Audience Analysis on the professional in the Documentary Filmmaking
Julie Wyman is an associate professor in Cinema and Digital Media at UC Davis, and at the same time, she’s also a professional documentary filmmaker who is mainly concerned about body image. She received a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and English from Amherst College and completed her MFA in Visual Studies at UC San Diego. Before she became a professor at UC Davis in 2017, she has been an independent filmmaker since 1998. Her film, A Boy Named Sue, won the 2001 Sappho Best Documentary Award and was nominated for Best Documentary in Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s Media Award. Her most recent film, entitled STRONG!, was made in 2012. It narrates the story of how an athlete, named Cheryl Haworth, struggles to defend her champion status in her weightlifting career. From this short documentary, audiences can see this unusual athlete’s power, strength, beauty, and her tenacity. In professor Julie’s film, she unconsciously transmitted that women are independent individuals and they are able to pursue their dreams and do what they like. So, feminism is one of the primary themes in her films.
Moreover, documentaries are always used to present the social phenomenon. Professor Julie is adept at combining different themes through her visual investigation of culture and media construction in one film, and this is what I intend to achieve in the future. I would like to make a documentary about international students’ mental journey while studying abroad, but I’m not sure about the specific format, such as should I focus on one person to shoot or many different people to demonstrate a multi-angle story? Before making a film, it’s important to know the message I would like to convey to my audiences, so I want to hear some advice from Julie about my theme. She has a lot of experience on making documentaries, so she might be familiar with what audiences want while watching a documentary and I hope she can tell me if my theme is attractive enough and if my message is meaningful.
It’s the first time I have made my own documentary, so I’m unfamiliar with the whole progress. I believe professor Julie can help me figure out how to start making up a team comprising cinematographers and editors. When cooperating with a team, the toughest thing might be negotiation. Everyone has their own idea and perspective, so if I want to be the leader of this team, I have to weigh and balance the pros and cons. Since professor Julie has been a director, cinematographer, and producer in her past career, cooperation and negotiation were unavoidable elements. Therefore, I hope she can share her experiences with me about how to reconcile conflict in a team and how to make the collaboration more fluent and comfortable. Moreover, I want to consult her about publication, such as where should I publish? Is there anything I need to consider for copyright? I have to be pretty clear about the entire progress and all details in order to prevent any unexpected incidents.
Professor Julie is an independent filmmaker, so I believe she should be familiar with funding. As an amateur in filmmaking, I don’t have a lot of funds to support me, and I don’t know how to find financial aid. Thus, I want professor Julie to give me some suggestions on whether to make a film with less funds or to seek financial support. If I choose to seek financial support, who should I contact?
What I intend to achieve exactly matches professor Julie’s profession. Even though she changed her career to a professor, she hasn’t given up making films. So, her suggestions are quite essential for me. And she has been my professor for two quarters, so she’s relatively familiar with me and my intention. When I send email to her, I believe she would be willing to answer my email, and my inquiries appeal to her accomplishment.
Audience Analysis – Email Assignment
To: jfwyman@ucdavis.edu
From: hfgao@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Query from UC Davis Student Interested in Documentary Filmmaking
Dear Prof Wyman,
My name is Bonnie Gao, I’m a fourth-year undergraduate at University of California Davis majoring in Cinema and Digital Media. I will graduate after summer session 1, and I’ve received an offer from Queen Mary University in Documentary Practice for postgraduate study. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to defer my offer to 2021 September. Thus, I have a one-year gap to accumulate more filmmaking experiences, adjust my life mode, and improve myself. During this gap year, I intend to make a documentary about international students’ mental journey to summarize my 6-year studying abroad. This film is what I always want to make as I would like to utilize it to demonstrate to those querying overseas students.
I’ve attended your class for two quarters, and I know that in addition to your professorship, you are also an independent filmmaker mainly focused on making documentaries. So, according to your past experiences, what qualifications make a filmmaker successful? How different between making a documentary and the other type of film, such as a narrative film? Do you always choose your topic regarding your own preference or the public’s taste, and why? When cooperating with a team while making a film, what should I be aware of and what to do to avoid the conflict? What should I consider for copyrights? And how can I prepare the funds?
I have no experience in making films. When I was taking your Documentary Production course last quarter, I found that you are familiar with the entire production progress, so I believe you could help me with the funding and later publication. More importantly is that your belief conveyed from your films that women are able to pursue their dream really attracts me. Thus, I hope you can give me some advice on message transmission and how I can quickly grab audiences’ attention.
Thank you so much for your time. I am very excited to hear your insights about how to make my first filmmaking progress more fluent and comfortable.
Sincerely,
Hanfei Gao (Bonnie)
University of California, Davis
1 Shields Ave
Davis, CA 95616
hfgaot@ucdavis.edu