jean garcia's ePortfolio

One of the things that helped me make progression in my timeline was duplicating my sequences. I would make a copy of my original sequence and i would start experiencing with the format of my story. A lot of times we develop a fixed perspective and it becomes hard to see the story any other way than the way you have it.  Making drastic changes became easier because i knew i could always go back to the original. These drastic changes was at times that the story needed and helped me to see the story in different way.

organizing my files and bins made it easier to sort through my files and look for Brolls.

A great way to organize my files and thoughts is to keep a journal.
as i listened to interviews, i took notes of what people were saying. it helped me to see what was important to these people, to the story and it also helped me to make connections between what was being said. Keeping a journal was a good way to visualize my thought process and it made editing a lot faster, because i was already editing in my mind before i even sat down in Avid.

My camera shoots at an Xavc format. a format in which avid does not accept.

i put my footage into media composer and exported it as a H,264 format which is a format that avid accepts and it worked out just fine.

4/03/2017
Living on location
One of the pros of shooting where i live is that i am always on location. If something were to happen arbitrarily i am always able to simply grab my camera and shoot.
The con to this is that i am by myself. Spontaneous shooting means that i can’t get my hands on someone to help me with audio or lighting.

Representing my tenants
Pros: I have developed a healthy relationship with my neighbors. This is important if i want to learn more about my building. If they trust me, they are more likely to share information with me.
Con: The downside to this is that if someone happens to disagree with the final product, if one of the younger folks feel threatened or disrespected, it puts me in danger.

ETHICS: There is truly a certain amount of ethics involved in documentary film making. From the very beginning i made the decision that i was not going to be biased. I was going to shoot my content and present them as they are. The reality i have been experiencing is that not everyone has good things to say about each other. Part of the issue of the building are the tenants themselves, especially the new generation of younger people who live here. They can be vile and destructive. I have been wondering if it would be okay to present them “As it is”. Is it fair to them to show them in a negative light even if the arguments are fair?
I have concluded that best way to present an “Unbiased” story is to allow the younger generation a chance to speak for themselves.

Images of my building. Our garden, broken front door, polluted lobby and elevators and a wide shot of the building itself.

This is a tenant who lives on my floor. This interview was conducted on march 9th.
she has knee problems and recently got knee replacement surgery. When the elevators break in our building (which they usually do), she cannot leave the building because we live on the 13th floor and she cant walk down the stairs.

One technical problem that i had was that i had my LED light on the right side of the room and the natural light coming from the left side. The natural light wasn’t enough to fill the obvious shadows that were being created when light coming from the LED was blocked by her hands.

This is about all the equipment i have been using for the Project

SONY A6300
Small LED light
Rode microphone
Small tripod

the reason i’m using this equipment i am dealing with everyday people, not actors. Most people don’t feel comfortable around cameras or aren’t used to it. Fancy equipment be intimidating, with this gear i can remain pretty low-key and i can maintain a close relationship with my tenants without letting big fancy equipment get in the way.