According to Bill Nichols, the observational mode of documentary attempts to capture objective reality with the filmmaker acting as a neutral observer. To exemplify this mode of filmmaking, I cut together clips from home video footage of my family spending time at a beach in Hawaii. Rather than a documentary short, this project acts as a moving snapshot of a particular day at the beach. The images were selected to capture the environment, the tone of the day, and happiness of my family. I challenged myself to convey these themes through the cinema verite style of home videos and limited time frame of one minute of footage.

The limitations placed upon this project act to illuminate the power of observational footage in its ability to capture a tone without impacting the environment of the subjects or requiring scripted dialogue. Another quality of this project is the cutting from archived footage. Many of the home videos from my family no longer exist or have not been maintained over time. Thusly, it was difficult to find footage cohesive enough and with enough quality to develop some kind of story from. These few clips, although simple, have much meaning behind them.

In addition to conveying tone, this observational project depicts movement through time as the short begins at the start of the day in the hotel room where we briefly see my family getting ready to leave. A nod to the next location comes as the camera pans right out the window where we get the first glimpse of the beach. Here we can really see the nature of cinema verite. The camera work is shaky and amateur, intending primarily to show the un-manipulated environment of the subjects.

The short then cuts to the beach, where we see two characters, myself and my sister prepare to go into the water. In this instance, we can see elements of participatory filmmaking because you see a younger representation of myself on screen. Because this footage is not current however, the project cannot really be considered participatory.

From the limited footage available to me now from my childhood, snapshots like this one are effective and meaningful to cut together. Coupled with an understanding of observational filmmaking and cinema verite, these snapshots can provide strong filmic memories to share.