Author: asaville

Rosa – These Storms is a short interview-based film about Rosa, a young Mayan woman who has encountered strict familial expectations, grief, and loss on the path to pursuing her once-impossible dreams. The film is produced by Living on One, a social impact production company based in the U.S.

Rosa – These Storms is an example of an interview-style documentary: the cinematic B-roll, non-linear narrative, and spacious pacing drew me into the story and Rosa’s perspective. My favorite videos are when I forget the camera is there and feel fully immersed in another person’s emotions and perspective. Here are eight film-making techniques that drew me into Rosa’s world.

1. Framing and witness point to show separation (1:23)

This medium shot from the inside looking out establishes Rosa’s sense of separation between what she wants and what her family’s expectations are. The inside is very dark while the outside is bright with children running around; the window’s frame represents a very real barrier to Rosa’s dreams. This frame represents her point-of-view at that moment in time via the contrast between light and dark, inside and outside.

2. Medium long shot shows sense of isolation (2:40)

The camera was placed slightly below and behind Rosa to capture her sense of isolation after being kicked out of her family’s home. As she looks out into a vast, cloudy sky, the composition of this shot places her in the bottom left third of the frame to emphasize how she faced the unknown alone.

3. Extreme close-up to capture determination (2:51)

This was the shot that invited me into Rosa’s perspective and revealed her soul. “People told me I could get an abortion,” says Rosa before this shot. Then, the extreme close-up on her eyes, and the camera’s focus on the eye closest to the viewer, indicates her determination to raise this child even without family support. When we see her eyes, Rosa says, “I didn’t want to …”

4. Centered MS with a shallow depth-of-field to hold the viewer in Rosa’s vulnerability (4:51)

This was the shot that broke my heart. Rosa’s head and shoulders are centered in the frame for a medium shot and she is gazing right at the viewer. This composition and the shallow-depth-of-field tells the viewer, “You are here to bear witness to her grief.” The shot holds for seven seconds as tears roll down Rosa’s face; she glances away, then looks back into the camera. Silence stretches for five seconds; this forces the viewer to sit with Rosa’s vulnerability.

5. Medium, low-angle shot of the setting to establish a narrative turn (4:59)

The sound of rain fades in two seconds before the shot changes from Rosa’s direct gaze (see shot above). This is a well-placed J-cut to move the viewer from that intense emotional moment into a new ‘chapter’ in Rosa’s story. In this case, we are shifting time and place, moving back to Rosa writing at a table (which we see in the beginning).

6. Time-lapse to show the passage of time (5:31)

This time-lapse, framed as an extreme long shot, visually indicates time passing. The shot separates Rosa’s normal life at home—eating with her family—and her decision to leave home and pursue her degree in nursing.

7. Tracking shot with an audio fade conveys poignancy (7:56)

Rosa enters her high school graduation; as she walks past the camera, the frame tracks her movements from behind to place the viewer in her perspective at this key moment. Natural audio from the crowd fades out as soft piano music fades in, conveying the poignancy of this moment in Rosa’s life.

8. Warm, soft colors and lighting shows how Rosa’s life has changed (9:17)

This two-shot is a tender image of Rosa examining a patient, showing that she has achieved her goal of becoming a nurse. The striped, colorful curtain creates a natural frame in this shot, and the light pink sheet in the window helps create a soft glow from the natural light flooding in. The lighting and mood create a noticeable contrast from the muted and grey palette earlier in the film, visually indicating how Rosa’s life has become warmer and more vibrant.

Rosa – These Storms is a beautiful, cinematic, and emotional narrative that does what film can do so well – reveal another person’s soul.

– Alisha Wang Saville

The Mom Question | The Seattle Times is a very short narrative, nonfiction video by cinematographer Lauren Frohne and photographer Erika Schultz for The Seattle Times. This video is part of a larger piece called “The Mom question: Seattle-area women share their complicated decisions” with reporting by Rachel Lerman and additional multimedia elements by Frohne and Schultz.

I love this interview-based, artistic video short because it uses creative editing techniques, double exposures, and overlays to take me into women’s inner struggles with the question of whether to have children or not. It is especially effective embedded in a larger multimedia story with reporting to give context, photographs to convey emotional truth and additional videos to take the viewer into each woman’s story.

Here are five techniques the producers used to convey each woman’s inner struggle.

1. Double exposure to convey inner reflection (00:02)

The video begins with a close-up shot of a woman’s silhouetted profile “double exposed” with soft, out-of-focus spots of light. The woman is also looking up and the lighting emphasizes her eyes. Taken together, I love how these elements convey a reflective inner dialogue.

2. Creative editing to convey a clash (00:18)

As the video editor, Frohne chose to use this “splicing” editing technique to convey one woman’s struggle with whether she would be able to have a career if she had a child, or if she’d have enough time to nurture a child if she prioritized a career. This decision is really effective in conveying this clash, this jolt between both questions, especially when overlaid on top of the speaker’s silhouette.

3. Overlay to convey a change in visuals (00:46)

Another creative editing technique Frohne uses is a fast, blurred overlay of a scrolling film strip to indicate a change in visuals. The film strip is overlaid on top of a soft, out-of-focus image of a baby, and a j-cut in audio leads the viewer …

4. Seeing faces to connect real people to the voices (00:48)

… to fully see a woman’s face for the first time in this video, about ¾ of the way through. Frohne’s decision to wait to “reveal” each speaker’s face was an effective way to first introduce viewers to each woman’s internal dialogue before showing who each woman is. The first half of the video made me feel as if I was in each speaker’s head; by this point my role is as a witness to each woman’s struggle.

5. Fast cuts to emphasize a big question (00:58-01:00)

“What do I do with this precious life?” asks one woman toward the end of the video. Fast cuts between vibrant visuals punctuate the speaker’s emphasis on this big, philosophical question. The fast cuts also convey a sense of the many answers to this personal question.

What amazes me is how the video can convey complexity and struggle in just over 1 minute. Check out this video, and the larger multimedia piece, for an example of how creatively edited videos, vibrant photographs, and original reporting can take us into another person’s perspective, provide context and explore complexity.

– Alisha Wang Saville

Marie’s Dictionary is a short interview-based film with verité scenes by Go Project Films, the film production arm of the Global Oneness Project, a multimedia education platform.

This film is about Marie Wilcox, the last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language, and her efforts to keep the language alive. Here are 6 ways the filmmakers document Marie’s story to reveal steadfastness and her commitment to family and history.

1. Using a slider to introduce motion in a film full of subtle movements. (00:39)

The filmmakers use a slider throughout the video to bring a sense of smooth cinematic movement to an overall still film. One example is the second shot of the film, a wide shot behind Marie that dollys-in on her sitting at the computer. This dolly shot serves to bring the viewer closer to what occupies Marie’s time. The composition of this shot is also lovely, using the white fridge and white corner to frame Marie. The quality of light is soft and the scenes are all somewhat dim, suggesting a reliance on natural light.

2. A four-shot sequence to introduce crucial information (00:43)

This is a foundational element of filmmaking done well: the filmmakers use 3-4 shots to create tight sequences throughout. Here is one example:

SHOT 1: WS, dolly-in from behind (same as image above) – establishes the scene

SHOT 2: ECU of the keyboard – shows in-the-moment action

SHOT 3: MS of Marie looking at the computer screen – shows who is acting

SHOT 4: CU of scrolling through the computer screen – shows what is being typed

3. A motivated tracking shot to connect the new character with Marie. (5:49)

As a new character enters the room, a motivated tracking shot follows the glass of water to Marie as the youth hands her the glass. Though the viewer doesn’t know who this is yet, this action (and the tracking motion) conveys a tenderness between Marie and the youth.

4. An unmotivated tilt to reveal a relationship. (6:10 – 6:20)

This lovely unmotivated shot begins on the new character’s face, lingering for two seconds, before slowly tilting down and focusing on Marie, ending in a close-up, over-the-shoulder shot. This shot establishes the relationship between the two as Marie’s voiceover says, “Me and my grandson are trying to record our dictionary from A to Z.”

5. Sound/picture juxtaposition to establish remoteness. (6:48)

It would be easy to see this as a pretty landscape shot, but Marie’s words color this shot with a tinge of loneliness. She says, “No one seems to want to learn…”

6. Ending the way it began: a reverse dolly shot to exit Marie’s world. (8:25)

This shot matches the frame from #1 (see first image) but in reverse to draw the viewer out from Marie’s world. The film ends on a medium close-up of Marie recording a story in the Wukchumni language – the same shot as the opening frame. It’s a neat way to bookend Marie’s story.

I appreciate the different ways the filmmakers introduced movement into this story full of subtle, yet significant, actions. Paired with the lesson plan, it creates a compelling educational experience for students and the general public.

–Alisha Wang Saville