Friday, May 28th, 2010...10:36 am
Girlworld Trailer
I just read an interview with the Documentary Doctor, Fernanda Rossi about trailers and it made me feel really good about ours. The Girlworld trailer as it is now is 10 minutes of Shanta, our oldest (and I would say, most intense) subject.
In these 10 minutes we see her walking home from school, doing her homework, doing laundry and being pushed out of line while getting water, because of her “Untouchable” caste status. We get a big dose of how frustrating it is to live in a small space while trying to get ahead in school. There is also a hint at the enormous tension she has with her sister in law.
It ends with Shanta looking into the camera, and her voice over saying, “I am…hoping to become somebody.”
Chills. It gets me every time. I wonder if it does others. (And every time I ask myself: Do I get chills because I know her and know how true this is for her? Are conveying this meaning–and the chills–to other viewers?)
Something important to think about. This is the reason we believe we need an editing consultant—someone who wasn’t in the room with us filming, who can say, ‘that might have been a big moment in Nepal, but it doesn’t translate in your footage’.
Not that we want to hear that. Unless it’s true. Then it is Super valuable.
But all in all, we think the trailer works. It sets up the problem, introduces a main character and shows off our filmmaking style.
The thing is, this wasn’t always the trailer. I made a 3 minute trailer that I love. I actually think this gets folks* more excited about film, so I am not going to shelve it. What do you think?
*{by “folks” I mean regular people, civilians, as opposed to people who live and breathe documentaries, like funders and other documentarians}
Here’s the 3-minute version. What do you think?
6 Comments
May 29th, 2010 at 5:50 am
Love the 3 minuter. Watching the 10 now. Well Done! As a Kiva supporter I know that documentaries like this are vital to inspire change!
Btw I did find the subtitles a little difficult to read. The text often blends with the video footage. change maybe?
May 29th, 2010 at 6:21 am
Watched the 10 min trailer and liked it a great deal. However for me with a medium conection out here in the wilds the buffering made it an exercise to watch while I waited numerous times. Did not have much of this problem with the 3 min. Also I am wondering in this day of ‘hurry up’ is the 10 min too long for most people? Except possible investors? I love documentaries and so would watch to the end but others might move on unless they were already interested in the content.
Also same comment about the color of the text being hard to read sometimes. I want to glance at the text and then watch the pictures because they tell such a great story.
The music is lovely and evocative My husband is a composer and has done movies so I notice this. I would introduce it a bit earlier in the space with the ambient city sounds though as it would add to the flavor of the not yet shown pictures you then launch into.
Hope you enter it in festivals and contests.
May 29th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Hi Suzie–
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and thanks too for chiming in in support of documentaries.
We are totally with you on the subtitles. Since we did these, we’ve found a better set of settings (clumsy phrasing much?) to make them more legible. We hope to be rolling that out soon, and will post it here when we do.
Hooray for conversation!
How did you come to learn about Girlworld?
May 29th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Suzie,
Again, I think your comments are bang-on. Thak you. naturally a 10-minute movie at HD resolution is going to load slowly on a pokey connection, and we hope also to have a medium res version to load up at some point in the not-infinite future.
Indeed, this longer piece is kind of geared toward investors, so great read on that too. So gratifying that folks are looking at this in the way we’re intending! Your comments mean a lot.
With regard to the music, we love it too, but we’re really looking forward to working with an audio ace on putting together a real, integrated sound design for the films. Thank you again for writing.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
The 3 minute video is truly moving. This is a worthy cause and I hope that funding can be found to support the mission. The music drew me in and created just the right emotional response. Since I volunteer at an elementary school, it makes me realize how much we take education for granted here in the U.S. All students should have to watch this.
June 9th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Thanks so much for the note, Andrea. We’d love to hear how you came across the blog. I hope you’ll keep checking back, as we’ve got stuff going on behind the scenes. Girlworld is in effect! We will try to keep things updated around here as the project evolves. Thanks again, and please feel free to drop us a note anytime. –Scott
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