Brianna Pares

Mrs. Lazarski

Video Production

09 January 23

Behind The Silence Analysis

My initial concept was capturing my point of view on the challenges I face as a person

who can’t hear 100% of the time. The plot revolves around the simple and basic life situations a

deaf person experiences that the average person does not experience the same way. I focused

more on auditory than filming, which I stated in my pitch and followed through in my film. For

the most part, I stayed on course and stuck to exactly what I had stated in my pitch.

During the Pre-Production phase, I did a lot of observations and reflections on the world

around me and the emotions I felt each day. I also scouted locations to make sure they would be

a good fit for my film. The main focus of my project revolved around seeing the world

differently from everyone else and the poem I composed in my project. To do this, I would ask

my family questions about how they believe I respond to certain situations and then put myself

into those situations and capture my point of view. I also took off my cochlear implants during

the day for numerous hours to see how it affected how I functioned and responded to obstacles

and daily tasks. One obstacle I had with observing was needing to be aware of my surroundings

and what was happening behind the silence, I had at that moment. It was difficult for my parents

to interact and get my attention while I was in the observing phase of my project. Another

obstacle was trying to book a time to visit New York City Eye and Ear Infirmary to capture the
exact sounds I hear with my cochlear implant. Still, I eventually was able to, which worked out

perfectly. Lastly, the bus light reflecting on me to capture my attention was challenging to figure

out how to follow through with, which caused me to change this later. As a result, I switched it to

my friend Avery waving her hands up and down until I noticed her from the ground level.

In the Production Phase, the main goal was to follow the script and capture the scenery

and sounds I had written about within my script. I made sure my cameraman knew what they

were doing, and I definitely had an excellent camerawoman who helped make my shot types

look very smooth and well done. Also, the location scouting that I did in pre-production would

be the locations filmed in the production phase. To complete my film, I captured a ton of

background noise with a sound recorder; trees rustling, waterfalls, leaves, birds, beeping noises,

wind, and people talking. I got multiple takes and shots of each scene to ensure I would have

enough footage, as well as B-roll in case I didn’t have enough footage. The B-roll also helped

with extra background noise for scenes such as me walking through a field or writing in my

notebook with a background noise of nature. An obstacle I encountered was the bus scene at the

film's beginning. We did not have much time to film this scene and could not get a crowd of

people to walk onto the bus with us, which was what I was trying to go for. To fix this issue, we

retook the bus scene at another location, and I added other background noises of a “ringing” in

my head to capture me getting tinnitus while my friend was trying to talk to me.

During the Post Production process, I reviewed a lot of my footage to ensure I had

everything that needed to be captured ready to be put into adobe. I imported multiple voice

recordings which included my personal voiceover of my poem and the recordings of sounds of
nature. I messed around with color correction and audio levels. The audio levels were a central

component of my post-production phase to ensure I displayed the correct representation of the

different sound frequencies I heard compared to a regular-hearing individual. I did a lot of

subclipping and jump cuts which cut into multiple series of different scenes, especially within

my poem. I also used adobe after effects for my outro for the first time, which was an experience

and worked out well. The audio levels were also an obstacle because I had to figure out which

parts I wanted to either keep or cut out sound. For example, at the end of the film, when it cuts

between Avery and me, I cut the sound in and out to display our points of view of the situation.

My favorite part of the film was Post Production because I slowly started to watch my

film unfold and come to life each day I worked on it. I found it fun and something to look

forward to adding to every day. I also enjoyed learning new topics within Adobe, such as color

correcting, titles, transitions, using specific keys, fades, and so much more. Also, rewatching all

the clips from production was exciting, as well as sub clipping and finding where each piece fit

based on my script.

My strength was capturing as close as possible what I had written in my script. It was

challenging yet fun to compose the poem I did a voiceover in the middle of my film. Capturing

my audio was simple and easy for me to do because I knew exactly what types of noise and

sound I needed to be captured. I also knew the exact shot types I wanted as I imagined each one

in my head during the pre-production phase. My weaknesses were figuring out the correct audio

levels to go with and when to add other audio, such as the background of nature, or when to keep

it silent and cut everything out. I can improve by always thinking ahead of time and planning
what is needed to get done before I start, so I always stay caught up and have to worry about

doing something wrong or messing up.

Personally, I feel that I met my objective and captured my target audience in my

documentary film. I had a vision of everything I wanted to get done, and I was satisfied and

proud to stay. I captured it as best as I possibly could. My vision was something I had for over a

year and finally, being able to compose and finalize my project truly made me happy and excited

for the future of the film “Behind The Silence.” I hope this reaches the right audience of people

who can relate to me and struggle to hear as well as everyone else or people who are interested in

understanding my point of view of life and the situation I go through in everyday life.