What is all of this?
This is my garbage documentary webpage. In this project we had to complete a research paper, audio documentary, photo project book, and this web site. The unit required that we conduct interviews with people and provide primary and secondary research in order to explore our topic. I had a partner on this topic, and a link to his web site is provided here.
Research Paper
My research paper was broken into two parts. The first part of the paper was focused on how trash is treated and what happens to it once it leaves the home. For this I traveled to the SMaRT (Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer) Station and learned about how the trash sent there was sorted through and recycled.
The second part was focused on people's attitudes of trash, in which I interviewed some people and heard their feelings on garbage and the amount of waste produced in general.
Audio Documentary
Basically the Audio Documentary is my Research Paper. I consider it better though, because in the audio documentary you actually get to hear the interviewers, and I think that really makes a difference. Being able to hear the inflection and tone of the interviewee just makes the documentary more powerful.
The structure of the documentary is a narrative one, as it follows my process in researching the project, much like my research paper. Like the paper, its focus is divided into the two parts described above.
The really difficult part of the audio documentary was actually conducting the interviews. For me, I had to approach random people on the street and hold a microphone in their face, hoping they would answer my questions. That was hard for me, because it's just kind of scary to approach people you don't know. Also, a lot of people wouldn't talk to me, so it was easy to get discouraged.
Photo Documentary
The photo documentary was probably the most exciting part of this project. Our goal was to put together a photo book for our project. To accomplish this, I split my book up into three parts: The Receptacles, The Treatment, and The Dump. This way, I'd have photos of the trash's whole "journey" after it leaves the home .
But Why Garbage??
I chose to use garbage as my documentary subject partly out of desperation and partly out of genuine interest. I really wanted to know what happens to our garbage and how we could potentially cut down on the pollution and issues created by it, but I didn't necessarily want to do a whole school project on it. I settled on garbage though, for lack of a better idea, and I'm actually really glad that I did. I've learned a lot about the process of garbage treatment through this project, and it's changed my attitude towards people and their waste.