cut, thanks to a class I took this summer). Although I wanted a Sony VX-1000 for both this project and for other things I want to film this summer, I could not find one under $500 in the condition I wanted. I can easily replicate it's retro visuals in post however, so that's not a big deal. The item I really wanted to acquire before I commenced filming was a portable recorder, like this, in order to get high quality audio wherever I go. I have alternatives, although a bit bulkier, they will work. I really want to out do myself on this project and make something I'm proud of, and I'll do what it takes to not just get good technique down, but good quality in terms of audio and video.

This coming week I will begin to film. I will shadow Omar in his personal life after doing some interviews at his house. Some things I definitely want to incorporate are his son, his work environment, his mugshot, and daily routines. To have a little background on Omar, his official charge was assault with a deadly weapon, a crowbar. I've only heard the story from his little brother so I don't want to go off what he says until I actually interview Omar himself. Joel, Omar's little brother, would be a great subject to interview, but I already tried and he is not a very good speaker on camera nor do I feel him to be extremely necessary. I plan on coming forward to my school's security and the police officers who remain on campus to get their perspective on this subject. I have other friend who have been tried for cases but I feel that I should only focus on Omar. I should start fully developing a plan for marketing to make my part after filming much easier as well.

These are my tasks for next week, and I am looking forward to completing them. filming was the funnest part of my project last year and I expect it to be the same this year.

Entry Seven

Day Twenty

(fax)

There are some surprising facts you may no be aware of when it comes to the American prison system. Some things like 

• There are more African Americans in some form of correctional supervision today than there were slaves in 1850.
• The incarceration rates for minorities are almost six times more likely than those of white men
• Even a non violent offender in a "minimum security" prison costs taxpayers, on average, $22,000 a year. All prisoners in total cost taxpayers nearly seventy billion dollars per year.
• The United States has more prisoners than the entire population of New Mexico

All of these facts are interesting but there are two in specific that are both relevant to my documentary and absolutely ridiculous in my opinion: There are more jails than colleges in the U.S and 41% of all young people in America will have been arrested by the time they are 23.

These are some facts I would like to present in my documentary is some form, whether it be as a marketing strategy on my website or included as narration. 

This following info graphic compacts information relating exactly to Omar, minority juveniles who became imprisoned.

info graphic from SuspensionStories.com

Snyder, Michael. "Mass Incarceration: 21 Amazing Facts About America's Obsession With Prison." Infowars. American Dream, 28 July 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Borowski, Julie. "18 Facts You Need to Know About U.S. Prisons." Newsweek. Freedom Works, 18 Mar. 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Entry Five

Day Sixteen

(Got it)

I found something that is extremely similar to how I want to present information in my documentary. I contacted David Tucker, in order to get professional recommendations of films to watch to gather knowledge from. He told me "The most famous example that comes immediately to mind is The Thin Blue Line. It is a story of wrongful incarceration. It was groundbreaking in its day and has influenced many filmmakers since." 

Yes.

That's what I  am looking for. Thankfully it was on Netflix and I watched it, taking in every detail. Although not as contemporary as I would have liked for it to have been, it still gave me a lot of ideas about how to frame and pace interviews, how to incorporate not traditional elements(and make them blend seamlessly), "the bigger picture" of how my documentary would be as a whole if I were to produce the full piece, and dramatic reenactments (probably something I won't be able to do and something that won't really fit in my piece, but still something to think about).

Here is an excerpt from the film, the opening shots of the city along with the revolver cutaway around fifty seconds in are some concepts that I would love to incorporate in my documentary (Miami and Omar's crowbar)

• Morris, E., Law, L., Lipson, M., Czapsky, S., Chappell, R., Barnes, P., Glass, P., ... Fourth Floor Productions. (2005). The Thin Blue Line. Santa Monica, CA: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home Entertainment.

Entry Four

Day Fourteen

(local)

Omar's  

    I want to stop and think about what I have. I live near two immense, major cities full of diverse culture, Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I own a decent DSLR, tripod, microphone, and different lenses. I have music to use for any scenes I would want to have some. I have a willing subject with an interesting and important topic. I don't exactly have the questions I want to ask him, but I know how I want to present him. I have some decisions made already, like where I want to film him and who in his life I want involved in scenes. All this together makes a solid documentary that I know for certain I can make how I visualize it in my head. I found documentaries relating to this topic I want to watch,  The House I Live In(2012) and The Work(2017). The Work debuted at SXSW just this week and I think there will be absolutely no way to watch it unless I reach out to him, which I will. The stills I have seen and the description and accompanying acclaim really make me want to see it as it sounds to be similar to what I'm going for. The five minute excerpt I want to be my final project I have decided to also be the film's introduction. At first, I was concerned about not being able to use archived footage in this project, especially since they are one of the biggest tropes when it comes to documentaries relating to social issues. Now, I'm excited to create something unconventional. Like In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, I want something nonfiction that plays like a character driven narrative. Little interviews and when they are necessary, do them as indirectly as possible, let him tell the story as much as he can.

Entry Three

Day Six

(money)

     Something that I have been considering about when it comes to final project decision is how well they will each translate to a viable and sounds marketing plan I can present in the project parts that require me to make a website and poster. The Last Night idea I have has some good ideas using social media and hastags, since social medias are the largest cultivation of strangers anywhere. Using them to connect among themselves and encouraging them to share their stories online. It's a good idea, and I know how i could present it in the website portion. The subject regarding Omar however doesn't have as much creative opportunities when it comes to marketing, or I just haven't thought of anything yet. The classical methods of trailers and film festival submission would most likely be what I side to if I do choose this topic.

     More and more, Last Night is becoming the topic I really want to do. It's experimental to a minimal degree which I find could help make it something that relates more to something I myself would watch. I watch documentary films this weekend and draw ideas and inspiration. On the other hand, I read an article (which I can't find again for the life of me, I just know it was on Indiewire.com) that discussed tips for documentary film making. It said whenever anything regarding your subject is going on, film it, in case something exeodinary happens and you won't regret not having the camera rolling. I applied this on Wednesday when I visited my friend(Omar'a brother) in his art class and gave him an interview on his brother. The school setting provided a lot of background for topics I want to explore in my piece, but he didn't say anything really amazing. It could still be good B-roll if I need it to be, but I think I will be redoing this interview and incorporating him perhaps in a dual interview to juxtapose them. This weekend is critical and decisions must be made, because right now all i'm doing is expanding on two ideas.

Entry Two

Day Three

(local)

Something I have watched the past days multiple times. It's really making me consider doing my Last Night idea more. The concept of every single stranger having a story to tell and we're all humans with the experience and an entire life that only they know everything about. They have a world around them with their family and friends, an average of maybe 20-40 people that make up the life that they know. Every story they have to tell will involve this world of characters they live in following the plot of life, with every second being a rich source of genuine human nature. Every car in a traffic jam has someone in it, driving alone or with passengers, on route to a destination that only they know. Maybe the white Jetta three cars back has someone in it going to the exact same place, with a completely different story that let these two strangers wind up in the same place. It's hard to really put in to words but that is how I view this subject and a bot of why I love it so much. Strangers always intrigued me, people I may have been best friends with in a parallel life. People whose "late night" I may have been a part of if I was part of their world.

In summary, what I want to do with this documentary is show a venn diagram of strangers, finding the dead center of it where they all overlap.

Entry One

The First Day

(first impressions)

     Back at it once more. Roughly a year since the AS level project which was one of the most challenging and interesting things I have done. I'm excited to begin my documentary piece and to see the process unfold bit by bit, allowing the pieces to come together. This specific blog posting relates to my first impressions of the project, and what I plan to do. I chose a documentary because I have worked on short films, trailers, and music videos before in other projects and the documentary genre is the one that I am least familiar with and I felt that challenging myself would make me more invested in my project. I welcome the challenge and look forward to dealing with it's many roadblocks. Since I chose my project at the beginning of this school year, I told myself by the time it was time to start working on it(right now) that I would have a well defined subject for what my documentary would be about. I had ideas throughout, all of them mostly relating to the underground music scene in South Florida where I'm from which is booming as of 2017. I had another idea for a more experimental documentary exploring the nature of humans not as individuals, but as a whole organism composed of smaller pieces that depend on each other. I wanted to do this by rushing strangers on the street, interviewing asking them about both what they did last night and an important event in their childhood. THis topic still seems so interesting to me and I'd love to do it, but the uncertainty regarding whether or not strangers will be the interviewees I desire them to be really puts me off. Somewhat inspired by the idea Humans of New York and the more abstract way of presenting your subject like in Cameraperson, Last Night(what I'm calling this idea for my project) is something I really want to do, but something I have to consider might present too many problems/ too unpredictable. ANother idea deals with immigration and South Florida being the multicultural melting pot that it is. I want to do something in this realm because of the current political sphere making this a a good subject in terms of marketing. I have no real defined way of presenting this subject, so as now , it''s only an idea.

     The final idea(and most probable that I will choose) is a form of observational documentary following Omar, an older brother of my friend who was incarcerated for nearly a year after being a star in track and letting a series of negative events lead him to catching a case. I spoke to him about it and he told me that he is willing to help me. I want to share a story that's so personal to many and hasn't had enough light shed on it. The "how a person changes in prison" stories are always ridiculed with stereotypes and I never think they feel real enough in movies and TV shows. They don't delve into what's really important, never exploring peer selection, coping, how people around you change, and just why it's hard to stay off what got you there in the first place. ALl of this I have briefly conversed about with Omar and I found fascinating. I would approach this technically as being nothing more than a cinematographer in the documentary, absolutely letting Omar tell his own story with me being his shadow behind the camera. Obviously, I must lead him to expose what I want to, but I want it to feel like Omar is making it about himself. I plan on making a layout for the 5 minute excerpt that I want to make the introduction of the documentary.

      Choosing my topic has been stressing me for far too long and I really need to settle on something rationally before more ideas flood my head.

Origins

Link to my AS level final portfolio project

http://astrumproductions.blogspot.com/