Video Editing Vlog – My First Documentary


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video editing

vlog excerpted from Waiting for Elizabeth .

In November of ’96 (or ’97?) my friend Gary Mizel popped into my office one afternoon and asked me what I was doing the next day and I said that I had nothing scheduled.

He then regaled me with the story of a homeless couple, Robert and Elizabeth, that he had befriended. He was telling me this because he wanted me to come out to Astoria where he lived and shoot an interview with this couple in the parking lot where they usually slept.

The weather was cold and a bleak parking lot in Astoria didn’t seem like a very attractive location but then the familiar Kurt Vonnegut quote: “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God” popped into my head and I said okay.

There was no plan or even a thought of making a documentary. I was simply humoring my friend and shooting some footage for him. The idea of making something out of it came later when I was copying the video for Gary.

The resulting 15 minute documentary Robert & Elizabeth: Not Even a Dollar (Full Version) was screened at a NYC film festival about a year later. A good crowd showed up for the screening and they laughed and groaned in all the right places.

Here are some clips from my first foray into documentary making: a slice of life with a pair of homeless alcoholics. These are neither pretty pictures nor the kind of folks one would normally hang out with. It is a glimpse into the grungy existence of people we avoid in our daily lives.

You’ll find several more tales of video editing projects when you click here to get Waiting for Elizabeth.

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