Taking what I learned from class and applying it to a shelved documentary project.

Posted by kmastin on
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 8:15 pm

Last October I went to Bishop California to shoot a short film on rock climbing legend Lisa Rands. This was done to jump start a New Media division at Aurora Photos where I am a contributing photographer.

I had 3 days to shoot and my budget (after all things considered) came to about $1500.

My goal was to make a climbing vid that shows more of a behind the scenes look at an amazing climber and focus more on what makes her tick and how she balances her personal life with her professional life. Until now the raw footage has not been worked with.

In hind sight I am glad about that, because I think I have learned from our digital storytelling class ways to make the story stronger. I feel that I have learned to think more about the REAL story that presents itself to you, rather than the preconceived story that I had gone out to film. This way of thinking is the fundamental skill that I need to build at this point with my documentary projects. I am still working on exactly how I can build a ‘story triangle’ with the footage I have as well as find and support a solid ACTION-IDEA as is expressed in Aristotle’s Poetics.

What I present to you here is about 3-4 hours of editing with footage that I had previously logged in Ocotber.

In this clip I use only the elements which were present during those few days— this includes the music as well. I have a lot more to add and subtract, and I need to definitely add more of my better climbing scenes as well as more domestic scenes of Lisa’s everyday life as she maintains her friendships while maintaining her career.

Let me know what you think!

Kirk Mastin