Introduction
For the Junior Documentary unit, we explored a person, place, or event that has significance in our community and/or the world. After picking a topic, we developed a researchable lens, which we used in English to write our Documentary research papers. We transferred our English work over to Digital Media, where we turned our essays into a magazine article using Adobe InDesign, and an intro video to this unit using Adobe After Effects. In Film, we studied Documentary filmmaking and produced a short documentary of our own.
English & Digital Media Production
For my English and Digital Media work, I focused on my good friend and musician Rose Madsen. Although I already knew a lot about her music career, through interviewing her, her mother, and her best friend, I learned about how it truly plays a role in every aspect of her life, including school, career pressures, and self-expression.
One of the first challenges I faced when writing my research paper, was the scope of this project and how much I wanted to tackle in a small essay. I wanted readers to walk away from my paper understanding the astute way she talks, or see the graceful way she carries herself. I think these characteristics are vital in understanding how Rose is an amazing person and a talented artist. It felt like I could have written an entire essay alone on each aspect of her life that makes up her music; her mom’s immigration story, her father’s music journey, equity in music, being a woman in music, the future of the music industry, etc. I had to meet a lot with my English teacher, Mr. Greco, to figure out how I could relay the importance of these aspects in Rose’s journey with music. This essay took me over two months, due to a lot of external circumstances and the business of the second semester of junior year. I have never written an essay like this before, so I really developed my skills as a writer throughout the drafting and revision process. I truly put my all into this essay and I’m extremely proud of the way it turned out!
In Digital Media, we studied graphic design principles such as the C.R.A.P. test and learned how to use Adobe InDesign, in order to turn our English papers into magazine articles. I was inspired by Rock and Roll magazines such as Rolling Stone to depict Rose as a cool musician, and I think that especially came across on the cover.
Film
In Film, we began this unit by learning about the proper way to conduct a video interview. The documentaries that we produced are interview-based, a mix of the expository and observational documentary modes, out of the 6 modes of documentary filmmaking that we studied. Because our documentaries were so heavily based on the content we got in our interviews, it was important that we knew the proper way to mic up an interviewee, position the two DSLR cameras we used to get medium and closeup angles, find a background with the best depth, and more.
After learning these skills, we utilized them in our mockumentary project. A mockumentary is a documentary-style film depicting fictional events, usually in a humorous way. Famous examples include The Office and Parks and Recreation.
Our documentary was one of the biggest, yet most rewarding, projects this year, My partner Kylie and I focused on the Special Education program at our school, highlighting a small group of students and their parents. The process of interviewing these parents was really special. Each parent had such profound things to say about the misconceptions people often have about children with disabilities, and why Mountain View High School’s Special Education program (called the ‘life skills’ program), was a unique resource. I found that I learned a lot about the Special Education community and the struggles these families encounter on a daily basis.
After we had collected all our interviews, the next step was to outline our film and choose which clips we would include. This was arguably one of the most difficult parts, because we had hours of valuable interview footage to choose from, making our editing process long and tedious, especially during the second semester of Junior year, which is notoriously busy. Overall, we tried to be inclusive as possible while keeping our film conscience.
Gratefully, I can say I’m really happy with how this project turned out! It was so exciting to work on something where I was really getting involved in the community. I met so many amazing parents, staff, and students through this project, and our film was even sent out to all the staff and community at MVHS by our principal!
“Breaking Barriers” is an official selection for the 2023 All American High School Film Festival (NY), LA Student Film Festival (CA), and The Centre Film Festival (PA). In October 2023, Kylie and I attended a screening of our Documentary in New York City’s AMC Empire!
Documentary Interviewees
Reflection & Thank Yous
During this unit, I learned about time management, and the importance of having a good balance between passion and perfectionism in a time of stress. I also learned that creative projects like profile essays and documentaries can make people feel understood, giving them a voice. I loved hearing how people responded to complex questions in interviews, or how a simple question could have a variety of different answers.
I want to thank all the parents who agreed to be interviewed for our documentary, their kids who were so kind to us when filming, Ms. Kato and Mr. Q, Kylie for being an amazing film partner, Rose, for letting me delve into her life, and my mom who truly supported me throughout this unit.