On Thursday (25/4), Dandhy Laksono, a WatchDoc crew shared his knowledge and experience in making documentary films that raised the issue of development.
The use of documentary films as media to raise development issues in Indonesia is now increasing. Films are chosen because tend not to be boring so that they can attract more audiences and hope that the message or issue to be raised can be more easily conveyed. Documentation of development issues through documentaries is also interesting and has various challenges ranging from the process of planning and discovery of issues to taking pictures.
WatchDoc is one of the audio-visual production houses by Dandhy Laksono and friends who tried to document the other side of development in Indonesia. One of the phenomenal works of WatchDoc, Sexy Killer, and dozens of other documentation on its journey around Indonesia through “Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru” succeeded in describing issues especially related to environmental issues, economic, and cultural wisdom.
One big task from Permasalahan Pembangunan Course that taken by 4th-semester students in the 2018/2019 academic year is making of documentary videos that can illustrate the development problems in Yogyakarta. For that, Dandhy Laksono tried to provide tips and strategies in making documentaries.
The initial stage that can be done before ‘turning on the camera’ is to look for the perspective of the issue you want to take. This is important because usually documentaries are of limited duration and within these limitations, it is very difficult to see issues from many perspectives. The perspective can be determined by questions related to the issue (5W + 1H), angle or point of view to be taken, medium or format, and platform. After that, the process of making a documentary can begin. Of course, documentary makers must be flexible and dynamic about the facts and conditions that might be found in the field. Documentaries can be done with or without initial research because the core of documentaries is an exploration of real actors and situations. Determination of the medium/format and platform for disseminating documentary works must also be tailored to the intended goals and audience. WatchDoc several times screened and screened films in order to disseminate information regarding the issues raised.
In this public lecture, discussion and question and answer run activities during the presentation. College participants not only come from S1 Urban and Regional Planning Study Program but also UGM students from other study programs.