I’m very excited to get started on our documentary projects. One of the many which sounds appealing to me is Center City Thrift. Recently, there’s been this growing popularity of thrift stores. There have been a higher standard of goods that are being donated to thrift stores. But, since the past three years of being in the US, I’ve been surrounded by this thrift store hype. My friends make it a whole 2 hour event of going to the thrift store. For friends, going to the thrift store is a hobby, a major part of their style and identity. Whereas, I’ve overheard conversations between my friends and parents about Goodwill, a longstanding non profit chain with second hand clothing, furniture, jewelry, etc. Other than it being fun to rummage through tons of articles of clothes and jewelry before you find one of value, it’s fun to see how diverse the groups of people are who walk into these stores. When Ayanna mentioned that funds were being set aside to provide communal wi-fi at a thrift store in Allentown, I jumped at the thought. There are plenty of people from various socio-economical backgrounds who must be valuing this in store wi-fi and I think there voices should be heard. My first question would be to the thrift store owner: what made you think of contributing wi-fi at this store? do you believe it’s any good or serving the community in a better way?

Two other topics of interest are Borders of Belonging and The Loss We Can Gain. With regards to B.o.B, I’m aware of the large Hispanic and Latinx community here in Easton. There are several restaurants in the area that are doing really well and I’m curious to know about how these owners feel here in Easton. Has the political environment threatened them in this little town in PA? The Loss We Can Gain is essential to the community as well. Food is taken for granted and unnecessarily wasted when it could go elsewhere for a better cause. I can’t wait to see where these projects go!

The beginning moments in Once Upon a Time in the West by Sergio Leone were some of the most captivating and entracing initial shots of a movie because of the sound effects. I kept on waiting for a sound to come, but they never did. Every noise that was made was done so at an unexpected time. which kept the viewers on their toes. I was constantine expecting something to happen with sound, so I was never bored, even though what was actually going on on the screen was not very exciting. I guess this proved the point that good film does not only come from a good plot/good shots (but it definitely helps).

The exercise we did in class going through students’ sounds they recorded and guessing what they were, make me appreciate the beginning of this film all the more. Sound is a very underrated and overlooked part of a film. Often people think that only what is seen is the important part, but sound is something that definitely should not be forgotten about.

I liked the discussion that came up in class that asked “is it cheating if you use a random sound in your film?” I personally do not think so, depending on the context. If it is possible to easily record the sound needed, then why not just record the real thing? If the sound needed is of a particular zebra at the zoo (very random example), then it would be acceptable to take an already recorded zebra noise if the zoo is very far away and hard to access. However, I do not think that using a random sound in film is always acceptable.

After reading Kirsten Johnson’s Director’s Statement from Cameraperson I could relate it back to the class we had two weeks back. When Drew Swedberg came to show us his film Running for Humanity, I was impressed by the way he went with his gut instincts about what he should and should not have included in his film. He mentioned that how the man who he was filming wanted to constantly tell him what to film and how to edit his documentary. I even remember him saying that if he was sitting behind him while he edited the documentary together, Running for Humanity would have never came out like it did.

This reminded me of when Kirsten Johnson stated that one challenge of documentary making is when she “fails to see or follow stories the director I works for hopes I will follow.” It is very hard to have creative differences with someone who you are working with because you just want to make it the way you think would look best. This is something that makes it challenging to work in groups because there are so many different opinions on how to stitch a story together.

Kirsten’s quote is not only true of a director, but of anyone who you might be working with. Working in teams of people both have their advantages and disadvantages; more people to help do the work, but also more conflicting opinions. I have been enjoying my experiences working with other members of our doc class so far and am excited to work on our group documentary.

After brainstorming topics for a Lehigh Valley story, I have concluded that the topic I would like to research further into is on the potential story topics that we brainstormed in class. I like “Easton-To Infinity and Beyond” as well as “A Marketable Modernization”, and I believe that it would be a juicy topic to cover because there are many routes that can be taken to accomplish the task. Both of these idea topics focus on the modernization of Easton and the effects the new restaurants, venues, and attractions have on the community. One topic specifically mentions The Easton Public Market, which I think would be an awesome topic all by itself. Whether it be covering the expansion in Easton on a smaller level, like just making a film on the Public Market, or expanding it to cover more than one part of the city, this would be an issue I would be very interested in creating.

Since I grew up in this area, it has been very exciting for me to see all the changes in the city, even from a couple years ago. Downtown Easton has sprouted a whole cluster of new restaurants and hot spots that have made the area into a destination station. I would love to work with a crew for a documentary like this

When reading Kirsten’s statement the line that resonated with me the most was the idea of physical freedom. In America many of us, myself included, underrate the privilege that our physical freedom awards us. I grew up in St.Louis, and the idea that I could pack my stuff and leave to the other side of the county for college is far from extraordinary but it is a blessing that many will never have the ability to experience. I too hope to find a career that will allow me the blessing that is freedom. The second point I wanted to visit from Kirsten’s statement was the idea that she still has to juggle her work relationships like many of us do at regular jobs, which I thought was interesting. 

I was just sitting on my porch, describing the movie Kid Cannabis (a must watch) to my friend. She asked me “is it a documentary?” and I told her “no, just a recreation of real events.” Then I remembered what Betsy McLane writes about Robert and Frances Flaherty, influential documentarians in the mid-1900s. First, she recognizes their work as the basis of documentary conversation on “truth, reality and illusion”. Then, she goes on to say his famous films “Nanook of the North” and “Moana” were staged, with actors representing historic cultures in Northern Quebec and Somoa. Flaherty is a celebrated documentarian but his most prominent work was staged. Is this documentary film? Clearly, my subconscious still thinks it has to be “real events” with real people, not actors. I mean, McLane says Robert Flaherty depicted Eskimo and Somoan culture only to the extent of family, imposing a “nuclear family structure along conventional Western cultural lines.” Is this documentary? Even if it isn’t, Flaherty definitely shaped the history of documentary film.

Reading about some of the challenges Director Kirsten Johnson goes through helped me understand more about documenting. Specifically that there is a lot of thought and meaning that goes on before the production, details that directors need to keep in mind before filming. A few of the statements that caught my eye, one being able to leave a place she filmed and the other is not being able to provide much resources to the people in the films. With that, I think about how there are people in worse situations than me, living in areas where their needs aren’t being met. If I did documentary in impoverished areas, I would be faced with the same reality as her; that I want to help out but I’m not able to provide any assistance yet and in some cases could hamper with other’s assistance. So the best option for me is to present the people’s stories as accurately as possible, to not take advantage of their decision to be interviewed.  This way I can be respectful in who I’m interviewing and make the film worth seeing.

The second statement is very similar to the first one. Johnson is able to leave the area when she’s done filming, a privilege that the villagers she films don’t have. I already know of this fact, but it’s something that should be thought about just as much. A thing I can take away from it is to try and place the perspectives of the people I’m interviewing directly in the film, avoid skewing what they say and provide a view that may not be observed before.

Being new to documentary, my original impressions were simple. It’s non-fiction, relatable, and doesn’t include “actors” just “real” people. This chapter expanded up my understanding. It also gave my disparate impressions some structure: “the form of documentary is mainly determined by subject, purpose and approach.” It also became clear that this structure is not a firm one. Documentary allows for interpretation in all areas, with experimental documentary as the most avant-guard. One such experimentation is the use of imagery and “beauty”. McLane writes that “beauty is functional”. From what I can interpret, she is implying that in documentary, scenery and beauty are used to communicate feeling or enhance information, rather than to create beauty for the sake of beauty. I find this a very fine line that I would like to explore. This connects to her comment that “documentary is purposive”, with the intention of achieving something. All this has expanded my understanding of documentary as an art-form.

The flyer for Kirsten Johnson’s appearance really struck me, because it wasn’t what were used to seeing on these types of things. Usually, in preparation for an event like this, the flyers list the person’s criteria and awards to persuade the students to attend. This one, however, didn’t try to persuade, it simply told her story–the negative and positive. It didn’t skip right to “Kirsten Johnson: Sundance Winner.” She doesn’t only talk about the glitz and glam of filmmaking, but instead starts with a sort of disclaimer, saying that she has faced many challenges in her field both cinematically and morally.

Her second bullet point, stating, “My work can change the way my subject is perceived…” was the one that really stuck out to me. There is a constant debate about the ethical implications of documentary filmmaking, photojournalism, photography, etc, that revolves around the relationship between photographer and subject. I think it will be interesting to explore Johnson’s view on the ethical dilemma, since she has firsthand experience and is not afraid to talk about it, by the looks of her flyer.

There are some main themes that I’ve seen come up a few times, which I think should definitely be considered in our final list:

1. Environmental state of the Delaware River
2. Food waste in the Lehigh Valley
3. The modernization of the city of Easton
4. Immigration/DACA
5. Compare/contrast different areas (cultures) of the Lehigh Valley

For the first 4, there were at least 2 mentions of the topic in the master list. The final one I had a little trouble tackling because people had mentioned various comparisons of communities (Muhlenberg and Allentown, Lehigh and middle school students, and one about the cultures of the LV in general).