TX minus 7 days

My deadline is now looming. I now have a mere week to finish my documentary. Something that’s troubling me right now (but probably shouldn’t given that I don’t have a complete rough cut yet…) is music. Music maketh the documentary. Some of my UCF colleagues have had great fun choosing songs to accompany their documentary. Copyright clearance is something we don’t have to consider too much as long as it stays within the educational environment. But I want to use something authentic and am kicking myself for not trawling through CDs at the big tourist market in Nairobi. I didn’t really have time, but it would have been a good thing to do. Any suggestions from Joe Public are very welcome….

Another issue I’ve been grappling with is the genre I’m aiming to emulate. I had been aiming for an Unreported World-style:  fast-paced, lots of quick edits and even more pieces to camera to explain the story. However, self-shooting really limits the number of pieces to camera you can do. I am also not so self-absorbed that I want to be seen on screen for the majority of the piece. I want my subjects to tell their story as much as possible – it’s a questions of ethics. Now I think I want to make it clear that I am there as the filmmaker, including my questions in interviews, but without seeing much of me since I am holding the camera.