Interview #2 done

 Two interviews down...

So I finished my interview with Mitch Dworet!!! Yay!! Honestly, this interview was so much more than I ever felt like it would be. It was such an emotional and deep atmosphere and it both made me feel so comfortable but also so much pain towards what this man went through. My interview was around an hour and a half with him, but I'll be honest to say that it felt no longer than 15 minutes when I was talking to him. 

It was the most fascinating place where he really put into perspective how much grief can affect a person. He said one quote that just really stuck with me and I'd love to be able to share it with you today. 

"I think talking to a young person, to young people and, you know, how do I, at 65 and as a father and going through my life expressed to you the depth of grief and loss of, of a son of a child, right?"

Now this is one of many breathtaking things he said to me, but I'm really in love with the concept he made with this and it's something I definitely want to put into my documentary within post production. 

So I know this may sound a little overzealous, but I want to start thinking about post production with the two interviews I have done to get a little closer to feeling complete with this, as well as see what things are missing when I interview Lindsay. So essentially, what I did to organize my structure, I wanted to work through the interviews in an easier way. I decided to do this by transcribing my interview in Premiere and putting that into a Google Doc to see the interviews in a visual way rather than finding things in an hour and a half long interview. 

On Google Docs, there's a way to organize your file to have tabs so this is what my tabs are currently looking like. This way everything is super organized. So as you can see, Rylan and Mitch have their distinct tabs for their transcription, and the structure is the place where I can essentially in a way create a script of where I want to place certain interview clips with times attached. 

This is currently super helpful and I feel like this is also a better way to get peers to look over my documentary without taking so much time to watch it and can edit in a less permanent way. 

I'm really excited for my third and final interview with Lindsay as well, and so the plan is that essentially I need to focus my interview more so on the definition of grief, recovery, and trauma, as I feel that is a major part I am missing in the structure right now. 

I think that genuinely this documentary is going to turn out really well and I'm really happy with it

Until next time 

- Emma <3

Interview with Mitch Dworet

 Interview today :))

So my second interview is scheduled today and I'm super excited. Today's interview is with Mitch Dworet, Nicolas's father, and Alexander Dworet's father. As I've said, all my questions are filled out, I have my questions listed and equipment checked out so now it's just executing the interview. We have been set to start the interview at 4:30 and I'm expecting it to run for at least an hour so that's pretty much my plan for today after school...

My main goal for today is just filming the interview, as speaking to Mitch recently, he revealed that he was uncomfortable with us filming b-roll in his house (completely understood). I am going to look into also finding some footage of him, maybe at swim meets or any old footage of him that could be used within the piece. 

I did some prior research on the Dworet family as well to find some talking points to engage with him before the interview starts

This includes 

- Nicholas' passion for swimming

- Mitch's passion for athletics (he's literally running a 5k this morning)

- The focus on grief and recovery 

- Not very open about that day (avoid talking about it mostly) for him to remain comfortable

Now the last point I make kinda sucks for the content of my piece however what I will say is through my plan Rylan will lead the beginning of the piece and Mitch will end the piece mostly with the content of grief and recovery. 

I do still have one more interview after this one, which will be with Lindsay Carpenter at Eagles Haven. This interview is taking place on Thursday at 4, and I plan on filming b-roll with her when I am there. 

A tad more planning happened too yesterday when I got to watch the documentary - Devil in the family - the fall of Ruby Franke, 

This just gave me another aspect to watch about documentaries. This is a true crime documentary (slightly strange for my content but really helpful). 

The main thing this documentary helped me with is just to see the necessity and helpfulness that giving interviews breathing room provides. I find that in the last documentary I did, and just my history with TV, I tend to just put interview clips with constant powers in the middle, but never give breathing room, and I feel like especially with this piece, breathing room is really important. 

They were also very b-roll heavy with establishing shots which I really liked and think it's something very manageable for me to get of MSD which could add to the piece especially in its earlier parts. 

Oh, I also watched American Murder: Gabby Petito, which I didn't love but it taught me to be careful with my audio and really make sure everything looks visually and audiotrially pleasing before I begin working through my interviews. 

But that's all I have for today, so I'll update you tomorrow after my interview 

Until next time 

- Emma <3

Production begins

 And so it begins...

So this week marks the start to major production within my documentary. This means that I will be conducting & completing my interviews by the end of next week. Some things that I need to get started in order for this to be possible are an equipment list, b-roll thoughts, and just really sitting down to think through each step of the interview. 

As I believe I have mentioned previously, Mitch Dworet kindly invited me to his home in order to film his interview. So that interview is scheduled for later this week, and I am going to bring my friend, Oriana Rangel, who's in television production with me, to help with the shot framing and being behind the camera during the interview. 

Equipment, some of the equipment I am using includes 

- A Canon t-8i

- Hollylands (

- Tripod

- Zoom lens 

- Standard 45 lens 

- A rhode for all audio 

- A light kit (if needed)

- ND filters (if needed)

I am more than grateful that my television program at my school allows us to check out equipment, so luckily I will be able to check out equipment for my documentary production. 

In terms of b-roll, I luckily got a large portion of it at the memorial, however, for Rylan's interview, I actually get to go into one of her classes to get some b-roll of her instructing a yoga class. Also, for Lindsay's case,e I am going to film some of her working within the office, in order for the audience to see what they hear at the time.

Currently one of my only major issues is creating all b-roll on my own with situations where I am dealing with individuals who lost their lives. It's been difficult to look past using pictures and really dive deep into more creative ways of creating footage that is used in emotional scenes to cover up jump cuts once I get to the post production stage. 

But that's all I have for you today 

- Until Next time 

Emma <3

No group meeting :((

 Absences are the death of me... 

So this week, as I said previously, I have been crazy busy. I mean I just counted, and after today, I have missed the past 11 days of school. And unfortunately, missing so much class means I also missed our group reflection where we get to talk about our projects and get feedback. 

That being said, I knew I was going to miss this, so I talked to some of my peers within aice media in order to at least partially get some understanding and feedback on my documentary. Some of the discussions we had were just little things like ways to get my interviewees to feel comfortable and a bit on my graphics, and in the future, ways to make sure within the post production stage I am able to have enough b-roll. 

In talking to Mateo, a classmate, I realized that b-roll can be as simple as me going to memorials where I can find pictures (in front of the Stoneman Douglas sign) and really just use what is there for me to use. Also, in case of pictures, I realized I can stage shots with printed out photos or for example, someone looking at pictures on a computer screen. 

So far from talking to classmates, the reception on my documentary has been mostly positive. People really like the focus on grief and healing, and all agree that is the main purpose of this documentary, rather than just sharing what was lost that day. 

Also, I will share something really cool that happened to me tonight at Elon University. So tonight we had a meet and greet at the communications school and I got into a long discussion with a professor in charge of a program called elondocs. 

His name is Colin Donohue and he gave me some really insightful tips on this documentary, having worked on some in the past. I told him about my documentary and he shared with me some tips, such as once I complete my interview, to put it into a Word document and work on the structure outside of Premiere to create a script of sorts. He also advised me to make sure that I really allow breathing room for the audience to take in what is being told to them in a slower, more emotional manner. 

Also, it was really cool to see how an older person really resonated with something I am currently working on and was impressed with the progression of the documentary. 

As I get back to school this upcoming Monday, I am also excited to discuss with my peers the progression of my documentary, especially with my interviews coming up. I wish I had more to update you on, but I am excited to hit the ground running in the beginning production and eventually the post production of this documentary

But until next time 

- Emma <3

Staying productive..

 Life's been really busy...

So I just got back from STN, which is a television trip I go on with my TV production program. We compete at a national level, but that also caused me to miss a week of valuable time in this portfolio project. As you have been made aware, my project started off pretty strangely as I had to film the memorial and one of my interviews pretty early on, but the rest of production has been paused until I researched further. 

Unfortunately, with everything going on it's just been crazy, and I leave today for Elon University, where I am a finalist for a huge scholarship. That being said, my interviews are both scheduled for next week and I really didn't want to lose a week without doing anything productive to move my documentary along. 

Because of this, I wanted to plan ahead and begin to think of title graphics, colors, lower thirds, and everything that will make my post production process smoother. I really loved the idea of using red as a color to symbolize urgency. Also, I wanted to keep my brand consistent to the social media so everything is definitely the same fonts, colors, etc.

Here is what my lower thirds will look like... 

Ignore the blue that's just so I can key out the color on Premiere using ultra key. Buttt this is what my lower thirds currently look like. I used Canva to make them and I am also going to use Premiere to transition it to slide in and then out. I think these lower thirds are simple enough and for each episode in the series, the bottom right corner of the third would be used as a space to put the memorial/schools graphic. This graphic may be subject to change depending on how it fits into the actual edit, but for right now this was one little thing that made me feel like I was being productive in the project. 

Aside from lower thirds, I also thought about possibly using sections to divide up the documentary. These sections would be the subtitles from my outline I told you about previously, but I'll show you what those slides would look like so I can jog your memory. 

These are the three main sections I plan on using to divide up the full documentary episode. I may use these with a lower opacity in the background to show off b-roll as well,l but I am not entirely positive on this factor yet.

I also plan on ending my documentary with credits that memorialize the 17 lives lost, whilst crediting the individuals who helped me with this documentary. 

But that's all I have time for today

Until next time 

- Emma <3

Planning

 Third & Final Interview Plan

The third interview I am filming is with Lindsay Carpenter from Eagles Haven. She is a specialist in grief and the expert within the documentary. I, of course, would love to ask her questions pertaining to the MSD shooting and her personal connection with it, but what's more important is the second part of the doc for her in explaining grief and how individuals can work through those heavy emotions. So, Lindsay is going to be the one who really helps tie everything together. 

I want to think about the same similar scenario of Mitch in that I want a general basis of what questions I am going to ask 

Even though I'm focusing on the general concept of grief, it's still good to establish Lindsay's connection to the community. Here are some questions I'm thinking of:

1. Lindsay, can you tell me a bit about your role at Eagles Haven and how you became involved with supporting the Parkland community?" (This gets her background and connection.)

2. "From your perspective, how did the MSD shooting impact the community, and what were some of the immediate needs you observed?" (This gets her professional observation of the events.)

3. "Working so closely with families who have experienced loss, what have you learned about the unique challenges they face after such a tragedy?" (This bridges the gap between the specific event and the broader topic.)

Now where Lindsay really shines is with the section about grief and recovery. I really want her to explain the complexities of grief in a way that's easy to understand, but also respectful to this community. Some of the questions I want to ask are  

1. "Can you explain what 'prolonged grief' means and how it differs from typical grief?" (This addresses a key concept you've been exploring.)

2. "What are some common misconceptions people have about grief, and how can we better support those who are grieving?" (This helps to educate the audience.)

3. "You've worked with many individuals on their journey of recovery. What are some healthy coping mechanisms you've observed?" (This gives practical advice.)

4. "How important is it for people to find ways to honor the memories of their loved ones, and what are some ways they can do that?" (This ties into the theme of honoring those lost.)

5. "For those who are watching this documentary and are struggling with grief, what is one piece of advice you would give them?" (This is a powerful closing question.)

For Lindsay's interview, I want to create a calm and supportive atmosphere. I'm thinking of filming in a quiet space at Eagles Haven, maybe with soft lighting and a neutral background. I want her to feel comfortable and relaxed, so she can share her expertise openly. I also would like to get some b-roll of her interacting with people at Eagles Haven, or in her office, to give context to her role.

I think this interview will really add depth and credibility to the documentary, but that's all I have for today 

Until next time,

Emma <3

Planning

Next interview planning

So, as I mentioned previously, I am currently in the process of interviewing Mitch Dworet, the father of Nick and Alex Dworet. I wanted to write some questions that would help me in my process and here's what I came up with. I know just based off of my own creative style, this will of course change slightly depending on what he says, but this is for me to go off of. 

1. What is your name and affiliation within the MSD shooting?

2. Can you tell me about who your son was and what his beliefs/values are

3. What was the day of the shooting like for you? (if you're comfortable ofc)

4. What has the process of grief been like for you?

5. Why is recovery such a complex process?

6. Can you touch on survivor's guilt/prolonged grief? What does that mean to you?

7. Moving forward, how have you been able to push through this grief and honor your son rather than allow his name to be forgotten? 

So these are my main questions I want to ask. Within Broll, I had previously talked to Mitch about my opportunities there and he stated he wasn't very comfortable with us taking footage in their house so I'm going to utilize photos I can find of him online/ones that are sent to me...

Here are some I have found online that I think might work:

       

   

So as you can see here, I feel as though these pictures are a nice perspective on who Nicholas was as a person. My plan for these images is to do a slight fade and utilize a gaussian blur in the background.
I also plan on using a slight vignette to add to the aesthetics and theme of my docuseries.



Also, I want to film my interview in front of this picture in their dining area, which shows a beach. This beach was actually the one his son always dreamed of swimming in, so I feel as though it would mean a lot for Mitch to show this in the shot. Also, if we film that way there's a picture of Nicholas that he can look at during the interview.


I am really excited for this interview, which I will be filming in the upcoming weeks. I'll update you soon

Until next time

- Emma <3

Social Media Page

     Becoming a micro-influencer.... Or so I hope

So I believe I have already slightly mentioned my process however I've started posting to social media! So originally I had talked to my Aice Media teacher about wanting to have a memorial-like posting where I honored each person who passed during the MSD shooting and slowly worked on content that establishes my documentary purpose. My first post was made on the 7th memorial. I'll attach that below so you can see... 

So I wanted to really work with my brand colors and show why I decided on this specific brand. So as my documentary name "As Your Life Turns to Ashes" asserts this documentary is about loss and grief. Even though it was awfully convenient the Stoneman Douglas colors are maroon and black I honestly really liked these colors overall to symbolize loss and grief. Aside from just doing this post the day of however I knew I needed to do more. 

Something really important to me is keeping everything congruent so my main font styles for this project are Alex Brush and Lovelace Text on Canva. On that note, I have actually been using Canva for all of my blog posts. And I mean all of them. I love having learned how to use this program so efficiently because honestly, it makes social media design so much faster. After moving on from this post I wanted to create posts every day (or at least try to post every day) of pictures/memorials of each life lost that day. Once I move on to other episodes within the series I'll move on to posting about them but for right now those 17 individuals will be posted. I maintained a template to use for each of the individuals

so everything looks the same and also so I only have to change their name, birthdate/death date as well as their picture. This is what the templates look like and I've been working to post every single day. Based off of my schedule I shouldddd be on day 11 of these posts but I'll be honest to say two days just weren't my friend. That being said I am happy with the engagement I am getting with these posts. Of course, I'm not exactly a celebrity but anyone I have shared this with has reacted in a positive way.

 Also in a more human aspect honestly being able to make these captions with their stories has put things into perspective for me. For example, Nicholas Dworet was about to graduate from high school. He was 17 years old, just like me, and this just really hurt my heart to think about. He had so much potential and strived for positive influences and so his being lost that day is really devastating. His father, Mitch actually talked with me at the memorial and I am working to schedule an interview so that we can go a little deeper. His main commitment in life is to face his grief of losing his son while inspiring others with this. 

Nonetheless, if you'd like to check out my Instagram account you can look it up @whenyourlifeturnstoashes. 

I think that is all I have for you today but 

Until next time 

- Emma <3

Genre Research

 Interview research 

Troughout this topic of documentary, it's not only important to research through watching other documentaries but just learn more about this topic so that during interviews I sound knowledgeable. The first topic I really wanted to research was the topic of survival guilt as well as prolonged grief.

Let's start with some definitions: 

According to Oxford's English Dictionary survivor guilt is "a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress experienced by someone who has survived an incident in which others died." This was an issue that many individuals who survived the MSD shooting faced. In my interview with Rylan, she mentioned her best friend who unfortunately took her life due to survivor's guilt. This is something that people can overcome however it takes many years of therapy and recovery. 

The other term that is commonly mentioned within my conversations I wanted to familiarize myself with is prolonged grief. The DSM-5-TR (diagnostic tag) criteria for PGD requires that an individual has distressing symptoms of grief for at least 12 months following the loss of a close attachment and that the grief response is characterized by intense longing/yearning for the deceased person. An example of someone who suffers from prolonged grief is Mitch Dworet who within our conversations actually mentioned this phrase to me and discussed how most individuals who lost a family member that day are now diagnosed with this disorder. 

I also decided to look into news articles from different parents and friends to identify good subjects to talk to. I had actually done this before going to the memorial as well to see if I could find these individuals at this event and find someone who specifically focuses on grief like Mitch does. 

So like I had said this week I plan on going through my b roll from the memorial as well as beginning the structure with the interview I have received. I need to work with my other two interview subjects to create a good time to film those interviews. Also!!! It's really far-fetched and probably not going to happen but I may have a fourth interview with Dara Hass who was in the English classroom at the time of the shooting. I'm not sure if she will be comfortable but I am working with her to possibly film a brief interview 

But honestly, I have my work cut out for me so

Until next time 

- Emma <3

Research...

 You can't make a documentary without some research first... 

So as I mentioned in my last vlog... yeah lots and lots and lots of research. Currently, the main thing I'm researching is the topic of prolonged grief as well as documentaries within the same genre. 

Last night I was able to take some time and watch the documentary "Bowling for Columbine". This was the first documentary that discussed a similar topic as it was a political one that explores the circumstances that led to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre as well as homicide rates. While this piece focused more on the context of gun violence and mine will focus on grief I felt that it would still be a strong example of what I'd like this piece to become. Moore was actually thought to have a very controversial piece due to bias which is something I recognize going into it that "When Your Life Turns to Ashes" might slightly relate to. I plan to take myself out of this documentary to my best effort however that can be difficult when discussing a mass shooting.  

Some of the technical elements I recognized within this film that I would like to utilize in my piece include archived footage like videos or pictures before this happened, interviews with family or survivors, and music. As much as the piece utilizes graphics I decided that with my own personal outlook, I don't think this piece needs to use them. 

One of the only aspects of this documentary I didn't like was the use of humor in the piece. Whilst I do agree that creating a documentary like this may be nice to lighten the mood to me it just merely feels insincere to their grief and loss.

Another documentary I found to be helpful was "The Trials of Amanda Knox." This documentary was a true crime one that discussed the trial of Amanda Knox for the murder of her roommate. While the context of this film is entirely different from mine I found that this piece was incredibly helpful in terms of understanding how to structure a documentary. In terms of my own documentary, I'm having a difficult time structuring the film in a way that would make sense to an audience. That being said, the use of flashbacks and interviews in "The Trials of Amanda Knox" was incredibly helpful. I really liked how the directors utilized flashbacks to show the audience what happened that night and then used interviews to show the different perspectives of the individuals involved. I think this would be a great way to structure my own documentary as I could use interviews to showcase the different perspectives of the individuals I interviewed and use flashbacks to show the audience what happened on February 14th.

In terms of the technical elements used in this film, I really enjoyed the use of music. I felt that the music used in this film was very suspenseful and kept the audience on the edge of their seats. This is something I would definitely like to incorporate into my own documentary as I feel that music is a powerful tool that can be used to evoke emotion. I also liked the use of interviews in this film. The interviews were very well done and they provided a lot of insight into the case. I think this is something that I would like to focus on in my own documentary as well.

But that's all for me today! 

Until Next time 

- Emma <3

Memorial/interview updates

February 14th update      

Hey so it's been a minute but to be honest, I've been crazy busy with life recently. I feel like lots has been going on the last week though I need to update you about it. 

Let's start with the interview... 

So as I said I interviewed with Rylan Knox on the 12th. Within this interview, I really wanted to focus on the beginning parts of my structure in her experience that day and the feeling of loss. One of the main reasons I decided to focus on the beginning structure with her was because I really felt like she wanted to share her story. That's in contrast to one of my other interview subjects Mitch Dworet who I'll reference later. So back to Rylan, within this interview, she detailed her experience that day and how loss felt to her. She also went into a bit of grief and how she overcame these emotions through yoga. I was really upset because about 20 minutes through her interview we were interrupted as a class was about to take place in the room we conducted the interview in however so I didn't get to be as thorough as I would've loved to be with her. Nonetheless, I felt as though this was a really incredible interview and that overall Rylan is an incredible girl. It really honestly put life into perspective for me that just 7 years ago she was the same age as me, with the same personality and life, and in a click like that her life changed indefinitely. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel some pretty strong emotions during this interview but honestly I feel like that made the two of us connect on a deeper level. 

Since I finished her interview now and still need to get at least two more I decided that in order to manage my time wisely I would start the process of structuring where I'd like to put certain things she said. Someone who is helping me in the documentary process Oriana Rangel gave me the idea to actually transcribe the interview and put it into a document to structure it rather than watch the video over and over again and honestly, it's working really well for me. The first step of that was to of course transcribe and read it and now I'm beginning the process of highlighting keywords and parts of her interview I think would be essential to the purpose I'm trying to get across. 

So thats an update on the interview that was conducted now let's discuss all the work I did this weekend in context to filming Broll... 

As I've established the MSD shooting happened on February 14th so every year Eagles Haven, a grief and recovery center I've been in close contact with, hosts a memorial service where family and friends can come to speak on behalf of the 17 lives lost and honor those individuals. This memorial showcased a dove flight which you can see to the left, speeches from each of the family members, a candle lighting ceremony, and activities that the lives lost loved. The main purpose of me going to this event was to learn more about this topic whilst filming footage that showcases both grief and perserverance. I was grateful to have the opportunity to go and film the event as well as speak with other individuals who may have a connection within this community. Within these conversations, I was able to talk to Mitch Dworet father of Alexander Dworet (freshman at the time) and Nicholas Dworet (senior at the time). Mitch and I had a long conversation about the concept of grief as both of his sons were affected by the MSD shooting. Unfortunately, Mitch's older son Nicholas was taken that day and Alex was injured so he has had a difficult time these last 7 years recovering from this tragedy. That being said, when I initially began discussing a documentary with him he was extremely reluctant. He had a conversation with me entirely summed to - he didn't want to talk about the day. However, through our conversation, we realized that we had a common mission to help others who suffer from grief find methods of perseverance. Because of this Mitch agreed to give me his number so we could schedule an interview at a later time. 

I also connected with Eagles Haven to schedule an interview with Lindsay Carpenter who is the project coordinator in charge of all major events like the memorial and grief resources for those who have suffered from loss. I wanted to slow down with these other two interviews as I want to take my time with this project so I gave both of these individuals my schedule so we can find a comfortable time for all parties. Now a documentary is a lot of work to do on your own so I would love to give credit to my wonderful boyfriend Lucas who helped me at the memorial as well as my friend Oriana who plans on helping with the interviews, structure, and editing process. Honestly as cheesy as this may sound I really feel like this was my fate to share this story so I'm very happy that I have been given the opportunity to do so. 

Last thing I want to update you on is the amount of research this documentary is taking. Tomorrow I'm going to write a blog more about that but just for some context... I currently have 32 different news articles open on my computer to read more about literally everything in relation to grief specifically the grief of those who lost a life to gun violence. But yeah this topic is definitely very heavy. I really hope this becomes a resource for individuals who suffer from this sitution and I'm glad I can share this. 

But well, 

Until next time

- Emma <3

Outline & Structure

     So I met with Mrs. Stoklosa today (my aice media teacher) and we fully talked for about 30 minutes about everything to do with this documentary. The school shooting at Stoneman Douglas happened... 2 days from now 7 years ago and it's been a crazy week of emotions and research. I honestly changed my concept within this overarching topic a lot. Whilst I really resonate with the concept of the survival guilt expecially in regards to Sydney Aiello, I realize that this is a really difficult topic for many to discuss in their interviews. Because of all of this I pretty much landed on the concept to not focus on what happened the day of the shooting but rather how individuals cope with grief and what they do with those emotions. 

So the structure would go as follows

1. Stoneman douglas shooting backstory 

2. Loss and who was lost that day

3. Grief 

4. What we do with grief/moving on

Since the portfolio project is only a 5 minute excerpt from the piece I decided that in creating this documentary I really want to focus on the last 5 minutes. I actually got to speak to one of the parents who lost his child (Nicholas Dworet). Nicholas was actually a 17-year-old Olympic swimmer who tragically lost his life on that horrific day. Speaking with his father he loved the concept of speaking of grief and how he resonates with that emotion. He shared with me his personal story of grief and I am now working on setting up an interview with him. 

Also I realize that filming this documentary can be really hard so I have done a lot of prior research into the individuals before their interviews to understand their situation a little more deeply and see what to avoid asking. 

On another note I actually got to film one of my interviews and it went really well. I am really happy with it (even though we got cut off a bit towards the end I think it went well). I'm getting ready to film Broll at the memorial and so I've begun writing a broll list of things I'd like to include. 

Some of these things include 

- Dove launching 

- Candle Lighting ceremony 

- Booths in memorial 

- Family members 

- Speeches/stories 

- EMOTIONSSSSSS 

I'm really honored to be able to work on this project and really want this to be perfect (or as close as I can get)

But well I plan on updating you after the ceremony on how things go and share some footage I get. 

Until Next Time 

- Emma ♡

Project schedule

Desired Accomplishments...

Of course, this project is definitely something I'm passionate about but let's be honest, second-semester senior year... We need a schedule to stay on track. 

If you are not already aware of this Stoneman Douglas was a school shooting that happened on February 14th, 2018. Which is in... 3 days. So to get broll of memorials and how individuals are honored I need to pick up the pace in filming and getting things ready. So literally within the first day of choosing this topic, I already contacted a girl to set up an interview. (I wasn't kidding when I said I was excited) her interview is scheduled for tomorrow the 12th. The girl I am interviewing' name is Rylan Knox. She was best friends with both Sydney Aiello and Meadow Pollack so she has really struggled with her mental health ever since. Both she and Sydney worked to get over their PTSD through yoga and unfortunately one of them got through it and one of them did not. Due to Sydeny and Rylan being such close friends I feel as though she will have very good insight on Sydenys emotions and how the shooting really affected both of them. 

I digress, let's plan the schedule for the next few weeks...

This gets me to the end of feburary.. So what you can see here is my schedule for the next three weeks. I know it looks very.... colorful but I'll explain why. As I said in my last blog, I want to focus on the feeling of survivals guilt specifically in the first documentary episode regarding to stoneman douglas. That being said I wanted to do a social media series where I feature all 17 individuals and honor them and their families by describing who they were as individuals and what their families are doing with their grief. Unfortuantely many who lose their families suffer from PTSD and as I said survivals guilt so I felt that by featuring each individual on a specific day and describing the incredible individuals they are fit within the genre and feeling of this documentary.  

After Feburary ends I'd have a total of 6 weeks left... So heres my checklist for what I need to get done in those final six weeks

1. I need to finish the posts for the 17 individuals and begin to segway the social media to focus on the Texas elementary school shooting - the next episode of my documentary

2. I need to begin the post production process and start editing my documentary

3. I need to finalize the social media & magazine article 

4. I need to write my critical reflection 

I feel like if I stay on track because a lot of the filming is happening this week (so excited I got this (ish)) I can definetly finish on time. With filming the majority of the broll this friday and even having an interview done before the week is over it's definetly plausible.

Thats all for me now 

Until next time 

- Emma <3

Its been a minute..

Next big thing... 

Now that we are officially done with all the preliminary projects we have for Aice Media A level we are moving on to something bigger. Since we last wrote in this blog we have been very busy in our class. The last project we did was create a distribution and marketing plan for an upcoming movie written by our schools creative writing class. Part of this project included creating a movie trailer, a teaser, and a print document to publicize the film.

Here is a brief summary of the film: Juan Antonio Casas, nicknamed Juanto, finds himself in a whirlwind 48 hours after his roommate Felipe Barboza mysteriously disappears. After discovering a ransom note demanding $315,000 for Felipe's safe return, Juanto embarks on a frantic investigation through New York City. He navigates through police stations, and Felipe's school, and eventually uncovers Felipe's deep debt to a loan shark. Juanto works with a detective to set a trap, ultimately exposing Felipe's staged disappearance. Felipe and the loan shark are arrested, leaving Juanto searching for a new roommate.

I'm honestly really happy with how this film turned out. Here is a link to my trailer, teaser, and print document if you'd like to check them out! :)
 

But now that our project is over we're finally starting our portfolio project.

I seriously don't think I have ever been so excited to start a project in this class because I finally feel excited to create and genuinely I don't think I've felt so passionate about a project in a long time. This brings forth the first decision, which project should I choose to complete. Throughout my four years of high school, I have always been interested in journalism and telling others stories so I instantly landed in completing the documentary package. 

    Within the past few months, I have been really considering what content I want my documentary to share. At first, my interest was in foster care and discussing the different impacts of the foster care system on others and the detrimental impact being separated from a parent can bring. I liked this concept because, in terms of an episodic documentary series, I felt the issue of children losing their parents could include things such as the passing away at a young age, foster care, and more topics. I've always been really passionate about foster care but due to the inability to get a concrete b roll in foster children, I decided to move on from that concept to something tremendously different. 

    I compete in a television competition called STN where we practice every Saturday to make a news magazine in 8 hours. So through that, I make a news package every Saturday in which I meet a lot of people who really help me to make connections in my community. When at the Challenge Air event helping disabled children learn how to fly planes, however, one person really stuck out to me more than any have before. There was a table for one of the children who passed away in Stoman Douglas: Gina Rose Montalto although I wasn't able to interview him for the package I was currently working on that man really stuck with me. He shared how his daughter loved working with Challenge Air and was only 14 years old which got me thinking, we talk about the person who has passed away but never the people still alive afterward. 

    I did a lot of research and that's when I found her. Sydney Aiello. A survivor of the tragic massacre who was so guilty of surviving she took her own life just a year afterward. I have already started doing a lot of research (if I'm being honest the second I started this project I really couldn't stop). So I honestly stalked a lottt of Instagram accounts and websites and photos and news articles and I found SO. MUCH. INFORMATION. Firstly I found out how Sydney was best friends with a girl named Meadow Pollack who was shot in Stoneman Douglas. Ever since then, she suffered from survival guilt and PTSD from what had happened. She tried to recover from this grief but it was just too much for her and she lost the fight the same way her best friend did. 

    This is a really heavy topic but I'm honestly so passionate and excited to see how this documentary comes out. 

    

    Until next time 

- Emma <3

Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection for "The Evolution of Cypress Bay"

• How did research inform your product and the way it uses or challenges conventions?
• How does your product engage with audiences?
• How does your product represent social groups/issues?

The documentary "The Evolution of Cypress Bay" focuses on a school that has changed heavily over the last 20 years. This includes themes of how technology has affected the classroom and how teachers must adapt to changes made in the educational system. 

When this documentary began, research played a vital role in the way this documentary was created and structured. By doing initial research with class documentaries, it was much easier to find meaning and create meaning in documentaries created by implementing lessons learned. In understanding key concepts of a documentary and seeing how for example American Promise (a documentary you can see more about here) created strong meaning in a school setting, this documentary was initiated with lots of inspiration henceforth making it more defined from the start. By watching many documentaries there were invaluable insights gained into the power of storytelling. This was shown in the importance of crafting a narrative, selecting visually pleasing shots, and conducting interesting and engaging interviews.

Initially creating this documentary began with research on particular conventions such as the ways in which this story was going to be told as well as the lens viewers should look through. One large debate that took place was whether or not younger teachers or students should've been involved in interviews. As you can see in the Pre-Production Blog Here this documentary featured only two interviews from two teachers who have been at Cypress Bay since its opening. While many arguments were raised of how having more interviews with possibly younger and more modern students/teachers could've elevated the piece ultimately the conclusion was that due to the want to showcase an evolution, using older teachers throughout the piece showed how they feel it has changed. By highlighting their experiences, we aimed to capture the essence of the school's transformation over time. This approach allowed us to delve into the challenges and triumphs that have shaped Cypress Bay. If I were to do this piece again however I could see how using younger individuals could've been a nice addition, especially in the technological segment of the documentary. 

 Research was integral in understanding how to conduct a documentary-style interview so that the interview style matched the way this documentary was being shown to the audience. For example, in understanding genre conventions, the decision was made to use indirect interviews rather than direct ones so the audience could hear the interviewee's perspective rather than the interviewer's questions. The choice of indirect interviews, rather than direct ones, allowed the documentary to have a more intimate and engaging viewing experience. By minimizing the presence of the interviewer, we shifted the focus to the voices of the teachers and their personal stories.

In addition to having well throughout and established research having a defined audience was also very important. This documentary's target audience is students or teachers who have either personally been affected by the change in the school system or have seen this change firsthand. Due to this target audience, b-roll was very important to facilitate the audience to feel a certain way throughout the piece. In having lots of footage within classrooms, the audience can see it firsthand and even relate to the way students do their work nowadays. The selection of B-roll footage showcased the school's physical transformation and student life, which in return added depth and context to the narrative. One thing I didn't include which I think could've related and made the target audience more engaged was music. I think adding music under certain segments of the doc could've pushed the content along in a smoother way. 

I also feel that indirect interviews can help the audience stay engaged for longer when the interviewee speaks in bite-sized chunks, and the content has the potential to flow nicely. Within the structure of the piece by utilizing indirect interviews the viewer can understand 

Technically speaking I feel as though this piece did not turn out exactly as I wanted, it felt like a lot of different concepts trying to be merged into one which at times does not translate correctly. However I think that the point does come across I just wish that this piece could've either been more focused on the change of Cypress Bay or how technology affects classrooms (this one would've definitely been stronger). 

The main social issue that is explored throughout this documentary are issues within our school system, such as technological advancements, and the changing demands of a high school teacher. By highlighting the experiences of teachers who have been at this school for over 20 years it also shows the dedication of teachers and the ways in which they have to evolve with changes made to our school system like the recent ban of technology (non-educational). 

Furthermore, the film touches upon the challenges and opportunities presented by technological advancements in education. It explores how technology has transformed teaching methods, student learning, and communication within the school. This was shown through visual and auditory elements that bring the piece together.

Group documentary production part 2...

 It continues... 

*Just an apology, unfortunately, earlier this day my dog passed away and I'm dealing with serious pain as I write this blog. I do not want this by any means to affect this post as I write to you however I feel a sense of pessimism as I write this. I'm sorry if that comes across in the way I am writing however I feel like it is best I address this sorrow and move on from it*

Back to happy Emma... Or at least I'll try! 

As production of my project came to an end the post-production started.. I was the main editor for this documentary so I knew I wanted to get right down to business and begin by sorting through all of the footage taken.

Footage Sorting 

So when I started to look at all my footage I saw that a lot of the interviews had to do with technology however we didn't take as much b roll of teenagers on technology so we had to adapt. I texted my partner to possibly develop some staged shots as well as see if there were any we could film at school to put into the piece. Also, whilst looking at the footage I was able to come up with where I wanted to put certain interview clips and bring our general structure to life. Sorting through footage didn't thankfully take too long so then I got to get into the real editing process..

Editing & Some Frustration...

So to be completely honest with you within the editing process came a lot of frustration. I am taking a lot of very hard classes this year and struggled to balance this documentary and my other classes causing me to feel really stressed and anxious about this project. Within the editing process, I started to create a general line edit of what interview clips went where and to figure out the general topic this doc was turning into. I think that with the burnout (if you will) I was feeling I really struggled to be happy with a product and honestly just ended with what I thought was best. I then went back into my sorted broll and began covering jump cuts with footage we had filmed. I tried my best to match said footage with what was being said at that time as well as include that teacher when they were speaking. 

Throughout this process, I also began slight color grading to fix shots that were not as cinematically sound as I would've liked them to be. This was also the time when I took into consideration what shots were more necessary than others and certain technical issues that could take away from the piece like shaky shots. 

I wanted to see about adding lower thirds and music, and I did add lower thirds however I didn't really like how they turned out. In context to the music, I felt very overwhelmed with the decision and ultimately decided that the product would be ok without it. I think that music could've added something to the piece however I struggled to find the correct music that fit with the piece overall. 

So.. If you'd like to see my final copy I'm going to link it here 

Final Documentary

I hope you enjoyed what I came up with. 

Until next time 

- Emma

Group Documentary Production Part 1..

 And so production began.. 

Of course, after research comes implementation. So when it came to this documentary the first thing we wanted to do was film some establishing shots of Cypress Bay as well as film our first interview...

Coach Ulman 

Our first interview was with Coach Ulman. Coach Ulman was the former football coach for CBHS and has been the robotics teacher here for almost 20 years. We knew that he had been here since the opening and experienced a lot of the changes in our school, especially being an elective teacher. We initially spoke to him about being interviewed, provided some of the questions we wanted to ask, and created a stronger relationship so that the interview went smoothly. So we knew that because of the topic and what we were really basing this documentary off of we wanted to interview him in his room. We set up a time and met up with him to film during one of his study hall periods and ask him numerous questions regarding Cypress Bay's Evolution. I was the person interviewing him and my partner Mahattee was behind the camera making sure all of our shots looked good. Honestly, he did a really good job answering these questions and kinda geared our piece to a more technological route (how cell phones/AI have affected the classroom). I do wish he would've talked a little bit more about how Cypress Bay has changed however I feel like that was more in the questions I asked than the way he answered the questions. After filming his interview we went around and filmed some b-roll of him teaching in class and the students. Then we were done with that first interview and got to go back and see what we had filmed :))

Yearbooks 

So we thought that a great way to implement old Cypress Bay would be to find the yearbooks and film b roll of them. Ironically however this was... very difficult to do. So we literally went on a wild goose chase around school looking for them. But uh- yeah let's see we went through the yearbook teacher, the front office, our Aice Media teachers collection, teachers who were students at the time, and luckily we found some in our library however we never came across the first copy. :(( I'm convinced it's lost forever, we did however create a heated discussion in the front office regarding the fact they don't have a copy! I digress we did find a few very old versions of the yearbook and so we took them back to class where we were able to film b roll and flip through pages to find important individuals like our two interviewees. We also managed to find our Aice Media teacher from 20 years ago which was also a fun little surprise! :) So once we were done filming the yearbooks and excess b roll we got back into the mindset of filming interviews and went to our next location.

Mrs. Hainsworth

The next person we were off to see was Mrs. Hainsworth who is an English teacher as well as a holocaust education teacher. She has been here from the beginning as well but interestingly enough she actually started in what was known as the Freshman Annex where freshmen were placed for the first few years at Cypress Bay. This was an interesting new perspective that unfortunately didn't make the final cut but all the importance of her development in this school was really interesting for us so we decided to schedule the interview. Unfortunately, Mahattee was unable to come film this interview with me so I was all alone which made it a little bit difficult but nonetheless I filmed with her and found that her interview was very well-spoken and progressive. After that Mahattee and I went back another day to film b roll of her teaching her Aice Global Perspectives class and get an inside look at her technological implementation in her classroom nowadays, a topic she discussed heavily in her interview. This was really great footage and at that point, we were done with most of the filming elements and were now ready to begin editing and final cuts of our documentary. (btw couldn't find a picture of her but you'll see her soon enough :))

Exiting, exiting work 

I have nothing else to say for now so.. 

Until Next time 

- Emma <3

Group Documentary Research

 Yeah... Even More Research 

So over the last few weeks, we worked on our group documentary. Our documentary project was to create  This process meant starting to research what topic we wanted to do, creating an outline, and then of course researching to find any information we needed in the production process. When researching for topics my partner Mahattee and I looked into a lot of different things. At first, we were interested in discussing pet shelters, we even looked into pet shelters in the area and how we could produce this documentary in 14 days. The thing is with only having two weeks to do this documentary and both of us having very busy schedules we didn't really feel as though we had the time to drive about 40 minutes to film. So, after having a conversation with my teacher and partner we decided to look into doing something related to how my high school has evolved over time. And what I mean by this is how not only the school has grown but how the students have changed. 

Research 

Knowing the topic made my partner and I happy but we knew we had a lot more research to do than just that. For example, we had a long conversation with our teacher (who's been at our school since it opened) about teachers who have been here that long, the way our school used to be run, and overall content we could discuss within this documentary. One thing we did juggle with the idea of is whether to interview students or younger teachers aside from teachers who have been here since the beginning. Eventually, we decided that the idea of just interviewing teachers who have been here since the beginning would be more evolutionary. I think that after finalizing the documentary, however, it might've added something nice once the future and current explanation of our school began. Another factor of research was going to discuss with said teachers their experience, ask for permission to interview them, and schedule the interviews. The two interviews that we set up were with Coach Ulman and Mrs. Hainsworth, and we were really excited to begin this project. 

Outline/Questions

The next step to having a successful documentary was creating a thorough outline and really planning out what it was we were doing. Essentially in creating this doc, we knew we needed to have good questions planned out, a list of b-roll to film, and more content that could help form the piece better. When composing the questions we wanted to ask things that were very open-ended. As you can see this is what the finalized outline looked and questions/b-roll looked like:

Researching other information

Lastly, before beginning in the production we needed to research the evolution of our school in order to effectively understand and inquire on this topic. We started by investigating how to find old yearbooks and see how our school used to be. Next, we listed out all the teachers who have been here since the beginning and had conversations with a few of them about changes in our school. Lastly, we researched in finding construction videos/pictures from the beginning till now so we can really see a change in the school system. Research was really important to us in these stages and we were very thorough in pre-production for this documentary.

So in the next post I'll be discussing all the production techniques and ideas but that's about all I have to say for today 

Until next time - 

Emma <3

Documentary Research Part 1

 And so it begins... 

So as I briefly mentioned in my last blog post we have begun documentaries in Aice Media. And creating documentaries or beginning to understand how to produce one comes with a lot of excess research. Mrs. Stocklosa, my aice media teacher exposed my class to many different impactful documentaries to show us not only different narratives and techniques but the proper way a documentary can be planned, shot, and edited. 

The first documentary I watched in class was one called American Promise by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson. This story showcases two black students who get put into a prestigious Dalton school where they not only face academic struggles but also get stereotyped for the color of their skin. It is truly such an incredible documentary and taught me a lot of different techniques that can be used when filming something such as this. For example, when Saun and Idris were little kids (as this was shot from their Kindergarten year until their Senior year) the interviews were direct interviews as the boys may not have known how to thoroughly answer the questions. This was something I never really thought of doing and thought it was very clever to utilize this type of interviewing when the maturity of the interviewee needs to match the type of questions being asked. Also, the candid b-roll used was well done and showed me how even with shaky shots they can be thought of as purposeful so long as they allow the meaning to develop throughout the piece. 

The next documentary I watched was called Exit Through The Gift Shop by Banksy. This documentary focused on the rise and exploitation of the street art genre. Without giving too much away from this piece it was truly shown how much time they put into this piece. For example, in one of the shots you can see the almost 10,000 hours of raw footage that they had to go through in the creation of this documentary. I especially in this piece liked how real the b-roll shot going up close and personal with the artists and getting to see their stories portrayed individually throughout the piece. One thing that was interesting to me was the use of first-hand interviews - meaning that Banksy the director was one of the major interviews throughout the piece. 

Aside from the two major documentaries that we watched, we also were exposed to many Op Docs from the New York Times Website. This showed us shorter more concise documentaries that were submitted by anyone who wished to submit them. For example, some were student-made documentaries and some were more professionally made meaning by adults. 

All of this research in watching documentaries also allowed us to submit assignments where we answered questions discussing techniques and ways in which each documentary developed meaning. For me, I felt like this helped me to keep in mind ways in which to create in own documentary. 

Also, after all our viewings of these documentaries, we got a chance to discuss with our fellow classmates which was a really nice way to enrich my thoughts on these documentaries. For example, after watching "Exit Through the Gift Shop" by Banksy we had an entire conversation about the way in which they recorded broll as well as the shift in documentary style. This allowed me to understand ways to make my own creative vision as well and I'm really glad that I developed my education in documentaries so much over the past month. 

But yeah that's all for part one of my research for documentaries...

Until Next time 

- Emma <3

Guess who's back

 I'm back!!!

I'm now officially in Aice Media A level and am so excited to continue this blog. A lot has happened over the last few months and I hope that helps to enrich my blog even further. So I just wanted to do a little update about my life before we get back to all the media blogs and even talk about the documentary project I was assigned. 

    My time after AS level & Summer...

So essentially after my film opening was submitted for AS level I was feeling a little bit sad about the process being over. + To be completely honest I kinda missed the blog posting. But nonetheless I kept myself so busy this summer that I wish I could've updated you so I'll do a little speed run. So I'm a senior this year which means college applications so I spent a lot of time this summer researching and visiting possible colleges. I got the chance to see what programs colleges have to offer for critical media and communications and even share some of the curricula I learned from Aice Media AS level. Also, getting to share my film opening with others was such a cool and eye-opening experience to get others' perspectives and opinions on the work I had created. Aside from that, I got to learn a lot from my peers in doing small projects over the summer to just really keep my craft going and maintain my creativity. 

Senior Year So Far...

Now that school has started though, and I'm almost halfway through the year, I have experienced a fun yet stressful time. All of my college applications are officially submitted and I have done a lot of fun projects in Aice Media A level as well as television production. It is officially practice season for a TV Production competition held at the end of February so life is getting a bit busy again but I'm honestly really excited for it all. 

What I'm Doing Currently...

Currently, in Aice Media, we have been heavily focused on documentary and understanding techniques etc. Being someone who loves journalism and telling others stories this has really been an enriching and eye-opening experience and I'm so excited to continue this learning for the rest of this school year. 

That is basically it for me for right now so...

Until Next Time 

- Emma <3

Critical Creative Reflection

 CCR

Here is the link to my digital manual presentation for the first part of my CCR and this is the second link to my podcast which is the second part of my CCR.

Hope you enjoy :)))))

Film Opening  

SO. SO. SO. GOOD 

Here is the link to my film opening "Passing Bye"

Reflection on my film opening

Soo... What went right and what went wrong?

It is the end of this journey with my film opening and I just want to keep this as short and simple as possible but there's so much to say about this project. Over this journey, I learned so much about how to produce a film and how to deal with the struggles of an experience in media. It was definitely a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

 
At the start of my project, I already had an idea of what I wanted to do. I wanted to make this project something very specific I don't really know why but I just really wanted to have this storyline. The girl who loses her mother at a young age and just being that support system for people going through it. I really wanted to take a risk in also doing a drama scene which can typically be hard to do and I'll be really honest with you, I honestly thought my film opening was going to be terrible. At the end of the day, it was my film, my creation, and it needed to be something that I liked, and I enjoyed making but also felt proud of.

After my planning, filming, and editing, I would like to say I'm proud of what I made and think everything went pretty smoothly. I'm getting ready to post my film opening and CCR which showcase a little bit more of what went right and wrong.

You'll see the CCR and opening so soon :))

- Emma

Editing/FINISHED????

 EDITING IS DONE...

    So, it's Saturday my film is due on Tuesday and I literally worked all day editing. I realize now I probably should've filmed a little sooner it was just hard due to my cast only being here this week. But besides that today was a day of editing as well as critiques from other individuals. I'm going to include some text messages that were sent to me that were giving me notes to fix in my work and honestly, I think the film is pretty much done. Editing today consisted of using Premiere Pro for editing the line and using Photoshop for all graphics/titles. The main critiques I got were easy fixes so it was great that I had that line of correction when submitting this it was my best potential. 

    I was struggling at first to figure out a title color/font but once I figured it out it kind of fit perfectly in place. I really loved the use of coloring in my filming process and got a lot of compliments on it in post-production when I was doing a little bit of color correction. I think the coloring really added to the underlying purpose of portraying the emotional change/development in Gabby once her mom passes. 

    Another issue I slightly had was the music. I wanted to include the song "Coats" by Independence and I did but I had to lower the audio when Gabby spoke on the phone with her dad so you could hear her clearly. 

    But on the happier side of things... THE EDITING IS DONE??? Sooooo next post get ready for the big reveal. I'm truly so proud of how far I've come in this opening and I can't wait to show you what I created 

Big reveal in t-2 days :))

- Emma