Veteran’s Day Documentary - Part 2 - Behind the Scenes
If you read my last article titled "Veteran’s Day Project from Hoover High School," you know the reasons I believe producing a class documentary about a local veteran can be one of the most exciting experiences for students.
In summary, it pushes their script writing abilities, drives them to the edge of their technical limits, and tells a story that captures the attention of the community.
Having shared why we produce stories about local veterans, I thought I would take time in this article to share the nuts and bolts of how we use a collaborative workflow to create them.
There are several things to be assessed before jumping into a project this size.
You might be surprised to hear that the first step is actually deciding whether the temperament of the class is fit for this style of production. Have you ever noticed how a class of students develops a personality? They will be developing a story that is very personal to the veteran and their families. It needs to be done right, on time, and present well when shown to the community. It is a gesture of respect and should be treated that way.
There is no question that all veteran stories are important, but we need to consider which accounts will be best suited for full-blown documentary production. Through the course of the year, we offer opportunities for veterans to come by the studio and have their stories recorded for archival purposes. This is an excellent way for us to find a personality that films well and has the right characteristics to produce an interesting story.
We also pay pretty close attention when someone we know approaches us about a family member or friend, which was the case this year when we produced a story about the grandfather of Siena, one of our broadcast journalism students. This also gave us a unique angle for the film, titled "My Grandfather's Story: William E.Pilati."
Once we have a candidate for the project, students are split into teams so they can accomplish what will become a combined 100 plus hour process compacted into four to five weeks of school-workday time. Yikes!
Since our classes are split up into broadcast journalism electives, and a video productions Career Tech program, we have two tracks of assigned responsibilities. Members of the broadcast team will conduct a pre-interview with the veteran and start on a list of questions that will be asked during the final interview. They are also in charge of putting together the local, national, and global historical context of the outline.
What makes the documentary so engaging is that the stories told by our local veterans are shown in contrast with what is happening on the national and world scene as it relates to specific events during the time period. We are providing a history lesson for our viewers. This provides a great challenge for our broadcast students as they weave together their research into the final product.
Once we have the pre-interview and research completed, the video production crew begins breaking off into teams to cover as much ground as possible, well before the primary interview with our veteran has taken place. They start looking for articles and photographs from the local Heritage society, as well as collect personal materials from our veteran.
They also go online to the Library of Congress to search thousands of archived video clips. Depending on the time, these can include speeches such as Roosevelt's Attack on Pearl Harbor response, training videos of infantry soldiers preparing for war, and various military clips that support the specific aspects of the war and other events we will be covering in the film.
Then it's time to move into the production phase. This typically takes a good bit of coordinating between our veteran and supporting interviewees, and the location where they will be filmed. Sometimes we build a set, use a museum, go to a military facility, or simply set up a backdrop and light it.
In 2018 we filmed on location at MAPS Air Museum, located just a few miles from the school. We used the inside a medical tent on display that was owned by the veteran we were working with. It provided the perfect backdrop for his story of being a field medic in Vietnam.
During our most recent production of "My Grandfather's Story," we found that shooting in our studio on a pitch-black backdrop worked best for our veteran and his granddaughter so they could have a more casual conversation about his experiences.
During the filming process, we have found that a great way to involve our entire class is by having a monitor fed to another room where students are conducting research on their laptops. They are literally searching for public domain films and photographs as they hear the veteran being interviewed. By the time the interview is over, we have might have 50 to 100 downloads of various media to be used in the film.
When filming is wrapped, the raw footage is loaded into our online database and servers so that the broadcast journalism students can begin sifting through the interview and begin writing their script. We use a two-column format showing the visuals on the left side and narration along with dialogue from our veteran on the right. We purposely keep this turnaround time to several days to a week to keep the momentum going.
Our teaching staff will continually review the script with the writers, eventually locking it in. At that point, the project is turned over to the video production editors who follow the script to create a baseline sequence with temporary narration from our voice-over booth, along with the inserted dialogue from the veteran.
The final phase of the filming is of our student narrators, which takes place at the same time our crew is editing the film. This is where we typically pull out all the stops to make it a fantastic production, well beyond what most people would expect from high school. We know the core of what our story will be and can build a set that has a purpose and reflects the story.
While filming the interview with Mr. Pilati, the focus of our 2019 Veterans Day documentary, he mentioned that he was in a military half-track vehicle during WWII's Battle of the Bulge. While the cameras were still rolling, our student production crew had already researched and found that the half-track was actually created in Cleveland by the White Motor Company, less than an hour from where we live ohio. Also, some of the engine parts were created just a few miles from our high school. This was an amazing discovery that our students decided needed to be the focus of our set design.
Within 48 hours, we had located a local military vehicle collector in our area who owned not just one, but two half-tracks that had been completely restored. After several discussions, we laid out our plan of how we wanted to have a half-track and jeep brought to the high school and placed into a storage garage. MAPS Air Museum donated the use of camouflage netting to provide the illusion of being outdoors for the set. This was truly a highlight of the process this year, not only for our crew but for our veteran and his family. While the set was still in place, they were able to stop in and take photographs as a keepsake of the production.
We set aside the entire evening for filming the narration. We take as much time as possible so that our narrators are comfortable reading the script from the teleprompter. They need to look and sound their best for the film. It's a fun night that includes lots of laughter, a meal, and some great memories that will always stay with them.
Before the set is even torn down, the footage is turned over to the editors to place into the rough documentary sequence. We use Avid Media Composer software in the edit rooms, running off of a 40 TB Avid Nexis server engine. This allows our documentary to be produced in chapters, while students work collaboratively to cover as much ground as possible in a very short amount of time.
Even without a shared media server like the Nexis, you can still create a similar workflow on multiple local computers and then combine the chapter. Our first set of documentaries were produced this way. The kids would even wear intercom headsets to talk with each other as a way to collaborate...nerdy, but fun!
One of our most essential pieces of equipment is our Keurig. We keep plenty of caffeine going throughout the day and evening so that our student production crew is Lively and full of energy. Yes, I did say evening. I have the best staff a teacher could ask to work with, and we open up the lab in the evenings when possible to allow the students to come in for a late-night session. Food is always included!
Most of these documentaries have to be turned around in a very short amount of time because November 11th is just right around the corner from Labor Day. We typically don't begin filming until the beginning of October, so this leaves anywhere from four to five weeks to produce the entire project.
This year we finished our documentary at 8 p.m. the night before the premiere. That's actually pretty good considering one production didn't wrap until 6 a.m., just two hours before an 8 a.m. premiere. That happened back in 2003, so the statute of limitations has run out on this potential child labor law crime.
I can guarantee the students who worked on that production, and others throughout the years have never forgotten those late nights cramming to get the production just perfect. Thankfully, parents are always on board and excited to see the dedication of their children. This is part of the incredible excitement that comes from students getting to do something that very few of their peers ever get to be involved in at that age.
For the premiere of this year's documentary, we invited our veteran and his family and friends to join us in a small auditorium of the high school to watch, while the rest of the students saw the production for the first time in their classrooms.
At the end of the film, there was a time to talk about the project, introduce the students, and most important of all, recognized our veteran and all the other veterans in the room. There were many tears, lots of laughter, and memories that will last a lifetime.
For the final article in this series, I will share what I have learned from documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, one of my personal heroes of the industry. We have continued to incorporate his techniques in our productions since he spoke with our students after watching one of my favorite documentaries title "Hometown Heroes: The Story of North Canton."
Meet the Author, Tom Wilson
Tom Wilson is the coordinator of district media and video-journalism at Hoover High School in North Canton Ohio. You can follow the work of his students on social media @nctvmedia and his unique production vehicle, the Mobile Storyteller Project.