Introduction
For the documentary project, we had to put together a film and article about a person, group, place, idea or issue in the community that struck our interest. We also then had to do our own research with numerous sources on how to connect such person, group, place, etc. to a large idea that impacts our community or outwards of our community.
For my documentary project, I worked with Annie Schwartz to tell the story of Raj Mathai, a local NBC Bay Area News Anchor. He provides lots of insight on the Bay Area’s development, broadcasting and working a tough job schedule while raising a family. We put together a documentary film which included footage of Raj at work, as well as interviews with Raj himself, Sonia Mathai (his wife), and his co-worker Janelle Wang.
I learned a lot from the project because it allowed me to use the technical skills that I had learned for film and put together a project that wasn’t a narrative. Overall, the project was something very new to me, and it provided me with experience both giving an interview and filming one. Interacting with interviewees was definitely a learning curve as it made me very nervous, but over time it became so much easier.
Research Paper
For the research paper, we were instructed to use the same interviews in addition to 3 research sources we collected ourselves. My research paper tells the story of Raj Mathai, how he gained an interest in broadcasting, what his job is like, and what his experience in the Bay Area was like over the course of his life.
Film
The Mockumentary Film was a fake documentary that often is humorous that each of the junior film students made that helped us practice the skill of framing an interview, using microphones to get crisp audio, and how to conduct an interview. For my mockumentary, I worked with Annie Schwartz and Uch Bayarnyam to create a funny skit filled with inside jokes of our small film class.
Magazine Article
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Our Interviewees
Raj Mathai
Raj Mathai was the focus of our documentary project. He is an anchor for NBC Bay Area’s evening news. He has unique insight to give about the Bay considering he immigrated here in the late 70s and is constantly surrounded by current news for the area.
Sonia Mathai
Sonia Mathai is the spouse of Raj Mathai. The pair have been married for 20 years now and are raising two children together in the Bay Area. Sonia has lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years now and is head of a Human Resources company. She had lots of insight to give us about being the mother in a family with such a unique schedule.
Janelle Wang
Janelle Wang is Raj’s Co-Anchor at NBC Bay Area. She has many stories to share about working in the industry, sharing a lot in common with Raj. They both share how the schedule for their job is unique and how it affects their personal lives. They both share a passion for their job, she explains that there are a multitude of different stories they cover, some more difficult than others.
Suzanne Kasso
Suzanne Kasso is a Los Altos resident. She doesn’t appear in our documentary film, but does in my research paper and magazine article. She provides insight into being a news watcher in the Bay Area. Suzanne has lived in the Bay Area for much of her life, finding that NBC was a great station to learn about the section of the bay that she lives.