Framing the world made me see potential in the ordinary happenings inside the frame. I would focus in more clearly on what was within the cardboard border and in doing so I saw beauty in things I would have otherwise overlooked. Like the specific sway of a tree, or the organization of students sitting on the Muhlenberg front lawn. I felt some of the same self-consciousness I feel when I carry around a video camera, except this was more acute and definitely stranger. I framed patches of dirt and saw beetles and crickets in the grass, I framed my friend’s face and saw their expression change to one of being watched, I framed my living room and noticed that my painting was not centered over my couch. As the minutes went on I started looking for more interesting snapshots of the world: ones more aesthetically pleasing, more active, more engaging, etc. It was a dynamic exercise that showed me my campus through a different analytical frame.

Our class two weeks ago may have been my favorite to date. I enjoyed that we were tasked with creating a project without receiving excessive instruction beforehand. After a quick tutorial it was up to us to create something. While making the video I felt a level of urgency to create a product I would be proud to present, but I also sensed that the main point of the activity was to educate. In the end some things went wrong for my group, but we responded well. We ended up cycling through two different batteries, and having to switch cameras all together.  Our end product in all honesty was pretty bad, the B-roll we included made no sense and our video had a black box around it for half of the shots. Although the video did not turn out the way I would have hoped the lessons learned from the experience will  remain with me throughout the semester.

“Sometimes an opportunity comes along that precludes extensive planning.” – Bernard

This weekend I was visiting my friend and her brother at the city. It was my first time meeting her brother who was actually also visiting her for the weekend from California. As we walked past a tunnel in central park, we all noticed a violinist playing a beautiful tune in the shadow of the tunnel. I noticed my friend’s brother zipping open his backpack and pulling out his DSLR. I said to myself, “okay I guess he does work in production, so that’s normal.” Later on the subway, my friend asks her brother for a band-aid and some sanitizer. Squeezed amongst so many people, he easily pulled out both the things she asked for. She laughs as I was standing there in shock. I was impressed by how prepared he was. I thought this was the case only during this weekend since he was visiting but it is in fact not! My friend mentioned that her brother carries this backpack everywhere he goes because sometimes you might run into something interesting or important and being prepared is essential. I don’t carry a camera around (phone) everywhere I go but I admired his will and passion to always being prepared. After hearing this, I thought he was a true documentarian and a very good example for me.

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“The arc refers to the way or ways in which the events of the story transform your characters” (Bernard 23).

For this post, I focused on Bernard’s backstory techniques! I knew that because I was running the Half Marathon that weekend that I could potentially have a lot of great footage. Originally I envisioned myself videotaping while running the 13.1 miles, and especially as I crossed the finish line, but then I realized that filming while running alongside hundreds of people was nearly impossible. Instead I captured some “B-roll” of the moments before the race started as well as interviewed some people after the race was over. While reading the Bernard chapters I was resting my then-tired legs on my hammock outside and realized that I could utilize voice over to give context as to why I had run the race that day.

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I did my video on a Satisfactory Ending. Enjoy!

As a Biology major with an Environmental Science minor, a documentary story making class is definitely not typical script. Most things in biology are about structure and how things function together, which I feel, both connects and separates Biology and FAMS. There is much more of a creative aspect to this class which I would love to explore, but at the same time while a biological perspective often includes thinking how things function together that can directly be translated into documentary making. In documentary making you have to understand how things work together and connect, between filming, editing and capturing content.

I would love to create a documentary surrounding issues that I’m passionate about such as animal rights and environmental education. There is a huge gap between scientist and the general public that I would like to try to fix. Often scientist create great discoveries but it can be hard to convey the meaning to the general public which leads to misinformation and confusion of potentially vital information.