Topics for my first documentary

I know I've posted about making documentaries before, and I've been wanting to try to make some, but I am at a complete loss on where to start, i.e. what topic I should even cover for my first one. Since I'm from Louisiana, one possibility could be Katrina, but I figure that so many other documentaries have been made on it, and all possibly a lot better than anything I could ever make, and in addition, since I experienced it, and it still resonates all these years later, it is still somewhat painful to talk about. This all stemmed from a conversation I had with a relative of mine last week about filmmaking, and she said to me that if I ever made a film about Katrina, that she would be available for an interview.

I may be thinking too far ahead here, and since I still have over two years left to finish college I may not have time to actually go out and make a documentary film, but at this point, I simply don't know where to begin. I know the basics of shooting, editing, etc. but I have no idea what kind of documentary I want to make, and it's making me very worried. The only thing I've even thought about shooting with the video camera I get this Christmas is high school sports, but that's it. In addition, I am also a screenwriter, and I cannot seem to think of one single idea to write, and the one short screenplay I wrote and saw advance to the second round of a contest is one I have no idea how to make better, and one I cannot seem to get any interest in from people. At this point, I am just at a complete loss on what to do. Any suggestions?
 
My relative is actually in her 40's, and I don't see her that often, but I'm sure that she has a very interesting perspective on living through the storm. I know that my grandmother has seen a lot of hurricanes, Betsy, Camille, etc. and she knows all about having to evacuate and all the times that Louisiana barely missed out on being struck by a major hurricane before Katrina. I actually interviewed her for a project for my class on one effect of the storm, namely why there is no local hospital in St. Bernard parish (where I'm from) 5 years afterward. There are plans to have one in place for next year, and hopefully that will come to fruition. My grandmother worked in a hospital for several years when I was a kid, and she also worked in the sheriff's office for many years before retirement. I ended up not using the interview I did with her because the sound quality was bad, but whenever I get the DVD of the work I did for my class, I might put it up on my Youtube page. I mostly edited it and ran camera, while a friend of mine did the interviews.

GP, I also enjoy documentaries about people too, whether it's one person or several, whether they're just average people like you and me or famous. I think I tend to gravitate towards documentaries because real life is often a lot more fascinating than any work of fiction that could ever be written. I tend to want to get to know more about the subjects, the people being interviewed. If they're an artist of any kind, like a painter or an actor, a writer, or a musician, I want to seek out what they've done as part of their career, and so on.
 
If the story and person is compelling, a lot of people would be interested in a short documentary. Many do feature movies, but they do bring in others who have relationships with the main character.
 
Just to reiterate some of what has been said...

The entertainment industry calls many and rewards few. I know, I've been involved in one aspect or another for over 30 years, more if you include my high school years. It is HARD. It calls for total commitment and dedication. It epitomizes Edison - 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. And if you think what you've read so far has been tough on you, just wait until the critics come after you. I am fortunate to be part of a group (we all do audio post) that gets together a few times a years to critique each others work, and we politely but thoroughly rip each other to shreds; it's a very humiliating time for each of us and some of my most rewarding hours because I learn a lot.

The thing to do is to start small. You have limited time since you are in school and (hopefully) trying to keep your grades up (you do write well, especially when compared to many of your peers), you have very limited resources and almost zero experience. So keep it simple, keep it focused; don't be too ambitious or you will be setting yourself up for a fall.

And don't expect to succeed your first time; or your second or your tenth. Remember, you learn a lot more from your failures than you do from your successes.

Finally, since I'm an audio guy, always keep in mind "Sound is half of the experience."
 
Just to reiterate some of what has been said...

The entertainment industry calls many and rewards few. I know, I've been involved in one aspect or another for over 30 years, more if you include my high school years. It is HARD. It calls for total commitment and dedication. It epitomizes Edison - 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. And if you think what you've read so far has been tough on you, just wait until the critics come after you. I am fortunate to be part of a group (we all do audio post) that gets together a few times a years to critique each others work, and we politely but thoroughly rip each other to shreds; it's a very humiliating time for each of us and some of my most rewarding hours because I learn a lot.

The thing to do is to start small. You have limited time since you are in school and (hopefully) trying to keep your grades up (you do write well, especially when compared to many of your peers), you have very limited resources and almost zero experience. So keep it simple, keep it focused; don't be too ambitious or you will be setting yourself up for a fall.

And don't expect to succeed your first time; or your second or your tenth. Remember, you learn a lot more from your failures than you do from your successes.

Finally, since I'm an audio guy, always keep in mind "Sound is half of the experience."

Thanks, Alcove. I really appreciate it. As for college, I am doing my very best to keep my grades up, and like I said, that's the #1 priority for me right now. Looking back, there are a lot of things that I wish I could have done better in my filmmaking. When I interviewed my grandmother for the hospital story, the audio was so bad that no matter what I could do to make it better, it just didn't work. I was doing everything I was taught, I was using a clip-on microphone that I hooked up to her shirt collar, and somehow it still managed to pick up background noise. In addition, luck was not on my side that day, because in addition to having to meet a deadline for the class, my partner somehow managed not to include the prepared list of questions I wanted to ask that she wrote, which forced me to come up with my own, and it was driving me nuts. I don't blame her for it, I'm sure it was an honest mistake, but I was just panicking.

I have experienced my fair share of criticism from people. While for the most part, the films I have shown here have gotten a very positive reaction, which I am very thankful for, the very first time I showed that "Day In The Life" piece that I edited, someone just said, not here, but on a completely unrelated forum, "that's just an unintelligible mish-mash of other people's images, set to a Beatles temp track, not much of a film IMO". It led me to doubt myself, and it led me to think that this person was expecting a multi-million dollar epic with lots of style and flash. I realized though, upon talking to my teacher, not to worry about those kinds of people. I don't set out to make films to appeal to every single walk of life. I know that not everyone may like what I do, and I understand that. If anything, I just want to try to do my best, no matter what. I don't do this for fame, and I certainly don't do this for money. I just try to tell the stories that I believe in.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I am leaning towards making the Katrina film, mainly because, for one thing, my family has so many stories to tell, and also, partly because I feel that in my own opinion, a lot of emphasis has been on New Orleans, and perhaps not enough on my own community, even though what happened to my community has been documented many times before. The oil spill has also had a negative impact on my community (St. Bernard parish) because a lot of the seafood produced and sold in Louisiana comes from there. I saw lines and lines of people lining up to qualify for insurance claims because their businesses were affected by the spill. At this point, once I get the camera, I could try to focus on maybe how my family was affected by the storm, rather than the entire community, just as a means of trying to keep it simple. My dad, as I mentioned, is a fireman. My uncle is a detective for the sheriff's department, and he has aerial photos of the damage in the days after the storm. From there, it's all a matter of gathering whatever materials and interviews to put it all together, and all of this is being done on a $400 consumer-grade camera which I plan to get for Christmas. I think that somehow, this will all work out in the end.
 
Keep the faith! One of the hardest things to learn is the difference between creative criticism and morons who just want to tear you apart for the fun of it.

Audio is a tough gig for the inexperienced. You have to learn a whole other language - mics and mic technique, gain structure, the audio post process, etc. - and none of it makes any sense until you put it into actual practice and make lots of mistakes along the way. Hey, I'm completely lost when it comes to cameras, lenses and lighting, and I'm not even going to try; I have a hard enough time keeping up on audio post gear, plugs and techniques. You can't know it all so perhaps you should try to find someone who can assist you on the audio side of things.

You will ALWAYS pick up background noise, unless you are in a completely sonically controlled environment like a studio; the "trick" is to learn how to minimize it on the set and then reduce it further in audio post.
 
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