Blog #7

1. It's Tuesday and I finally feel that we can do this within the time limit. We got all the shooting for the trailer done last Thursday and on Sunday we spent four hours on editing the trailer. Zoe and I sat in that tiny, little room, worked out buts off and almost went crazy. The trailer didn't work out as good as we wanted it to be, but we're hoping to get a stronger comeback with our documentary. before starting this project i would never think that it would be possible to spend four hours on 20 seconds, but apparently I was wrong. The plan is now to get some more filming done next week, hopefully all the footage we need and then to start edit as soon as possible so we don't have to sit the last Sunday session and do it all in a rush and get a really bad documentary. So that's they plan. I like working on this project, but it takes so much time and power from you. Well well.

2. "A Bed for the Night" by Bertolt Brech

The man in the poem helps homeless people out by appealing and asking people who pass by if they can give a homeless man or woman a bed for the night. I believe he does this since this man has realised that by doing this for others, he helps people out and he let other people help the homeless people. These people would probably not offered a bed for the night if the man on the street hadn't reminded them that they could make a change in somebody else everyday life. I also believe that passers-by feel that it's more safe when a man that is not homeless ask them, than if a homeless is begging.

the man is basically just asking strangers if they can give a homeless person a bed for the night. I really liked this poem and hope that that man exist. The man on the corner, who helps homeless people. a man that is so unselfish, a man that has a home, a family, but realise that he needs other peoples help to be able to help all the people he wants to help.

In the poem they say that "it won't change the world, it won't improve relations among men, it will not shorten the age of exploitation" this is true, but it will give a man a smile on his face when he for the first in a long time lays in a warm, safe bed.

Lena

Blog #6

1. We're getting there! That's all i need to let you know right now. We have a access, Zoes and my friend Alex McCormick. Alex works in a local radio station and will help us getting access to the studio and some important people we can interview. I really want to get some good shots while they're recording and get one interview with the producer, one with one of the program leaders and might have some random people at the street telling why radio is important to them, why we listen to radio when we already have all our music on our i-pod. What does radio have that you don't have on your i-pod? Entertainment? News? news related to your community? These might be some of the answers we could hear, at least these are my reasons for listening to radio, but i wonder why other youth listens!

So tomorrow, Thursday we are going to the channel and shoot, as much as we can and maybe get a interview down. And Sunday we will go to MTN and make the trailer. I really hope this will work out, since now I'm stressed and concerned we won't have a trailer by Monday..So we'll see!

2. "Fellowship" by Franz Kafka

Where does fellowship come from and what sustains it?

I think fellowship comes from similar people comes together and figures out that they have something in common, that they enjoy each others company and like to be with each other, A fellowship is a great thing, it makes you feel a part of a group and to know that you have a place you belong to. I think spending time with your fellowship sustains it a lot. Spend time together and experience things that's what will make it last. Then you have memories to share, to talk about and even more things in common than before. When I read this piece I got kind of sad. It's not easy to be that one person, but it's not easy for the group ether. We all want to be a part of a fellowship, but it might take some time, even years to figure out what kind of fellowship you belong to, fit in and feel that you can really truly be yourself.

Blog # 5

Okay. so the thing is that my group just keep changing. We change our members, we change our topic and we change our minds. Now it's back to Zoe and myself again and we really need to figure out and schedule people to talk to and interview! But the first thing we really need to do, i think we're doing it today is to make a plan. We have to sit down, go through what massage we want to send people, what stories we want to tell and how we're going to tell them. Since an interview need to be for a reason and to get what we want we need to know and have a plan. So 2 hours today will hopefully be used productively so we can start this project.

2. "Theme for English B" written by Langston Hughes
This paper is very different from the other reading assignments we have gotten before. I kinda like this one, it was short, cute and interesting. I think the purpose with the teachers assignment was to have the person to write a page about just whatever came to his/her mind and that would be what he wanted to read. Not set any limits. not set any guide lines, but just have the person to write something that would be different and interesting.
I think this assignment begins with the words "Go home" since then start in medias res, the introduction to the page is interesting and it captures your interest right away. And the person is also letting us know that the reason that she's writing those exact letters is because of her teacher that told her to go home and write a paper.
The narrator writes that he is different, cause he is colored. But he also let us know that he is like everybody else, he is a human being even though he stands out in the crowd and is "different".

Reflection:
I have noticed that a lot of times, when you meet somebody and they assume you act and behave a certain way. A lot of times personal expressions tell you more then you could ever imagine. Just by meeting somebody and look at them you can kinda tell if they really are interested in getting to know you or not. Normally i don't react really strong, i just get upset how strong imprinted stereotypes can be sometimes. I usually try to prove them wrong so the next time they meet somebody they will meet them with an open mind.

Blog #4

1. This week we  are going to figure out who we're going to interview, call them and plan when we can shoot! Cause it was the ending of the last semester we really didn't get to do a lot since we wanted to focus on our grades in the final classes, so now I hope we can get started and do this! I'm realy excited and think this will be a lot of fun! We figured out to change our topic from monogamy to relationships in general and human interaction. I think that is really interesting and that it will be fun to meet different people and listen to their stories!

2, "Directing the Documentary" by Rabigere Michael ch 14, Interviewing.

By reading this piece I learned a lot about how important interviews are in your documentary. They are the clue to make a good documentary and you get a human relationship by talking and getting stories from people. While interviewing it's important to get their story right, be respectful and listen. Before an interview it's important do do a lot of research, have some questions ready and also be able to ask follow up questions to the person you are interviewing. That's often the most important answers you get since you dig deeper and get important facts for your story!

It's important to take the location in consideration when you are doing an interview. It can be outside, in someones house at their workplace etc, but it's important that it has something to do with the topic of your documentary. The location will also play a part in telling the story.

Before an interview it's also very important to be prepared and also while you are interviewing give visual feedback so the person feels comfortable and want to tell you their story!

When you're done interviewing it's important to say thanks, and let them know that you just want them to look best as possible and if they are not satisfied how they are put on the screen you can always edit, but in the end you have the final saying. And also to get them to sign a personal release form that says you're allowed to use the material.

Blog #3

1. Right now our group haven't had really big progress since last week. We pitched our idea on Tuesday, we figured out that our groups topic is monogamy, and the question we want to answer or discuss is "Do monogamy really exist". For those who don't know what monogamy is, it's basically to be fully committed to only one person your whole life. So we want to interview interesting couples and maybe one single person/divorced person and see what people think about relationships and if their significant other is the only one for them. We want to interview couples in different ages, and try to narrow it down, so we're thinking of having three couples, 2 kids, around the age of five, a lesbian couple  and a old couple. We already know the lesbian couple, so we need to get permission from some kids parents and find the old couple. We want to try to find our characters this coming weekend or really soon so we can start planning more. We also want to have our video to include lots of pictures, especially from the old couple. I think this will be an interesting and cute movie.

2.

'How to Write a Documentary Script'

by Trisha Das

When I read this piece I learned a lot more than I thought I would. I learned that your documentary has a value and that all the research you put into it makes a huge difference. There is many ways to do your research, but the most important is that your documentary is interesting to you, so you want to spend time on it, want to put in the effort and that you will spend a lot of time thinking and looking for more information on your topic. You need to be curious and you need to ask your self some questions, like "What would I want to learn about this subject?" and etc. There is many different ways to get information. You can interview people, experts, you could use the media like the internet, books, etc, you can go out on field research, go to museums, galleries etc to gather information or you can skim read lots of fact books and pick out the most important information in each one of them. When you do your research you get a lot of information and it's really important that the quality is good. It's really important to spend some time segregating the relevant information from the irrelevant.

I also learned that it's important to have different perspectives in your documentary, and the best way to show that is through humans. So that leads you to find people to interview and what kind of questions you want to ask and get answered. I also learned that imagination is the biggest talent and tool of the scriptwriter and that is whats makes every documentary different. It's also important to dig deep, get information that surprises people. Find out more insightful details. When all the information is collected, the interviews done, the filming is past you need to put it all together. The hardest part is now to eliminate all the information that is not necessary to tell the story, reorganize your scenes if needed and the last part, writ the script.

Blog Post #2

Our group is now been formed. It's Zoe, Bea and me in our documentary group. We are kind of late in the process and we really need to get together and figure out a idea! We were discussing today in class what we wanted to make a documentary about and figured out that we might do one about love and relationship in all the different stages of life and ages. We think that would be adorable and interesting to document many different kinds of people, all from small kids to old people. We are all really interested in people and think it would be a fun experience to meet many strangers, hear their stories and talk to them! So we basically have to figure out an idea, make our pitch, and start planning!

2. "How real does it feel?" by A.O.Scott
I really didn't feel that I learned a lot from reading this critic by Mr. Scott. The article was written from his perspective with a lot of personal opinions that I do not agree with. The only thing that made me think a little extra while I was reading was his point of view on documentaries not being exact, movies that are "based on a true story" often aren't really how it was in real life. This made me think about all the movies that I have really liked mainly because it actually happened in reality, might not be exact.

It surprised me that he has this strong opinion that documentaries are films without art, that basically everybody with a video camera could make, and that they are not worth seeing. I really think that through documentaries you can tell stories, share experiences and people can learn something from you through an artistic, creative way. I really didn't feel that I got anything out from reading this article, mostly upset, frustrated and board of hearing this mans strong opinions, that I'll be better out knowing.

Lena

Blog #1

Chapter 1 "introduction" Directing the documentary by Michael Rabiger

While I read I learned some about what a documentary actually is. Michael Rabiger writes that a documentary explores actual people and actual situations. A documentary could be about the Past, the present or the future and he calls it a "creative treatment of actuality".

I also learned that a documentary needs a good story with interesting characters, narrative tension and an integrated point of view. It's also important that the documentary is to somewhat objective. That minimize the dangers and responsible you can have as a director. To be objective it's important to get facts from both parts of the case and cross-check everything.

The thing that surprised me the most was that he writes that it's important that the documentary is actuality and that everything can be proved and defended in court. I never thought that you can actually be sued for making and expressing your thoughts, actions and people through a documentary. This also made me think of how important it is to get all the facts correct, and be sure not to expose people in a negative way.

I am satisfied with what I learned, the paper/essay was pretty long so I feel that a lot of what was written was unnecessary for us Voices students to read and that we could just have got the basic facts. When I get that long papers to read I find it hard to learn something at all in between all the other information, so I'm satisfied that I learned some good basic facts about documentaries.

Lena