landscape of life
[2014 KRC Pennsylvania Camp Report] 3 Documentary Appreciation Application and Micro-Documentary Production
Photography/Liao Meihui
▲Taiwan film industry commentator Li Jinghui: "She is a documentary director who uses her own life to engage with the interviewees emotionally."
Director Li Jinghui, a master storyteller
Last summer, when teacher Gao Lili announced that this year she would invite Li Jinghui, a documentary director from Taiwan who has been invited to thirty international film festivals, to KRC camp to offer two courses: "Documentary Appreciation Application" and "Practical Operation". We all found it a bit incredible. After taking Teacher Jinghui's class, I realized Teacher Li's good intentions and insight into heroes. Teacher Jing Hui not only uses the camera to give us a glimpse into the secrets of documentary shooting, but also lets us understand how to make good use of the media and unleash the power of missionary education.
As a third-generation Christian, teacher Jing Hui seems to have the blood of movies flowing through her body. She grew up with her grandpa and grandma, and there happened to be a movie theater next door to her grandpa's house. To her, her childhood years were like a miniature movie.
In 1996, just as she was preparing to study for a master's degree in film in New York, she heard a small voice asking her to put aside her dream of studying abroad and stay to take care of her elderly grandfather and grandmother. As grandpa and grandma were admitted to the nursing home one after another, teacher Jing Hui, who is delicate and observant, began to pick up a camera, and his love from childhood expanded into a big love. He not only recorded the last stage of grandpa and grandma's life, but also developed the following. A series of touching stories set in a nursing home.
Teacher Jing Hui is the first director in Taiwan to shoot documentaries on the elderly in the first person. She uses images to truly record the world of caregivers, those being cared for, and the elderly, allowing society to understand how vulnerable elderly people need care. The Taiwanese film industry commented on her work: "She is a documentary director who uses her own life to engage with her interviewees emotionally."
The idea of "using documentaries to tell stories and portray the invisible people in society ignored by the mainstream media" deeply influenced Mr. Jing Hui's subsequent series of works. This time, Teacher Jing Hui lets us enjoy five of her works: "Where is Home?", "Grandma's Love Song", "City of Missing", "Bread Lover" and the seven-minute short film "Kiss My Love"─ A record of the last two weeks of her grandfather's life. Among them, "Grandma's Love Song" impressed me deeply. It tells the story of an 80-year-old grandmother who loves to sing and uses singing to connect the marriages of four generations of her family. In 2003, this film won the first prize at the Seoul Women's Film Festival in South Korea. award.
Teacher Jinghui emphasized: The so-called documentary is "real material, creative processing." The most important of these is to express a "Point of View". In 1998, she began filming the documentary "Bread Lovers", which recorded five Filipino women who left their hometown and came to a nursing home in northern Taiwan to work as employees to take care of a group of sick and helpless elderly people. During the thirteen-year filming process, teacher Jinghui went to the Philippines four times. Over the past thirteen years, she and these five "Filipino mothers" went from strangers to acquaintances, mutual acquaintances, and mutual sympathy. She cherished this rare " "Transnational Female Friendship", from the "Philippines" in the film, we see a kind of vitality belonging to Asian women.
"Bread Lover" is the last part of Mr. Jing Hui's "Family and Country Tetralogy" series, and was shortlisted for the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary. It took thirteen years to complete, consuming not only money, but also Teacher Jinghui's "priceless youth." Teacher Jinghui laughed and said, "I paid for all the dowry!" But because it was entrusted by God, she has no complaints or regrets. Currently, Teacher Jinghui has several filming projects, which may start in the United States. She said that she will be even more enthusiastic, rely on God firmly, and complete His commission.
▲Teacher Jing Hui (third from left) took a group photo with teacher Li Li (first from left) and the nuns from the convent after the screening of the documentary "Bread Lover".
Micro-documentary production is an impossible task
In the second stage of practical teaching, Teacher Jinghui’s personality of “Desperate Sanniang” was fully revealed. On the morning of the first day, we immediately published the proposed stories and selected which stories were worthy of filming. The class of twelve students, most of whom were over fifty, finally selected four stories and divided them into four groups. Each group is divided into three divisions of labor: production, director, and technology. Production team: responsible for arranging all liaison administrative matters for shooting and interviews; director and screenwriter team: responsible for the planning and structure of the shooting outline and interviewing interviewees; technical team: responsible for photography and editing.
▲A group photo of the micro-documentary class.
Teacher Jing Hui invited Teacher Li to be the interviewee, allowing us to practice shooting and interviewing, and taught us how to make a shooting outline, interview questions and interview techniques. Basic lens concepts, camera usage, how to light, record, three-point lighting method, script discussion, actual shooting, editing tutorial... Wow! We actually experienced so many professional photography terms and practical operations in just three days and two nights.
"After three hours of shooting, we had to edit the most exciting three-minute video." The students all exclaimed: "Documentaries are not easy!" At this time, we also truly understood the hard work of shooting and editing documentaries.
On the last afternoon, iMovie software was used for editing. Some students worked until three in the morning, and some worked until five in the morning to complete this "impossible task." The four groups of films were finally screened during the closing ceremony and received warm applause from the audience. This must all be attributed to teacher Jing Hui and assistant teacher Pinwen.
▲"Desperate Saburo" and "Desperate Sanniang" are doing the final editing work seriously. It is worth mentioning that teaching assistant Lian Pinwen made the decision to believe in the Lord at the last moment of the graduation ceremony under the leadership of Pastor Xu Zongshi! This beautiful scenery made the whole audience excited and celebrated; this touching scene also drew a beautiful end to the KRC Cultural Camp in midsummer.
▲Photography tutorial.
▲Interview internship.
▲Lighting practice.
▲Concentrate on the final editing.
▲The whole class took a group photo.
▲Photography taken at the graduation ceremony of the documentary appreciation class.
▲Assistant coach Lian Pinwen (middle), under the leadership of Pastor Xu Zongshi (second from left), decided to believe in the Lord, marking a perfect end to the 2014 camp.