I thought this mini series was interesting. I left with a much better understanding about the foster care system and was left with wanting more. While I understand it’s difficult to conclude a mini series when the story its covering hasn’t even been finished, it was unsettling. I wanted to know the ending, I wanted to follow through with their lives and I’m not sure if its just the documentaries i’ve seen, but I usually leave feeling complete or with some sort of call to action. But that being said it left me wanting more, so im excited to see where the series goes in its second section.

I think this series did a great job at portraying the true struggles that come with trying to adopt children. I agree with many others in the class who said that the series is more impactful in its segment. After every episode I was left wanting more and still do!

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

By: Mekhi Bryant, Lauren Mathisen, and Donterrius Walker

For my individual interview I plan on interviewing Tim Frey. He’s the sound engineer for Lafayette. Following through from my instagram assignment, I wanted to actually allow for people to understand what Tim does and what an average day for him as a SE for a college looks like. I was interested in his point of view because I am interested in music, and also technology so being a sound engineer includes both so as I learn I want others to benefit off of this learning as well. I think his consistency in working here for so long provides an insight on the job as well as his previous works before settling on this campus.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwv2D0VrCLfcTVNiVE5LdFhqczQ

• Tracey Robinson, Ricky Peacock, Trott Montina

It has taken me a few days post watching Night and Fog to be able to write about it. It’s brutality and uncensored film clippings were harsh and conveyed the severity of the situation going on. As I sit here writing my blog post though, I realize that the intent of the documentaries brutally disturbing clips was to spark action and reflection and in all honesty, I did the opposite. I shut my laptop at the end of the credits and did not allow myself to process what I had seen. It was a lot. I think it’s safe to say that the Holocaust is a well-represented event that is taught in the majority of high school history courses. I have read textbooks, fiction novels, and news clippings about this event but nothing has made me more repulsed then this documentary. The documentary did indeed remind me to not forget the past while in the present. Alain Resnais achieves the connection between past and present by switching from the colored film of the abandoned camps to the black and white film of the camps during that time. This juxtaposition brings the audience back to the present and is a reminder to never forget these terrible events. Overall while the documentary was harsh and at first, I fought the reflection of the documentary it had a unique way to highlight the severity of the events and to remind the audience that even though it is over the events should not be forgotten. The title brings all of this together where night symbolizes terror and fog symbolize uncertainty just like the emotions felt during that time and watching this film.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sgaimdB25XhSXALUKkwfJLNsdjdeGWvn/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rVm4hvUBVEWK53C3hnLCQTg5qRvCIFCt

I thought that this B-Roll project was a huge success. On Thursday, my group and I attended a conference in the Pfenning Alumni Center that focused on food waste in the Lehigh Valley. We got tons of B-Roll footage which was a great addition to our B-Roll film. We also added footage in from LaFarm as well as Lafayette as a whole. Throughout our mini film, we wanted to try to portray a storyline. We aimed to make the transitions of our takes to be meaningful instead of just putting random shots of B-Roll together. We also thought the music was a nice touch to the film, because we believed it really drove the scenes together. I had a great job working on this with Kiera and Josh, and all three of us are extremely excited to work on the final project.

This past weekend I went out on my own and into the beautiful world of the B-roll shoot! I tend to think of myself as a pretty creative person, and I am most excited about B-roll to be able to try and evoke human feelings and emotions through using visual scenery. I headed out to the Delaware Tow Path and tried to put myself in the shoes of someone who was an opioid addict. Feelings of desolation, loneliness, and numbness circled around me, and so I looked to try to capture those images. The weather was perfect–it was brisk, windy, and leaves were slowly floating off branches. I decided to go under the big metal bridge, to get into the mindset of feeling “trapped”. I really focused on the framing of my shots; making sure that the frame felt crammed and closed-in on. I decided to just drive around the streets, following an ambulance that was going off. I felt a bit creepy (and I’m not sure if this is legal?!?) but I videotaped the ambulance unloading into the hospital, and left the camera filming the empty and abandoned ambulance in the drop-off spot. I feel like by using empathetic measures and putting myself into the shoes of the subject of the film, I was able to look at the world with different eyes and create a “documentary-specific” lens for filming.

“Memory of the past is positively combined with responsibility for the future (that is,
human agency, the sense of self that makes us capable of compassion and
understanding). with Night and Fog one survives the desperation of the night,
sees through the confusion of the fog, and emerges as a social being with a
commitment to that human connection fundamental to life-a sense of shared
responsibility to (and for) oneself and others.” (Flitterman-Lewis 208)

This passage really stuck out to me from the reading, especially in conjunction with the final words on the screen of the documentary, that “music/film and website have no commercial intentions, only a warning that it can happen again”.  This documentary was difficult to watch. In all honesty,  I had to turn away from several scenes, especially towards the end when it really did seem like concentration camps were from “another planet”. Humans were absolutely emaciated; bodies dead and alive treated and tossed around like they were literally trash. It was absolutely disgusting and painful, yet there was a sense of beauty in that pain and in that realization that this was history, and this is able to happen again. I like how the reading really focused on the title of the documentary, “Night and Fog” and connecting it to memory and human responsibility. It is our responsibility to be able to not turn away from these stunning and repulsive images and footage because as humans, we are responsible for making this tragedy happen in the first place.

I think one of the most striking parts of the documentary was the impressive story-telling using music to really strike at the hearts of viewers. Some of the most powerful images were contrasts between bodies piled on top of other bodies cut straight to an image of a wealthy Nazi family hanging out in their living room. Both are humans. Both implicated/involved during the Holocaust at the same time, but living completely different types of life. I think this documentary did a really good job of making the Holocaust transparent, and showing EVERYTHING.