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 On September 13, 2008 at 2:10 am, Hurricane Ike - the third most destructive hurricane ever to make landfall in the US - hit the city of Galveston, Texas. One month later, when ten students of Galveston’s Ball High School returned to their film class, they expected to continue with the projects they had been working on before the storm hit. Instead, their teacher gave them a new assignment: make a documentary about the hurricane and its effect on the community.
The idea of documenting a life-changing storm is certainly not a new one, but it's always more poignant when made by the people whose lives were actually affected. I really liked that the film included not just the typical documentary elements, but also included moments where one could see the students actually doing the shooting or editing as the film was progressing. In most documentaries this would be considered a mistake, but in this case it was the perfect choice, because the documentary was just as much about the students filming it as it was about the town of Galveston.
Along those same lines, however, I did wonder if someone didn't know the back-story of the characters in the documentary, if they might be confused about it. The hurricane is certainly well-explained, but one doesn't find out much about the students until later on. Perhaps a better idea would be to include a bit about them at the beginning of the film, right after the captions that talk about the hurricane. In addition, the opening credits seem to come a bit late. There is a good period of introduction with some great imagery and narration, but then the film launches into one survivor's whole story which, while perhaps the most compelling one, seems to go on a bit too long before the opening credits begin.
I was a little surprised to learn that the students still intend to add more to the documentary, such as the geographical location of Galveston, facts about the hurricane, and the genesis and evolution of the film. Personally, I think the film could do without all those extras. It's already 62 minutes long, and my worry is that a continuing length might lead to drag - something that documentaries often fall victim to. I don't really think that the geographical location of Galveston is too necessary as there are plenty of people who have a general idea of where it is. And further explanation of Ike isn't necessary either; it's already explained to be the third most dangerous hurricane in the US, and the images of the film clearly show its devastation. Documentaries usually suffer from an overload of facts; all an audience needs to know is that it was a very powerful storm and it did a whole lot of damage. In this case, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. The only thing that might help get this point across (as well as give a clear indication of Galveston’s location) would be images of a Doppler radar showing the hurricane approaching.
As mentioned previously, the point of the film isn't well explained until much later in the documentary, but its genesis and evolution certainly don't need to be. The format of the film slowly progresses from the storm, to the aftermath, to the cleanup, to the final triumph of a rebuilt city, and with it there is also evidence of an evolution among the students. There is no need to make clearer definition of progression among the filmmakers, because the very nature of the documentary, since it had to be shot almost completely linearly, is the perfect barometer of change among the students.
Trust me, guys, I know there's always a temptation to want to fix your "baby." I still watch some of my old projects and think, "Oh! I should fix that!" and, "That looks horrible! I wish I could re-shoot it!" We all want our work to be perfect, but there comes a time that one must stick it in the can, close the lid, and walk away. It won't be completely perfect, but no movie ever is. Because filmmaking is a never-ending process; there's always something to learn. And so long as you remember that, every film you make from here on out will be better than the last one.
If the folks involved in this documentary wish to improve their doc skills, one book that we at MFM have been very impressed with is the Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide, which got a perfect 10 when it was reviewed here.
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