A video piece from last semester: "Best Shape of My Life"

In the initial stages of my blog updating, I'm going to post information about what I've done over the past several months. First is the documentary, "The Best Shape of My Life" I produced for Donna DeCesare's documentary video class in the spring semester.

It's my first documentary at just under 11 minutes long, and I'm proud of it even while I'm conscious of its flaws. This doc was 100% produced by yours truly: storyboarding, filming, interviewing, editing and (not-so-great) sound. For my first venture into the medium, it was a challenge to meet my deadline because of the contest timing. The doc was due on a Tuesday morning, and all of the contest events occurred the weekend prior.

I spent most of the day Friday filming JoAnn as she got painted (tanned) and went through her photo shoot, and Saturday--Texas Shredder contest day--began at 3:30am and ran through the evening. So, all of Sunday and Monday (until 4am) were spent editing like mad. Perhaps with more time (it's always "if I had one more day..."), I could clean up the sound, adjust a few transitions, and give it a tighter edit. I wish I had been able to film more of JoAnn's mom and interview her apart from the competition--it would certainly have enriched the film--but she didn't arrive until late Friday night.

In any case, hopefully the essence of what I was trying to do comes across here and it's a good stepping stone. JoAnn was awesome to work with, and I'm very grateful to Dave Goodin of the iconic Hyde Park Gym for introducing us and granting me complete access to the event. The experience was challenging but a lot of fun.

Best Shape of My Life from Tara Haelle on Vimeo.