My experience with documentary filmmaking has given me a far greater understanding of people and the experiences that they all have. While researching for our documentary and during the documentary process overall, I heard a whole host of people and found that everyone has a story to tell, and that by learning about these stories I could achieve a whole new level of understanding with that person.
This documentary has shown me how interesting it can be to focus on a niche topic or story while deciding on what to make, and that it’s focus can grow as the project moves along. Our experience with Miles has been excellent and he was able to expand the scope of our research quite significantly as we heard more about his background. For example, his homelessness was a subject that we hadn’t considered while planning, but we felt comfortable enough to incorporate it as part of our documentary after hearing about it first hand from Miles.
The project has also made me aware of many more shot types than I had been before, and has definitely allowed me to get creative with how I use the camera. With our documentary, we wanted to incorporate the style of classic skating films, making use of VHS film, as well as a lot of handheld shots to give a feeling of immersion. We had to try and use the COVID-19 situation to our advantage, and as such we organised virtual meetings and interviews with Miles online, and gathered footage from inside his house, giving us valuable insight into his life.
Overall, this project has been very interesting for learning about documentary and film in general. While I cannot say whether there is a career for me in this, the things I have been able to learn will help me in any film related career I undertake.
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