doco shorts

Well, as most of my avid fans would know, I caught the doco shorts programme 2 at Greater Union on Friday night. And, besides the one or two productions that made me nod off, I have to say it was definitely money well spent at the cinema - not something one can profess too often nowadays.

The first doc, entitled I want to be a pilot, was a moving, poetic account of a young HIV orphan, who was later revealed to be HIV positive himself. Turned out that it wasn't about one child specifically, but illustrated the fate of tens of thousands of children living out in the slums of East Africa. The boy had such haunting eyes... and both the pace and texture of the film were just painstakingly beautiful.

Out of all the documentaries, though, I would have to say the biggest highlight for me was The Butcher's Wife. It was just such an awe-inspiring piece, both from a filmmaking and human psychology point of view. To think that one woman put herself through so much and could then come out from that to become the subject of such a wonderful aesthetic is mind-blowing. I especially loved the way her daughter infused the story with bits of dramatised footage as well as more formal interviewing... not to mention the sheer perfection of the sound at all times I guess it was just good to see good quality documentary filmmaking happening so close to home - apparently the girl (Kylie) was/is a student of the VCA. The beginning of a long and vibrant career, I hope.

Lipari wasn't bad, stylistically. It was the only doc that didn't contain explicit dialog, and that seemed to work. The Fighting Cholitas was as informative as it was amusing... really loved the whole corny pro-wrestling touch of the dialogue boxes.. haha. And the way the women were filmed.. both in their domestic and 'professional' settings. Again, multi-layering. And the way it was structured was just really engaging and built up to a pretty exciting climax. This is all stuff I've taken on board for crafting our own up-and-coming short documentary.

Speaking of which, it's high time I did some more work on this proposal. Did I mention this? We've all decided on what we're doing - and my doc it is. :)

round of applause

Well, thankfully we managed to narrow it down to two choices in yesterday's class - either mine or Christine's (shop-a-holics). I guess that makes the research process slightly less cumbersome. Any progress is good progress at this stage :) And we also have a fourth member! Exciting stuff, it's good to have as many men as we can to lend a hand on deck. AND, most magnificently, I HAVE BEEN APPOINTED AS DIRECTOR. I am so freaking over the moon about this, considering how little input I was able to give last time 'round. THREE CHEERS FOR ME IN THE BIG CHAIR :D

Let's hope I can hold my game, eh?

It was good getting to dissect each group's ideas properly in the class. I guess what we need to focus on now are visual arrangements and how to best go about wowing our audiences with style as well as content... I love the thrill of the challenege though. Drama kept us so confined in what we could and couldn't do, whereas in this mode I feel like we can afford many more aesthetics or at least experiment with them on some level. Moderation is the key, folks, always remember that.

Off to catch the second run of the docos at MIFF tomorrow evening. Will be sure to report back on my observations :D No doubt I'll want to cry and throw in the towel and have a whinge about how jealous I am... but still..!