INTRODUCTION
For the documentary unit, students were instructed to explore real-life stories, events, and phenomena through interactions with real people. This was done through a series of recorded interviews conducted by students using audio recorders, cameras, etc., across all three classes. The two main projects for this unit are the Documentary Project in English and the Documentary Video for Film. In order to complete these assignments, students go out into the community and interact with different places and individuals in order to capture a story.
DIGITAL MEDIA CLASS PRODUCTION
For English and Digital Media, I worked on a project surrounding the Ethnic Studies curriculum at Mountain View High School. I then worked on InDesign to create a template for my magazine article to put my story into the Freestyle magazine.
ENGLISH PAPER
For my English Class, I wrote a research paper that was later turned into the magazine article seen above. I interviewed two Ethnic Studies teachers and several former students of the program and went over the past, present, and future of the program at MVHS.
FILM
For my Mockumentary, I recruited students from my film class and the next-door Design class to have a pretend battle over which was the better elective. This project taught me basic documentary skills, and I learned how to successfully capture and edit interviews and B-roll.
For film, I made a documentary about the Homeless Garden Project, a nonprofit in Santa Cruz that provides job training and shelter for homeless individuals.
My interviewees and their roles:
REFLECTION
My Documentary Unit taught me a lot about how to approach people. I really had to think about how to consider their individual perspectives and how they interlink within a larger but still cohesive narrative. I had the opportunity to speak to several different individuals who had different lives and opinions to me. Reaching out to people was one of the hardest parts of the unit for both English and Film, as I was rejected many times before getting a yes from the people who were eventually featured. Everybody I met with was incredibly kind to spend time helping me with my project, and each and every one helped me understand something about my research.
I was very proud of both my film and written documentary projects. I really like how the footage and interviews ended up for the film, and I spent a lot of time cutting and rearranging everything until it turned into something cohesive. I am also very proud of my English project, which underwent a similar process to my film and turned into something I am happy with. I had a great time with both projects and I learned a lot!
I’d like to extend my thanks to the History department at Mountain View High School as well as the Homeless Garden Project for their participation in my work.