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CREATING A DOCUMENTARY
Himika Paul
November 10, 2019
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Introduction:
The global film industry shows healthy projections for the coming years, as the global box
office revenue is forecast to increase from about 38 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 to nearly 50
billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Documentaries are just a tiny part of this huge number. For this
year’s IDS project, I will be following up on last year’s topic of video editing. This time around I
will be focusing on adding more of a structural and profession aspect to my finished product,
in the form of a short observational, yet cinematic documentary. I felt that creating a
documentary meant that I had to heavily keep in mine the structure of the end product, along
with different film and editing techniques that relate to the theme of the documentary. I hope to
find out what I can do to make a mini documentary look professional. What film and editing
techniques can i use to do so? This is definitely different, and a way larger Step than last year
when I focused on the very basics of Adobe premiere to edit a short cinematic travel-style
video. Since then, I have not picked up much else on video editing, but I am eager to start the
frustrating, yet rewarding process again. One of my big goals for this year is to really push
myself to stay on top of my project and closely follow the timeline I set for myself. Time
management is especially important for this documentary since everything is so time sensitive.
I will only have the chance to film prior to and during jokers classic, the event I will be
documenting. I will have to finish a version of this video for the senior leadership class, for
purposes of documenting our work towards the event. I will be using this version of the video
as a prelude to my final video for the mid-year IDS and I will be spending the rest of the year
creating, editing, and correcting the full documentary. From now until Jokers Classic, I will be
focusing on learning new film techniques and learning how to use more professional
equipment. For the remaining time, I will be focusing on learning new editing techniques and
applying them to my video.

Significance:
My goals will help me keep structure within my project, as I find that a project with lack of
structure allows me to slack and fall behind on my priorities.

Not only am I creating this documentary to be viewed and critiqued by other creators and
editors, I am also creating this to be enjoyed by my fellow peers in leadership. This video will
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document their hard work on the event and it will show other, and future leadership classes,
what it means to be a part of a senior leadership class at John Oliver.

Video editing The film industry is massive, documentaries are a very small part of that. I hope
my finished product will be a helpful and educational example for those who are seeking to
create something similar.

Project Plan:
NOVEMBER:
- film the process of putting together a big event such as Joker classic, and learn new film
techniques along the way

- I will research more about the process of creating a documentary to get a feel for what I will
spend the next few months creating and create a timeline, considering my time constraints.

DECEMBER:
- Film during the basketball tournament

- Interview Mr. Jabillo, leadership students, and spectators.

JANUARY:
- I will be putting together a prelude/ trailer video, basically a shorter and lightly edited version
of the end product to present to the leadership class.

- This video will almost act as a prototype, loosely resembling what I want the final version to
look like.

- I will present this video for Mid-year IDS.

FEBRUARY:
- I will talk to others who are in the film/ documentary field for advice towards my project.

- I will spend this month watching many documentaries and perfecting the vision for my end
result.

MARCH:
- In March, I will be starting to place clips and scenes on my timeline according to my vision.

- After doing so, I will be reviewing the clips and cutting the down to the desired sizes.

- I will be creating the base for my video.

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APRIL:
- April will be dedicated to learning new editing techniques and transitions and applying them
to the the base video,

- I will then get feed back on what I have so far and re-designing and re-editing as needed.

MAY:
- I will be adding finishing touching on the video and creating the presentation pieces for the
final IDS fair.

- The finished documentary will then be posted to Youtube for everyone to view, enjoy, and
gain inspiration from.

Core Competencies:
COMMUNICATION:
This video will a recorded and edited documentation of Jokers Classic and will display the
dedication and nature of the leadership class, along with all the school spirit that comes with
such a big and powerful event. It will act as a digital time capsule for future leadership classes
to view and learn from.

CREATIVE THINKING:
I will be creating a vision board for my final video and I will be following the vision board closely
as a guide to learn new techniques and create my final product.

CRITICAL THINKING:
As I near finishing the video, I will be asking my peers and other documentary creators in the
community such as Mr. Vaisbord for their criticism on my work. I will then take their thoughts
and comments and concerns into consideration and alter my video accordingly.

POSITIVE AWARENESS AND RESPONSIBILITY:

Not Applicable

PERSONAL AWARENESS AND RESPONSIBILITY:

To keep myself on track and reduce stress, I will be creating a structured timeline/ schedule of
when I need to have each stage of my project finished by.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
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When asking others to participate in my process, whether that be actually being present In the
documentary or helping me with the post processing, I will do so respectfully. I hope this
project helps recreate connections that will become of use in the future.

Final Product:
My final product with be a short documentary, approximately twenty minute long, that will
showcase all the work that gets put into Jokers Classic, all the behind the scenes, and the
tournament itself.

Resources:
The community connection I hope to be able to talk to is Mr. Vaisbord, as he has come into one
of our classes last year to teach us his knowledge on documentaries and presented some of
the documentaries he has created.

As for Supplies and equipment, I have some of my own, but I also hope to be able to borrow
some from the school. I will be mostly relying on the school’s collection of film equipment, such
as cameras and microphones.

Conclusion:
To me, this project means way more than just an academic exercise. I actually don’t see it like
that at all. Creating and editing videos has become a creative outlet for me. The final
documentary I make on Jokers Classic will not only be an IDS project, but also something for
the leadership class and those who played and participated to look back on for years to come.
It will become a video snapshot in time for all of us to reminisce long after the end of the
tournament.