The feedback I got from my last critique was very important to allow me to move forward and think “outside the box”. Being trapped for a long time in my own ideas lead me to vicious circle. I spent weeks working on a project that constantly kept changing. Which didn’t feel right. But even if the work wasn’t ready to be shown to the public, sharing it and talking about it with people who saw it for the first time was a great help. Their opinions were pertinent.
I have a lot of subjects and ideas in this semester’s project right now. I need to think more about which ones to keep and which ones to put aside.
But before that, being part of the events I’m talking about in this project makes me think that everybody is well informed and aware of every detail in it. But, I obviously need more information (Maybe voice over) to explain and make the story accessible to non-Tunisian viewers (which is the majority).
Challenges:
Besides technical issues (Sound and color grading). I had a lot of trouble during the shooting because I was using one camera, so I don’t have enough B-roll footage.
It was really hard to, first, find Tunisian people in Columbus Ohio. Which made me “lose” a lot of time in the beginning. Then, the people I’ve met didn’t participate in both elections Tunisia had, which made me change, more than once the whole idea and subject of the documentary (which was essentially about the elections). Those people are very busy, have different schedules and some of them spend most of the time outside the US. So it was a little hard to meet them for individual interviews.
This is a project I’m planning to finish next semester. If everything goes according to my plan:
-More people to interview
-More time to go deeper in every detail.
-Use a second camera
-Get financial aid to be able to interview Tunisian people outside Columbus OH.
tarmaro85 