Doc Mode 1 - Man and Machine

The participatory documentary mode involves the creators of the documentary interacting with the people they are making the documentary about. This can be done in many ways, from formal interviews to YouTube vlogs. Something that stood out to me while watching the examples of participatory documentaries for this class was how much more interested I felt watching a documentary when the filmmakers seemed to have a close relationship or connection to the people they are filming. 

In this short documentary, we talked to a good friend of mine, Ivan Castillo, about his car and what it means to him. Having conversations with Ivan, the car world has clearly had a big impact on his life, as well as mine. The two of us have been friends for over a year, and I’ve always thought that he would be a very interesting person to make a documentary about. As someone involved in the car community, it often feels that people don’t understand some of the real reasons that people really love and modify their cars. Through this documentary we hoped to shine a light on some of the deeper meanings behind car culture. 

In order to convey Ivan’s love for his car in an effective and natural way, I sat down with him in his car for a conversation. We felt by filming Ivan in the car, he would be in an environment he was comfortable in as well as making the visuals of the film match the content of the conversation. Using a simple two camera setup, Ivan and I drove around and talked about whatever came to mind. While shooting b roll, we looked for shots that would encapsulate the care that Ivan puts into his car. The choice to not include music was done to not cover up the sound of the car as he drove. As Ivan mentions in the documentary, the connection between himself and the car is one of the most important parts of driving to him, and we wanted to include some of that connection in the documentary.