Making a Documentary Film

In  my film class we had three projects, one of which was making a documentary film. My partners and I brainstormed many options and at the end we came up with two really solid options: The Robinson Film Center, or an MMA fighter. We ultimately chose an MMA fighter named Mohammed Shihadeh or Mo for short. Mo is Muslim, about 6 foot 3 and incredibly nice, he always has a smile on his face, (they call that a paradox). We set up and filmed him training, filmed interviews with him, and his family, and of course filmed his climactic fight, which he won I might add, and got to work editing. Now while most people think that the actual production of the film (filming) would be the most difficult I shall enlighten you. Filming is small pebbles compared to the Mount Everest that is post-production (editing). All told my partners and I spent nearly 24 hours editing, 15 of those hours were without so much as a bathroom break. Editing takes so much time because of all the little details such as jump shots, and time codes. we have to add music and voice overs which are very precise arts. Overall we ended up getting an A on the film and it felt so great to have worked so hard on something and to have that hard work rewarded.