INTRODUCTION

“How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?”

For the Junior Documentary Project, students brainstorm and select a main subject who is interesting to them and offers an important perspective about a real-world issue in the community or greater world. Students conduct research, contact both main and secondary subjects to interview, and write an profile essay in English. The final essay is then converted into a magazine article in Digital Media class, and a short book which is designed in Design Class.

For my subject, I chose the cantor at my synagogue. She is an incredibly kind and open person, which was perfect for the project. I am really happy with how my english essay and Design book turned out in the end. Below is my English Profile article:

DESIGN PRODUCTION

My final design production was the book you can see above. It was completely produced in Adobe InDesign, but I used Illustrator to create graphic design elements (GDEs), and I used photoshop to edit all of my photos.

The process began with taking photos of my subject, Jaime Shpall. I mainly took photos of her in the sanctuary, the main place of prayer where she plays guitar and leads the congregation every Saturday morning. There is a beautiful curtain behind her and as this is where most congregants see her most often, I thought it would be a fitting spot for photos. I also took some photos around the synagogue campus, of nature and other interesting items. Then, I edited photos and began creating GDEs. After this was done, I began to work on my spreads in my book. Finally, I put my text in from my English essay and made final changes. Below are some photos of my process:

INTERVIEWEE BIO

Jaime Shpall has been the cantor at Congregation Beth Am for 9 years. As Cantor, she teaches 13 year olds who are preparing for the bar and bat mitzvahs, a course of Jewish study in which they chant a portion of Torah in front of the congregation and learn about that portion. Shpall teaches her students how to chant their torah portions and prayers. She also leads Shabbat services every Saturday morning and plays guitar while singing prayers.

The Jewish community has been facing huge amounts of antisemitism in the past six months and since she is an educator of teenagers as well as a leader in her community, I knew that Shpall would have a unique, informed perspective about Judaism, the necessity of having a community, and why it is important to stick together amidst scary events taking place against the Jewish community.

REFLECTION

Overall, this project has been extremely rewarding. The process of contacting potential subjects and interviewees, as well as forming the questions and the interview itself all helped me grow my social skills and helped me better my communication. The process of designing my book taught me how to use InDesign efficiently and effectively, and I am now confident that I could create posters, articles, and more in the future using InDesign. The final outcomes of both my English profile essay an Design profile book are probably the two final outcomes that I have created at Freestyle that I am most proud of, and this unit has been exciting as I have been able to watch myself grow immensely throughout as a person and as a designer and artist.