Introduction
“How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?”
For the Junior Documentary Project, we learned how to portray an interesting person, group, place, idea, or issue, connecting it to different research sources to develop a unique perspective about their subject’s significance in the community. The research-based paper from English serves as the copy for the magazine article in Design. In film, you can choose to do the same or different documentary subject. This unit emphasizes narrative-style journalism.
For my documentary project in English, I did a profile article on Michael S Malone who is an author, professor, and journalist. He is very educated on the history of Silicon Valley and so in my profile article I researched Silicon Valley’s past and trajectory. In the end, this paper is very interesting and I learned a lot more about the area I live in and it’s impact on a global level. I was inspired to write about this topic from the book, “Seeing Silicon Valley: Life inside a fraying America” by Fred Turner and Mary Beth Meehan. In this book they did mini profiles on different people living in Silicon Valley and shed light on the hidden truths of homelessness, big tech companies, and more.
Film
Mockumentary
The mockumentary project was a group project that allowed us to practice our new documentary skills of filming interviews, b-roll, rule of thirds, before our actual documentary project. This assignment was really fun and it also prepared me well and I could learn from my mistakes before my making my documentary film.
Documentary
For my documentary film, I worked with Mary Kate and Kayla and we documented elders in the neighborhood and asked for their advice on happiness. This was a very insightful project and it really made me think. In the end, I think we created an inspirational and joyful film filled with wise advice everyone should hear.
Interviewee Bios
This is Marci Hanson who is 75 years old. Marci enjoys traveling, volunteering, reading, and spending time with her daughter and dog. She is retired now but she used to work as a professor in special education.
This is Normajene Hinders who is 80 years old. She is a therapist and finds happiness in her relationships with family and friends. She also enjoys gardening and being out in nature.
This is Elzene Yancey who is 104 years old. She is blind but has learned to live with it. She feels blessed to live in this nice area with warm weather and being nearby her kids.
This is Mary K English who is 72 years old. She finds happiness through living with her grandchildren and her dog. She used to work in special education which taught her valuable lessons of gratitude and resilience.
This is Dan Robertson who is 73 years old. Dan enjoys exercising and traveling. Seeing new places allows him to learn and experience new things and approach life differently. For Dan, his community of friends and family has always played a significant role in his happiness. In this documentary Dan shares advice on dealing with adversity, specifically grief.
Reflection
In both my English documentary project and film documentary, I learned a lot and am grateful for the opportunities to meet and speak with new people. I am proud of myself for pushing myself out of my comfort zone and documenting people I didn’t previously know. I am also proud of all my hard work and the research I did that went into these projects. This is important because it brings in more perspectives and credibility. My take away from my English documentary is a better understanding of my hometown, successful businesses, and the future of technology. My take away from my Film documentary is different ways to be happy and be grateful for the little things.
A special thank you to…
Michal S Malone for being my subject and interviewee for my English Documentary
Scott Budman for being an interviewee for my English Documentary
Elzene Yancey for being an interviewee for my Film Documentary
Marci Hanson for being an interviewee for my Film Documentary
Mary K English for being an interviewee for my Film Documentary
Normajene Hinders for being an interviewee for my Film Documentary
Dan Robertson for being an interviewee for my Film Documentary