Filmmaker's Statement
Steve Spain
I am indebted to Ann Alter for giving me the opportunity as a
beginning film student to work on Dispensing Cannabis: The California Story. As a journalism major with the professional goal of becoming a documentary filmmaker, the experience of working on this project right out of the gates has given me confidence in my abilities as a visual storyteller to pursue that dream.
In production this project became so much more than we had envisioned. At the outset we had the goal of a crafting a short format documentary, possibly a half-hour in length tops. After months of compiling research, making contacts and gathering the footage (almost 70 hours!), as a group we realized that the story demanded a longer format.
Please consider that this film is the collaborative product of students enrolled in the yearlong Documentary Workshop class at Humboldt State University. Our film certainly has some rough edges because it was almost entirely shot by non-professionals. I look back on some of my initial footage and cringe (editing it was tough!). But comparing it to my final shoot I get an immense sense of pride in my improvement.
We did the bulk of the work outside the classroom, giving us -- the student filmmakers -- the opportunity to travel extensively. (I was part of a crew that went all the way to Massachusetts for an interview.) This forced us to work together as an integral team, giving us the chance to make our own mistakes and learn from them. This was an invaluable process. All of us made commitments to this film that went far beyond what is normally expected for a grade, and we did it because we wanted to.
Ben Shaw and I chose to stick around over the summer to complete the editing process -- neither of us had any experience with the nonlinear editing software Final Cut Pro. But by the end of an intense summer of work we both feel competent enough to teach others how to use the software.
I am at a loss for words when trying to quantify and qualify the skills, knowledge, and insight I have gathered working with Ann. Looking into graduate film programs I realize what a special opportunity this workshop really was. To have access to the equipment, the independence in the field, and the creative control in editing are unprecedented (well, not really -- Ann's done this before with Shifting the Paradigm). To have that experience as an undergraduate will hopefully give me an edge on my peers when looking for work when I graduate. For after all this work -- I am now a documentary filmmaker.
Principal Photography and Editing: Steve Spain and Ben Shaw
Interviewer: Steve Spain and others
Script Assistant: Steve Spain
Read the other Filmmakers' statements:
