The section that I decided to highlight of the Bernard reading was the idea of self reflection in documentary and storytelling. Reflection when done properly has the power to connect an audience with a film maker, and further communicate an idea or argument. In response to the idea of reflection I created a short video about the two concerts I attended over the summer.
Though I have not officially declared a major, I am tentatively planning to major in accounting. In addition to my eventual major I am a part of the Lehigh Global Citizenship Program, through which I have learned a vast amount about active community engagement and sustainable development. I have a unique perspective. Unlike most business majors I have taken many courses related to the humanities, and I feel this gives me a more well-rounded understanding of the problems we face in the world than other business educated students. My business background allows me to approach big issues from multiple angles and vantage points, which ideally will make me a more effective problem solver in the future. I always enjoy stories that relate to culture and community, and I hope to have my work go in that direction. If I had to tell a specific story about the valley it may involve the surge of Syrian immigrants/refugees into the valley in the past few years.
As a documentarian I would describe myself as one who tries to bring light to potentially under served issues in a way that audiences can appreciate as both entertaining and informative. I have been know to document anything from everyday events to special occasions.With the representations I create I try to stir up certain attitudes or emotions in my audience. I enjoy seeing people react positively to the ideas that I cultivate and eventually share. Additionally I enjoy informing people in an accessible manner.
For this assignment, we didn’t have to travel far to record each sound we needed. We stayed mainly in our school’s little hub called “campus square” and started by first recording two students having an intense study session for their biology exam. We then crossed the street to our local coffee shop, Saxby’s, and recording a frappacino being made for our “made sound.” We struggled a little with finding a non-human sound, and were excited when a dog came by because we thought this would be a good opportunity, however the dog was very quiet and “rarely barks,” according to the owner. We sat down and as the wind picked up, we started to record the sound of the trees and bushes rustling together; this became our non-human sound clip.
For the bad interview, we went and stood in front of a fountain with other people around, and, using a phone to record, we stood a few feet away from each other, causing the audio to sound distant and overpowered by the background noise.
This was an interesting project to do, and we enjoyed that it forced us to use equipment we hadn’t before and explore different aspects of our everyday lives and campus that we normally wouldn’t.
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.
Since I moved away from St.Louis for college I have occasionally been asked what is the vibe of St.Louis? People would ask me to describe the music scene or how people dress and I often had trouble providing a definitive answer. Growing up I never got the feeling that everyone in St.Louis was on the same page. Since I left home my original belief has been solidified. Being that the Lehigh Valley is the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania I would like to explore the identity of the Lehigh Valley if any.
In my documentary I will explore the idea that population centers have unique cultures; specifically, food, fashion, and music. Additionally I will attempt to determine if the Lehigh Valley fits within the group of population centers with their own distinct identity.
Watching Grizzly Man was interesting. When the movie opened with the clip of Tim Treadwell in the wild I was initially hesitant to laugh because I wondered if he had a mental illness of some sort. However as the movie progressed and I gained a better understanding of the person they called “grizzly man” I’ve come to the conclusion Tim was simply a man with tremendous passion, who didn’t necessarily care for what detractors had to say. The way Tim lived his days on earth is admirable; he found a cause that mattered to him and wholeheartedly devoted himself to it. In America we are taught that fitting in with other humans is important, and that money makes you happy. I believe the reason some people struggle to give Tim credit for the path he walked is because he served as a living antithesis to many mainstream American values.
Framing life was a little intimidating at first. I wasn’t necessarily keen on a bunch of people seeing me walk around Bethlehem staring at random things through a piece of cardboard, but eventually I got over it. In the end, the framing activity led me to the highlight of my Sunday. On the way to my destination I took a path that I had previously walked, but I noticed a few things that I hadn’t before; specifically a sculpture depicting two birds and a pavilion like structure. As I walked farther I found that the framing activity continued to force me to observe the background of my surroundings, unique bricks in the sidewalk, and a mural on the back of a brew house to name a few. By the time my 30 minutes was up I had a bunch of new ideas for video I wanted to shoot in the future, and I ended up at a pretty cool car show at Steelstacks.
It was nice getting to know my classmate Natalie. In the beginning of our interaction we stuck to pretty standard small talk. Soon after Natalie and I started talking we saw the group next to us looking at each other’s Instagram accounts, and decided to do the same. Looking at our Instagram accounts was surprisingly effective. After we scrolled for a few seconds I would say we both had a better idea of each other’s personality than a standard introductory conversation would have afforded. The activity was interesting because in the end we both used the exercise as a means of testing how effective we were at using our social media to represent ourselves.
