My Korean filmmaker friend who will be in Seoul for part of the summer has offered to let me use his DV camera and other equipment for the interviews and as much B-roll as I can get. There will be a tight window of a few days while we are both in town, so I will have to get all that arranged and locked down well in advance. This can be difficult in Korea, sometimes, getting things locked down. But hopefully the recruiter folks will come through for me and help identify the schools and teachers for me to make a preliminary contact soon. I'll want to send the list of questions ahead of time so that the responses will be thoughtful.
I will also be using the footage I shot in 02-03 on my dinky miniDV at the time, as well as B-roll I plan to shoot with my nifty new but not professional grade miniDV camcorder. I like mixing up the quality and media, which is what I did in my first documentary, only at that time it was 16mm film and Super8. I've actually thought about buying up a cheap Super8 on Ebay and dragging that along as well. We'll see. Film is much more expensive, but god does it look great!
Not only has Chang offered his production equipment, he is also going to assist with editing, which is fantastic because I think a lot of what I'd like to do, visually, with special effects or other add-on packages to FinalCut Pro, I wouldn't be able to do myself without spending hours. His passion is editing, so it works out. I will make the paper EDL (edit decision list), and he will execute.
He is truly a filmmaker's filmmaker. His sense of filmmaking community is unparalleled in my experience, and I don't know what I'd do without his moral and material support.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Struk-shir
I sat down with a piece of blank paper this morning and hashed out the structure for the film. I'm also applying for grants as I do this, so it all dove-tails together.
I am applying for a grant that is geared for public television, thus the length of the piece is dictated at 56:40. So that's one thing I don't have to think about too hard. It was that or 26:40, which wouldn't have been enough time to do what I want to do.
I am going to divide the program into 5 sections, thematically arranged:
1. Intro to EFL in Korea (the industry, hakwans, Korean education, importance of English, my own city and school, and a brief intro of the teachers I'm interviewing).
2. Why do they come?
3. Culture shock experiences (and what they mean)
4. Finding a place, making the most out of your time in Korea
5. Going home and re-entry
I have developed a set of interview questions for each section, and I will also be using poetry that I wrote while I was there to enter sections 2 - 5. I'm still working on polishing the poems, which I'd just written in my journals without any thought to form or editing. Polishing the poems reflects the perspective I now hold, as well as the raw ponderings of that time.
I think I will open with the Korean poem read in Korean and English, as I described below in an earlier post. The one I've chosen is "Prayer in Autumn" by Kim Hyun-Sung. It's appropriate in its time frame (I arrived in Korea and returned home at the end of summer) and its reference to flying "over the billowing sea."
I have been thinking of specific shots I know I already have for each of the five sections, as well as still photos I'll scan. Aside from the poems and short journal entries, I'm not doing any scriptwriting at this time. I think after I'm there and I'm meeting and interviewing the teachers, any other scripting will come into focus for me, especially for the first section.
I am applying for a grant that is geared for public television, thus the length of the piece is dictated at 56:40. So that's one thing I don't have to think about too hard. It was that or 26:40, which wouldn't have been enough time to do what I want to do.
I am going to divide the program into 5 sections, thematically arranged:
1. Intro to EFL in Korea (the industry, hakwans, Korean education, importance of English, my own city and school, and a brief intro of the teachers I'm interviewing).
2. Why do they come?
3. Culture shock experiences (and what they mean)
4. Finding a place, making the most out of your time in Korea
5. Going home and re-entry
I have developed a set of interview questions for each section, and I will also be using poetry that I wrote while I was there to enter sections 2 - 5. I'm still working on polishing the poems, which I'd just written in my journals without any thought to form or editing. Polishing the poems reflects the perspective I now hold, as well as the raw ponderings of that time.
I think I will open with the Korean poem read in Korean and English, as I described below in an earlier post. The one I've chosen is "Prayer in Autumn" by Kim Hyun-Sung. It's appropriate in its time frame (I arrived in Korea and returned home at the end of summer) and its reference to flying "over the billowing sea."
I have been thinking of specific shots I know I already have for each of the five sections, as well as still photos I'll scan. Aside from the poems and short journal entries, I'm not doing any scriptwriting at this time. I think after I'm there and I'm meeting and interviewing the teachers, any other scripting will come into focus for me, especially for the first section.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Preproduction Update
Summer is almost here, and I'm able once again to focus on this project.
I've decided to get to Korea this summer via English Summer Camp. It makes sense that I'll be working again as an EFL teacher as I make this film. My recruiter from the last time I went to Korea has expressed interest in having me make a video promo for their website, in addition to my film project. I worked with that recruiting company when I went to Korea in '02, so I know they are reputable. At the moment, I am waiting to hear back on where I'll be teaching, and also waiting for feedback on the promo script I've sent.
I am still interested in making a teacher-orientation video, but we'll see how things go on that. Meantime, I've been reading through my old journals from that year in Korea to pick up pieces I'd like to include in the personal sections of the film. I don't want to get too personal, but it is my experience that is driving this whole thing, after all.
Once I get those pieces pulled, I will start to fit together a preliminary structure. I already know how I'd structure the orientation video - that one is cut and dry.
At this point I am waiting (im)patiently for the recruiter to get back to me with details. And I'm also waiting for my passport to be processed -- I had to update my name change after getting married a couple years ago. And of course I left that until the last possible moment.
I've decided to get to Korea this summer via English Summer Camp. It makes sense that I'll be working again as an EFL teacher as I make this film. My recruiter from the last time I went to Korea has expressed interest in having me make a video promo for their website, in addition to my film project. I worked with that recruiting company when I went to Korea in '02, so I know they are reputable. At the moment, I am waiting to hear back on where I'll be teaching, and also waiting for feedback on the promo script I've sent.
I am still interested in making a teacher-orientation video, but we'll see how things go on that. Meantime, I've been reading through my old journals from that year in Korea to pick up pieces I'd like to include in the personal sections of the film. I don't want to get too personal, but it is my experience that is driving this whole thing, after all.
Once I get those pieces pulled, I will start to fit together a preliminary structure. I already know how I'd structure the orientation video - that one is cut and dry.
At this point I am waiting (im)patiently for the recruiter to get back to me with details. And I'm also waiting for my passport to be processed -- I had to update my name change after getting married a couple years ago. And of course I left that until the last possible moment.
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