I a Jew. I have been to holocaust museums in Philadelphia, Washington, and in Israel and I have never seen something so grabbing and graphic.

The film instantly put me on edge with its ominous and daunting music. I became truly terrified when the music became heavier and they started to show shots of the train.  I was immersed in a nightmare when the train pulled into the concentration camp as night with soldiers silhouetted in the fog. I knew what was to come next. I had heard stories from survivors, I have seen pictures of the shower houses and the camps themselves, but I have never seen something so graphic. I have never seen a starved human rag doll. I have never looked into the stare of a beheaded human head. I have never seen people carry the skulls of another human and put them in a row next to other skulls. This film took me to a living hell and I never want to see it again.

But that is the point of the film as it ends with “It can happen again” which are the only words shown through out the movie. It could happen again. I write this with Newtown in mind and in the wake of Texas and know that mass shootings have happened again and again, as have genocides. We now have the means to capture the true hell that these events are; we now have cameras. We have always had people to tell us stories and artifacts to bring back, and statistics to point to, but we have never had cameras. We can now capture the true graphics of an event and show them to people. This is one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen and I never want to see it again and I will damn make sure I do everything I can to prevent another genocide. But after saying Newtown I might say the same thing, but I don’t feel the same way. I don’t feel that same disgust and unease after watching Newtown as I did after Night and the Fog. Maybe we do need to see the graphic, to understand the full story and to feel the whole set of emotion. Maybe instead of arming everyone with a gun, we need to arm them with cameras.

Kim Snyder tells the story of a preventable tragedy that shocked the nation and altered the way a small community viewed their town. One day one man changed everything for 26 families. Kim Snyder never shows this man and never names this man. Even though the viewer never hears or sees this man, the viewer still can feel the darkness this man brought to this town. Snyder’s interviewees are shot against a black back drop. The black darkness is always there in the background lurking which matches the dark tone of the film. Then randomly through out the interview quick cuts to black suddenly startle the viewer, leaving them in a state of unsettled confusion. This technique simulates what happened to those families who lost loved ones. A sudden darkness came into their life and took everything from them in a brief moment, but just like the interview, their life kept going on. Snyder does a fantastic job with capturing that aspect of their lives. Living with the pain of that day. There is one woman who says that she now divides her life into two parts before that day and after that day. Snyder shows the viewer the brutal and buried part of this story, the human side. She takes the viewer into a very small distant town and shows the viewer an intimate side of gun violence grief. This is something that I have never seen or experienced and hope that I or anyone else in this nation has to experience.

Recently The Loss We Can Gain team shot a live event. Shooting the event was not the challenging part, it was preparing for the event that proved to be the most challenging. During a live event there are many moving parts that you have to plan for before time. That means knowing the itinerary and the setting very well. We had to go and scout out the location days in advance to learn about the setup and get a feel for the room. It was there that we learned that there was a big window behind the speaker. This obviously created a problem because we couldn’t shoot the speaker straight on or else the shot would be blown out. We devised a better strategy and new angles. While shooting we also experienced technical difficulties. All of our sound devices stopped working. For a live event capturing the sound is the most important aspect. We luckily planned for a situation like this and had a zoom mic on hand. (I highly suggest always having a zoom mic on hand just incase anything goes wrong). This proved to be life saving and from that we were able to save ourselves from disaster. The most important thing I can say about filming live is to be over prepared and to know what you’re going to do before the actual day of the shoot.

I can say confidently that Night and Fog (1956) was one of the most horrifying films I have ever seen. My jaw was open for the entirety of this film, even though it was only 32 minutes. The images got worse as the film went on, and it was truly hard to watch at some points. Everyone knows how terrible the Holocaust was, but this film really showed how horrible it was. I will never be able to get rid of the image of a bulldozer picking up dead human bodies. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to watch. This film is extremely powerful because it truly shows no filter on any of the images shown as well. Although it’s a really hard film to watch, this film really shows how awful the Holocaust was. The fact that there were sub texts throughout the documentary also really added to the overall tone of the film. I believe the words appearing on screen made it more depressing to watch. Overall, this was a great film, but one that was really hard to look at the screen for its entirety.

Going off of Margie, I understand that your project is about the high levels of lead in the Lehigh Valley so adding more clips in specifically about lead would really help bring your story together. The shots that are really working in your favor are the ones of the nature because they help to tell your story. I think I understand what you are trying to do at first by showing the happy people of the Easton community and then making them blurry (maybe this means they were effected by the lead?). I felt as if the shots of the community could be much quicker- maybe a 5 second shot of a happy Easton community and then a black screen and out emerges a different 5 second shot with the community that is blurry and effected by lead. These shots would have benefitted your story more had they been shorted because with a minute long blurry shot of people walking around, your audience might feel as if you accidentally forgot to focus your camera.

Had the chart showing PA’s lead level had not appeared, I am not sure I would have known the story. You have some valuable shots, just add more B-roll solely focused on how to portray lead in the community. I love the ending to your story and how it leads into a hospital room because it adds a feeling of drama that could help force change against the lead problem.

Here is the rough cut to my interview with Z.

“Not Like You” really captures a great tone and feel throughout their B-Roll. By using long shots of the American flag and the slow up tilt on the Kirby building really sets a strong ominous tone. This is carried beautifully as the film builds into the dark shot of trees. Afterwards the B-Roll juxtaposes itself with happy shots of family and children. These shots humanize the B-Roll. There are some points in this B-roll where there isn’t really a story being told. Some of the images were just meshed together. The family shots were great, and we all think this documentary is going to come together nicely.

It is very evident from this B-roll that this film is going to be about DACA. There is a lot of strong footage included in this B-roll. It is clear what this film will be about and who is involved. We enjoyed the single shots of people showing detail on what they are doing, then followed by group shots, showing unity and strength towards this cause. We believe the B-Roll is beautifully done and I am excited to see the finished documentary.

-Aidan, Kiera, Josh

I noticed that the opening shot was too blurry and shaking for too long, but once it focused it was disturbing to see what was happening to the building that was shot. The strongest parts of this video are the ones that include what is happening to the environment. The shots of the broken down buildings, the construction sights, the polluted are what stuck out to me the most. I felt like I could identify some part of the story they were trying to tell, but it wasn’t clear. I was confused about the inclusion of children and how that is and was involved in the story they were or are trying to tell. I understand blurring the shots with the children because they did not sign release forms to be filmed, but I also feel like the quality of the image took away from the message the B-Roll was trying to portray. Going forward, I think this group needs to clarify and think about the role the children are going to have in this film and to identify it clearly. I would also suggest focusing more on what is happening environmentally and show those clips, because that was most meaningful to me. I am excited to see where this documentary short will lead you.

A day before the Newtown screening we find out about the Texas church shooting. I rush to inform my friend who is sat beside me. She responds casually. Later at a meeting with other peers, I bring it up and they react for a brief moment and later one of them shrugs. Are we a generation that is desensitized to gun violence? At this point, probably. Newtown, Orlando, Las Vegas, Texas, and I know I am missing many more. The US has the highest rate of gun violence among developed countries and this is a problem.

Newtown was a documentary that had to made. It is important that these stories are told and that we are aware that events like these remain in a city’s DNA. It is a scar that doesn’t heal. I like how Snyder blatantly had a black screen behind nearly every interviewee (especially at the start of the documentary). I also enjoyed the usage of the drones throughout. Drones are usually over  exaggerated in films but this was subtle and gave a floating effect to the piece. I think Snyder blatantly tried to contrast the community’s heavy hearts with the lightness of the drone shots such as the high angle shots of the trees, homes, and Newtown as a whole, giving a little breathing space as well. Adding to the lightness was the final shot of one of the fathers jumping off the plane and parachuting. I think that was the most beautiful shot throughout the film.

The footage from the police car and the parents waiting outside the school was triggering. It gave us a feel of how tense and miserable the situation was. I looked around me and saw many people in the audience crying. I was numb until the parachuting scene. That scene was liberating in a very powerful way. After the screening, I asked Snyder about that moment. She said that she was shocked how he willingly wanted to do it. It was therapeutic in its own manner. Memory played a big role in Newtown. Many parents said that day will never be forgotten, but one mother kept fearing that she will forget her son as life goes on. It is a scary thought and her fear resonated with me. As parents, many of them said that they try to keep watching videos to not forget how their child sounded. Losing memory overall is frightening but losing memory of a little child you birthed is worse. This was, as we all know, a painful documentary to watch. But, it is a wake up call to us that people are hurting and gun violence must end.