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....