Post two- Research and planning for group documentary project

     After watching the opdocs, I started to get familiar on how to make these kinds of documentaries. The lessons we also learned in class helped me a lot and layed out the fundamental components that a documentary needs to accomplish what it's trying to do whether it could be informing, persuading, or engaging the audience. After making a list of different topics that we would focus on for our documentary project, we came up with making a documentary based on the DJ culture specifically in Miami. This topic seemed perfect for us to make; however, we ran into some questions that needed to be answered in order for this project to progressed with which included:

 1) Who should we interview?

2) Should we use VO or not?

3) How are we going to schedule the interviews

4) Where and when are we going to film B-roll

We were discussing about these 4 questions for about 1 week and we finally came up with everything. My friend is a young DJ named Alvaro Osuna and he was willing to help us with this project. We also reached out to a dj studio academy who responded and was also willing to let us film b-roll and get an interview with the main instructor who gave us amazing answers. The 3rd person we interviewed was Samantha's dad who Dj's also and once we found our 3 main subjects for this documentary, we were able to smoothly go through this project. 

For Step 2, we decided that we weren't going to use VO as it seemed unnecessary, and we just didn't want to use our voice as VO.  For the 3rd step, We ended up being able to schedule the interviews fairly easy as we had quick access for my DJ friend and Samantha's Dad. The dj instructor was very open and willing to do the interview also so we did the interview with him first and from there with his responses, we gradually developed the plot of the documentary. Step 4 was probably the most challenging but most fun part as we were going to film my friend DJing with colorful lights in the background and upbeat music. Below is our rough draft planning for this project.

Doc Planning:

 Group Members Name(s): Samantha Duarte and Rafael Matamoros

 

 REMIX

Directions: Complete each section of the planning guide to create your documentary. Be thorough.

 

1. List possible subjects for your film. Focus on subjects located within the school in order to facilitate production. List all ideas below.

- Being a high school athlete and managing both aspects

- Life as an influencer 

- What it takes to be a DJ and the culture of it in Miami 

- Race to Valedictorian 

From the list above, choose one subject for the film. Record here: The magic of being a DJ in Miami

 

2. Before filming, you must have a goal. What do you hope to achieve through production of this documentary? Describe briefly.

We hope to tell the story of DJing and sound mixing especially in Miami where the DJ culture is very big, and combat misconceptions that it's easy and doesn't take a lot of talent.

3. List at least twenty specific shots (include shot types) that you feel you will need to capture.  Remember, this is just a beginning.  You should create a full shot list after outlining.

1. Establishing shot of buildings in Miami at night

2. Close up dj board someone sound mixing with lots of lights (slow motion)

3. Long shot, symmetrical, Dj playing music with a mask on

4. sitting at desk with headphones music mixing prior to set.

5. Possible match cut between planning music on a desk in the morning and playing music on dj set at night

6. POV long shot from the DJ perspective

7. Close Ups People dancing to the music (somewhat staged b-roll)

8. Subjects puting on headphones 

9. Foot tapping to a beat

10. Long shot of Subject in recording studio making their own beats/sound mixing 

11. Subject looking straight at the camera with lights moving around them (slow motion)

12. Classic movements like head bopping and hand waving when the beat drops

13. Match cut from DJ board disk thing to a vinyl record spinning to a CD (origins/history of the board)

14. Old footage of parties in the past 

15. High angle shot of a dj messing around with the board and playing music

16. Camera going around the Dj/subject when playing music and audio changes to show the difference of what the audience hears to what the Dj hears from the headset 

17. Long shot of instructor explaining what each of the effects on the Dj board does 

18. 
    

19.  

20. Lip synching songs to audience

        

5. You should have a loose idea of your over my all organization before filming.  Create an outline for your documentary (please attach separately). 

6. Final productions of your film should include the film title and credits. Describe the main tasks of each group member. 

 OUTLINE: 

•  Introduction to DJ and what it is 

• History of Djing

• Interviews with instructor explaining where it started, how it started, evolution of the technologies

• Interview of manager explaining how some of the big names got big

• DJ culture Especially in Miami

• Analog Footage of Music festivals (Ultra, III Point)

• Its fun and bright and upbeat

• Conventions for Djs: some Djs cover their face some don't. Some mix songs that are already made, some make their own beats.

• Misconceptions

• Its not easy

• Some people are born with the talent

• Becoming a big Dj and making money for the art isn't simple

• There's so many Djs out there it's hard to stand out

• Being a DJ aspirations (mini section)

• Being undermined

• Social media graphics (comments popping up etc)

• A male dominated industry

• Final Remarks about the art of mixing music

• How does it feel to read an audience and see their live reactions when playing music

• Do you consider it an art?

• DJs deserve more recognition in the music industry

 

 Questions:

Manager

• What's your name and what do you do

• Can you tell me a little bit about how the DJ industry started 

• How do certain names become known in this business? Is it hard?

• Who are some of the people you've worked with?

• How does house or electro music compare to other genres

• Specifically in Florida, what is the DJ culture like

• Why do you think it such a big industry here

• What is appealing about being a DJ here

• What are some of the most famous DJ music festivals?

• Can you elaborate a little on what the environment is like if you’ve ever been to them?

• What are some misconceptions of being a DJ?

• How are DJs perceived in the professional world?

• What do DJs have to do in order to stand out from the rest?

• Why should DJing be considered an art?

• Do you think Djs deserve more recognition in the music industry?

• Some people think DJing is easy and doesn't take any talent, what do you think about people that say this?

• What do you see in the future of the music genre?

DJ

• What's your name and what do you do

• What are some of the places you’ve played at?

• What is the process of getting booked like

• How does house or electro music compare to other genres

• Specifically in South Florida, what is the DJ culture like

• What are some of the most famous music festivals?

• Have you ever been to one of these festivals? 

• Can you elaborate on what the industry is like

• What are some misconceptions of being a DJ

• Do you think that being a DJ as a profession is undermined   

• It can be hard to stand out in this industry, how do some DJs do it

• How does it feel to read an audience and see their live reactions when playing music

• How does it feel when youre working on a transition and you get it right?

• Do you consider it an art? Can you elaborate?

• Do you think DJs deserve more recognition in the music industry

• What are your aspirations as a DJ?

• What do you find the most rewarding part of being a DJ?

• What obstacles have you faced in this industry

• Some people think DJing is easy and doesn't take any talent, what do you think about people that say this?

Instructor

• What's your name and what do you do

• Why did you chose this as a profession

• How did you get started with DJing

• Can you tell me a little bit about how the DJ industry started 

• What techniques or skills do you think a DJ should have 

• Are these skills easy to learn?

• Some people think DJing is easy and doesn't take any talent, what do you think about people that say this?

• Do you think that being a DJ as a profession is undermined   

• Why should DJing be considered an art? 

• Do you think Djs deserve more recognition in the music industry

• Is DJ culture entering a similar position as other music genres?

History: 

• Started at a DJ dance party by playing jazz records in the upstairs function room of the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds in Otley, England.

• In the mid-1960s, nightclubs and discothèques continued to grow in Europe and the United States. In 1969, American club DJ Francis Grasso popularized beat-matching at New York's Sanctuary nightclub. Beat-matching is the technique of creating seamless transitions between records with matching beats, or tempos.

• 1973- Turntablism, the art of using turntables not only to play music but to manipulate sound and create original music, began to develop.

• During the mid-1970s, Hip-hop music and culture began to emerge, originating among urban African Americans and Latinos in New York City. 

• 1980s MTV launched- big change

• electronic style of dance music called house music emerged in Chicago. 

• Pioneer SVM-1000 Audio and Video Mixer and other high tech digital sound mixers made a whole new culture of disco DJ integration.

 

• Mixing, juxtaposing, and creating something new out of what is already there.

• DJing is no longer just about playing songs as it once was, DJing is now about manipulating sound to produce incredible music, and developing an atmosphere to go with it through lighting and effects.

• DJ -ing is not just about choosing a few tunes. It is about generating shared moods; it’s about understanding the feelings of a group of people and directing them to a better place. 

B-Roll:

Djing spread to many places Chicago was a big place for DJing in the 80s and 90s and then technologies developed we saw a lot more DJs producing their own beats and music then turntablism became huge then we saw a change from using vinyls to electronic sets and new technologies. 

Electronic music and house music had reached many places like chicago, New york and los angeles but now a days Miami is the hotspot for DJs.

With all of this, we were able to organize our time and film more efficiently and overall this planning page helped us greatly throughout our project as we already had the vision in mind and all that was left to do was execute it and bring it to life.