How does one demonstrate significant people, groups, places, ideas, or issues within the community in both a creative and truthful way? The Junior Documentary Project has students fulfill this goal by gathering research via primary and secondary sources to develop distinctive perspectives centered on the subject of the documentary. A research paper assigned in the English course is used in a magazine article for Design/Digital Media and a film, commercial, and website. This unit emphasizes narrative-style journalism.
My documentary project focuses on a man named David who is a polio survivor. This not only taught me about the disease polio, but also gave me, for the first time, a one-on-one perspective of a survivor of a paralyzing disease. This was a really fun film to make, and I really enjoyed the stories of our interviewees. In general, I learned the fundamental aspects of a documentary that I will definitely apply to future documentary projects I may be involved in.
