With Great Change, I wanted to show how what moving to the United States meant for 2 individuals and how the process of moving affected their lives. I chose this topic because the journey of my uncle and my cousin coming to the U.S. is one I've been hearing about for years as it happened, so now that they're here I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to do a doc about them.
In regards to research, while it definitely helped me with planning my questions, I already knew some of the stories so a lot of the research came from just asking the 2 interviewees about their personal experiences. Another part of my research was watching other students’ docs to get an idea of how the doc should be. From watching those I also saw that I could go over the stated runtime if necessary, which also helped me in deciding what responses from the interviews I should cut or keep. From watching others’ videos I could also compare my doc to how they did theirs. For example, my doc takes place in one location and has 2 interviewees, while some interviewed many people in many different locations.
My doc engages with the audience through the interviewees chosen. Since I had 2 interviewees of different age groups, it could show 2 perspectives and therefore appeal to a larger audience. Speaking of the target audience, my doc was aimed towards high school students, as that's where it would first be seen. I felt like the audience might relate to Diego and his responses, and how they contrasted with his father's answers. Another way the doc engaged with the audience was through the short runtime, as that keeps the audience interested even if there's a lot of information being presented. If it were the same information but presented in a longer format, it may not have been as compelling.
My doc represents social groups and issues by interviewing 2 people about their personal experiences. I hoped to show what Diego and Javier thought about their journey of coming to the U.S., and how their experiences were both similar and different. For example, Diego mentioned how he had a difficult time in school during Covid-19 and online learning as that wasn't his preferred style of learning. That moment came from asking more specific questions about his entire experience during the last few years rather than every question being about the move to the U.S. The doc also shows that despite them being happy to finally be here, they had to make huge sacrifices like leaving family members behind in Venezuela.
In terms of things I would change, a lot of the issues I encounter may have been prevented if I had filmed earlier. For example, if I had filmed earlier, I would've had more time to try and find what I could use as B-roll. With more time I also could've studied some examples of the docs to see what documentary conventions I needed to include. Another thing I would have changed would be the music. In the doc, I used one continuous track of music, but I could've lowered the volume or even cut the audio completely during certain moments to emphasize emotional moments, such as when Diego is talking about how him being just with his dad and not his sister and mother is something he's had to adapt to.
Overall, I had good interviews, but there was a lot more I could've done to my doc better. Watching everyone else's docs helped me see exactly what I missing and how including things like lower thirds, a title card, and more B-roll would've made my doc look more like a doc and not just a video. I have to continue to work on my time management as that is still my biggest problem.
