Apple vs Apple

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:::::::::: Production Notes ::::::::::

A documentary that I did with my Secondary 3 students at Catholic High School. The topic of the video competition was "advertising and society", and we thought of working on Apple. But as one of my friend put it, "the documentary didn't tell [her] what [she] had not known". And I do admit that the responses from the interviewees were indeed simple - or rather simplistic.

It was not easy to make this film. We wanted to make the responses genuine, so we didn't script their answers. All we did was to find someone to sit down before the camera and we asked them questions. Candid, so we thought.

The outcome turned out way beyond my expectation: all the interviewees said was "it's cool to have an iPod" or something along that line. What remains on the final cut of the film is responses distilled from over an hour of interview footages, thanks to my students who arduously completed the transcripts. And those are the best responses I can find.

Perhaps, as a lesson learned, some scripting of answers should be done. As I read online, Borat isn't exactly unscripted; every single detail and joke is heavily scripted, revised, though some are improvised - mind you, improvisation is based on a well-planned script.

Well, even Candid Camera is scripted.