Final Blog

This documentary has taught me so much the last few weeks. It has been a lot of work to organize all the footage and line up the words to the footage, but it is a lot of fun. I have also been watching a lot more documentaries lately and there are so many different styles that each one has. I really enjoy watching the food documentaries and seeing how the directors incorporate the chef’s backgrounds and history.

For my documentary, I want to show the raw, real version of Roberto Diaz. He had a lot to say about his time in the military and he also had a lot to say about the fun memories he had. I want to be able to portray who he really is and how people like him have had a lot of experiences in this life. I have always loved hearing stories from my grandparents and even my parents, especially if they have photos to go with it. For this documentary, I will be showing all of that and even archived footage.

colors

For class on Monday we learned a little about color grading. I have always wanted to know how to color grade and color correct videos because just shooting plain videos is not enough. You can give your videos your own style and “theme” as well. I thought it was the hardest thing in the world but it really isn’t and you can do a lot with colors.

Videos can look a lot more enhanced with a little color and some color correcting. That is how a lot of movies have their own aesthetic as well because of those factors. I want to try and color correct and color grade my documentary to make it look more professional. I also learned that it isn’t too much of a problem if you go and shoot on a gloomy day because it is easy to color grade those clips!

Screenshot of a video I took this weekend for my documentary.

I have an entire folder dedicated to this documentary. In the folder I also have other folders which contain either notes, footage, or just ideas. In “Roberto camera two” there is more than an hour of footage from one angle of the interview that I had with Roberto.

In “roberto footage” that is a different angle of the interview that I had with Roberto Diaz. There is also another folder that contains b-roll for the documentary as well. These folders help me find exactly what I need. The other thing that I need to do is organize and rename all the footage so that it is even easier to find when I edit the entire thing. Everything seems a lot easier when it is all organized and quicker to find. Although I can always improve on how I organize things and name them, I think this is a really good start for this documentary.

organization

For my documentary I have started organizing the footage in their correct order and also the audio. I have more than an hour and a half of footage and I need to shrink it down to a couple of minutes. I basically need to put the most important parts in one part and the rest I can put later for a longer video, but for this documentary it needs to be just a few minutes.

I think that it is so hard to not put all the footage into the documentary because it is all important and useful. This is the fun part of the documentary!

This is Roberto Diaz with his wife Lily Diaz.

sahara

Last week I was able to go down to Utah and interview Roberto Diaz. At first we were going to do the interview at night at his house, but the lighting wasn’t ideal and so we planned to do it the next day in the morning.

The interview went very well and I will admit that we couldn’t stop laughing in the beginning because he was so nervous! Usually Diaz is very outgoing and does not care about what anyone thinks about him, but since he knew he was being recorded and filmed, he changed a little. I decided to just talk to him and ease his shyness. It went well and then we got to do the actual interview and it was so interesting.

I kept thinking about so many other questions to ask him. He talked a lot about the Sahara and how he was able to go there and have lots of fun. There were many stories that he told and he wanted me to ask him even more.

I got to film almost everything and even got to see so many old pictures.

entrevista

For this week, I have a scheduled interview with Roberto Diaz. He is “excited to become famous” and is still telling everyone that he is 45 and not 64. He has always had a great sense of humor, so I am looking forward to that in the interview with him. I am also looking forward to all of the photos that he wants to show me and all the archival video that he has as well. Roberto and his wife are more than willing to be apart of his documentary.

Things are going as planned and this week the most filming is going to take place and I cannot wait to see what happens!

This is a photo of Roberto’s wife almost thirty years ago!

Old Tapes

This past week I was able to watch a whole bunch of old tapes that Roberto Diaz took on his old camcorder. I had asked him if he had any photos or videos from when he was in the Army. He told me that he had a bunch of old tapes and made me set the whole thing up to watch on his old camcorder! We watched tapes of his wife, who was also with us, and of his family and his friends from the Army. He was telling me who all the people were and he also looked very young, and had hair.

It was very nostalgic for him to be watching these tapes and he was laughing at a lot of the footage he had. He said he missed all his friends and all the crazy things that they would do and how they practically lived lavishly. He would stay with different families that would “take care of him and his wife” and eventually four kids. It was so interesting to see how he still acts and talks the same way that he did all those years ago.

Process

This week I have been thinking a lot about what I am going to do for my documentary and what questions I will specifically be asking and what styles I am wanting to go for. I do not want to make an average film and really put my heart and soul into it. There have been so many projects that I have seen and I know that the person who did it can do a lot better. Something inspiring cannot come out of something that does not have passion, at least that is what I think.

For my senior project last year, I saw that a lot of people were dreading doing the whole thing. Some just made up projects and didn’t even like the project at all and could not wait until it was over. For my project, I chose something I was very passionate about and that made it not only easier to do, but a lot of fun. For this documentary, I want to be able to show how passionate I am about my subject and maybe even has a small twist.

Diaz

I got a lot more information from Roberto Diaz and photos as well. He sent me about fifteen photos of himself when he was in the army. In class on Monday, we discussed how we can incorporate photos into our documentaries. I have made photos look like they are moving, also known as, parallax. I think that is such a great idea to do for our documentaries as well.

 

I am going to incorporate parallax photos and voiceover of Roberto.

 

Final Agreement

At first I thought I had this brilliant idea of making a documentary about my friend who is steadily rising to fame as a skater. She started about a year and a half ago and is getting sponsored and also is designing her own skate clothes. To me that sounded like the ideal documentary, but then I got thinking and decided to shut down that idea because of geographical inconveniences.

It was difficult thinking of an interesting topic that I could really put my heart and soul into. I thought I could do that with the skating documentary, but I started thinking of other ideas. I could not think of a single thing.

Finally, after a couple of days, I thought of a family friend that would be perfect for this. Roberto Diaz is someone I have known for years and I have always seen photos of him in the Honduras Army. It piqued my interest as to how him and his wife survived being apart for so long and I also want to know about any crazy experiences he has had as well.

I got in contact with Roberto and he gladly agreed to be a part of this documentary.

Here is some of the text conversation I had with Roberto himself!

Sk8 or Die!

Sk8 or Die

Tied Together

Anyone can relate to this blog because it is about skating, the skateboarding culture and about how it brings people together and makes them into a family. Skating is for anyone and for any age, gender, etc. Skating leads to long lasting friendships with the skaters that you meet at the skate park. They support you, encourage you, and root you on no matter what level of skating you are at. I had this one experience where I wanted to “drop in” a pool in my buddy’s backyard. Dropping in means “a skateboarding trick with which a skateboarder can start skating a half-pipe by dropping into it from the coping instead of starting from the bottom and pumping gradually for speed.”

[Skater on the coping.]

 

There were tons of skaters there who had years and years of skating. I was a little intimidated because I had only been skating for six months and they all wanted me to “drop in”! I even left my skateboard in my car because I never thought I would even go into the pool. The pool was empty of course and the skaters were doing all types of tricks. There was one skater who kept encouraging me to drop into the pool. He kept saying it and then a ton of the other skaters wanted me to do it as well! I finally borrowed his skateboard and there were several skaters giving me tons of tips on how to do it. I have never fallen so many times, and guess what? Every time I fell, everyone cheered. That helped me get right back up and I tried it over and over again. I finally got it and all the skaters were cheering like crazy! It was such a wonderful feeling to be so supported and loved when I was falling so many times! When I finally did it, everyone was so happy and I felt so accomplished.

After all of the commotion, we all exchanged Instagram handles and numbers. The friendships that were made that day was because of skating and they are all such a huge inspiration to me to this day! Although I was not nearly as great as all of the other skaters, they were so supportive and wanted me to do my best.

 

Canvas

Every skater has their own style and that is a form of art. It is as artistic as painting or producing music. Anything you see can become a canvas for you. Whether it is a ledge, a curb, a wall, or even stairs, those are things that skaters look at and admire because they can do tricks on just about anything. Their style is what goes through their brains and they are the ones who do whatever it is they want and in their own way.

This is all about skateboarding. No, not longboarding, skateboarding. Longboarding is used for cruising around, downhill racing, and almost anyone can longboard. Skateboarding is used for ramps, pipes, street, hills, stairs, and lots and lots of tricks. Half the tricks you do on a skateboard is nearly impossible to do on a longboard.

Your skateboard should be a reflection of who you are and what you love. I believe your skateboard should make you want to improve in the art that it is. Skateboarding and skateboards are made for those creative individuals who push through their skating world.

 

Meaning of Sk8 or Die

How is skating a part of skaters’ lives?

Well…what the quote “Sk8 or Die (Skate or Die)” means to me is… skate or else you will die from the emptiness that you feel because you aren’t skating. It is about improving every single day and challenging yourself not only with all the tricks you learn, but nourishing your soul with the beautiful art of skating.

I made it a goal to challenge myself every single day and to try and learn something new every single day. “Skate or Die” can have many meanings, but to me it means that you either skate or you will “die” from how empty you feel. Skating is a part of my life and I have made so many amazing friendships, been accepted into a culture that is very understanding, patient, and that has so much talent.