Introduction

The documentary unit was a unique unit that I enjoyed because I was able to connect with my community. This unit was the longest out of our other units so far however, I am proud of what I have been able to create. In this unit I got write a research paper, create a magazine, and make a film.

When we were first introduced to this project, we were asked, “How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?” The goal of this project was to raise awareness on a particular person, a topic, or location through personal interview and secondary research to learn more about the topic we picked. Using our research, we would then write a paper that tells the story of our topic and explaining why the subject matters today.

Going into this project I had never done a project like this before and I knew that I was going to have to step out of my comfort zone for this project. Our English teacher Mr. Greco helped us begin this project by showing us examples of documentary project made in the past. He showed us multiple films, animations, and book that focused on a variety of different topics. Mr. Greco also introduced is to, “Seeing Silicon Valley” which was a documentary book that help us gain inspiration.

When we started brainstorming topics to research about, two came to mind. I either wanted to learn more about Animal Assisted Happiness (AAH) which is a local nonprofit that allows youth with needs to interact with barnyard animals, or I wanted to learn more about the Henry’s Pub hostage and specifically Elizabeth Estes. When first reaching out to both of my subjects, I was more interested in the Henry’s Pub hostage since I already knew a lot about AAH since I volunteer there frequently. Luckily when reaching out to Elizabeth Estes, she was able to respond quickly. This story is unique and important today because Elizabeth Estes was in a life threatening hostage experience years ago and has now created a nonprofit called Breaking Barriers in order to raise awareness about youth mental health and how to get mental health resources better integrated into school all across California.

Digital Media

After making many revisions and finally completing my documentary paper, I learned how to use InDesign to create a magazine article that displays the majority of my research paper. In order to add visually to my magazine, I decided to add images throughout my magazine.

Reflection

When using Adobe InDesign, I was able to learn many important techniques. I was able to learn how to text wrap and how to make GDE’s. During this process I had a lot of fun organizing my magazine the way I wanted and making it look however I wished. I enjoyed placing photos and testing different fonts.

Film

In the film documentary unit, I was able to practice interviewing skills. I learned how to place my subject in the rule of thirds, how to set the correct depth of field, and how to make sure the mic was at the correct volume. For this project it was most challenging finding a subject to film. After a lot of brainstorming, me and my partner decided to make a film about college athlete commits since we both love playing sports.

When interviewing each college athlete commit we asked them a series of questions:

Hannah Rutherford: Stanford Track & Field

1. State your name and what school and sport you are committed for
2. When did you start track? 
3. When did you realize you wanted to run in college? 
4. What have you enjoyed most about track? 
5. What have you found most challenging about track? 
6. What is the biggest obstacle you have had throughout your career so far?  
7. What were some of the sacrifices you had to make in order to pursue college sports?
8. How have you managed balancing school and track in order to find success in both?
9. What is your biggest goal when you go to run in college?
10. What made you choose Stanford? 
11. What was most challenging about the recruiting process for you?
12. What is your biggest piece of advice for others going through the recruiting process? 

Interviewee Bios

In order to start the documentary unit in film, we started by making a mockumentary. This was an in class exercise where we practiced filming sit down interviews and learning how to use a mic. We also learned how to properly get light in a person’s eye and more. For this project, my classmates and I decided to do a humorous film about our teacher Mr. Taylor.

Reflection

I really enjoyed the documentary unit and Ioved making an interview styled film. This was something very different from what we had already done though I really enjoyed it. Something I learned during this unit was synthesizing the video interview with the audio from the mic. This was something I had never done, though it helped greatly when editing our film. Overall, the documentary was really fun and it allowed me to get involved in my community.