title: Digital Deserts

Logline:In an increasingly technologically-connected world, this film interrogates the accessibility and necessity of community wifi in the city of Allentown.

Finalizing the individual interview project was a little frustrating. After receiving feedback that I knew would be helpful, I opened Adobe Premiere CC to the dreaded red screen. All of my media was offline. After trying multiple time, Premiere couldn’t locate the media so I could only edit my interview from the exported file of the rough cut. I was able to cut full sections in order to meet the length requirement but I couldn’t add/take out b-roll or edit sound. I think I was still able to take some of the feedback and alter the interview, but I wasn’t able to do things like extending one b-roll clip or removing a clip altogether. In terms of audio: when I was interviewing my subject, I used a tascam recorder because I didn’t think to get the wireless lab mic. The recorded shut off during the interview but I didn’t realize until it was over. So, I had to rely on the camera’s microphone. I think this is part of working in documentary: taking what you have and making it work.

Tickling Giants reminded me of the F-Word series and how Nicole and Kristan rely on animation to supplement the story being told. In the F-Word, animation is used to illustrate things that may be hard to show. For example, in the first episode, they use animation to create a sequence about them moving and how they first met. In Tickling Giants, animation is used to connect the title of the documentary with the story being told of Bassem Youseff. Overrall, I found the documentary to be very informative and used the form of documentary well as it explored political unrest in Egypt through the rise of Bassem and his team. After the screening, however, I couldn’t stop thinking about the impact of the film. During the Q&A, Sara Taskler mentioned that Bassem and a few of the people who work with Al-Bernameg had left Egypt and moved to the U.S. and other places in fear of their lives. This got me thinking about documentary as a form of production and how while they can be informative, funny and entertaining for us to watch, they can also cause pain/suffering to others.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/144P7YC_Z5KRaO1UXxx0hDHsh8DOUfNbN/view?usp=sharing

• Allentown, PA is one of the nation’s least connected cities (2015 Benton Foundation report and Morning Call article)

• The Allentown Public Library has reported that its free internet computers have witnessed a dramatic surge in (sessions/log-on’s) every year since 2011.

(Source) Allentown Public Library: Sessions of Wireless Internet

(Year)             (Number of individual computer internet sessions)

2011-2012 = 16,758

2012-2013 = 19,500

2013-2014 = 23,878

• At least 55 million Americans lack reliable broadband Internet access at home.

• In Pennsylvania, nearly one quarter of households lack Internet entirely, according to 2013 U.S. Census data.

• Allentown (PA), along with Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Erie (PA), were among the least-connected cities with 100,000 or more residents. Seventy to 77 percent of households in those cities had Internet access.

Reposting the link to my rough cut because I posted it a while ago…

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1O0xULdLAqBTmROMXhUUGNQcjg/view?usp=sharing

comment pls 🙂

I think overall, your b-roll footage is strong and is a good start for continuing the project. I like how the story sort of comes full circle because you use the same type of shot (of the little girl) at the beginning and end of the video. The most interesting shot you all have is the very first one that frames the plants diagonally across the screen. I watched the video a few times, but it wasn’t clear at first that the story is mainly about food waste. This became more clear when I rewatched and saw the shot of the college students getting food and then the shots of them throwing it away. I think simply reorganizing could make this a little more effective (starting with actual food waste then transitioning into footage from the food waste workshop at Lafayette. Once re-organized, I think the transitions in b-roll will be more smooth.

I think the F-Word episodic documentary series is a strong and compelling example of what can be done with documentary. The first thing that I noted before even watching the documentary is that it is filmed and released in episodes/segments. How would the F-Word be different if they decided to film it as a longer, feature length piece? I think their decision to break their story into shorter segments works well with what they are trying to do: tell a story about their journey of adopting a child from foster care. The animated title sequence also stood out to me. One question that the series provoked was: how do you effectively illustrate/show what is being said? Nicole and Kristan use interactive photos and animations to show their past as they narrate their past int the beginning of the first episode.

This past Friday, I interviewed Jordan Page for the individual interview assignment. I booked our television studio for our interview and set up the studio prior to Jordan’s arrival. I used he black curtain as the background and used a lights and gel pack kit for lighting. I used my friend as a model before Jordan came in so I could have the camera, chairs, and lights ready to go. The interview went off without a hitch until the very end. After Jordan answered the last question, I pressed the record button to stop the camera. A notification popped up and I immediately thought that the camera wasn’t able to record the interview. But it was just a notification telling me that the 14 minute video had been cut into 2 halves. I was relieved. Then, when I went to stop the Tascam recorder, I read that the recording was stopped because there wasn’t enough space on the SD card. I finished editing the piece this weekend and posted a link to the rough cut. I’m proud of what I have so far, but definitely wish I was able to have stronger audio. I still don’t think it takes away from the overall piece.

This weekend, when we went to film our B-Roll for our final documentary, Annie and I made a plan to start at the thrift store. We knew the shop would be closed, but we were able to get cool shots of the sign, posters on the windows and some items through the glass. We got more shots of the different parts of Allentown, including the residential neighborhoods surrounding Turner Street and Downtown Allentown near the Center and Arts Walk. It was there that we were able to catch interesting shots of people using their phones and signs about wifi. You can see all of this, and the juxtaposition we created in our B-Roll Footage.

What I found to be most interesting in doing this activity was the engagement with the people around us. At our fist location, we set up our cameras and mics near the car. When I started filming, I heard someone whistling from a far. I then realized that the man doing construction on top of the building across the street was trying to get our attention. He yelled and signaled that he wanted his picture taken. I recorded him and he waved goodbye. Later on, when we were filming a mural on the side of a building (also can be seen in b-roll footage), a man walked up and asked if we were doing a school project. We told him what we were doing and he engaged in a short conversation with us about Allentown and how going a few minutes in one direction will take you to different parts of the city. At the end of our conversation, we got his email address so we can hopefully send him our final product. These were just two small, but delightful exchanges that were able to happen because of the presence of a camera.