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