First off, I want to congratulate everyone for finishing the semester and their respective documentaries! I have to say Dong and Jim, I think both of your docs came a long way and were really cool to watch at the end of the semester. Kelly, your piece is beautiful and a really successful doc. And Brett and Lacie, your piece looks incredibly polished, and I think you could find a home for it in broadcast television or on the Web; it's a really successful piece as well.
As for my own project, I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Michelle and I had a lot of bad luck this semester what with the internet mishap and pissing off our first couple, then finding a second couple who eventually disappeared so close to the end of the semester. Then, the Wiener Dog races happened so late in the semester that our final project was very rushed. Still, we managed to put something together in the last two weeks of school. I think the final piece is entertaining and tells a good story, start to finish. It makes me laugh, and it seems like other people enjoyed it, so that's probably the best thing you can say about a doc like this one. I think the use of epic, melodramatic music really does a lot for the piece, and following Ari and Sandy from start to finish really ties the piece together where it could otherwise be very chaotic.
I do think the doc is a little long, and the ending was rushed and very hurriedly put together. I would like to have spent more time focusing on the good things the festival does for Buda, and there's nothing in there about the Wiener Dog rescue organizations, which I think is an important thing to get across about the festival. The only "message" our piece could really offer at this point is that the people who come to this event have a great attitude and don't easily get disappointed about losing, but I think the festival has more to say about community involvement, giving back to the community, charity and being a good, considerate, generous and loving pet owner. Those things fell by the wayside in order to tell a complete narrative, and I think further edits of the piece could keep the whole story in place while finding room for those other elements without making the final piece half an hour long.
In the future, if I had to cover an event like this, I think I would spend more time dealing with the mic setup for capturing audio so that it's easier to edit the main subject's dialogue separate from the ambient noise. I'd also spend more time up front getting to know the festival organizers, getting interviews with them ahead of time, and making myself and the crew known to every employee so there isn't any confusion about who we are or why we are there on the day of shooting. That gave us a little trouble with access to the racetrack; it would have given us more opportunities if we'd done a little bit more homework ahead of time. I'd also try to include my project partner more often, as I assume this is the aspect of this process that created some tension and made the final editing process very one-sided.
Overall, I think Of Wieners & Losers is a fun little festival piece that tells a fun, humorous and complete narrative; it's a bit rushed at parts and relies on some cliches to get the story across, but I think it provides just enough entertainment to keep the viewer watching while providing some insight into a world many people may know nothing about.
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