One line that stood out to me in the reading is this quote, ” Who would have ever thought that a slide-show about global warming would become a hit film?” This line was said by Vice President Gore and it was in relation to the film An Inconvenient Truth. This line stood out to me because it reminded me of the reaction that Leonardo DiCaprio’s film The Flood. I think it had a bigger impact than they were originally expecting. It grabbed the interest of all ages which I think is a significant accomplishment for a documentary and especially for a documentary on climate change.

I also thought it was interesting when Errol Morris explained that he is asked frequently whether if his films are documentaries or not. His answer was intriguing and reminded me of the discussion we had in class where we concluded that, in some way, all films are documentaries.

Lastly, the section of theaters and festivals was interesting to me because I don’t usually hear about documentaries being shown in theaters where mostly Hollywood films are shown. But, it is also interesting how festivals are mostly documentary based. It just makes me wonder why that is the way that it is.

I am really excited to start working on a documentary short. All of the story ideas so interesting. Some of my favorite ideas are “On the Rise”, “Center City Thrift”, “Bad to the Bone”, and “Reconnecting with our Food. ” I like “On the Rise” because Easton has really started to attract more people. The atmosphere is really picking up. There have been recent restaurant additions like “The Bayou” and “The Oak” that have added a nice touch to Easton’s environment. It would be interesting to research what the city of Easton will do next to increase attractions. “Center City Thrift” would be interesting to explore because of the recent obsession with thrift stores and my generation. It would be cool to find out exactly what kind of an impact this creates for people in the Lehigh Valley. “Bad to the Bone” is also interesting to me because recently people have been using social media platforms, especially Facebook, to spread awareness of animal abuse. I would be curious to see if this is an issue in the Lehigh Valley, if there are any kill shelters, and what people might be doing about that. “Reconnecting with our Food” could potentially tie in and relate to “On the Rise” since many of the most popular attractions in Easton are the amazing restaurants and food places such as the Easton Public Market, Sette Luna, Maxims, and so on. I am interested in seeing how the list will begin to narrow down.

After reading Cameraperson out loud, we were asked to highlight one thing that stood out to us. We didn’t have time to think, so we had to trust our instincts. I really liked this exercise because I was able to identify one sentence in the statement that stood out to me and it provided an instant realization. The sentence I highlighted was “I get to share profound intimacy with the people I film.” This was the one phrase that stood out to me the most. It was interesting to observe because I didn’t even feel like I needed to highlight the rest of the sentence.

I think this phrase stood out to me the most because I think it is important to do something with your life that touches or helps other people in some way. It was intriguing to read this line. I can imagine the lives of documentarians touch or even the friendships they gain while filming. It makes me think that you can make valuable connections with people living in places you may not even imagine. It is definitely something I did not think of originally so it was beneficial to read this possibility in print.

Overall, her KJ’s Director’s Statement comes off very genuine which I appreciate. Another line that stood out to me was the bullet point that said, “My work requires trust, demands intimacy, and entails total attention. To both me and the people I film, it often feels like a friendship or family, but it is something different.” I am intrigued and interested with the emotional aspect of being a documentarian. From what I gathered from this statement, it is really an emotionally driven career that touches the lives of many.

I really enjoyed the last class we had because we finally had the time and go through the blog to look at everyones work. It was interesting to see other students styles and approaches to projects. It made me realize how different every creative method is for every different person. I enjoyed watching everyones work and I am excited to see what is to come for the future and to work with everyone.

Josh and I went off campus and went downtown to Easton to film the sound for this assignment.

We filmed the sound of a bad interview.

We filmed the sound of the water from the center fountain.

We filmed Josh playing guitar.

We filmed the sound of traffic in the circle downtown.

Unfortunately our audio was unable to upload onto the blog.

Josh and I made the bad interview sound sound bad by recording it outside. Josh was far away from me so you could barely hear me. The outside noises were definitely a major contributor in making it sound bad.

IMG_7759.MOV

I instagrammed a video of my friend Quinn and asked her questions relating to documentaries as a whole.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/pennsylvania_toughens_animal_c.html

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2017/05/spca_seizes_47_animals_from_un.html

I want to do my short documentary film on animal mistreatment in the Lehigh Valley. I have always been passionate about standing up for animals rights and it really shakes my core to hear about kill shelters and abused dogs, cats, and other animals. I noticed this passion develop when I heard about pit bulls potentially being banned from certain states and Canada. I feel this is an issue that doesn’t get enough notice and seriously needs to be brought to more people’s attention.

Working longline: A short documentary film on animal mistreatment and animal shelters in the Lehigh valley.

Working title: Bad to the Bone

I thought the activity we did last class was really fun for multiple reasons. One, it was nice engaging with students from other schools and hearing about their background with filming and editing. Two, it was nice to have a hands on experience. It made me realize how much information I have obtained over the years in terms of setting up the camera, filming, and editing. I also loved learning about premiere since I am mostly experienced with final cut pro. Shreya has our short documentary on pets.

These are the five photos I took that are supposed to tell a story of me walking to class. The last one came out blurrier than I expected because people were around me and I didn’t want to look like I was obviously taking a picture of my surroundings/the stranger in front of me.

1. I never considered myself a documentarian. I always had this belief that documentarians were people who went out into the world and captured something on the scale of absurdity and I never considered myself the type of person to go out into the dangers or disappointments of the world, capture it, and bring it back to the people. But, after my first class with this course I realized that my definition is incorrect. I do spend so much of my day capturing my or my friends life. Social media plays the biggest part in me documenting my life specifically the app called Snapchat. Whenever I want to capture a moment I will take my phone out of my pocket, open the app, and start filming. Then I will either share it with my friends by sending the snapchat to them or save it in my snapchat memories. Sometimes when I lay in my bed to wind down, it’s nice to go back through those memories and rewatch all of those moments. I think what’s so special about them is they’re 100% real. The video obtains the power to transport me back to that moment, with those people, and those feelings which I think is a remarkable thing about life and a beneficial thing about the use of social media in my generation’s everyday life.
2. I am double majoring in Film and Media Studies and English with a writing concentration. I think I see the world with an open eye. I have always had a creative side and I think I have always been aware of it. When my friends would participate in “typical” sports I was always the outsider. I did all forms of dance, figure skating, gymnastics. I also got into singing and playing the piano at a very young age and that has been a part of me forever so I think I cherish the artsier side of the world more than others. I love music, film, writing, and art and have always had a deeper interest in those subjects versus science or math. I think my approach to issues and stories is very dependent on the specific issue or story. I think it is very hard for me to read the news frequently because I always find so much negative information and I don’t like to flood myself with negativity. I really try to shy away from that. Many people have their opinions about how it is bad for me not to know what is going on in the world, but really, if something is really important you will hear about it. News travels fast. I think what issues interest me the most is definitely animal abuse, destruction of the environment and global environment, and the issue of equality of women and men in the workforce and just mistreatment of women in general. I think documentaries are very useful and significant. I think they tell a story and spread a message with the goal of making their audience and an audience that may not be interested in the documentary aware of what is being shown. I think I would make a documentary about the horrors and injustice of animal abuse because that is something I feel very passionate about and am shocked that it is still an issue. I don’t know the Lehigh Valley very well, but maybe I would do a documentary on animal shelters or I am also interested in music so maybe find a music producer or label that is based out of the Lehigh Valley and what that might be like.

3.  Our first class activity was to find a partner that you did not know very well, get to know each other well enough in order to have your partner take an accurate portrait of yourself. Josh and I decided to be partners and we were unsure of how to start off so we just started asking random questions to each other. We skipped the small talk and asked the type of questions your best friend or family member would know the answer to. A few questions we asked each other were, “If you had to describe yourself using only 3 adjectives what words would you use?”, “What is your favorite type of takeout cuisine?”, “What is one of the weirdest things that you have ever experienced?” and so on. At first it was a little awkward just because we didn’t really know what kind of questions to ask and we basically just asked questions that would reveal a good chunk of our personality. We both came to a conclusion that a portrait didn’t fit our personalities well so we decided to take a silly selfie instead by a microphone to show that we both love music and that it is an important part of our lives.

4. Framing

I remember doing the framing exercise the first day of Making Media 1. It’s interesting doing it a second time around because I feel like I know what to look for or pay attention to. This time around I enjoyed realizing the power of the frame and how it singles out specific things in the shot. For example, when I took it out on the quad and faced it at Skillman Library, the library was the main focus of the frame and the trees were around it so I thought the frame helped emphasize the object being shown. With that said, as I stepped back, it was interesting to see all the other objects in the surroundings join in.