I believe that giving viewers a broad look at where the story they are about to be told is taking place sets the tone for the entire documentary or film, helping to engage and capture their attention. “Exposition is the information that grounds you in a story: who, what, where, when, and why,” says Bernard in “Documentary Storytelling.” She goes on to state, “The opening sequence contains the DNA of the entire film to come.” It gives insight as to where the film will be headed and what it may be about. For this reason, I chose to do a span of some of the Lehigh Valley from the roof of our parking garage on campus. If I were doing a film on the Lehigh Valley I think this could serve as a good opening, as it captures the broadness of the setting and shows directly where this story is taking place before we zoom in on individual people and their individual stories.
If I were to do a story in the Lehigh Valley, I think I would like to explore the social divide that exists within South Bethlehem. We have a middle school directly next to our campus with many students who come from low-income housing and difficult home lives. Last year, I did a tutoring program there and my eyes were opened to how many of these kids live and how vastly different their worlds are from the students right next door at Lehigh. Many of them opened up to me about themselves, their families, and some of their struggles. It impacted me greatly and I’m sure others would be affected as well after hearing their stories. I would like to maybe do a documentary comparing students from Broughal Middle School and Lehigh U, or even just the students at Broughal. I think it would be an interesting and eye-opening topic to explore.