It really enjoyed listening to Alex Garcia’s talk last Monday. Her work sounds really interesting, and her presentation offered a nice change to normal class structure. I enjoyed all of the videos she showed us, but I probably liked the one about the health care in Virginia the best. I’ve seen documentaries and short segments on television, but I never really thought about the process of making one. I am very impressed that Alex does all aspects of her documentaries, from filming, to commentary, to editing. The short turn-around times are also sort of mind-boggling. It sounds like she has become quicker as she has done more and more projects, but a couple days turnaround seems almost absurdly fast when I think about what goes into making that sort of movie. One of her tips that particularly stuck in my memory was to go out to film with the story in your head. She then said that what you actually get will inevitably be different than what you originally expect, but it’s good to have an idea and sort of focus anyway. I found this especially helpful when my group began filming for our scavenger hunt today. Because we had planned and storyboarded, we were able to more quickly begin filming the shots. The environment and different conditions caused many of our shots to change, and some we rewrote entirely, but it helped us greatly to have a direction of focus so that we weren’t lost trying to begin.
I liked the health care video for a variety of reasons, and I thought it really enhanced the video to hear Alex talk about her experience making it. I think the focus on dental care made it more unique and interesting. Dental care is not as widely publicized as other aspects of health care, but the health of one’s teeth can make a huge difference in life. The child who had to have all of his upper teeth removed was a particularly moving character. His presence in the movie was enhanced by the doctor talking about possible repercussions if the infections were not treated (infections traveling to the brain, etc.). I was also really glad that Alex talked about the man who served as the sort of narrator in the story. It’s true that she didn’t have any footage of him actually undergoing medical treatment, but I think that worked well. It let him tell the story without overwhelming the video. Alex mentioned that when she showed the video to people after the first editing, they told her it was too long. In this sort of documentary, it is easy to overexpose the hardships, which can bore the reader and reduce the power of each story. I think this final product achieved a good balance of illuminating the situation while holding the viewer’s interest and keeping the message clear and concise. I tried to find the video on the Washington Post Online website, but I was unsuccessful. I would have liked to watch it again, now that I’ve heard her talk more about her experience making and editing the video.
I think Alex’s talk was a really good addition to our visual literacy class. It was really interesting and allowed me to see examples of what we’re learning in class. This was helpful to me especially since I’m a math major and don’t really have any experience with or greater knowledge of the things we read about and discuss. Alex has an obvious passion for her work. This, combined with her friendly personality, made her a great guest presenter.
I absolutely agree about the quality of Alex’s work and presentation. She is definitely a skilled video journalist and certainly someone to be admired for her hard work.
Her comments about going into the field with a vision for the story stuck with me as well. I have the same tendency as she does to completely overshoot and get more material than I really need. Having a focus going in helps cut down on the time and resources.
Also, I loved that she used that man as the narrator. She described him as the backbone of the story, and I think that really fit. There were so many voices and characters that it helped to have someone eloquent and dynamic to lead us through the video.