https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p292kulPnqTq-X9UEv8cA-sT5GOQHsr9/view?usp=sharing

The background music that was used for the b-roll was really good, but ended abruptly. I wished that it could’ve ended in a much better way. The b-roll was not as diverse, meaning that there wasn’t a lot of variations in the shots, (i.e. there wasn’t of things that was within the b-roll that explained what the film could have been).  Also, I really enjoyed the quality of the shots and the lack of shakiness that the shots generated, which in results allows the viewer to focus on the film at hand.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8nDgnK-EAGmNWotY2plWVpKUDQ

By: Mekhi Bryant, Lauren Mathisen, and Donterrius Walker

The Akoto Brothers

• I will do my project on the journey of the Akoto Brothers.
• Fred (Senior) and Francis (Junior) Akoto are blood brothers who both attend Lehigh University.
• The exciting thing about these two brothers is the fact that they a very prestigious artists in their own way and instead of letting their talents go to waste, they are actually doing a lot of things on campus, making a small buzz here and there, planning event, throwing parties, etc.
• The idea that i have for this project is to have a conversation type interview which will bring more authenticity in the responses that they give me. In addition to this, I will also get b-roll of the two brothers showing their artistic skills.

• The Monday discussion with Brooke Gladstone was a very interesting talk, to say the least. Ms. Gladstone spoke on a lot of different topics that all came together and focused on a much larger message, “The media is a very misleading thing, based on how you perceive it, and its up to us to construe it the best way we can in order to successfully and efficiently retreat the information that is presented unto us.” All in all, A problem with media results in problems with us.
• To go into more specifics of it, she blatantly says: “Don’t trust anonymous sources”. Her reasons to why are reasonable; for instance, she points out that most of those sites are full of “He say/she say” material or just a copy of an original news source. Therefore when it comes to those situations, she informed us to really pay attention to language.
• That is one of the biggest things that stood out to me in that talk.

“Every film is a documentary.” – Bill Nichols

I love that definition because I agree with it so deeply. I feel as every film that has been made and is going to get made is either a: 1) documentaries of wish-fulfillment (fictions) or 2) documentaries of social representation (non-fictions). Therefore, what I am going to say is greatly related to this course:

If anybody are looking for autobiographical film, Trip by Jhene Aiko (the singer), is a must watch film. This film lasts for a total for 23 or so minutes and goes into there journey that she went through after the death of her brother. Her and her brother had a very close relationship and his death (due to cancer) affected her greatly, specifically musically, emotionally, and future relationships with her boyfriends.

This short film is an emotional rollercoaster and serves as a perfect segue for her new album with the same title. If you have anytime, check it out.

I felt honored that gave us the time of day to be able to come upon us and present her film unto the student body. She the time out of her day to come and present this documentary that was very deep and personal to her. Her vulnerability is something that I greatly admire. She was not afraid to speak her mind and give us her most honest opinion. She did not act like she was above another person, she treated us as respected individuals and gave the floor to us, so we would be able to say what was on our mind in regards to the film.

Her responses came as not a shock, but as fulfillment. She responded in such a way that showed me that she actually cared and took the time to make this documentary as unique as possible. She did not just put a bunch of old clips together and called it a day, but took the effort to piece every clip together to get a story across.

No wonder why Cameraperson currently has 99% rating on rotten tomatoes and has received multiple awards for its production and structure, Cameraperson was a very intriguing and eyeopening experience through the lens. The different skill set that she presented within the film, the camera placement, the dialogue between the interviewer and interviewee, all played an important role in the impact fulness of the film as a whole. Not only did she do that, she also used multiple other collages to be able to tell a story about another instance (i.e. using the interview of the man who broke into the FBI to explain the feeling that she was feeling when the nurse was trying to keep the baby a live). That part of the movie was so unexpected and I amazed at how well that it worked within the film. I wish to be able to use some of those skills within my own work later on in the future.

In addition to her technical skills, I really admired how she was able to use her subjects and the objects surrounding them to effectively affect the movie’s tone and audience’s mood. The one thing that I figured out within the film was that children was the main factor in how and what way the tone would shift within the film. Ideas like this shows the creativeness that she has as a documentarian and this is very vital in creating an amazing artistic piece.

In regards to the 21 topics that are on given on the sheet, I really feel like topics: 17, 18, and 5 can all be combined into one big topic that emphasizes the arts that we have in the Lehigh valley. I feel as if we focus on the artistic culture that we have in the valley, we will eventually talk about the fashion, the music, tattoos (which is an art too), food, etc. We could be able to talk to the most prominent figures in each of those arts forms from our respective campuses, which would a great chance to bringing our campuses together. This is a very possible project that I would be very passionate about completing.

Documentary storytelling was never in my mind growing up, thinking about what I wanted to do later in life. To be honest, doing art was never in my plans until now, and I feel that I am honored that this has came upon me and from reading about Kirsten Johnson I can tell that she is honored to be apart the documentary scene.

Within the Kirsten Johnson’s piece, I was greatly touched by the very first sentence that was on the page, “The joys of being a documentary cameraperson are endless and obvious”. This quote resonates with me because I can relate to her despite the fact that I have not more than a year experience of being a true documentarian. I feel like this goes less with everything artistic: music, photography, filmmaking, etc. Another quote that stood out to me the most was moment she talked about her troubles. It states: “I ask for trust, corporation, and permission without knowing where the filming experience will lead the project”. This shows and proves that coincidence isn’t a coincidence, things happen for a reason and when it comes to filming, we should let things be even when it wasn’t meant to happen because art is bound to happen one way or another. This whole piece just goes to show how open minded Kirsten Johnson is, her vulnerability has allowed her to be the uniquely driven person that she is, something that I admire about her.