Criterion B - Self-management

In order to stay on schedule, I had to set many small due dates for myself. The to-do list on Managebac proved very helpful for this, because goals written down seemed much more achievable than vague ideas of what I need to be doing. About halfway through the year I started prioritize my goals on the list by marking some as “important.” I have discovered that if I have a list of things that need to be done and a date by which they should be done, it is much easier to stay on track. The goals I set were based partially on due dates from our supervisors, but during production and post I had to regulate my work more independently. Additionally, the process journal helped me organize the preproduction stage and better regulate my schedule.

In my work on the project throughout this year, I have found that the scale of the project significantly decreases my incentive to work on it. Not only is the task of creating a film on top of all my other schoolwork and extracurricular activities extremely daunting, but also because the project is not due until around May, it is difficult to prioritize because my other work needs to be completed by a much earlier date. A more long-term mentality was necessary, because if I were to simply work on what is due most immediately, I would never get the project done. From this process, I have realized that I do not work well without concrete, short-term goals to achieve.

Criterion B - Development process

Below is the plan I followed until the beginning of production. However, I did not always have such a concrete picture of the steps in my head. Instead, I simply worked on the next logical step, planning only two or three steps ahead at any given point.

Step 1: Getting the idea. As I considered different approaches to the subject and different ways of presenting the information, the idea of a film about stray animals around the world began to take shape. I was already interested in how people treat stray animals, which was part of what inspired me to look into the topic of homeless animals around the world.

Step 2: Choosing the format of the product. This decision was influenced by my project advisor, who showed me an interesting short film that consisted entirely of animated text and objects. Thus, I chose to create a video that combines actual footage and photos with animated words and little pictures.

Step 3: Research. This stage involved researching information about stray animals and religious/cultural differences to include in my film. Also, I knew how to do basic editing with PremierePro, but I had to look up tutorials for text animating and more complicated compositing on AfterEffects.

Step 4: Writing the narration. During winter break, I wrote my findings from the research in the form of a narration. This stage was one of the most difficult because I spent a great amount of time trying to write in a “documentary narration” style and find the perfect wording. It was quite a departure from the usual academic paper, which was a switch that I had trouble making.

Step 5: Writing out an audio/video script. This stage can be likened to the creation of a storyboard on normal productions. I cut the narration into small chunks and assigned a visual component (e.g. photo, video segment, animation) to go with each section. I did my best to intersperse video clips with images and bits of animated text or numbers, so the viewer would be constantly presented with different types of visuals.

Step 6: Creating a shot list. Once the A/V script was complete, I was able to compile a shot list in the form of a table (see appendix C). This proved extremely useful during the production process, when I needed an easy way to mark which pieces of media I had already gotten and which I still needed to get.

Step 7: Editing script. At the end of preproduction, it was necessary to go over the script once more before recording narration. While reviewing my writing, I found many issues and made some important edits.

Criterion B - Criteria for success

Below are the criteria that I outlined early in the project to enable myself to measure the success of the film at the end. The asterisks mark the criteria that I added later in the process.

• Has an emotional/inspirational impact on the viewer.
• Is longer than 8 minutes but is concise in its presentation of ideas
• Uses a variety of visual communication techniques (animation, personally filmed footage, footage from the internet, text and graphics, interviews {maybe}, etc).
• Gives examples of ways of taking action (i.e., actually helping stray animals)
• *Uses standard documentary techniques, including narration to complement the visual side of the film
• *Has a visual hook in the introduction that makes it immediately interesting for the viewer
• *Uses strong and vivid visuals to engage the viewer, and presents interesting facts both through audio and visuals
• *Strikes a good balance between religious/cultural info and info about the stray animals
• *Is edited in a way that juxtaposes visuals to better support the message (graphic matching, cutting together two very different visuals together to create an impact, etc.)

In the very beginning of the year, I did not have a clear picture of the project in my head, so the goals I outlined were much more vague. Later on in the process I realized that I had to update the criteria so they would better fit the film’s intention and design.

Criterion A - Research skills

During this stage, I looked primarily at blogs and personal travel accounts so I could get a feel for the situation in each country, almost as if I had traveled there myself. As I wrote in my journal, “although these are not the most reliable sources in terms of factual information, they certainly provided me with a clear picture of the situation in different countries in a way that educational websites could not.” I ended up doing quite a bit of research so that I could weed out the sources that were biased or not credible. It is important to do online research with a great deal of discretion, and I was able to develop that skill in my work on the film. In addition to blogs and personal websites, I found some news articles that proved quite helpful, despite their sometimes biased tone. Overall, the key during the research phase was to look at multiple sources and source types before drawing any conclusions.

While doing the research, I compiled a document with all the information necessary to write the script. It includes information for a few countries, like Haiti, that I later decided not to focus on in the film. This compilation was essential in later parts of preproduction.

Criterion A - Prior knowledge

I first read about the relationship between culture and stray cats a few years ago. One sentence made a lasting impression on me: “In Istanbul, the cat is king.” Around the same time, I met Cairo, a blind cat who had made his way all the way from Egypt to live in an animal shelter in Chicago. I learned a bit about the terrible conditions for homeless cats in Cairo, and how shelters in the United States partnered with Egyptian organizations to rescue some of them.

On the religious/cultural subjects, most of my prior knowledge came from history classes that I had taken in the past few years. This year, for example, in World History we learned about the origins of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism and about the ancient Egyptian and Greek societies. With that general idea about religious and cultural traditions, I could plan out which countries would be best to focus on in the documentary.

Criterion A - Goals

At the beginning of the year I set the goal for my project, which was: “Create a film documenting the lives of homeless animals in various countries around the globe and the effect that religious and cultural beliefs have on the strays living there.” I knew I wanted to create an engaging film that enables people see the issue in new ways. At first I thought I would focus more closely on the strays’ living conditions and how they differ from place to place, but as I continued with the research, I became increasingly interested in the effect of religion and culture. 

I chose a film format for my product/outcome because I thought it would be the best medium to convey the subject. A website would have also been suitable, but would be limited to short clips and photos, which would likely lessen the emotional impact. The filmmaking process was quite challenging so far, and I expect it to get even more difficult in spring. A challenging part of the editing process will be attempting to create a documentary without actually shooting any of the footage myself, relying on borrowed clips shot in various countries and writing and recording voiceover. I have seen many documentaries, though, and the style of my film will be derived from those.

The global context that best fit my topic was Fairness and Development, because one of the consequences of our common humanity is that many animals have been marginalized and neglected. The film will explore cultural and religious relationships, and address the development of conditions for animals over long periods of time.