WRD Documentary

             

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJhcUYjWqKE&feature=youtu.be

   Reflection Essay: I chose to do my documentary on twitter and how people get their news through twitter because I have a personal connection. I have realized now that I’m in college I don’t have time to sit down and watch the news regularly. I tend to get on twitter anyway so looking through my twitter-feed everyone tweets about news that is going around all over the world. Through the many different people I follow, I still will be clued into the world just through twitter and everyone talking about what’s going on all around us. I also follow random different things and people that tend to post about all the latest events. Also being that I go to UK and basketball is such a huge thing, whenever there is a UK game on and you get on twitter that is all you will ever see when scrolling through you twitter-feed.

 The argument I was making was that most college and high school students spend quite a bit of time on twitter and while looking through their news feed they can get national news from all over, for example recently, as you can see in my video, they talk about how they found out who won the presidential election and also all kind of info with Hurricane Sandy. In my documentary I talked to five different people and asked them “What do you use twitter for?” and “How do you stay up-to-date with the news?”  For the most part they all answer that they use twitter to stay in touch with friends and keep up with people from back home.  Also they said that most of the people that they follow tweet about current events that are happening in the world, and that is how they stay up-to-date with news.

If I did have another month to work on my documentary I could further improve the quality of my project. I found it was difficult to find people willing to be interviewed and videotaped and also willing to care enough to give quality answers. If I had more time I would be able to find more people and they would be able to give their opinion on how they stay connected to the news through twitter. Some problems that came about were because  I’m not too tech savvy with some of the movie programs, so trying to perfect sound and videotaping qualities were somewhat challenging . When taping people, the interviewees talked at different levels so making them all sound the same was a bit challenging; Also finding music that would work well with the music was another challenging aspect.

 Overall I’m pretty happy with the overall product of my final video, I think in the time I had and the small obstacles I faced, with trying to get willing interviewees and dealing with technical difficulties, I created a solid documentary. I also really enjoyed this project, it allowed me to expand on something that affected and interested me. I enjoyed using modern technology and social media to transform my interests into a documentary.

Shooting Script/ Schedule

For my documentary, I plan on interviewing many different college students and get their take on how/if they get their news through twitter. I will interview some of my friends and sister that are in college.  I haven’t quite decided yet if I will interview my younger sister and compare to how she get news through twitter. Also, I want to try and get a shot of people on their computers and phone on twitter. I will ask them questions about recent news and see how they found out, for example, the election, hurricane Sandy, technology advances, etc.

I want to do the majority of my shooting early this coming week, then the following I will start adding narration and music to my documentary, so I can have time to edit and get more interviews if needed.   I plan on asking each of the people I’m interviewing the following question: How often do you watch the news and/or read the newspaper? How much of your day do you spend on twitter? How much global or national news do you find out through twitter? I also want to see how people do get info from twitter, is it just on their newsfeed and they stumble upon it? Or are they going and hunting for this info? These questions are just to keep the interview going but I don’t want to just be asking question after question. I want it to flow like an actual conversation. 

Final Draft of Proposal for Documentary

What: For my documentary I am going to see how people use twitter to get their news from the outside world. Since our generation has grown up with a new sense for technology, we spend a good amount of our time on social media sites. Now that most of us are so busy with school and college in general, we don’t have time to sit around watching the news or reading the local newspaper. Since we are all, already spending a good amount of our time on twitter and with how much people post about major events or things that are happening in the world, it is easy to find out the majority of major news just through twitter. Thesis: Twitter is a college student’s revenue for news.  I also plan on asking the following questions to different college students: How often do you watch the news and/or read the newspaper? How much of your day do you spend on twitter? How much global or national news do you find out through twitter? I also want to see how people do get info from twitter, is it just on their newsfeed and they stumble upon it? Or are they going and hunting for this info?

Who: My audience will be busy college students at UK that have very hectic schedules will little free time. Maybe try to get students who are involved in lots of different clubs or organization, who don’t have much extra time on their hands. I want to see how much time (if any) college students have to get informed about events happening all over the world.

Why: If possible I want to see how many college aged students follow big news stations. For example, locally I am going to look at LEX18 News and nationally CNN and ABC News. I want to see if college age students are getting there info from these twitter pages or just from their friend’s tweets or retweets.

Where: I plan on getting some shots in the dorm room and various sites around campus of people on twitter. I might possibly have a shot in the library or student center of people on twitter, or just walking to class

When: I plan on shooting some shots in the next few weeks, depending on when I have time and can get interviews from different people.

How: I also want to see how people get connected through other things through twitter. It seems that almost all large companies or organizations have twitter pages. So it would be interesting to see who and what kinds of people follow some of these group. Most businesses, from small locally to huge nationally, have twitter accounts and use them to connect to their customer through twitter. Since most everyone of the younger generation is on twitter, it is an easy way to connect with them and get their attention.

Proposal for Documentary

For my documentary I am going to see how people use twitter to get their news from the outside world. Since our generation has grown up with a new sense for technology, we spend a good amount of our time on social media sites. Now that most of us are so busy with school and college in general, we don’t have time to sit around watching the news or reading the local newspaper. Since we are all already spend a good amount of our time on twitter, and with how much people post about major events or things that are happening in the world, it is easy to find out the majority of major news just through twitter.

My audience will be busy college kids that have very hectic schedules will little free time. Maybe try to get students who are involved in lots of different clubs or organization, who don’t have much extra time on their hands. I want to see how much time (if any) college students have to get informed about events happening all over the world.

If possible I want to see how many college aged people follow big news stations. For example, locally I am going to look at LEX18 News and nationally CNN and ABC News. I want to see if college age kids are getting there info from these twitter pages or just from their friend’s tweets or retweets.

I plan on getting some shots in the dorm room and various sites around campus of people on twitter. I might possibly have a shot in the library or student center of people on twitter, or just walking to class. I also plan on asking the following questions to different college students: How often do you watch the news and/or read the newspaper? How much of your day do you spend on twitter? How much global or national news do you find out through twitter? I also want to see how people do get info from twitter, is it just on their newsfeed and they stumble upon it? Or are they going and hunting for this info?

I also want to see how people get connected through other things through twitter. It seems that almost all large companies or organizations have twitter pages. So it would be interesting to see who and what kinds of people follow some of these group. Most businesses, from small locally to huge nationally, have twitter accounts and use them to connect to their customer through twitter. Since most everyone of the younger generation is on twitter, it is an easy way to connect with them and get their attention.

Dark Days Documentary

                After watching the documentary, “Dark Days,” I have a new light on the subject of homeless people. Compared to the other documentaries we have watched in class, I actually enjoyed the length because it gave time for each of the characters to develop their story and the audience was able to connect with them more. Unlike the other documentaries it gave the audience time to fully understand each character and it wasn’t just cut off with unanswered questions.

 It was very interesting to hear each of their stories and see how they each became homeless. It’s crazy to think that more than 80% of them were crack addicts. Many had husbands or wives that had kicked them out of their home. Many of the characters also had children that they left, or never got to meet because they had been in jail. One man explains that he was in jail when his daughter was born, and then was released, but by the time she left the hospital, he was back in jail. When his daughter was 5 years old, she was raped, her arm and leg were cut off and she was badly burned. My heart just breaks for these children that have no control over their parents and the environment that they are brought into the world in. These homeless people have created their own community together. Many of them have been living in the tunnel for years. So when the police came and ordered them to leave, they had nowhere to go. They had been living there so long, that that was home to them, and they didn’t know anything else.

I noticed that when the director would be filming the documentary and a train would pass he didn’t cut that out. He left if to remind the audience of where these homeless people were living and that it was literally right next to an active train track. He also added some shots of the rats that lived amongst the homeless people. These different shots add a lot to the film. The many different kinds of shots that the director uses, makes the film more interesting. If there were just shots of the different characters being interviewed or occasionally in their home, it would get boring and just repetitive. But adding all of the shots of the train, and different shots of their community down there, gives the audience the ability to experience it and fully understand what they are going through.

This film was shot in black and white to add to effect to the documentary. If it was done in color, I feel it would change the whole mood; it feeds off of the title, “Dark Days.” The black and white coloring gives it a depressing and gloomy feeling. It adds to the darkness of living in the tunnel with the rats and disease that goes along with it. Music also adds a lot to this film. At the end when they are all tearing down their homes, music adds more emphasis of the fact that they are moving on with their life and they have a new beginning.