{"id":24,"date":"2025-10-06T16:53:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~KaylaRo\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2026-06-15T02:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T02:06:08","slug":"documentary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~KaylaRo\/documentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This Documentary Unit asked one central question: “How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?”<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Across English, Digital Media, and Film, the Documentary unit challenged me to move from storytelling into journalism \u2014 combining research, interviewing, and creative nonfiction to develop a distinct perspective on a real subject. In English, I honed expository writing skills and learned how to balance narrative with research in documentary-style prose. In Digital Media, I used InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator to produce print publications including a flyer, trifold brochure, and magazine article layout. In Film, I worked toward producing an 8\u201310 minute documentary using Premiere Pro, developing more advanced cinematic techniques and learning how to frame a personal subject within a broader social or political context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English & Digital Media Class Production<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In English<\/strong>, the documentary process began with pitching and developing an article idea, grounding it in both primary and secondary research. From there, the process followed the full arc of journalistic writing \u2014 researching the subject, conducting interviews, drafting, workshopping, and revising toward a final published piece. The focus was on narrative-style journalism: writing that informs but also engages, using creative nonfiction techniques to bring the subject to life for a reader.

What I did my Documentary Article on<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My documentary article, “Saved from the Scrap Heap: The Mannequin’s Second Life in the Studio,”<\/em> explores what happens to mannequins after the retail industry is done with them \u2014 and the surprising community of artists and entrepreneurs who give them a second life. The piece started close to home: growing up, I always knew my family friend Jay as the person with a house full of mannequins. What seemed quirky and fun turned out to be part of something much bigger. That personal connection became the entry point into a wider investigation \u2014 tracing the mannequin from the shop floor to the landfill to the art studio, and speaking with people like Judi Henderson-Townsend of Mannequin Madness and Jay herself to understand what draws people to these discarded forms. The article weaves together environmental research, art history, and personal interviews to argue that the mannequin is more than a retail prop \u2014 it’s a lens for looking at waste, identity, and what we choose to throw away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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