I knew that during my time here at lafayette I wanted to take a FAMs course but had simply never come around to it. Since it was my senior year I knew that my time was running out. Luckily I was able to get into this course, after the first week  of school and it has been an amazing experience ever since the first day.

I remember the first class I attended was the one where we needed rush to make a short 30 second movie. I had never used the sophisticated camera equipment or the fancy editing software so while it was fun it was a little intimidating. As the course went on, I loved it even more. Having to go to talks was awesome because all of these talks and screenings are events i would normally love to go to but never had the time, So having this class as a motivator to go and engage with visiting film makers was just a cherry on top. When I look back on the semester I can see how much I’ve grown as a film maker and as a person. I was naive when I started, never having used an external mic or premiere, but not I could confidently handle sophisticated equipment and use various tools in premiere to really bring a movie together.

While there were many challenges and bumps a long the road, the road was worth the knowledge gained in my opinion. The only thing I wish that could’ve been done with this course is watching documentaries and critique-ing them/commenting on them more often. Everyone in the class had such interesting and insightful comments that I wish I could have had more discussions with everyone. All in all I am so happy I took this course.

Wow, you know I really didn’t think we would be able to do it but… we did!

At the beginning of this journey, I never could’ve imagined the road to a finished documentary. It was long hours, lot’s of driving and compromise but we made it! I’m really happy on how our SOS documentary ended up, and was actually proud to have it be screened in Buck Hall. Especially when we had our rough cut I never imagined that our final product would look the way it did. I was astonished by how much the material we acquired just days before the screening completely transformed our documentary.  Of course I saw the flaws of the documentary while it was being screened but the worries of the impact of those flaws were lost in the compliments given to me after the screening.

I thought everyone’s documentary was incredible and loved to see the final product and creative angles people took! One thing that especially struck me was how unique and enticing everyone’s opening sequence was. I thought it was just interesting to observe how people approached reeling people in to the subject.

Overall I think everyone did an amazing job on the documentaries and I’m excited to see the future work of anyone in the class!

Devin, Anna and I have met several times this week in order to finalize our project. We were able to secure two new interviews, that greatly added to our story arch and provided more background information on not only the importance of shad, but solutions to help shad such as dam removal and reintroduction programs. Additionally, we were able to get film of a professors kids, explaining shad and their migration patterns, which i think will be a great contribution to the documentary.

We have spent many hours editing, and we still have a ways to go, but I think our group consensus is that we are excited for the final cut of this documentary to come to fruition.

Here is our rough cut of our Documentary! We are happy with the direction it is taking but there is still editing to do.

We have to smooth out some of the cuts and add in music that we are currently making in garage band but we’re eager to hear other’s feedback.

(we are also planning on adding to the end!)

Title: S.O.S. – Saving Our Shad

For years, shad had been able to move through the Delaware watershed, but now they can’t move up stream. What’s stopping them?

In short: It was so much tougher than I imagined.

I have had experience editing in the past and I knew it was a long and tedious process but in reality I had never had a time constraint put on my videos, because they had always been for my own personal use. Having to stick to the time constraint was stressful because even though my interview was just 11 minutes long, I felt everything my subject said had meaning and importance.

My rough cut was 5 Minutes, which I thought was a good start but then when I had to cut it down to 3 I didn’t realize how little time 3 minutes really is. I had to take out portions of my interview which that I really enjoyed and thought were important to telling my story, but in the end, they were not important as the clips I kept.

Having to cut so much out, it really made me realize the power you have as a documentarian. The power you have to control what of what your subject said gets to be heard by the public. Its a daunting and potentially intimidating thing.

Before watching Tickling Giants I had no backstory on the “Egyptian Jon Stuart” Bassam Youssef. The documentary was so incredibly made, and I loved how they incorporated the story of Bassam Youssef but the story of the lives that he influence by starting this satirical comedy station. I found myself almost wanting more backstory on each of the workers in the documentary, even though I realize how that would not be feasible.

Another aspect of the documentary that especially caught my attention was how they introduced the animator of the documentary and the show initially as a fan and walked you through his journey and showed how the animator himself was involved, or at least his are was involved, in the final documentary. The animation allowed for a break from the film and while gave some comedic relief, allowed for the audience to dial down the intensity of the film at times.

When I left the screening I couldn’t stop thinking about one thing. The timeline of this film. It began in 2011 and was not completed until 2016. It was daunting even to me, a spectator thinking retrospectively, to imagine embarking on this journey of telling one man’s story and creating such an inspiring and impactful film. How was she to know when she began filming Bassam that all of these events would transpire? How did she know when to end it? I found myself at times during the documentary expecting an ending but just when I thought the story was over, it continued and another event/layer/complication arise. That being said, I wasn’t wanting the film to end, but I just thought a conclusion was coming. I kind of side tracked, but it just amazed me, the commitment she had to telling this story to it’s entirety and the following of one man, not knowing where the story will go but realizing there was a story there. It was and is impressive and inspiring.

Bassem Youssef

Here are some fun, and not so fun facts about the american shad, the subject of “SOS: Saving Our Shad”

• Shad’s historic, cultural, and economic significance earned it the nickname the “Founding Fish.”
• between 1990 and present, shad returning to the delaware to spawn has declined from 500,000 to 300,000
• the primary cause of shad decline is dams, pollution and overfishing
• there are roughly 3000 dams in PA
• Shad stocks were in such poor condition that in 1980 Maryland imposed a moratorium on shad fishing except in the Potomac River and coastal waters.

Here is a compilation of some b roll and interviews we as a group have shot and collected. It includes interviews with participants of local shad activist groups and professors here at Lafayette.