This project of creating my short documentary was a level up from the last project of making my dance film with the goal to gather some information and share it via film. Finding my topic and obtaining the information was the easier portion of the project; tattoos are such an interesting topic to me and immediately came to me as my topic idea. Then all it took was a little searching and asking around to find someone to be the subject of my film. I thought of a few questions and filmed an interview with my person.
The topic of my documentary was dance student Eva Jerkins and her first tattoo – the meaning behind it and the reason she decided to get it. There are many people that I know with tattoos that I could have chosen as my subject, but Eva’s was one that had beautiful imagery tied to it. I thought would be great for my documentary, and I am so thankful for her for agreeing to be a part of my film.
Then came the hard part of this project – getting the b-roll footage that I needed and finding a way to incorporate it into my edited film. Upon learning that Eva’s tattoo translated to “the sun will rise”, images of sunrises came to mind and definitely came into play when editing. Unfortunately in the middle of winter, it is extremely hard to film a time-lapse of a sunrise when weather is incorporative. All b-roll footage of sunrises in my dance film are actually stock videos of sunsets that I played in reverse, manipulating them to become what I wanted. After adding those few clips into my film, I could say that the editing of my documentary reminds me of a collage, with its many clips pasted together with many layers.
Overall, I can say that I am glad with the outcome of the film, and that I hope that you enjoy watching it.
Marissa Thomas 