On week 4 of the planning process, and this is where a lot of decisions start to get made. The biggest one looming over the project is the location of the shooting. At first, I figured it would be easy, as it’s a basketball team, so doing it on a basketball floor makes perfect sense. However, after checking out Valdosta State’s home arena, I decided to go in a different direction. Because it’s quite a large, open area, and because I wouldn’t have much control over the arena lighting besides what I bring myself, I decided, at least for Coach Helfer, that his interview should be shot in his office. After all, it’s smaller, more intimate, and the overall lighting would be a lot better and easier to regulate and even out. As for the players, I’m still leaning towards using the locker room, although there are a few classrooms and film rooms available within the arena that are strong contenders. As for the B-roll, obviously the arena, during a game, will be the setting for those shots.
Because I’m not doing a narrative, I haven’t had to do the traditional storyboards and blocking diagrams and whatnot. I have, however, had to mentally picture the flow of the piece and how the different types of shots will be woven in and out. In this process, I have watched a few documentaries and media pieces similar to what I’m doing, and the main takeaway is this: don’t linger on an interview shot. Even if Helfer or one of the players has a really good but long answer, the best thing to do is an L cut into some B-roll while the audio continues to play, so that the shot doesn’t get dull. I’ve also decided that the documentary is going to be set up in three separate sections. The first one will be Coach Helfer’s journey to Valdosta and all the jobs he had before. The second one will be his coaching philosophy, the culture he tries to set, and how he succeeds at recruiting to Valdosta. Finally, the third one will be why he’s stayed in Valdosta, if he’s ever had the option to leave, how long he plans to continue coaching, and various other topics.