Critique and Appraisal: At the time of this entry, you’ll have completed your interview. Now you need to reflect on what happened in terms of relevance, depth, and breadth, especially. Was there anything you didn’t expect? If so, how did you deal with that? Were you successful in extracting the type of commentary you were looking for? Why or why not? How do you now see this fitting into the documentary as a whole? Finally, you need to find and post footage from an interview, TV show, audio clip, or whatever (up to three minutes long) on your blog. Discuss how this footage will amplify or nuance the material you’ve collected already (and the documentary as a whole).
For the documentary, I interviewed two people: a freshman and a sophomore in order to cover the opinions of the two different grade levels of the Loft, which consists mainly of freshmen and sophomores; very few juniors and seniors spend their time there. The first interview I did was after the PSAT with a sophomore from the Loft. I tried to interview my first interviewee outside by the Science Center in order to give background on where he spent his free time at school, but this turned out to be a disaster. There was a lot of ambient noise. With the microphones on it was very difficult for me to concentrate on what he was saying and even what I was saying. Because of this, I could not expound on his thoughts and opinions about the subject. Outside, there were a lot of distractions that I had not anticipated. People would come and wave hello to the interviewee. Most of the time he would remember to ignore it, but once or twice he said hello or asked to be left alone on camera. Some people even walked in front of the camera and one person in particular was purposely trying to distract the interviewee. After the first interview catastrophe, I asked the first interviewee if I could interview him again, only this time in an empty Pauahi classroom afterschool. The interviewee's stereotype was being an Asian person - and therefore smart. I think that the classroom reflected that stereotype and contrasted with what he was talking about well. There was a bit of ambient noise due to the air conditioning in the room, but it was trivial compared to the noise in the first interview. It was much quieter, and there were no distractions caused by wandering students. During the second interview, with the mere change of location, I felt that the quality of the interview greatly improved. We were able to go more into depth about the different social groups and what it meant to be a part of that group. I learned a lot about it for example, I never knew that there was a K-town group at Punahou. He talked about people who had openly told him that they thought he was strange. I also got the opportunity to talk about his friends at his former school and learned that they hadn't changed toward him at all for coming to Punahou, but that it was a matter of just growing apart. This was very different from the stories I had heard about friends breaking apart because of the Punahou stereotype. For the third interview, I interviewed a freshman girl from the Loft. I interviewed her in the upstairs chemistry room, which is extremely close to the Loft. Fortunately I found this to be a good spot for interviewing as well because there were no wandering students and little ambient noise. Over the course of this interview, I got an opinion of stereotypes from a girl who had been attending Punahou for her entire academic career so far. She had lived with the stereotype for most of her life, and said that she tries to fight the opinions of those who think Punahou is just full of rich snobs. She even mentioned some of the more insulting stereotypes that people use subconsiously. Throughout these interviews, I felt very priveledged to get points of view from people on a somewhat controversial subject. I regret, however, that I hadn't talked about the grade-level stereotypes. What I was pleased to hear from both of these people was that they accepted who they were as people, despite the fact that some people think they are weird, and that they didn't feel that they had to change to suit others. These two people displayed a lot of inner strength that I think that others can look up to. I see these interviews as just another social group in the sea of social groups at the Academy or as an end note on self-acceptance.
Unfortunately, I could not attach an audio clip to my blog, but I do have a song in mind for the documentary. The song is We Can Work it Out by the Beatles. It is a song about cooaperating and remaining united despite contrasting opinions and beliefs. I think it would fit well with the contrasting opinions and beliefs that we encounter on the interviews about stereotypes.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Production Log: Cinematography Prep
Cinematography Prep: Go to the interview site a day or two before your scheduled shoot in order to do some scouting. Write an entry considering the following: the setting and precise framing of the shot; the establishing shots; potential cut-away and cut-in shots. Why are you doing the interview there and how are you setting up the shot? What is revealed about the interviewee by the choice of setting and framing? How will the establishing shots, CASs, and CISs provide context for the interview and tie it into the rest of the documentary? Finally, how can you link your interview visually to the rest of the documentary? Do you refer to any of our collective visual motifs? Is there another motif that we should bring into the whole documentary?
For my interview(s), the camera will be adjusted to somewhere between mid-shot and medium close up. The interviewee's head will be placed at about the upper left or upper right corner of the central box of nine so that they aren't looking directly at the camera, as that can be rather uncomfortable. Rather, they will be looking at me as I ask them questions. I would like to interview my guest outside, perhaps at the pickup point by Gates but not during a time when that spot is particularlly busy. I could make cutaways to students walking around and saying hi to the cameraperson. I could make cutins to gestures that the interviewee makes.
I am doing the interview by Gates pickup because the outside has better lighting than the inside and because it is close to where my interviewee(s) hang out so that the audience gets an idea of where this person spends their time. But it is far away enough for the interviewee to not be distracted by friends. The pickup is a pretty generic spot; I chose it because the Loft people are a mix, they aren't all studious or all laid-back.
My first establishing shot will have students walking around as a transition to show that we're moving on to a new group of people to interview. Later I hope to put in a slide of some sort that says "The Loft" on it. The next shots will view the Loft people saying hi, like at the end of the KHON2 news broadcast. Maybe I could put in a view of them looking and waving at me from upstairs while I reside on the first floor.
I hope to use the establishing shots to show what the Loft people do and who they are. How are they the same as everyone else? How are they different? The cutaways and cutins are mostly there to better explain what the interviewee is trying to say.
I hope to link my interview with the rest of the documentary with the motif of students walking around and that action-going to Punahou-links us all together, whether we are similar to each other, or different.
For my interview(s), the camera will be adjusted to somewhere between mid-shot and medium close up. The interviewee's head will be placed at about the upper left or upper right corner of the central box of nine so that they aren't looking directly at the camera, as that can be rather uncomfortable. Rather, they will be looking at me as I ask them questions. I would like to interview my guest outside, perhaps at the pickup point by Gates but not during a time when that spot is particularlly busy. I could make cutaways to students walking around and saying hi to the cameraperson. I could make cutins to gestures that the interviewee makes.
I am doing the interview by Gates pickup because the outside has better lighting than the inside and because it is close to where my interviewee(s) hang out so that the audience gets an idea of where this person spends their time. But it is far away enough for the interviewee to not be distracted by friends. The pickup is a pretty generic spot; I chose it because the Loft people are a mix, they aren't all studious or all laid-back.
My first establishing shot will have students walking around as a transition to show that we're moving on to a new group of people to interview. Later I hope to put in a slide of some sort that says "The Loft" on it. The next shots will view the Loft people saying hi, like at the end of the KHON2 news broadcast. Maybe I could put in a view of them looking and waving at me from upstairs while I reside on the first floor.
I hope to use the establishing shots to show what the Loft people do and who they are. How are they the same as everyone else? How are they different? The cutaways and cutins are mostly there to better explain what the interviewee is trying to say.
I hope to link my interview with the rest of the documentary with the motif of students walking around and that action-going to Punahou-links us all together, whether we are similar to each other, or different.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
An Example of Good Literature
The Cold Within
Six humans trapped by happenstance, in bleak and bitter cold,
Each one possessed a stick of wood, or so the story’s told.
Their dying fire in need of logs, the first man held his back,
For of the faces ‘round the fire, he noticed one was black.
The next man looking ‘cross the way saw one not of his church,
And couldn’t bring himself to give the fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes; he gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use to warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and thought of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned from the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man’s face bespoke revenge as the fire passed from sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death’s still hand was proof of human sin,
They didn’t die from the cold without – they died from the cold within.
Six humans trapped by happenstance, in bleak and bitter cold,
Each one possessed a stick of wood, or so the story’s told.
Their dying fire in need of logs, the first man held his back,
For of the faces ‘round the fire, he noticed one was black.
The next man looking ‘cross the way saw one not of his church,
And couldn’t bring himself to give the fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes; he gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use to warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and thought of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned from the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man’s face bespoke revenge as the fire passed from sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death’s still hand was proof of human sin,
They didn’t die from the cold without – they died from the cold within.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Production Log: Interview Preparation
Interview Preparation: Redefine your essential questions, target audience and desired response based on your research and follow-up. Then draw up specific goals for the interview you’ve decided to conduct and reflect on the following questions: How do you see this interview fitting into the documentary as a whole? What angle are you going to use to get what you want out of the interview? (What’s your plan of attack, so to speak?) Next, sketch out the questions—both baseline (contextualizing / informational) and complicating—that you need to accomplish your goals. Finally (and most importantly), rethink your approach. Try to anticipate some of the ways in which your interview might turn out differently than expected. What assumptions have you made in composing your questions ? (There’ll probably be a lot of them!)
The essential questions for my interview(s) are:
1. Who are you?
2. What social groups do you see at Punahou?
3. Which do you belong to?
4. Can we follow you?
This documentary is for Punahou students, and possibly a couple teachers to view. I would like people to come away from the documentary knowing that it’s okay to be different, and that everyone has a desire to be accepted by their peers. I hope that desire will help the social groups understand each other better.
My goals for the interview(s) is to:
1. Get the interviewee to talk about as many uncomfortable issues as possible without them feeling probed so that we can have more contrast in opinions.
2. Talk about the interviewee’s personal experiences with stereotypes and social groups in and about Punahou. Stereotypes really are personal issues and it is important, if not more interesting to hear about people’s inevitably different life experiences.
3. Just get them to talk as much about the issue as possible. The more feedback, the more material to work with.
I see this interview fitting into this documentary as another insight into an individual’s perspective on the topic – as another point of view and why that p.o.v. came to be the way it is.
I am going to first approach the interview with very general questions that won’t be insulting and gradually work towards more in depth questions. Because I am friends with the people I plan on interviewing, it shouldn’t be too hard to talk to them and get them to open up. I was thinking of going over the questions with them first to check if they are okay with answering all of the questions and to better prepare them for the interview.
Questions to accomplish goals:
1. What is your definition of stereotype?
2. Do you think having stereotypes is an advantage or disadvantage?
3. Do you feel accepted here? Is Punahou an accepting community? How does that change outside the Punahou group?
4. What are your thoughts about the stereotype/social group you think you belong to?
5. Do you have any memorable experiences having to do with stereotypes/social groups that you’d like to share?
6. If you went to a different school previous to Punahou, what were the stereotypes/social groups like there? How was it different from here?
7. If you went to a different school previous to Punahou, what was the general opinion of Punahou? Did that influence you for/against coming here?
In all of these questions I am making the assumption that the person is open with their opinions and that they really do have a lot to say about the issue. I am also hoping that they have interesting experiences to share on a documentary. It could be that they may not want to say much for fear of insulting someone or have experiences too personal to impart. Or perhaps they just don’t have strong feelings about stereotypes or social groups. I hope to solve this by asking some extra pre-interview questions.
The essential questions for my interview(s) are:
1. Who are you?
2. What social groups do you see at Punahou?
3. Which do you belong to?
4. Can we follow you?
This documentary is for Punahou students, and possibly a couple teachers to view. I would like people to come away from the documentary knowing that it’s okay to be different, and that everyone has a desire to be accepted by their peers. I hope that desire will help the social groups understand each other better.
My goals for the interview(s) is to:
1. Get the interviewee to talk about as many uncomfortable issues as possible without them feeling probed so that we can have more contrast in opinions.
2. Talk about the interviewee’s personal experiences with stereotypes and social groups in and about Punahou. Stereotypes really are personal issues and it is important, if not more interesting to hear about people’s inevitably different life experiences.
3. Just get them to talk as much about the issue as possible. The more feedback, the more material to work with.
I see this interview fitting into this documentary as another insight into an individual’s perspective on the topic – as another point of view and why that p.o.v. came to be the way it is.
I am going to first approach the interview with very general questions that won’t be insulting and gradually work towards more in depth questions. Because I am friends with the people I plan on interviewing, it shouldn’t be too hard to talk to them and get them to open up. I was thinking of going over the questions with them first to check if they are okay with answering all of the questions and to better prepare them for the interview.
Questions to accomplish goals:
1. What is your definition of stereotype?
2. Do you think having stereotypes is an advantage or disadvantage?
3. Do you feel accepted here? Is Punahou an accepting community? How does that change outside the Punahou group?
4. What are your thoughts about the stereotype/social group you think you belong to?
5. Do you have any memorable experiences having to do with stereotypes/social groups that you’d like to share?
6. If you went to a different school previous to Punahou, what were the stereotypes/social groups like there? How was it different from here?
7. If you went to a different school previous to Punahou, what was the general opinion of Punahou? Did that influence you for/against coming here?
In all of these questions I am making the assumption that the person is open with their opinions and that they really do have a lot to say about the issue. I am also hoping that they have interesting experiences to share on a documentary. It could be that they may not want to say much for fear of insulting someone or have experiences too personal to impart. Or perhaps they just don’t have strong feelings about stereotypes or social groups. I hope to solve this by asking some extra pre-interview questions.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Photo Subject to Analysis >:)
This photo is a mid-shot, eye-level photo of my friend Elliott in 6th grade on the playground. The photograph is tinted in a sepia tone. In the background, you can the basketball court, and a bunch of kids having fun. Elliott is positioned at the left of the shot, so that on the right side you can see kids running around. However he is close enough to be considered in the foreground, and the subject of the photo.
In the photo, another person named Evan is trying to strangle Elliott-that is why his tongue is sticking out. The foreground strangling gives a splendid contrast to the happy scene of children playing in the background. Because the two scenes are such different themes, it would be interesting to put in a cutaway to the children playing with a voiceover of the strangling, like murder among paradise, like nothing is really what it seems. Misdeeds lurk among peace. The contrast would make the whole scene very dramatic.
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