A short documentary that explores the experiences of the artist Violet Patrich during the pandemic

Filmed and edited for SFU’s upper division film class, Moving Images, within the SIAT program.

My Roles
Pre-production
Filming
Sound Design + Editing

My Tools
Adobe Premiere Pro

Timeline
March - April 2021
2 months

intro

The Brief

In collaboration with the Museum of Vancouver (MOV), my class was tasked with creating films that creatively document these unprecedented times for their collection on the experiences of the COVD-19 pandemic, #IsolatingTogetherMOV.

Film Subject

This film is about Violet Patrich and her experiences as an artist running her own business during the pandemic. She upcycles second hand plastic baby dolls and transforms them into home decoration and wearables. She’s most well known for her baby head plant pots that she embellishes and paints to give new life.

During the pandemic Violet was able to work on her craft and experiment with new designs. Her story is that of growth and joy despite the dismal times.

You can visit her website to learn more about her art: violetpatrich.com

pre-production

My process included creating a treatment, storyboard, and moodboard. As I focused on exactly what I wanted to film, I began revising and cutting down on only what was important.

One initial difficulty was containing the scope of the film. I wanted to explore more sides of her experiences, like being a part of the ‘weird Vancouver art’ community. However to keep the film focused this and other aspects were cut out.

Visual Effects + Style

One visual effect I included was a stop-motion 360 loop of a few pieces of her art. This is to give the viewer a chance to appreciate some of her art at all angles, while invoking a feeling of nostalgia from the stop-motion style. I also used a Memphis inspired pattern as the background of the rotating art.

first draft

In my first draft I was able to get all the interview footage and audio that I needed to create the film. However some of my b-roll was shaky and out of focus, and I had no title card or credits. I was also missing any background music, which gave the draft a slightly eerie silence.

final film

For my final film I was able to re-shoot a majority of my b-roll, and recorded some additional footage to fill in the blanks. I also added background music to fill in the silence and match the general happy attitude without taking over the film.

Reflection

Overall I’m very pleased with my final film. I believe I achieved my objective of creating highlighting a small joy that happened during the pandemic, and for that I am glad.

I am also very proud and fortunate to have won the Best Covid Portrait award, and I am happy to have contributed to the museums Covid catalogue.

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