This was the final week, I had made up my mind and finally made my mind on the topic I was going to go with for my final documentary.
I had decided that I was going to make the documentary on the slums of Lahore and how the underprivileged and their problems had been overshadowed by the growing first world issues. I chose this topic as this was something very up close and personal. I have always had a soft corner for the underprivileged and the most deserving ones. I knew my documentary would've been viewed by the people of my generation. I want them to understand and feel how the lower middle class feels and the problems that occur within. I wanted everyone to see the world from their eyes.
Amidst a pandemic, it was really hard for me to go to these places and shoot as there was immense pressure from my family as well as my friends to not do it. However, taking full precautions and following all the respective SOP's, I decided to go to the Slums in Walton. I went there with a bag full of goodies and told them what I was going to do. I sought permission and then started shooting.
Synopsis:
The documentary has mainly been designed on the problems the lower middle class sect of Pakistan is facing since around 60+ years. It begins with some shots of children living in underprivileged conditions who were very happy and excited when they saw a camera in my hand. It further shows the area they have been living in and the unfortunate conditions that follow. Moreover, I interviewed a few people living there and asking them about the problems they face and how they would want things to change in their favour. The film is about keeping the hope of being happy alive and how everyone watching it should take a step forward and help them out of the state they're currently in.
Sounds:
The sounds part was the most difficult part as I had to mute all of the clips due to the extreme background noise. I had to search for a slow instrumental music that would go with the clips that I had taken and matched whatever was going on in the documentary. I had to further remove all the background noise that was present while I was taking the interviews. I had to dissolve the instrumental audio file with the voice of the person speaking so nothing oversteps anything and both of them go hand in hand.
Below is a screenshot of the instrumental music that I have used in my documentary.
Editing:
The software that I used to edit the documentary was Final Cut Pro. I had a lot of difficulties editing the raw footage as all of the shots were uncut long shots which I had to further trim for them to look aligned.
I have not used Final Cut Pro a lot which made it even more difficult for me to get everything on the plate. However, it was a learning that I will always have in life with me. Moreover, colour grading all the raw videos was a task of its own. Most of the shots that I had taken were in low light as it took me a whole day to film the documentary itself and I ran short on time so I had to add exposure and colour to more or less every video that I had taken in low light. The most difficult part about editing the video were the subtitles of the interviews. People were speaking in their native language which is Urdu and I had to go ahead and translate everything they had said in English. I had to open the translator type in everything they had been saying and then amend the translation and add it in the subtitles.
Below is a screenshot of my editing timeline:
Inspiration:
Talking about the inspiration of my documentary, it is something that had been in my mind since a very long time and it is a topic that I am very emotionally attached to. I always told my friends and my family that we should all seek happiness in everything we do and thank our God for everything he has given us as there are people living in underprivileged areas that have a smile on their faces all the time. Other than that, I wanted people of my generation to be aware of the problems lower middle class people face and how we should all join our hands in helping them. I wanted to raise awareness and I was the happiest when it actually came to work when I uploaded my documentary on social media and people started asking me about how they can possibly help them.
Research:
I did a lot of research before I could actually go on and film my documentary. I watched a couple of documentaries particularly on the slum areas and how people had passed on their message through a video. I learned a lot as I got to know how people had captured the problems they were facing from a camera. Other than that, I had to visit several locations, walk through each location looking at everything that I could capture and put in my documentary. I travelled to another city as well to look for the best possible location that my message would relate to.
Below are two screenshots both of them showing the old fashioned ways of washing clothes and how people who are underprivileged and can not afford new technology are using.
1. It is from the documentary that I was watching for research
2. It is a screenshot from the documentary that I made
I faced a lot of difficulties, starting from the research. I had to travel a lot and visit various places where people would misbehave with me seeing how privileged I was and how I was trying to "invade" their private space. I had to settle them down ask them for their permission and a lot of times my permissions were denied. I had to take good care of the security of myself and my belongings as a lot of crimes happen in these places. I even got threatened for filming and I was told if I did not leave, they would break my equipment. Moreover, I had difficulties compiling all the interviews, lowering the background noise and adding the subtitles as the places were very loud and I had to ask everyone very calmly to lower their voices. Other than that, it took me about 2-3 days to upload the entire footage on my laptop as it was very long and it kept glitching. The major difficulty that I faced was filming the entire documentary amidst pandemic, I had to wear my mask, sanitise my equipment and my hands every ten minutes. I came home and quarantined myself for about 5-6 days as I was not sure if I had gotten in contact with anyone positive. It was a very difficult process.
Personal Evaluation:
Strengths:
I have an awe for videography and photography which made it very interesting for me to capture something that I had in my mind since a very long time now. I am very tech friendly and it did not take me much time to get a hold of Final Cut Pro and how it worked. The biggest strength that I had within myself was the strength of not giving up even after being rejected by many places and being threatened, I still had my head held high and did not stop working.
Weaknesses:
The major weakness that I had seen in myself was that I was too quick and inpatient to complete the whole thing and because of that I had to re-do my entire documentary again as the first one that I made had no interviews in it. However, I learned from my mistake and made the second one up to the mark. The other major weakness that I had during this was the fact that I was not very confident and I thought I would mess up by the end of this documentary and that feeling kept me in major anxiety.
What I can do better next time:
I can balance my time better next time, write down everything before filming, be patient and not rush into things. I feel like I have learned Final Cut Pro in the process of this documentary which would further help me a lot in the future.
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