Production Process (embracing my inner Thierry)

The Idea

 When we first started a draft of the process, we knew we wanted to gear more towards the bts process of auditioning, a topic that is especially personal to Isabel and I.  While there was no clear idea on how we were going to execute this, nonetheless we carried out with the idea and planned certain shots that we thought might be appropriate.  

In terms of Interviewee's, we had a few potential candidates, however none that we were actually able to follow through with due to several factors; b-roll, time, and vulnerability. In order for this story to come out as fruitful and as authentic as we wanted it to, all of these factors had to be taken into consideration and due to the time constraints that we were faced with, it was favorable to look towards the most viable option which was having me as the subject of the documentary.

Little did we know, I had all of the material I needed to create a short documentary of a process that was so grueling but so pertinent to me, something that had become a huge part of my every day for the past 6 months. There were a lot of different emotions felt throughout the prescreen process, and it's not something commonly captured or discussed for a documentary.

I was so inspired by the Opinion Docs we viewed from the NY times; I believe they emulate the heart and core of what makes a documentary so resonant to people.  They don't need any statistics or factual evidence, it's in the emotion and authenticity of the subject being captured, in the story that is being told. Of course there is always a bias but when I watch those documentaries, I end them with a feeling, a thought, or a lesson that I took from it, that makes the viewing feel that much more fulfilling. 

Again, for this shot in particular, I was so inspired by the Op Doc I mentioned previously called "The Final Chapter" where the main subject is having a conversation with her friend and it's a much more informal interview. In order to film this video, I had two cameras, one capturing my mom and another to capture myself, and I was proud of the moment it created; it added a touch of authenticity to the piece which was exactly what I was looking for. Reflecting on a process so difficult as this requires a full evaluation of what are the most important parts to convey in a film, and I think the relationship between my mom and I throughout was important to address.