“How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?”
For the Junior Documentary Project, we were given the task of portraying an intriguing person, group, place, idea, or issue by gathering primary and secondary research sources to develop a perspective about the subjects significance in the community and world. I created a research based paper on my subject in English which served as the base for my magazine article in Digital Media. In film, I explored and captured a separate subject that is meaningful in my community through a mini-documentary film. This unit emphasized narrative-style journalism in all three classes.
Matchbox Open Mic
Interviewees
Kaiden Luis
Kaiden Luis is a current senior at Foothill Middle College and the organizer and host of the Matchbox Open Mic. From coordinating with Red Rock to creating the setlist to actually emceeing at the event, Kaiden takes charge of majority of the responsibilities and tasks that come with such a demanding event. He is also a poet himself, having competed at multiple slam poetry events.
Amanda Ford
Amanda Ford is a current senior at Mountain View High School and a returning performer at Matchbox. She shares her poetry at the event often. She is the founder of the MVHS poetry club as well, stating that she was inspired by her experience at Matchbox to create a community at school that offers the same benefits as Matchbox does.
Overview
Matchbox Open Mic is a monthly teen-run Mountain View open mic event that serves youth artists. I collaborated with the event for my English and Digital Media article and magazine. The first time I attended the event I was heavily inspired by the wonderful community and I immediately recognized its incredible presence in my community, therefore I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to explore its creation and impact in my documentary work. I want to thank Kaiden Luis and Amanda Ford for their support and contributions to this project, as well as Mr. Greco and my classmates in PM Freestyle for their feedback and words of encouragement as I navigated this big project.
I begun my research by attending one of the monthly open mic events and taking some note and pictures. Then I began researching the event with whatever public information was available. Next, I scheduled interviews with two important figures in the event. Kaiden Luis, the current organizer and host of the event, was my first interviewee, and from his interview I got loads of important insight into the event. Amanda Ford, a long time returning performer, was my second interviewee who was able to provide me with a performer perspective on the event. From their interviews, my research, and peer/teacher feedback, I was able to synthesize everything into an article detailing the importance of Matchbox open mic as a third space for artistic teens in the Silicon Valley. I then took my article and created a magazine story for it in Digital Media. I designed graphic elements for my magazine story in Illustrator, as well as used photos I took at my observation to create a template in InDesign. From there, I put my article into the template to produce a finished magazine story.
Drafting and finalizing the article posed many challenges. The first was developing an angle to take on the subject. I only truly discovered my angle once I felt my research was complete. As I read up on Matchbox and conducted interviews, I sometimes felt unsure of how my article would develop. However, I learned throughout the process of this project that you cannot force an angle, it must present itself to you with all of your research and findings. Additionally, I ran into roadblocks along the way as I struggled to make sure my article was accurately portraying my subject. Being in such close proximity to the people who are involved in the event, I placed a lot of pressure on myself to produce a product that they would approve of. It sometimes became overwhelming and I found myself second-guessing my writing because I wanted it to be perfect. Eventually, I was able to craft an article that appropriately and accurately reflected the information I received from both interviewees and all my secondary sources.
This project was incredibly important to me. As a teenager in Silicon Valley who has struggled to find my community and my path amidst the academic demands of my school, I feel honored to highlight a teen-run event that is helping others my age find their place in the community. Being able to sit down with such talented and interesting people like Kaiden and Amanda was such a wonderful experience, and I learned to much from what they had to share. I am so grateful to Matchbox Open Mic for being so willing to partner with me on this documentary project, I am forever inspired by the service they provide to my community. I encourage any youth in the Silicon Valley to attend as an audience member or performer and experience the magic of the event.
Raw Article and Magazine
Mockumentary
In preparation for our real documentary project in film we worked in groups on mockumentaries. These were intended to help us develop our interview and footage capturing skills. Making these mockumentaries with my classmates was such a fun experience, especially since I got to work in both groups! The first one was about a family that had invaded Freestyle campus, while the second one was about the rivalry between Film and Design.
Pacific Ballet Academy
Documentary Process
After we had learned the basics of documentary making and applied it with our mockumentary films, we partnered up with one of our classmates to create a documentary film about a subject that interests us. My partner, Antonio Ong, and I chose to highlight Pacific Ballet Academy, a Mountain View ballet studio that plays a big role in supporting youth ballerinas in the area and puts on multiple productions a year in city hall. We reached out via email and set up a time to observe one of their rehearsals for their upcoming production of Giselle. During this time, we were able to capture useful footage and begin talking to dancers and staff. Everyone was incredibly willing to support us in this project, and we secured interview times with 2 staff and 2 dancers. The interviews went smoothly thanks to our practice ones during mockumentary, with the exception of some audio issues for one which we were able to clean up later with the help of Mr. Taylor. It was such a wonderful experience being able to get first hand accounts of how impactful this studio has been in the community, and having conversations with our interviewees really brought us closer to the subject. Once we had b-roll and interviews we had to cut them all together. Throughout the editing process we found our lens and the focus of the documentary. It was really meaningful, being able to work so close to the subject and the people who have been impacted by the academy.
Interviewees
Marion Chaeff
Mrs. Marion is the founder of Pacific Ballet Academy and the mother of Rima Chaeff. She began her ballet career as a teenager and went on to dance professionally before turning to teaching. What begun as a ballet studio in her home developed into a professional academy with four studios, which puts on multiple productions and features many professional dancers. She is now retired, but still heavily involved in the academy.
Rima Chaeff
Daughter of Marion, Rima had experience in professional dance as a teenager and early adult, before taking over teaching at Pacific Ballet. She currently choreographs, organizes productions, teaches classes of all levels, and manages student needs, amongst other responsibilities.
Petra Battarbee
Petra is a level 7 dancer at Pacific Ballet who has been involved in classes and production since she was 2 years old and has plans to pursue ballet a hobby when in college.
Chloe Choo
Chloe is a level 7 dancer at Pacific Ballet who had been cast in many lead roles in PBA productions and is involved in classes at Pacific Ballet. She doesn’t want to go professional, but hopes to continue ballet as a hobby in her future.
Documentary Film
BIG THANKS TO
Mr. Taylor
Mr. Greco
Mr. Florendo
Antonio Ong
Chloe O., Zakhar M., Anabelle B., Lucy M., Ben K., Dylan L., Riley H., Giselle M., Maya-Lei B., Darian R.
Kaiden Luis
Amanda Ford
Marion Chaeff
Rima Chaeff
Petra Battarbee
Chloe Choo
Matchbox Open Mic
Pacific Ballet Academy
Freestyle Academy