Green is the New Black
Producer / Production Manager
In an era of environmental consciousness, there are those who reject brand-name clothing (fast fashion) in favour of more sustainable means of fashion. We follow those who have chosen this pathway of “slow fashion” as a great alternative to unethical and environmentally unfriendly practices.
As the producer, my goal was to supervise the production and ensure all crew was informed and sure of their duties. I also ensured that CJ is able to focus on the creative aspects of the production, helping him get certain shots/ensuring his plan for the documentary was fully executed, while making sure it was being done on time. One aspect that I would like to improve upon next time is clearer communication. I was also directing and managing my own short film, which admittedly, took more priority and as a result, unintentionally became vague with crew, which affected days of filming.
We had originally intended on filming at a Vinnies, and we knew someone who could help us get an interview, however we had found that the permissions process was more complicated, leading to calls to the head office. Unfortunately, we were rejected and as a result, were not permitted to film/interview at a Vinnies. Luckily, CJ was familiar with several second-hand clothing stores, and convinced a local store in West Ryde to let us film and interview in their store. While we had not been able to live up to this objective, we were able to come up with a decent alternative that still gave us a perspective that added to the documentary.
What I have seen from the documentary is that there’s a clear thread between the different interviews we have done. The director essentially tells an overarching narrative about Sydney’s opinion on fashion, bookending it with Cherie, and I find it impressive that he was able to do so from what seemed to be entirely different viewpoints. We have received feedback involving certain aspects, such as the opening which initially depicted a text box “explaining” the documentary, which was removed; and also cutting out questions/audible comments from CJ. In my personal opinion, I was hoping there would be more narration that would carry a lot of the footage we shot, but based on how he edited it, the interviews are more than enough.
A lot of the production was relying on the availability of our main subject, Cherie. When our director, CJ Vasquez, proposed the idea, since we knew Cherie was his sister, we figured it would be easier to get them to film the interview. However, throughout the production period, they would suddenly not be available very last minute, leading to rescheduling and uncertainty. After almost 3 weeks of delays, a date was finally set, only to find some equipment was not rented or picked up, so we had no choice but to come up with last-minute solutions (e.g. shooting outside for lighting). Nevertheless, filming went fine and all of Cherie’s material was able to be wrapped on that day. As mentioned, because Cherie’s interview had to be shot outside, ambience like planes and birds got in the way, so with audio editing tools, we did our best to isolate Cherie’s audio so that it is, at the very least, audible.
The vox-pops were originally planned to be shot across Sydney but we figured it would be logistically impossible so we opted for university campuses, where me and CJ went around and looked for people that seemed “fashion-savvy”. We made sure we got permissions from each of the participants on camera to ensure no issues come across from using the footage in the future.
As for the second-hand store filming, as mentioned, we couldn’t get permission to film in Vinnies, so with the help of CJ, we got in contact with a store in West Ryde, who were not only willing to be interviewed, but let us film around the store. The storeowner in question didn’t speak English as a first language, so her daughter helped translate questions for her. We ensured that we weren’t obstructing their usual business, and we could get as much material from the store as possible. Additional B-roll was shot around the area. Overall, this day of the shoot was a success. However, upon filming, I was informed that a majority of the material was unusable in terms of the actual interview, where we had not gotten the answers we were hoping for, so we made the difficult decision of cutting the majority of the interview.
Overall, helping coordinate the production taught me a lot about how important communication to your colleagues is, and I got to experience the processes and obstacles when it comes to gathering information.