Watching and Learning

With preparations under way for the All Souls Procession, the time for finding characters for my documentary is fast approaching. After the initial process of finding a topic for my documentary, I began researching the event and came across the mailing list which has kept me up to date on various events. One of the events happens this Thursday at 6:30 p.m.



This event poses as the perfect opportunity to meet the people involved in the Procession and will hopefully provide me with some good characters for the forthcoming documentary. Being the documentary novice that I am, I have also been researching the process of making one. I recently found another website that provides helpful hints and suggestions on the creation process. I have also found some pretty cool videos on youtube including the one below.


Since I have never attended the All Souls Procession, videos like that give me a good idea of what I can expect to see while I'm taping the event. Another way I have been preparing for producing this documentary without knowing it is by watching other documentaries. This process is listed as one of the key steps in making a documentary. So lucky for me and those who will be viewing my finished product, I am obsessed with documentaries and have been watching them for years! Below is a list of some of my favorites that I intend to mimic in various ways throughout my experience in producing my own:

In no particular order:
1. American Movie

2. The 7up Series

3. The Bridge

4. Bowling for Columbine

5. Hell House

6. Kurt & Courtney

7. Jesus Camp

8. Paradise Lost

9. The Ganja Queen

10. And, for all cynical purposes:Zeitgeist The Movie

All of the above films, though very diverse in content, have assisted in my ever-emergent love for documentaries. Of course, there are many more. PBS makes some great documentaries as does HBO. Next week I will hopefully have some characters for my film and some pictures of the aforementioned event on Thursday. Until then, grab some Ben and Jerry's and head over to Casa Video to rent the above films.

Feeling Feverish

While on the prowl for characters for my forthcoming documentary, I have run across several leads. But in the meantime, I have also had to make some decisions about which direction I want to take this documentary. The questions abound: do I want to specifically cover the people who have had loved ones die and thus, they celebrate during All Souls? Or do I want to cover the tradition and culture behind it? There are many directions I could take it, but I am most interested in the personal aspect of it. I want to know why people celebrate and how. I want to know about their stories of love, loss and closure.


The difficult part is definitely the time factor. Between my 5 classes, 3-4 days of work and a weekend internship in Phoenix, I have little time to make contacts, interview and shoot b-roll for the project.


And yet another barrier: the flu. Just when you think you're ready to jump on the phone and set up interviews, the flu hits. Sure, I saw this coming a mile away. I guess not sleeping since Wednesday began to take its toll on me by Saturday night. Sunday morning it all came down and I was out of commission. If only I could say I was better now and ready to go. I have inundated this thing with everything from Airborne to Zicam and slept for about 33 of the last 36 hours.

Fortunately, I have made a few contacts and have been able to start communicating. I am still hoping for some individuals willing to tell their story on camera, so hopefully one of my leads will help me with that. I'm getting really anxious to start shooting so hopefully this week will allow me to do that sanz any unexpected ailments or time limitations!

Documenting the Documentary

I first fell in love with documentaries at the tender age of six. Of course at that time, I thought Sesame Street was PBS's recurring documentary of a man dressed like a bird, trying to learn the alphabet. I should also mention that Sesame Street taught me how to melodically count to ten in Spanish. Many, many years later, I still love documentaries and, yes, I can still melodically count to ten in Spanish. So why not make a documentary about the border? My only hope is that by the end of this I won't be rephrasing that question as: why did I ever decide to make a documentary about the border?

While the process seems daunting and possibly impossible, it is also something I've always wanted to do. But how does one start? Thank god for google! So I googled "how to make a documentary" and found Fourdocs which is a website that features amateur documentaries and has video tutorials on how to make them. The first step enumerated by the site is to find a subject. Already I have hit a road block! What do I want to focus my debut documentary on that is both interesting and accomplishable?

I began brainstorming and asking around for inspiration when I nearly overlooked one gem of an idea. The first time I had heard of the All Souls Procession was last November while working at Frog and Firkin as a server. I was hoping to get off work early to start on some article for school when a group of people adorned with face paint and strange clothing walked in. Apparently they made their way from downtown Tucson where they were celebrating the lives of loved ones who had passed. Fascinating.

Nearly a year later, after being reminded of the event, I decided to do a little research. I stumbled upon a website devoted to All Souls Procession and began my research. My first thought was of a documentary I recently watched called "The Bridge" which records the stories of people who committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. I thought about this film, not because the thought of making this documentary makes me want to commit suicide myself, but because of the emotional stories of those who were impacted by the suicides. The film is almost a eulogy for the people who jumped but it also evokes a sense of closure for the living that they seem to feel after having the opportunity to talk about the deaths of their loved ones. This is why I decided to focus my documentary on the All Souls Procession. I hope to document the tradition, planning and most importantly, the individual stories of the people involved.

So now on to another challenge in my forthcoming documentary: finding the "characters". Where will I find people willing to talk about their dead loved ones and will it involve going to a Catholic church? Find out next week....