Archie’s World Documentary
Imagine facing the loss of your loyal best friend whose been at your side for 13 years. Pets have a special place in our hearts and when they are gone, nothing ever quite feels the same. The pain of losing them is so deep and emotionally taxing on a person and can be a very hard thing to move forward I documented the story of how one little golden retriever was the light in all of the darkness.
Pre-Production
Coming up with ideas of what I wanted to do a mini documentary on in a two-week span was a struggle at first, but I decided to do a human-interest story on the impact of our family dog. The reason I wanted to make this story is because anyone who has experienced pet loss, the emptiness that is felt after they’re gone and the life a new pet can bring into an owner's life is a story that many have lived and can connect with. I interviewed my dad for this story because Archie, our golden retriever, was his Christmas gift a couple years ago.
I went to YouTube and found a series of dog documentaries to help me start getting inspired about the shots/angles I could potentially capture for my own project and begin brainstorming how I could capture and document the story I wanted to tell.
Creative Brief
Click Here to view my full creative brief document for the mini documentary.
My creative brief was designed in the pre-production stage to help me begin brainstorming the many different elements it takes to create a mini documentary. It allowed me to define the goals of my project and the overall tone and mood that I wanted it to be. In this stage, I laid out potential B-roll ideas and interview questions I could ask that would tell the story on its own with little to no narration. I knew I wanted to capture and showcase Archie’s upbeat, spunky and spontaneous personality by incorporating B-roll footage of him outside (where he’s arguably the happiest) and importing photos and videos taken throughout the past few years of having him from my own camera as well as iPhone footage too. I also needed to collect photos of our old dog, Lager, as I knew he was important to the beginning of this documentary. I also began planning out potential music ideas to go in the background that fit my desired tone, which was both happy and sad reflecting loss and life.
Scripting
Click Here to view my initial script outline for the mini documentary.
This helped outline what some potential video and audio matches to incorporate into the documentary and begin thinking about the sequencing of clips. There would need to be some cute and fun B-roll footage for the documentary’s introduction, but then we would need to use narration to guide the footage to transition into the story of Lager’s passing. It also helps map out where interview segments would fit the best to tell the story of both dogs.
Interviewing
Once I finalized my questions for the interview, I gave them to my dad a day or two ahead of the actual interview to ensure he could think about his answers and be ready for filming.
Some questions I asked that helped drive my narrative were:
How hard was it going from having a dog for 13+ years and then being in an empty house all of a sudden?
Did you ever contemplate getting another dog within that first year of Lager passing?
What was your initial reaction when you saw puppy Archie for the first time on that one Thanksgiving day?
How has he changed from a puppy to where he is now (4 years old)?
What are your favorite qualities about Archie?
Are Archie and Lager alike?
How is Lager still celebrated?
Probably one of the most challenging aspects of this was having limited gear, especially with lighting. I decided to use a lamp (with the shade removed) as my main key light and went with a desk lamp for a fill light. I decided in front of the Christmas tree would make for a nice background set up against my subject. The one thing I did miss and need to improve in three-point lighting setup was a hair light to help separate my subject from the background.
Shooting + Audio
B-Roll snapshot of Archie’s Introduction.
Archie as a puppy.
For my B-roll footage, I had multiple different shot ideas I wanted to capture for the mini documentary. They included:
Archie loves being outside so any shots of him running, playing with balls, relaxing, digging, etc
Archie is also indoors too and I wanted include shots of him that reflect his loveable and quirky personality
I also needed to add in media from Archie younger, puppy years too as well as ones of Lager too.
To capture most of my footage, I shot with my Kodak Pix-Pro S-1 camera. It was a very fun challenge to follow Archie around and got quality shots for my piece as he is constantly moving around.
For my audio, I decided to record my interview segments with voice memos on the iPhone. While my camera does pick up sound, it is not great at capturing crisp and clear audio. The only downside is having to align audio to match the interview clips so that the mouthing isn’t off and looks smooth. My music was found on Pixabay and helped capture the mood and tone I wanted. I went with something that had a sentimental, soft, and lighthearted tone to ensure it that served being reflective on the good memories Lager brought, but also shed light onto the happiness Archie has brought.
Post-Production
Reflection
Once I gathered, shot, and sorted through all my potential media to include with the documentary, I uploaded everything into Adobe Premiere Pro to piece this project together and bring it to life. The first step was to figure out how I wanted to start the documentary off, and I figured a fun little bit introducing Archie would be the way to go. After all, it is Archie’s World, and we are just living in it!
Next, I began integrating the interview clips and audio into the program. This was definitely a challenge because I had to cut out bits that got a bit to repetitive or parts, any awkward pauses, and the questions asked, while still ensuring the voice and video were aligned with one another. There are definitely a few hiccups in audio that I need to go through and fix in my end result that I didn’t realize initially.
The fun part came in adding in different photos and videos of both Archie and Lager that fit into what was being spoken about. This is incredibly important to add visual interest and really express the words being said. An example of this when I asked about how Archie has changed from a puppy to now and his response was “In some ways he has changed and other ways he hasn’t”. I was able to implement a video I had of Archie being a puppy with a big stick in his mouth as well as shoot B-roll of him at his current age chewing on a stick (see screenshots from documentary to the left). It adds a visual for the viewer to understand what’s being said. For each video, I went through and clipped the different parts I wanted to include, keeping each around 5 secs-15 secs each to ensure the viewer wasn’t stuck on one visual for too long to lose interest.
Once I incorporated and aligned all my media into different clips in the order I wanted, then I added in my music choice from Pixabay. Once I watched the video through a few times and made small adjustments, I uploaded it to YouTube.
This was a very lengthy, yet very fun piece to create. I have always been someone who loves pushing my creative abilities and do not shy away from challenges or obstacles. Before this, I never really had experience with video before. I took a class during my undergraduate courses, which definitely helped me to learn the basics of video production and got me familiar with Adobe’s Premiere Pro Software in terms of editing but feel like I didn’t have much hands- on experience actually shooting the video before. I have some photography experience in terms of adjusting camera settings and what good visual composition looks like, which was a helpful background to have.
There are some hiccups to address in my project like a quick cut to black screen and some rough audio cuts that I definitely want to go back in and fix. I incorporated a lot of photos and want to go back in to add a “Kens Burn” effect to give more dynamic to the images. I am really proud of this piece though, with these mistakes aside, because it shows my creative growth in a new skill set where I had little to know experience in.