Documentary Project: Last Day!

• Please complete your documentary projects. You should plan to have these completed by the time you return from Memorial Day break. 
• Please write a review of Chew On This on your blog. In your review, you should hook the reader's attention, detail the major points, chapters, or information presented in the book, and evaluate the book by describing your reaction to the book. How has the book changed you? What issues are important or relevant in the book? How does the writing draw you in and make you want to read more? What criticisms or complaints do you have? Use TEXTUAL EVIDENCE from the book to support your opinions. Your review is due by May 27.

If you finish your project or assignment early, you are free to write anything you'd like: poetry, fiction, non-fiction, a script, etc.

HOMEWORK: None.

Documentary Project; Day 5

• Please continue to complete your documentary projects. You should plan to have these completed by the time you return from Memorial Day break. 
• If you have finished Chew on This (see previous post's homework), you may write a review of the book on your blog. In your review, you should hook the reader's attention, detail the major points, chapters, or information presented in the book, and evaluate the book by describing your reaction to the book. How has the book changed you? What issues are important or relevant in the book? How does the writing draw you in and make you want to read more? What criticisms or complaints do you have? Use TEXTUAL EVIDENCE from the book to support your opinions. Your review is due by May 27.

If you finish your project or assignment early, you are free to write anything you'd like: poetry, fiction, non-fiction, a script, etc.

HOMEWORK: None. You should have completed Chew on This. Be prepared to write about the book next class on your blog if you did not do this during class today.

Documentary Project: Day 4

Please complete the following steps today in the lab:

1. Upload your film footage. If you don't have film footage by now, you should aim to bring some by Monday's class! While you're waiting you can create your end credits and beginning titles. Get workin!

2. Continue pulling stock footage from the internet: jpgs or picture files that correspond or go with your subject. Use these images to help underscore main ideas and points in your film.

3. If you filmed any footage, please upload your MP4 file to iMovie. If you are using a camera that does not save your video footage as an MP4 file, you will need to covert it.

Uploading film footage:

iMovie only recognizes MP4 files. Which means if your camera or recording device does not use this format, you will need to convert the file to an MP4. To do that, use this online converter. It's free and simple, but does require an extra step. Once you convert the file, save it to your own desktop folder for your film project(s).

Online Converter

Keep Vid: This program will allow you to convert online movie files into mp4's that you can use.

If you need to sign out a camera (you can always use your own equipment (phones, cameras, etc.), see me or Ms. Gamzon to do this. Cameras can be picked up at the END of the day (end of 9th period) in room 239. Please return cameras BEFORE school on the following day (whether or not you used the camera).

Please Note: ALL CAMERAS MUST BE TURNED IN TO MS. GAMZON OR MR. CRADDOCK THE FOLLOWING DAY! We have several classes borrowing this equipment. You are entirely responsible for keeping the equipment in good condition. If you break a camera, you've bought it and your parents will have to replace the camera. This has never happened (and I don't expect it to). Guard this equipment and treat it nicely!

4. Once you upload your footage, you can begin to edit it. Use your time in the lab to work on your film projects! 

5. If you have nothing left to work on today, please read chapter 8-9 ("Your Way" and "Afterward") of Chew on This. This should complete the book! If you are behind in reading, please catch up. 

HOMEWORK: Continue contacting people to interview or plan to shoot your footage. Each day bring in some footage you shot so you can begin editing it. Complete Chew on This.

Documentary Project: Day 3

Please complete the following steps today in the lab:

1. If you did not turn in your interview questions or 1-page voice over script to my inbox, please do so now.  

2. Begin pulling stock footage from the internet: jpgs or picture files that correspond or go with your subject. 

3. If you filmed any footage over the weekend, please upload your MP4 file to Youtube. If you are using a camera that does not save your video footage as an MP4 file, you will need to covert it.

Uploading film footage:

iMovie only recognizes MP4 files. Which means if your camera or recording device does not use this format, you will need to convert the file to an MP4. To do that, use this online converter. It's free and simple, but does require an extra step. Once you convert the file, save it to your own desktop folder for your film project(s).

Online Converter

If you need to sign out a camera (you can always use your own equipment (phones, cameras, etc.), see Ms. Gamzon to do this. Cameras can be picked up at the END of the day (end of 9th period) in room 239. Please return cameras BEFORE school on the following day (whether or not you used the camera).

Please Note: ALL CAMERAS MUST BE TURNED IN TO MS. GAMZON OR MR. CRADDOCK THE FOLLOWING DAY! We have several classes borrowing this equipment. You are entirely responsible for keeping the equipment in good condition. If you break a camera, you've bought it and your parents will have to replace the camera. This has never happened (and I don't expect it to). Guard this equipment and treat it nicely!

4. Once you upload your footage, you can begin to edit it. Use your time in the lab to work on your film projects! 

5. If you have nothing left to work on today, please read chapter 7 ("Fries") of Chew on This. You had homework that was supposed to be turned in last class. Please turn that in if you didn't already. 

HOMEWORK: Feel free to continue contacting people to interview or plan to shoot your footage. Each day bring in some footage you shot so you can begin editing it. 

Documentary Project: Day 2

Today in the lab, please complete the following tasks:

1. Research your topic. Remember to record where you are taking your information from!

2. Write your voice-over script or 1 page of questions to ask interviewees for your documentary. Turn this in by the end of class today. Note: A Voice over script should include the information you found out about from your research and should be about half a page to a full page of text.

3. Begin pulling stock footage from the internet: jpgs or picture files that correspond or go with your subject.

4. If you are ready to film and can interview subjects this weekend, you can use your own equipment (phones, cameras, etc.) or you may sign out 1 of the 4 cameras we have available. Today, see Ms. Gamzon to do this. Cameras can be picked up at the END of the day (end of 9th period) in room 239. Please return cameras BEFORE school on the following day (whether or not you used the camera).

Please Note: ALL CAMERAS MUST BE TURNED IN TO MS. GAMZON OR MR. CRADDOCK THE FOLLOWING DAY! We have several classes borrowing this equipment. You are entirely responsible for keeping the equipment in good condition. If you break a camera, you've bought it and your parents will have to replace the camera. This has never happened (and I don't expect it to). Guard this equipment and treat it nicely!

5. Read. If you did not finish the reading homework (chapters 4-5 of Chew on This) spend some time in the lab to get caught up. See homework below!

HOMEWORK: Feel free to begin contacting people to interview. You may begin shooting as well, depending on your topic. Please read chapter 6 of Chew on This.

Documentary Project: Day 1

After our quiz on documentary styles, please get together in your project groups (you may work alone or with up to 2 other people).

Today, please complete the following tasks in the lab:

Research your chosen topic. It is likely you have to uncover some basic details and information about your subject matter. Use the class period today to do that. Just like your previous research assignments, record any citations. You will need to give credit in your film for any quotes or materials you use that are not yours. Take notes on facts, statistics, definitions, or other information that will help you tell your story. Members of the group should record this information in journals or as a file everyone has access to (in case of absences). I suggest Google Documents or https://docs.google.com

After you have researched your topic a bit, you should decide what KIND of documentary you intend to make. You have various options. Pick one of the five types from the posts below. If you are going to begin interviewing, work together to write a few questions you will ask all of your interviewees. If you are done currently with research, use the rest of the lab time to begin writing a VOICE OVER script. Remember that, just like in fiction, speech writing, or poetry, you want to HOOK our attention.

Use your time in the lab today to progress on your project. Before the end of class, talk with your partner(s) and find out when they are available to work together (do you have a lunch period together, or can you meet after school? What days are good to meet each other in general? Can you work together outside of class?) Find out what your group members schedules are. This will make the filming process easier. If you are working alone, you don't have to worry about coordinating schedules with other students or partners--but you will have to schedule interviews or shooting sessions.

By the end of class you should:

1. Have selected a group or plan to work alone.
2. Chosen a topic for your documentary. You may use your previous brainstorming to select an idea that you want to pursue.
3. Researched your topic. Find pictures, facts, statistics, footage, information, etc. about your chosen topic. Take notes in your journal. Share your notes with each other.
4. Chosen the type of documentary style you want to make.
5. Share your working schedule with other members of the group. You may wish to share files (Google docs) or phone #'s as well. 

If you've completed steps 1-5, please move on to #6, if there's still time in the lab: 

6. Begin writing a voice-over script for your film based on your research. Write interview questions for your interviews. Update your works cited page.  

HOMEWORK: Feel free to begin contacting people to interview. You may begin shooting stock footage as well, depending on your topic. Please read chapters 4-5 of Chew on This.

Documentary Project

This morning, please watch the rest of Bowling for Columbine. When you are finished, please complete the following two tasks:

1. Post your response to the film to your blog. What did you think of the film? Would you recommend it? What did you learn about documentaries from watching this film? What do you think about the topic? Explore your own reaction to the film: what did you like, dislike, find interesting, find troubling, etc. Response.

2. After completing your response, working in groups of 1-3 please gather together or alone to come up with an idea for your own documentary. Follow the steps and watch the model student films below for ideas.

Sample of previous SOTA creative writing documentaries:

• On the Rail by Austen Hammond (10th grader)
• Post Mortem (2011 winner of the High Falls Film Festival Young Filmmaker's Award) 
• Travel Bowling by Jack Scardino (2010)
• Kadisha Philips: The Nicki Syndrome (2010) & Teen Point of View: Teens Around the World (2010)
• Another student film (Interactive Documentary style): One Girl At a Time (Kyle Cox--not a SOTA student...)

Research your chosen topic. It is likely you have to uncover some basic details and information about your subject matter. Use the class period today to do that. Just like your previous research assignments, record any citations. You will need to give credit in your film for any quotes or materials you use that are not yours. Take notes on facts, statistics, definitions, or other information that will help you tell your story.

After you have researched your topic a bit, you should decide what KIND of documentary you intend to make. You have various options. Pick one of the five types from above. If you are going to begin interviewing, write a few questions you will ask all of your interviewees. If you are done currently with research, use the rest of the lab time to begin writing a VOICE OVER script. Remember that, just like in fiction, speech writing, or poetry, you want to HOOK our attention.

Use your time in the lab today to begin preparing and planning your film.

During the last 10 or 5 minutes of the class we will be taking a quiz on documentary styles, journalism vocabulary, and chapters 1-3 of Chew on This from your notes and reading.

HOMEWORK: Please read chapters 4-5 of Chew on This.

Documentary Project Prep; Styles of Documentaries

All documentaries have similar basic principals and/or qualities:
1. The events depicted in the film are unstaged; the events exist above and beyond the diegesis (the film world) or the act of filming them. The unstaged nature of the events suggest that the events or subjects have an existence independent of the cinema, thus granting them an air of authenticity or "realism".

2. Documentaries are understood to be non-fiction films. The world or diegesis of what appears on screen is considered real, not imaginary (as in fiction films).

3. It is often assumed that the documentary film maker observes, recording events or subject matter objectively. This is, of course, an untrue or uninformed statement.

There are Five different TYPES of documentary:

A. Expository documentary: the film maker's commentary acts as the "voice-of-God", often giving information or perspectives external to the filmed world in order to "see the world afresh, even if the world seems romantic (idealized) and/or didactic. Here's an example: the Last Lions (2011)

B. Observational documentary: The film maker records events depicted in the film unobtrusively, without intervention from the film-maker, capturing "real life" without commentary, intertitles, or interviews. The documentary type depicts a "slice of life" or direct representation without comment or subjectivity of the film maker. The film maker is completely invisible and/or uninvolved. the French film: Etre et Avoir about elementary schools in France.

C. Interactive documentary: The filmmaker's perspective and opinion is more evident. Interview styles allow the film maker to participate actively in presenting of events. It is sort of the opposite of the observational documentary. Sometimes the film maker him/herself is present in the film, asking questions or juxtaposing their opinion with others. Unlike expository documentaries, the film maker is present instead of a disembodied voice of authority (god).

Roger & Me (1989) but also Bowling For Columbine
Capitalism a Love Story (2009)

D. Reflexive documentary: Going one step further from interactive documentary, the film maker of reflexive documentary does not attempt to hide the convention of film making. You know you are "watching a film" about "making a film." While documentaries are usually considered realistic, the camera work in a reflexive documentary are much more similar to formalism (the opposite style to realism). Example "Man with a Movie Camera" (1928)

E. Performative documentary: Going beyond the reflexive documentary, the performative documentary seeks to evoke mood or atmosphere traditionally found in fiction films. It can be downright avant garde and formalistic. Its purpose is more metaphorical than literal.

One of the most famous performative documentaries is Koyaanisqatsi. Here's a clip.

Sample of previous SOTA creative writing documentaries:

• On the Rail by Austen Hammond (10th grader)
• Post Mortem (2011 winner of the High Falls Film Festival Young Filmmaker's Award) 
• Kadisha Philips: The Nicki Syndrome (2010) & Teen Point of View: Teens Around the World (2010)
• Another student film (Interactive Documentary style): One Girl At a Time (Kyle Cox--not a SOTA student...)

Research your chosen topic. It is likely you have to uncover some basic details and information about your subject matter. Use the class period today to do that. Just like your previous research assignments, record any citations. You will need to give credit in your film for any quotes or materials you use that are not yours. Take notes on facts, statistics, definitions, or other information that will help you tell your story.

After you have researched your topic a bit, you should decide what KIND of documentary you intend to make. You have various options. Pick one of the five types from above. If you are going to begin interviewing, write a few questions you will ask all of your interviewees. If you are done currently with research, use the rest of the lab time to begin writing a VOICE OVER script. Remember that, just like in fiction, speech writing, or poetry, you want to HOOK our attention.

Use your time in the lab today to begin preparing and planning your film.

HOMEWORK: Please read pages 37-91. There will be a quiz that also covers journalism terms (see post below) and documentaries. 

Documentary: Bowling For Columbine

Today, we'll start with a little brainstorming:

• What are some key issues in American culture that you feel are relevant or important?

One category of realistic film (often connected to journalism) is the documentary film. An aspect of reality captured on film to create a historical record of the times we live in, documentary film is one of the oldest and most significant styles of filmmaking.

If we divide cinema into real and fiction, Documentary is the most realistic film style.

Narrative in film, while attempting to be realistic, usually includes camera shots and angles that are most unnatural. Editing also plays an important role in film, as the pacing, the content, and how the film is presented to us and in what order, can influence or manipulate our emotions as viewers. When this happens, we call this formalistic.

Originally, documentary films started off as just "home movies" or simple scenes of ordinary life (without actors or scripts). They were capturing real life on film for the purpose of sharing reality with its audience.

Here's a famous example of one of the first films: The Arrival of a Train (1897)

Filmmakers today use documentary to "document" important social, political, and popular cultural events. An example:

Survivors by Errol Morris

What sort of topics might you come up with if you were going to make a documentary? Make a list of topics that you can think of that would make a good or interesting documentary.

Take some time to discuss this with your small group. Add ideas to your list.

After our class discussions, we will screen the documentary film: Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine (2002).

HOMEWORK: Please read the introduction and chapter one of Chew on This (1-36). On YOUR blog, please respond to the first chapter by reflecting on your experience with fast food. Did your family allow you to eat fast food regularly? Do you sit down every evening to a home cooked meal? Examine your family's feeding routine and write about it. Add any details from the chapter that you thought were interesting to comment on.

Newsletter Project: Final Day

Please complete the following this morning in the lab:

1. Your newsletter/magazine project is due today. Instead of printing your file, please send it to my email address: bradley.craddock@rcsdk12.org as an attachment and I will print it out for your group.

2. For homework last class, I asked you to read one of the articles or websites from one of these websites on journalism:

• http://www.layouth.com (the sample articles are found in the ARCHIVES)

• http://www.reporter.org

• basic-journalism-websites

Please POST A LINK TO THE ARTICLE you read on your BLOG, summarize the article in 3-5 sentences and add a reflective review of what you personally learned about journalism through the article or from reviewing the web site you chose on your blog post.

HOMEWORK: None. The end of the Marking Period is coming up (May 9). Please turn in any missing work!

Newsletter: Day 2

Last class we chose a partner and began to create a newsletter (2 sided) where you completed the following:

• 1. Decide on the kind of newsletter/magazine you would like to work on with your partner. 
• 2. Brainstorm some names for the magazine/newsletter. Titles usually help a prospective reader find and identify the kind of magazine he/she would like to read.
• 3. Brainstorm some potential article ideas. 
• 4. Create headlines for your article ideas. These should be short and intriguing titles. Be creative!
• 5. If you have brainstormed at least 5 story ideas and titles, you may begin writing the articles. Make up details or conduct research as you see fit, but above all: be detailed and creative! 

Most newspaper articles interview or have short quotes from participants. Newspaper articles answer: who, what, where, when, how, and why? about a particular event.

Now it's time to start writing your articles. You will need to complete 2-pages of articles (you may include pictures or fake advertisements in your "magazine". Each partner should write enough articles on topics you brainstormed with your partner to fill 2-pages (a back and a front). Taken together, you will be creating a 4-page magazine. You may choose, if you'd like (for extra credit) to write a 6-page newsletter--some of you are capable of this kind of length. Decide on your length as a team.

Learn this JOURNALISM vocabulary:

Headlines: the attention grabbing title of an article
Masthead: the name of the newspaper/magazine (usually designed, but doesn't change); Also includes the publishing staff information (who is on staff, who the editor is, etc.); usually appears on the first page of the magazine/newspaper or editorial page.

Article: a specific story/narrative/non-fiction writing about a specific topic
Body: refers to the text of an article
Hook: Every article starts off with an attention grabbing sentence.

Some ideas for articles:

• Interview a parent, neighbor, or student and write out the interview as if you were a reporter. See this link for ideas how to set up and conduct an interview.
• Film/Book/Theater Review: watch a film, read a book, go see a theater or musical production and review the event. Review a book you read this year either for pleasure or for English class. 
• How-to articles: many magazines have articles that focus on how to do something. Usually these articles have good advice.

Please check out these links: 

WEBSITES to gain more ideas for writing projects:

http://www.layouth.com

http://www.reporter.org

A variety of journalism websites: basic-journalism-websites

HELP/ADVICE WRITING ARTICLES:

If you need HELP writing journalism articles, check this website out for advice!

To add or delete pages, select add or remove pages from the INSERT menu. 

HOMEWORK: Choose one link from the journalism website(s) posted above. Read and research this site. Be prepared to share this link with the class.