Month: March 2020

This documentary was shot beautifully. The documentary mostly consisted of a sequence of 5 shot sequences, and most notably there were many close up shots, making the viewer feel like they were invading private and intimate moments. It immersed the viewer into each of the family’s lives.
The heart wrenching stories were told from the patients and the family’s themselves. The music was utilized very effectively towards the end. The lack of music throughout the movie made it feel a lot more realistic.
The editing style was clean cut, no fancy transitions, and it all made sense structurally. The pacing was quick but smooth and to the point. Every single shot mattered and each shot contributed to the building of suspense. The stories were structured chronologically, but were told through three different family’s perspectives, although I was a bit confused in the beginning, I think the editor did a good job organizing the video in a way that both separates the three cases, but intertwines them through the similar themes of love and death.
The B-roll was less creative, and more of a literal visual of what is going on. I think the filmmaker was probably granted access by building their a relationship with the doctor at the hospital. This must have taken a while, considering there were numerous patients involved and they must have needed to be granted consent. They probably had trouble with the mic because the rode mic needs to pointed in the direction of the person talking and sometimes it is hard to anticipate who’s going to speak next.

Proposal: Faithfully Sustainable Nonprofit Event highlighting the horrific mistreatment and underpayment of garment worker in the United States. Highlights the flaws in the fashion industry, as the workers toil in unsafe, crowded, dirty, poorly ventilated factories. I am going to interview the founders of the nonprofit and ask them about their goals.

I apologize for the late submission. It has been done for quite some time, I had just forgotten to post it. https://youtu.be/cJ_FUW7PgH8

For my documentary, I am really excited about taking my story directly into my own house and showing the quirks of my family. Both of my parents, first generation Immigrants from Colombia and Israel created their own small business. NorthernTribeNY, which is a graphic design and silkscreen printing company, has been a huge part of creating the culture of my family. It’s been a family run business start to end, so much to the point that our printing shop is in our basement. Work is done right out of our house, and everyone plays a huge part in making it function for so many years. I want to film my family in their most natural state, and show how interesting and unique of a work/family life we are lucky to have. Another interesting angle to play into with it is how because we have our business in the basement, work and play are no longer separate entities. Every night, all myself and my brother’s childhood friends come over and we hang out in that basement for hours. Even recently, it’s become a new thing to draw with sharpies all over the inventory boxes. When I was younger, having this business didn’t have nearly the same role in my life as it does now, and I would love to give my family’s business the narrative it so strongly deserves.

For my short documentary, I wanted to focus on basketball. Due to the virus and players contracting it, the NBA had to go on a hiatus, suspending the rest of the season. Growing up in queens that’s the biggest hobby/pastime we have. Especially this time of the year. If the suspension didn’t happen, it would almost be playoff time. A lot of people including myself feel an important chunk of life is missing  without basketball. So wanted to shoot something that shows and grabs at that passion. Idea of the documentary itself was to shoot different locations (hopefully by that time we can go back to being able to gather in large numbers) of people playing. While the overlay would have a narrative of what basketball means to me, and of those in the video. To start off I was thinking I could shoot the empty parks. Typically around this time going into spring parks start to get filled with people playing basketball, but due to the virus they are empty.

My idea for my documentary is to portray how coronavirus has affected the everyday life of New Yorkers, including some visual shots of the empty streets, stores closed, and supermarkets empty shelves. But, I want to focus on two polarized perspectives: the one from a friend, a college student and worker, who is not very concerned with the emergency and the point of view from my mom who is taking all the precautions at home. Also, I’d like to include how she has to manage her time to help my little sister with school work.

Yasmeen Persaud 

 

Extremis — Netflix Documentary

 

This documentary took viewers into the lives of doctors, loved ones, patients and extended beyond a typical Netflix dish. Usually, I expect medical-oriented shows on Netflix served with comedy and drama, but this Netflix documentary went beyond that by showing viewers the seriousness and sadness of the ICU. The opening shot of the documentary contained hospital machine monitor noises, acting as a curtain reveal to the main plot of the show — doctors, loved ones and patients all suffering with hopes to make an ethical decision about death. Because of the way the documentary was crafted, the theme of the documentary was symbolic and showed a scary scenario about doctors and patients choosing to pull the plug on loved ones who didn’t have a clear case of surviving. To illustrate this theme, the filmmaker used shaky shots to make it seem as if the viewer was there. This was not on the set of Grey’s Anatomy or Private Practice, and the shots had to reveal that this was real life and not a medical drama that somewhat showed a happy ending. This documentary revealed the brutal aspects of life and death in the ICU and the harsh time of letting go when it’s time. I loved how there were close-up shots on hospital monitors and a slightly blurred image of the heart monitors to showcase that life was about to be cut short. Even though this documentary was 24 minutes long, the pacing of the film felt drawn out despite quick shots that focused on different patients and their families. The duration and impact of the shots were beautiful because it depicted emotion and aggression from loved ones reacting to the reality of letting their loved one go. When Dr. Zitter was trying to explain to the daughter of Selena that her mother was going to die, there was a sit down scene between the both of them and many close up shots on Dr. Zitter trying to explain that it would be logical to understand that Selena’s choice to die needed to be respected. However, the daughter and the uncles were convinced of the power of miracles. This concept was further illustrated when the filmmaker took shots of the family praying to God over Selena, wishing for her to get better. I was surprised that the filmmaker was able to be allowed access to the ICU and shots of each of the ICU patients and their family members. This was separated well, in plain black scenes and simple texts about each patient’s story, but required effort and time, because each shot had to be filmed as families were deciding whether or not to make the last decision to let their loved one pass away. I applaud the filmmaker for making such a thematic, raw and grim film because it shows the difficulties in life. I think that most medical shows downplay the seriousness of losing someone in the ICU, and comedy or drama usually acts as leverage to save the sad parts of the show. In the beginning of the documentary, one of the doctors is blunt and states that at some point we all die. This documentary proves that real life is detrimental and that everyone has a story that ends in death. 

 

Documentary story pitch 

I have two pitch ideas so I will be separating them below —

Pitch 1: Life after ALS and Alzheimer’s Disease — The caretaker’s perspective (Inspired by the NBC News Documentary with the son and his mother dealing with Alzheimer’s)

My grandfather died in Dec. 2018 from ALS and Alzheimer’s Disease. ALS slowed his cognitive functioning down, and my parents and I dealt with this for years before he finally passed away. I have seen him at his best and at his worst, and the NBC News Documentary tracked life with Alzheimer’s disease as a caretaker, why not examine life with ALS and Alzheimer’s disease after? My father was extremely close to my grandfather and would be the main subject I would focus on. The B-roll would show pictures from photo albums and memorabilia that I have from my grandfather. One cool shot I want to incorporate is the pens my grandmother gave me after he died. My grandfather was a professor of English back in his home country and also a writer, and all of his pens were passed down to me because my grandma knew that he inspired me to also be a writer. I also have footage and home videos of him that can craft this into a really telling story. 

 

Pitch 2: My daily routine — Before and after the COVID—19 virus 

This documentary will contrast two ideas and show a side by side comparison through daily routines. How is someone’s life different after the virus? I wanted to interview my cousin and how her life has changed. Some shots will include her online classes vs. her preparing to go to class, her getting ready to make breakfast for college vs. waking up late and having a more disoriented plan for the day. Another plan I have is an examination on the lives of my parents during this time. Both of my parents work for a major retailer and pharmacy and their daily routine will be entirely different, seeing that they are dealing with customers panicking, which could make them panicked as well. 

 

My documentary will focus on my friend who is a chef. He is working hard to move up in the restaurant world and unfortunately the coronavirus is disrupting his plans in life right now.  He really loves creating healthy, tasty meals; it’s his art and also serves as therapy. I want to capture him in his zone, making a meal. Also, record him talking about how he has to navigate through this pandemic and continue working as a chef. I also want to get B-roll of Harlem (our neighborhood), the city and the restaurant he currently works at.

The documentary brought the viewer into an intensive care unit with Dr. Jessica Zitter and a patient. Shots were handheld, made for the viewer to feel like they are in the room. Director and producer Dan Krauss captured hand shots of the doctor with her patient as she tried her best to communicate with her patient in critical condition. Krauss intentionally focused the camera on the patient’s hands and doesn’t show the patient’s face at all. When a wide shot is shown, patient’s face is blurred out, indicating there was no consent for her face to be shown.

The next scenes were different shots of the hospital staff. Those scenes were fast paced; they showed emergency situations which included Dr. Zitter performing CPR on a patient. Krauss made sure to keep the camera angle on the head of the doctor, in a way that didn’t violate the patient’s rights. The shooting style in this documentary was dominantly close-up, handheld shots.

The film followed a patient name “Donna” with her family. Donna was visible on camera which showed that her family, possibly her brother, gave consent for her face to be shown. Donna served as chapter one of the documentary. No music was heard during conversations with Donna’s family members and Dr. Zitter.

The documentary continued moving with handheld shots behind the hospital’s medical staff as they rushed to the aide of another patient: “Selena”. This was separate from the previous scene and served as chapter two in the documentary. B-roll throughout the documentary was very literal to what was happening in the ICU. The overall pacing of the documentary complimented the reality of the ICU in a hospital.

Music kept the overall story going and kicked in during specific scenes, like when the doctor talked about off camera patients and as she walked throughout the ICU. Conversations from staff was used with the hospital’s natural sounds throughout the documentary. Krauss appeared to have spent enough time with the doctor and his subjects. The documentary captured the trust he gained through very intimate and vulnerable moments between his subjects.

Transitions flowed into the face-paced style with a sense of urgency. The story structure of the film was separated into different scene/chapters that weaved into each other. Consent and ethics didn’t seem to be much of an issue for Krauss. There were family members presently able to make decisions for their loved ones.

I’d like to focus my documentary on the effects the coronavirus has on Asian Americans. As an Asian American myself, I’ve experienced and witnessed both subtle and very blunt racially charged harassment and abuse since the rise of the panic and misinformation of the coronavirus. I’d like to use several of my peers as subjects as well as my parents who are older, both 65 and 68. This is to show the hidden and also upfront discomfort some people in New York City have against Asians and Chinese people specifically since the start of the coronavirus.

In the short documentary “Extremis,” the videographer carefully used a lot of close-up shots to invoke a tone of anxiety and sadness. While the documentary followed one main doctor, it was interesting to see how the film-maker chose to use a similar angle from either below or on a tilt to show the different patients, family members, and doctors. One scene that stuck out to me the most was the beginning scene in which the presumed son stated “What if you die if I take it out,” before cutting to the title screen. This editor’s choice of cutting was extremely well done. I also enjoyed the editor’s choice of comparing two different families and their decisions of what to do with their elderly family members. This gave the viewer a sense of the difficulties that play into the decision making process of how to handle a dying person’s life.

I also enjoyed the very minimal use of music in this documentary. Because this piece was very intense and almost as if the viewer was there in real-time, the use of no music jumping scene to scene to each patient gave a bigger sense of stress and seriousness of the story. The only music that stuck in my mind was the ending when the families decided what they were ultimately going to do with the dying family member before cutting to the credit titles. The producers of this film must have stayed with these subjects for weeks in order to show the progression of the families and their loved ones, but this also shows the trust and how little of their presence was in times of caring for these family members.