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?

Three: The GirlWorld Teaser from NonFiction Media on Vimeo.

Then after that, came the week of editing the trailer–a different kind of blur. The kind where we didn’t collect our mail and ate off the same pizza for breakfast and dinner. After three long days including two very late nights, we finished it and are continuing to finish it. It is difficult not to pick at–like a scab or zit–no, it is more like a painting on the wall that never looks straight, so you keep gently adjusting its placing and then move back to take a look at it again. 

However, it is time for the trailer to stop being babied by us and for it to leave the nest for the real world. We would like to invite all of you to give us feedback. We would like this trailer to continue to change and get better and better. We need ya’lls comments to do that.

We need to look at it with some new eyeballs. YOUR EYEBALLS. What do you see? Hear? Feel? When you watch this thing? Let us know. 

Three: Stories From The Struggle For Girls’ Education from NonFiction Media on Vimeo. 

A note on Vimeo viewing: If you have a fast computer, you can expand the screen by clicking on the little four-outward-pointing-arrows glyph on the lower right of the viewer window. Make sure HD is on and scaling is off. Also, probably best to let the whole thing load in first (hit ‘pause’ if needed). This will give you the best viewing experience (we’re still experimenting with the best way to output stuff for internet viewing).