Documentary: Part 5

Production Log 5

I have finished my interview and I am excited because it turned out better than I had anticipated . I feel that my interview is very relevant to our documentary, as many of the topics we discussed were very fascinating facts about technology here at Punahou. Many of the questions I asked her brought up more questions; this created an interview with depth and breadth. During the interview, everything went smoothly and it could have not gone any better. If anything could have been considered unexpected, it would have been when I didn’t know how to set up the camera, but there was a person from ITV who was nice enough to help me assemble the equipment. I had no problem in obtaining the type of answers that I needed for my interview because Wendi Takemoto took the time to check over the questions and find out pertinent information to make my interview detailed. This interview will fit perfectly into our documentary because there is a lot of information included that helps the viewers understand Punahou School’s technology system. This is important because teachers use their rules about technology to teach us about the material we are learning in their specific class. For instance, in English we are using this blog to convey our process in creating this documentary. We have rules that IT has created for us to keep our identities secure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZgQ2lxUtfs&feature=related

I have chosen the above clip to be suggested as a clip in our documentary. It would amplify my interview significantly, as it shows viewers the negative facts about computer addiction. It would help the documentary as a whole, especially, since we are trying to convey the message that kids are using their computers too much. I feel that the clip would be an excellent addition to our documentary.

Documentary: Part 3 & 4

Production Log 3

I have refined my interview questions and made sure that all of the arrangements have been made in order for my interview to run smoothly. After I checked over my interview questions for the last time, I e-mailed a copy of the questions to Wendi Takemoto’s secretary, so they could be checked over again and sent to Wendi. I have also come to terms with who my target audience will be for my interview. Since the question we are addressing in this interview is what the effect of technology is having on today’s students, my main audience will be students, parents, and teachers. I have decided that what I wish for my audience to obtain from watching our interview is an understanding of what an impact technology is having on students today. My main goals for my interview is for it to run smoothly, attain the type of conversation needed in order for the viewers to stay interested, and make sure that I convey to the audience my message.

I feel that my interview will fit perfectly into our documentary for two major reasons. First, my interviewee was able to give me many details on our topic, which she knows because her job deals with our subject. Second, I was able to ask her many questions that were relevant to our documentary. She responded with interesting facts about our technology system here at Punahou School. This will interest the viewer, as these sorts of facts always do well in a documentary. In my interview, I am going to use an angle that gives the viewer a picture of where Wendi Takemoto works and what kind of work she does. For example, she will be sitting at her desk with her computer in the background. In order to make this a successful interview, I need to make sure that I am well prepared in advance. By stating this, I mean that I need to arrange a set up time to get the camera from ITV, rehearse the manner in which I will ask specific questions, and make sure that my interviewee understands all of my questions. My interview might not run as planned. For instance, I could arrive for my interview and Wendi Takemoto could be sick, or I could be in the middle of my interview asking a question and I might find that the answers to some of my questions are the same, or we could be in the middle of our interview and an emergency occurs and I am left without an interview. In composing my questions, I have assumed that there are more Macintosh computers than PC computers. I have also assumed that for the laptop program, all of the laptops are going to be Macintoshes.

I have planned well in advance for my interview, so hopefully everything goes as I have planned.


Production Log 4

I have visited the site of my interview and it seems to be a perfect place. I will conduct my interview in my interviewee’s office. She is able to shut her door, so that we have no background noises. I am able to shoot my scene with her desk and computer in the background. She has lighting in her office, so I will not have to worry about the room being too dark. She has just enough room in her office for me to sit across from her and ask her questions with the opportune amount of distance between us. I can very simply take a picture of her empty chair, which would resemble my transition shot. The interview would be perfect there because it gives the viewers the opportunity to see her in her working environment. With my choice of frame, you can see that she has many papers on her desk, which will tell the viewers how busy she is every day. The establishing shots will show her knowledge of computers, as you can see many pieces of technology in the background. This major theme of technology will tie into the rest of our documentary, since our topic is technology. I feel that my interview will be consistent with the rest of our documentary, especially because most of our interviews are located somewhere on Punahou’s campus like my interview. I refer constantly to our documentary’s topic of technology changing our lives. I feel that we should try to influence less dependence on technology because if there is a time when we don’t have technology, we will not be able to keep learning at our normal rate.

Documentary Research Follow-Up

I feel that my plan in my previous log was excellent in determining how I would go about collecting information for my interview process. I spent a good amount of time editing my steps and feel that they will give me high-quality interviews. If I could have done anything better, I would say that I possibly could have maybe elaborated more on my questions. I feel that in order for others to comprehend the subject better, we should add more detailed questions.

I feel that the three people I should interview should be Rassul Hashemi, Michael Dahlquist, and Nicole Chang. I first chose Rassul Hashemi, because he is my father and I can trust him to give me a thoughtful interview. I know that when choosing people to interview, there should be much more than that involved, so I should also mention that my father is an entrepreneur and began his own IT Consulting business in 1996, Sierra Corporation. I am sure that his background will help my interview run smoothly and in-depth. The second person I chose to interview was Michael Dahlquist. He is an instructor at the iTV department. His knowledge of technology and teaching students and faculty will be an asset to our documentary’s interview. The last person I chose was Nicole Chang. She is one of my best friends and knows a great deal about computers, especially since she is an editor in assembling our yearbook. These three people will contribute profusely to our documentary and will make it a success!

Free Speech for Everyone?

Today, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University in New York. We are so privileged and blessed to live in a country that allows provides the constitutional right to free speech for everyone. Our first amendment states that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The First Amendment provided Columbia University President, Lee Bollinger, with the right to provide an opportunity to the President of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to speak at the prestigious university.

Even though we have the first amendment in our country, should this same freedom to speak freely within our country be applied to leaders of other countries who don’t give their citizens this right? Should they have the opportunity to grandstand? I feel that the President of Iran should not have been given the right to speak; I was appalled that a president of such a prominent university would provide such a stage.

President Ahmadinejad has said that the Holocaust did not occur. He said, “They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets.” It is preposterous that he believes people to be so ignorant to believe this. President Ahmadinejad claims that his country is only developing nuclear capability for the purpose of nuclear power, however, how can we trust a man who wants to wipe Israel off the map? We must be concerned about a country developing nuclear power, especially if the leader of a country does not promote peace and respect for other countries and their people. Iran has been accused of helping to supply Iraqi insurgents with weapons, yet we allow the leader of Iran to speak freely in our country, while the fate of our own men and women in Iraq could depend on whether insurgents have a weapon his country supplied.

Hopefully, after President Ahmadinejad has given his speech, more people will be aware of those who rule in our world and the effect they can have on our future.

Sources:
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am1
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20958137/
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.israel/

Documentary Brainstorming

Our class decided on a documentary of modern technology’s affect on people’s social lives. Our documentary should address major questions lingering in people’s minds. I should address questions about what new technology is attracting many to the shopping aisles and what is making those gadgets so irresistible. I feel that this documentary should be addressing people of all ages, as I believe that this will help everyone feel like they are connected to this subject, not just one group of people. Interviewing people of all ages will help others understand different perspectives in regard to our subject.

I will ask questions similar to the following: Why and how does technology play a major role in our social and everyday lives? In what ways do you feel that you use technology to benefit your social life? What are the new gadgets that most people are longing for and why do people wish they had them? Are some pieces of technology hazardous to our lives or threatening to people in some way? I feel that these questions will help my viewers understand the various ways in which technology is impacting our lives.

I chose these questions because I would like for the person I will be interviewing to first give me background knowledge on my subject and then incorporate their opinion into their answers; in this manner, the viewer, no matter how opinionated they are, can develop their reasoning on the issue. It would be beneficial to everyone if the person I am interviewing is educated and/or familiar with modern technology. In order to have a productive interview, I believe it is necessary for me to do some research prior to my interview. This research will help me not only understand the topic better, but during my interview, I can integrate what I learned from my research to help with the interview process.

I believe that these key components are needed to make my interview a success and I plan to incorporate them in my interview.

Global Warming

Ever since I saw Al Gore’s presentation, The Inconvenient Truth, global warming has been on the top of my mind. Almost everyday I hear some comment about our environment or see something unusual or different around me; it all makes me think – what are we doing to our environment?

Global warming is a scientific term used to state how the earth’s temperature is rising on land and in the oceans. This environmental hazard is caused when heat from the sun is trapped in the earth’s atmosphere because of the increase of pollution.

We are seeing many changes because of global warming; some of them are even obvious to us. Firstly, the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last thirty years. Secondly, the melting of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled in the past ten years. Thirdly, at least 279 species of plants and animals are already reacting to this crisis and have tried to save themselves by moving closer to the poles.

In the future we can expect more drastic changes in our surroundings. Scientists have predicted that deaths from global warming will double in twenty-five years to 300,000 people a year. They have also predicted that the Artic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050. One of the most important predictions that they have made is that by 2050, more than a million species could be driven to extinction.

Our generation needs to act accordingly and promptly in order to preserve our future. While we destroy our environment, not being conscious about how we treat our surroundings, we sometimes forget that we need to take care of our home, earth.

Documentary

I suggest that we do a documentary on global warming. Our future is being affected by this phenomenon and educating people on the topic would not only help inform others, but we too, would learn from our research.

The first perspective that I suggest is how global warming affects humans. This should be our first perspective if we choose this topic, as it directly affects all of us. Global warming can affect us in one way by our health. As global warming worsens, the rate of infectious diseases and death rates continue to rise. Also, if the temperatures keep rising at the current rate, the human race will not be able to survive the extreme heat. Global warming is especially tough on people who live in third world countries, as they are more susceptible to death and disease; it is ironic though, how they are the ones who contribute the least to this catastrophe. Teaching people about how global warming affects us will be the best way to help them comprehend that action needs to be taken.

The second perspective that I propose is how global warming affects animals. Without the animals around us, humans would not be able to survive; we depend on them to complete our ecosystem, we can’t create some artificial gadget that replaces the animal kingdom. When the ice in the artic, that many animals depend on, melts, the animals are without homes and they therefore drown and go extinct. Also, when this ice melts, whole islands will be submerged and all the animals on those islands will go extinct. When the water heats up because there are no more caps of ice, reefs will die and the fish that live on those reefs will die and go extinct. Now you can see the picture; the domino effect on the animal kingdom. Because one species dies, another one dies, and another, and so on, until only humans are left. Only we can stop the damage we have caused.

The third perspective I suggest is how global warming affects the earth. Global warming has the capability to change the geography of the world; islands we know could disappear from the world’s surface. Studies already show that the earth is the hottest that it has ever been in the last four hundred years, maybe two thousand years. I have seen charts and graphs and they all bewilder me because the earth’s temperature has been rising at a constant rate for a while and then the charts just shoot up to the sky at almost a vertical incline. As the temperature rises, we can all see the difference in our earth. When I went back to Virginia this past summer, the pollution and temperature change were so bad that we had nineteen code orange days, one code red day, and one code purple day; yellow is a normal day. (http://www.mwcog.org/environment/air/forecast/airquality_guide.asp) This is a definite sign that our atmosphere is worsening.

All three perspectives are affected by global warming. I am confident that people will learn from these perspectives. The viewer’s experience would be incomplete without the different perspectives I suggest because each perspective affects the other. You cannot just choose which out of the three perspectives you wish to have, it is all or nothing.

I would use these perspectives to make the same point, as they are all building on each other. I feel that using these perspectives to convey that global warming is not really happening would not be accurate; telling people that global warming doesn’t matter is like saying our lives do not matter. The above perspectives help us learn the great overall effects of global warming.