Keeley Oshanyk - Documentary Filmmaking

This semester I had the opportunity to create four mini-documentaries about the effects of the Coronavirus. I was able to speak to a wide variety of people from my friend to a doctor. Each documentary is 1-3 minutes long, the last one being a little longer. My last piece is the “master crafted” documentary. There are different elements I need to focus on for each documentary such as the filming, audio and editing. For the filming, I focused on good framing and making sure the camera movement isn’t distracting. When it came to audio, I tried to make sure to have consistent levels for the actual interview. I also removed as much background noise as possible. Editing was my favourite portion of the process. I strived to have good flow and no harsh transitions. For each documentary, I tried to make them all different but still connected. This means I used different people and different soundtracks, but they were all the same theme. The final element I wanted each documentary to have was a takeaway. I created pitches for each documentary. These were short paragraphs explaining a bit about who I was interviewing and what the viewer could expect. My big goal was to improve my skills with each documentary and create work that I am proud of.

This semester had a lot of positives, but also some downs. I was able to learn how to edit with Adobe Premiere Pro, which was something I wanted to learn. While I would take a break from doing my project, I got to make short edits of my friends or other little videos of things that I enjoyed. I also got the chance to interview really interesting people. These people were all of different ages and from different places. This impacted my project as it gave a lot of diversity while still on the same topic. Another thing that went well was my filming, which improved a lot during the semester. In the beginning, I had a lot of panning shots, but I was told to stay away from using these too often as it can become distracting. Instead, I used focus points and larger shots which made the video easier to watch. I also got the chance to use tools to improve my filming. At the start of my project, my filming was shaky and all over the places, but with the motorized gimbal, my shots became less shaky and more stable. My project also had things that didn’t go well. For example, my computer didn’t have a lot of storage. This made it hard to export videos. I had to buy an external hard drive to make more room on my computer. Another issue that ended up happening twice was losing videos. I didn’t have my videos organized so they would end up not working. I learned from my mistakes and started putting all my clips into folders on my computer. The biggest problem I ended up having was not being able to film at a rescue. Originally my documentary was going to be about a dog rescue but because of the pandemic, I couldn’t film it. Instead, I used the pandemic to my advantage and showed the effect it had on different people. Another skill I have improved is my audio and music skills. At the start of the semester, the music was jumpy and would get louder and then quiet. Thanks to the help from not only Google but also my teacher, I learned how to improve my audio skills and make the music flow rather than being harsh. This semester taught me so much I wouldn’t have learned if I hadn’t been in Propel. All the problems I had ended up teaching me a new important skill that made my videos even better. 

Propel was a most unique and incredible experience. At the beginning of the semester, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I finally came up with the idea of expanding my knowledge of filming and making movies. By the end of the semester, I found a love for editing and filmmaking in general. With each documentary, I have learned so much in every aspect. I’ve learned how to use Adobe Premiere Pro and what goes into a documentary to make them look professional. Through using Zoom recordings, I learned how to modify the setup in Zoom so that there was less editing, and a better-quality video could be made. For the first video, it showed me and the presenter. In the second video, I was able to highlight the person I was interviewing. 

After Propel, I’m going to continue with my love for editing. I’m not sure if that means making more documentaries or just little edits of my friends. Even though Covid-19 meant that I haven’t had the full experience that I had hoped to get from the program, Propel and this semester has taught me so much. I’ve learned not only a lot about filmmaking, but also about myself. I am far more resilient than I thought. I found that my time management skills have improved drastically and that I don’t have as hard of a time doing presentations. The group of people at Propel also helped make it as great as it was. Everyone was always so welcoming, and I felt like I was part of a team. That being said, I was disappointed that we didn’t get to hang out together as a group and participate in more face to face team building activities. There is much to be said about human interaction and I think I may have missed out on building close friendships with my peers. I realize that although this pandemic forced me to change the direction of my project and perhaps miss out on the full experience, I shouldn’t be too disappointed. After hearing COVID perspectives from people of varying backgrounds, having to change direction is a small problem to have when you look at the big picture and what others are facing. The teachers are also one of the main reasons Propel was so awesome. They were always there to help us in every way and made sure that we were having a memorable experience. I’m so happy that I chose to go to Propel and that I got to create the memories and friends I did. 

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