Blog: This weekend we are finally beginning to film. We still don't have a focus for a film which is starting to frustrate all of us. I really feel like I need to have something to direct my attention to, like a focus, and not having one is driving me a little crazy. I'm hoping that over the weekend something pops out to us and we find a focus/topic to work with! The filming that is happening this weekend is going to be b-roll of Leah's family away at their cabin for the weekend. Leah will be shooting her family gathering and the interactions made between her sister and her parents. Sarah and I plan to think of interview questions tomorrow in class during VOICES. Then we will all be contributing to the group documentary in some way.
Response: When reading this article, I paid particular attention to the framing questions section. That was very useful to me. From this section I learned that using general questions is not always the best idea. There should only be focused questions to choose from. Also that it is not a good idea to use long, intricate questions because your interviewee will not remember all that was asked and their response may then be useless. Another good thing to think about when preparing questions is the phrasing of a question. If you manipulate a question in hoping to get a particular response, the answer will be yes or no and also useless. Framing questions around previous information and elaborating on them is the key to good questions. This leaves the interviewee feeling in control about what their response is. These ideas that I learned with be very helpful when Sarah and I ponder possible questions tomorrow in class.
A problem arose in my mind as I read the article section titled Who Interviews. Sarah, Leah and I thought that all of us would be doing the interviews, but mainly Leah because her family is most comfortable around her. However after reading the section I thought maybe Leah being there wouldn't be the best idea. Leah spends all of her time with our interviewees. Perhaps if she interviewed them they wouldn't tell a story because she already knows it, wouldn't be comfortable sharing information if it is about Leah, or Leah asked a question while fishing for a particular answer, as brought up in another section. These are concerns of mine. I'm glad that the article brought this up because we may have unknowingly given up good interview information if Leah was doing all of the interviews.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Blog post/Reading response #3
Blog: There has not been a lot of progress for my group since last week. I think that we need to become more motivated and excited to start filming and then things will start rolling. We pitched our idea to the class, and John and Alex seemed to like out topic of adoption. We are glad that we are following the rule of having one main focus, Leah's family, instead of interviewing multiple adoptive families. It seemed that some groups were having too broad of a topic, so I was happy that our group wasn't one of them. The one thing I think needs to change is to pay attention to the planning template Ms. Hodge handed out. We need to become more precise on due dates of certain things and then I believe we will be doing really well.
Reading: As I was reading this weeks article, I became a little overwhelmed. There were too many questions brought up in the first few pages that scriptwriters should think about that I became frustrated and worried. I hope that my group will be able to remember these curiosity and quantity vs. quality questions the author listed. They are helpful when I look at them, but I can't help but think that some may go unanswered by my group. The question that popped out to me the most was "Even if it is relevant and will add value, is it more relevant than all the other information I have gathered so far?". This will be the toughest thing to accomplish. How am I to decide what is more important than other information to put into my documentary. It isn't about myself, so how can I be the one to choose the most relevant. I think this will be my greatest challenge.
The most helpful bit of this article was the end section about the post-it method. This is similar to when we created our storyboards for the PSAs. This was very handy to see all the information we wanted to include and then putting it together. It was easy to have to information flow when you can visually see the parts you want to include instead of thinking about them. I am going to use the post-it method when creating my documentary because it proved itself so helpful when creating the PSAs and it was an important part of the article I just read.
Reading: As I was reading this weeks article, I became a little overwhelmed. There were too many questions brought up in the first few pages that scriptwriters should think about that I became frustrated and worried. I hope that my group will be able to remember these curiosity and quantity vs. quality questions the author listed. They are helpful when I look at them, but I can't help but think that some may go unanswered by my group. The question that popped out to me the most was "Even if it is relevant and will add value, is it more relevant than all the other information I have gathered so far?". This will be the toughest thing to accomplish. How am I to decide what is more important than other information to put into my documentary. It isn't about myself, so how can I be the one to choose the most relevant. I think this will be my greatest challenge.
The most helpful bit of this article was the end section about the post-it method. This is similar to when we created our storyboards for the PSAs. This was very handy to see all the information we wanted to include and then putting it together. It was easy to have to information flow when you can visually see the parts you want to include instead of thinking about them. I am going to use the post-it method when creating my documentary because it proved itself so helpful when creating the PSAs and it was an important part of the article I just read.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Blog post/Reading response #2
Blog: My group has officially decided to focus our documentary on Leah's family and how they have coped with the adoption of Leah's younger sister, Maya. We haven't figured out our theme, but we have a few ideas. We want to ask Maya if it is hard at times knowing you are adopted, what she pictures her life would be like if she was still in China, and what have some challenges been that she has faced. We also want to ask Leah's parents questions about the adoption process and their reasons for adopting. Our documentary is going to be very personal and I think our audience will thoroughly enjoy it. The challenging part that we now realize will be getting Maya to talk freely on camera. It's a concern that she may not be very personable and the type of person Alex and John want us in interview. However she is the one we want to interview so we will have to find a way to make it work. I know we can do it though!
Response: As I read the article "How Real Does It Feel" by A.O. Scott, I came across many claims that were interesting. Some that I agreed with and others that I didn't. A.O. Scott states that "pretending to be someone else, or a different version of yourself, in front of the cameras is no great feat or revelation. It's a fairly normal mode of being, for the famous and the obscure". This would be one of his ideas that I agree with. I believe that when someone if put in front of a camera they instantly become someone other than themselves. Not because this is what they desire to do, but that it is easier to be someone else than yourself. Everyone has things that they dislike about themselves. So when you are put on the spot, especially for others to see, those flaws can magically disappear if that's what you wish. I also am one to follow this quote. From previous experiences I know that when a camera is placed on me I will intentionally be on my best behavior and try to say the right things and sound intelligent. That way if others were to see this video they would think the best of me. A.O. Scott is saying that everyone wants to be seen as their best, even in documentaries which are supposed to be natural and what reality is. I believe that the title of this article comes into play with this quote too, "How Real Does It Feel". Does it feel real when you are trying to be someone else? The answer would be no, and that is what Scott is trying to prove.
Along with agreeing on some points with Scott, there was one statement that I disagreed with. When he said "it is hardly news that documentaries manipulate reality with effects that can be morally toxic" I can up with a few examples that I would say go against this statement. To me this statement means that all documentaries only show half of their information, and "manipulate" the film by taking a side. From watching "Venus of Mars" in class I know that it is possible to make a documentary and not mess with any of the information or make is biased in some way. That documentary showed a personal story and didn't hold any of the information back. I believe that some documentaries do manipulate reality, but not all of them. It was unfair of Scott to make this bold of a statement.
Response: As I read the article "How Real Does It Feel" by A.O. Scott, I came across many claims that were interesting. Some that I agreed with and others that I didn't. A.O. Scott states that "pretending to be someone else, or a different version of yourself, in front of the cameras is no great feat or revelation. It's a fairly normal mode of being, for the famous and the obscure". This would be one of his ideas that I agree with. I believe that when someone if put in front of a camera they instantly become someone other than themselves. Not because this is what they desire to do, but that it is easier to be someone else than yourself. Everyone has things that they dislike about themselves. So when you are put on the spot, especially for others to see, those flaws can magically disappear if that's what you wish. I also am one to follow this quote. From previous experiences I know that when a camera is placed on me I will intentionally be on my best behavior and try to say the right things and sound intelligent. That way if others were to see this video they would think the best of me. A.O. Scott is saying that everyone wants to be seen as their best, even in documentaries which are supposed to be natural and what reality is. I believe that the title of this article comes into play with this quote too, "How Real Does It Feel". Does it feel real when you are trying to be someone else? The answer would be no, and that is what Scott is trying to prove.
Along with agreeing on some points with Scott, there was one statement that I disagreed with. When he said "it is hardly news that documentaries manipulate reality with effects that can be morally toxic" I can up with a few examples that I would say go against this statement. To me this statement means that all documentaries only show half of their information, and "manipulate" the film by taking a side. From watching "Venus of Mars" in class I know that it is possible to make a documentary and not mess with any of the information or make is biased in some way. That documentary showed a personal story and didn't hold any of the information back. I believe that some documentaries do manipulate reality, but not all of them. It was unfair of Scott to make this bold of a statement.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Blog post and reading response #1
Blog: Now it is time to switch modes from PSAs to documentaries. I am very excited to start learning about this new art form. My group hasn't accomplished that much, but it is still early. Sarah, Leah, and I have thought about doing a documentary on adoption having Leah's family be the main focus. We all think that this would be a good idea so I believe this is what we will do. I don't think we will have procrastination problems, we are all focused and dedicated to making an effective documentary. I don't see any big problems with either the members of my group or the work that we will do. I am mostly excited to see the classes end results. The PSAs blew me away and I can only imagine that our documentaries will be even better.
Reading: Michael Rabiger, author of "Directing the Documentary", gives many details in his introduction chapter as to what a documentary entails of. I found it very helpful to myself in that it will help me organize my thoughts better and how I should draw in the attention of the audience. The point that stuck out the most and surprised me what when Rabiger stated "lower production costs and an increased outlet should mean increased freedom for the individual voice". I know that I knew this was true in the back of my mind but it really hit home when I read it in the article. I have never thought about how lucky we are as teens to have so much technology available to us that we can have freedom in the media. We can make videos from our phones and cameras and post them on youtube on the same day. Whatever we want to be seen or expressed has the potential to be seen by millions of people very quickly. This is something that my parents would never have been able to do as teens. Rabiger also tells that company executives, who choose what is aired on television, do not always show what should be. Corporations are able to subtract documentaries that may hurt profitability by offending some audience members. With expanded media sources such as cable, internet, or video facilities anything can be broadcasted. This connects with what I said earlier about this generation being able to post videos, and even documentaries, that are important to us and know that they can be seen.
The most important thing that I got out of this article was what exactly a documentary is. I never imagined all of the work and thought that goes into creating one. I learned that the best documentaries are those that are passionate about their topic and find that way to show the familiar in an unfamiliar way. I also learned that documentaries come in a range of forms. They can be spontaneous, silent, controlled, you name it. I am excited to start to work on a documentary knowing that the choice is all mine to make whatever it is I want to make. There is a lot of freedom in accomplishing some sort of order and cause and effect with options like these to choose from. Having a clearer definition of a documentary in my mind will definitely be useful when starting to develop my idea for a documentary and when shooting.
Reading: Michael Rabiger, author of "Directing the Documentary", gives many details in his introduction chapter as to what a documentary entails of. I found it very helpful to myself in that it will help me organize my thoughts better and how I should draw in the attention of the audience. The point that stuck out the most and surprised me what when Rabiger stated "lower production costs and an increased outlet should mean increased freedom for the individual voice". I know that I knew this was true in the back of my mind but it really hit home when I read it in the article. I have never thought about how lucky we are as teens to have so much technology available to us that we can have freedom in the media. We can make videos from our phones and cameras and post them on youtube on the same day. Whatever we want to be seen or expressed has the potential to be seen by millions of people very quickly. This is something that my parents would never have been able to do as teens. Rabiger also tells that company executives, who choose what is aired on television, do not always show what should be. Corporations are able to subtract documentaries that may hurt profitability by offending some audience members. With expanded media sources such as cable, internet, or video facilities anything can be broadcasted. This connects with what I said earlier about this generation being able to post videos, and even documentaries, that are important to us and know that they can be seen.
The most important thing that I got out of this article was what exactly a documentary is. I never imagined all of the work and thought that goes into creating one. I learned that the best documentaries are those that are passionate about their topic and find that way to show the familiar in an unfamiliar way. I also learned that documentaries come in a range of forms. They can be spontaneous, silent, controlled, you name it. I am excited to start to work on a documentary knowing that the choice is all mine to make whatever it is I want to make. There is a lot of freedom in accomplishing some sort of order and cause and effect with options like these to choose from. Having a clearer definition of a documentary in my mind will definitely be useful when starting to develop my idea for a documentary and when shooting.
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