Week 13 Update

This past weekend, I attended RiverRun Film Festival and pitched Starting Again to a panel of three judges. Some constructive criticism I received/tips for the editing process included narrowing down the scope to allow stories of certain characters to shine through and allow audiences to follow through with the overall story. Watching selections of documentary shorts at the festival gave me some inspiration and ideas for how to go about editing the final cut of my film. Certain aspects I noticed were gradual breaks/pauses in dialogue with overlaid b-roll to allow breathing room for audiences, to allow them to focus solely on the imagery and take in the information presented. I also noticed rare moments within some of the films where the filmmakers’ questions to the subject were included. To hear the filmmaker’s voice proved to me that they were genuinely interested in learning about their subjects and what they had to offer. I am not sure whether I will utilize that technique, but it was rewarding nonetheless to see how other student and established filmmakers shaped their films into stories. This afternoon and evening, we gathered the remaining b-roll footage for the film. This included going to Kure Beach with Emma and Anthony to get footage of Cathy and Steve doing activities in and around their house, followed by going to Carolina Bay where Anthony and I got footage of residents at a forum, as well as footage of residents attending a dance class. We then went downtown by the waterfront and captured the sunset. The remainder of this week and next will be spent editing in order to prepare for fine cut.