I've been spending most of my free time completing the transcription
process. This is critical for me to figure out what remains to be shot
in order to complete my film, as well as speed up the editing process.
Transcribing
is boring, tedious work and there's not a lot of stuff I can say about
it, though I try my best. I've tried to speed things up by using
transcription software. I started out with iListen from MacSpeech
and then, when they came out with Dictate I switched to that, Dictate
uses a vastly improved software translation engine that was licensed
from Dragon Naturally Speaking on the Windows platform. I think I will have to look into using Dragon on my next project and see if that tops them all.
I've
also been using my time to talk with instructors and get critiques on
how well my film works. I know it needs improvment. I've spoken to a
number of film faculty at CDIA. It's interesting to see how each person
views the essentials of filmmaking.
One instructor, who is not a
documentarian, emphasized the story elements and how the story is
presented. Franco Sacchi, our resident documentary filmmaker was all
over the structure of the film and how to use visuals to connect the
ideas. I have another critique coming up soon with an instructor who is
a strong editing and sound person, so it will be interesting to see how
he views the needs of my film.
