Introduction and Reflection:
The documentary unit challenged students to creatively and fairly portray a significant subject in the community. By gathering primary and secondary sources students will develop a distinct perspective on their subject’s significance in the community. This research will then be put into a research paper in English that will later be translated into a magazine article for digital media and a specific art form depending on elective, in my case a documentary film.
Gentrification. That was the basis of my film in the beginning. My group and I had to somehow take this large scale concept and turn it into a local issue to be discussed in a short sub-ten minute film. I’m not gonna lie, when this project started I had no idea what gentrification was, or so I thought. I was not familiar with the word gentrification, but growing up between Baltimore, Annapolis, and DC, I was fully aware of the symptoms this term refers to. Jordan Sharkey, one of my partners, is the daughter of the executive director of a school in East Palo Alto that aims to diversify and equalize education. From the first interview, I was hooked and I spent the next month or so obsessively finding out everything I could.
While narrative is still the unit I am most proud of, I cared about this unit just as much yet in a totally different way. I was no longer focused on creating the prettiest film and the most dramatic story. I was invested in exploring this topic and with that growing as a citizen. It is one thing to learn about something in a social studies class, and it is one thing to read articles or watch videos, but it is a totally different experience, sitting down and talking to someone who is directly affected by an issue often indirectly referenced and tiptoed around. In English, we were asked to make an extensive research paper based on our topic for our elective classes. We then had to do a lot of research to gather secondary sources, in order to develop a position on the topic.
*If you click on the image below, you will be taken to a copy of my paper
We then had to shorten our essay and make it into a magazine article using indesign.
HannahH- Documentary REAL article
Elective Class Production:
Mockumentary:
Beginning our documentary unit, we were challenged to make a mockumentary. A mockumentary is a parody documentary. This task required us to align interview shots, find appropriate b-roll, and learn how to record and synchronize sound. This project was very rough, as you can tell…
ARVE Error: Mode: lazyload not available (ARVE Pro not active?), switching to normal modeDocumentary Film:
In film, we took our newfound knowledge on conducting interviews and pieced together a content full and aesthetically pleasing documentary. Film can do what English papers cannot, it puts people directly were we are standing, and allows people to feel and see how we feel. We worked closely with the 49ers Academy and got to directly experience the community of the school by talking with students, teachers, and parents. This allowed us to localize our ever so broad topic.
Photo Gallery:
Interviewee Bios:
*If you click on the photo, you can see a copy of the interview transcript
Jose Santana, a father of 3, has had to move his family many times due to rising rents. He is afraid he will have to move again soon. He hopes that students push themselves to work hard so they do not end up in this situation one day. He also encourages people who can, to help those in this situation.
Michele Sharkey, Executive Director at the 49ers Academy, has noticed a drastic drop in enrollment. She explains that lower-income school districts get their funding based on student population. She fears that public schools in the area will continue to close.
Kendra Gragg, a teacher at the 49ers Academy, notices the impact of the tech boom on East Palo Alto daily as her students discuss housing insecurity.
Julissa Moreno, a former 49ers student, now attends high school at Menlo Atherton High, which is a very wealthy school. Her assimilation from middle to high school was very hard and she notices a drastic difference in community.
Deshaun Jordan, another former 49ers student, hopes that the community will come together, raise their voices, and fight to keep gentrification out of East Palo Alto.