An Update From The Fellows
InA Choi and Ed Hancox share their thoughts and progress on the Genesis Student Film Fellowship
First up, InA
Hello, I am InA who is currently working on a documentary with the support of the Genesis Student Film Fellowship under the mentoring of CNN’s Great Big Story. I will be writing diaries that will cover my work on this project, this is the first episode.
Ep 01. Mine
01. Pronoun, singular or plural in construction: that which belongs to me — used without a following noun as a pronoun equivalent in meaning to the adjective my.
02. Verb: a — to get (something, such as ore) from the earth
b — to extract from a source
Film is part of my life. It does not mean that a film is the greatest part of my life. It is just that all the films I make are always starting from a small part of my life. The first thing I did to find the item for the documentary was not to go far but to mine deep into myself. I drew a mind map on the big paper with “I” in the center. I looked back on my past and wrote down some memories of my childhood, teenage, and twenties. What moments do I remember in my life? What am I interested in? What can I do? What can I do well? What am I not good at? So, what kind of story do I want to discuss? I also read my past records too.
Some say the documentary is an objective genre because it is nonfiction, but actually, it is not. Because the camera is the eyes of the director itself, the person making a film is reflected in it. In some ways, it may be the most subjective. (But the main character of the documentary should not be equated to the director.) Therefore, trying to be honest with yourself could be a paradox that guarantees the objectivity and truthfulness of the documentary, but this is always a difficult and tough thing and I believe it is worth it.
The biggest challenge for me in the past month was finding the intersection. The stories I want to discuss and the stories that I can do, stories that should be completed in a relatively short time of two months, but not incomplete, and should be worth presenting through Great Big Story. Above all, the story should be started from the part of my life. It took quite a while to select and cover the items in this intersection. It was the producer who had all these long and long troubles together. We discussed every week by email and video chat. Because of the 13-hour time difference, it was routine to check his mail before I fell asleep. I would like to express my gratitude to Drew Beebe, a senior producer who has been waiting for my countless troubles and presenting my thoughts.
After a long and long consideration, one story was finally selected for the documentary. I met her at the movie theater and have had conversations since then. I decided to make her story as a documentary. This is the motive of this documentary.
Not everyone can become a good filmmaker, but a good filmmaker can come from anywhere because what truly important to be a filmmaker is a ‘Story’. She is a monk, but she made the film about a holy bible and nominated from a Catholic, Christian, Muslim film festival. Because what is truly important to her is in an essence of humanity, not in a form. Following her story, we may see how she has been pursuing what truly matters to her crossing all barriers of form.
As I read the completed motives, I was able to discover my past days and thoughts. Especially the first line of motives comes from my favorite animation, Ratatouille. One of the dialogues from the animation that I watched with my family in one day of my childhood becomes one line of the film that I make today.
Now I am currently in the process of interviewing and the following for footage and planning for post-production. Next week, I will have an inspection of the place for shooting.
I am always afraid of making documentary films. I must constantly face my origins. I have to mine deep and present it out, but it is worth it.
Check back on August 15th for episode two of InA’s fellowship diary. You can follow her on Instagram at @dailysonata_ina
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Next up, Ed Hancox
“I am genuinely honored to have been chosen for the Genesis Student Film Fellowship. It’s not every day that someone tells you, “you can make a documentary on virtually any topic that you like, oh and by the way, it will premiere at two great film festivals, and then appear on a platform that regularly gets millions of views”. Starting out on a filmmaking career can be lonely and financially precarious, so opportunities like this are incredibly precious.
I’m in pre-production right now. My main focus is finding a central character — someone vivid and idiosyncratic, struggling to get what they want, in a way that makes the audience root for them. We all want to make our lives better, and the power of documentary storytelling is to invest us in the life of someone else who is trying to do the same. The sense of connection that can come from that is, I think, what people seek in stories.
Of course, filmmakers aren’t exempt from these struggles, and predictably I’ve hit some roadblocks in finding my protagonist. Filmmaking, like anything worth doing, requires resilience: you try one thing, get knocked back, lick your wounds, try something else, then rinse and repeat until you reach your goal.
My mentor Drew Beebe has been fantastic. He’s always encouraging me to go deeper, to find a more surprising and resonant take, and he’s given me lots of invaluable practical advice, especially when it comes to finding my main character.
Here’s a little taste of what I’m working on — I’ll be sharing more here in the coming months:”
Check back on August 15th for the second progress update from Ed Hancox’s fellowship experience. You can follow him on Instagram at @ed.hancox
