Documentary

Rebecca
Documentary

The Untold History of Jackson Tennessee Civil Rights Movement from Hoticer on Vimeo.

Crit-a-Crit

Rebecca

This project came out better than I thought. The challenge was getting the needed photos and placing them in areas where they would get the best effect. I wished I could have filmed in my original location, but this one worked just fine. I didn't have random people interrupting or constant sirens going off. I still need to clean up the photo layouts and some of the edit. I, also, need to take in consideration when clouds create shading in some of my shots.

A Change in Directions?

My interview with Mr. Wiley was so-so. I'll have to go back another day to interview him further, but he did give me plenty to look into and research more about. By researching this information, I can ask him some specific questions.

My interview with Mrs. Jewell was great. She, also, gave me information to research on and some reading that the local paper has undertaken. The reading she gave me is kinda prompting me to (maybe) change the direction of my documentary. I have about three other people in mind that I can interview if I can get in contact with them. I think I should go more in a direction of preserving their experiences. Most of their experiences have been passed along orally, but that's no guarantee that people will remember what's been told to them.

Documentary Proposal II

Rebecca

Locations

Brownsville: Home of Mr. Wiley

Jackson: Home of Jewell or Liberty Garden Gazebo

Random Locations of the younger generations

Main Interview Dates

Mr. Wiley: TBD

Mrs. Jewell: March 19 (Sat) or 26 (Sat)

Focus Questions

Name, birthday, age, birthplace, current city of residence

What was life like when you were a child/teen/ young adult?

As a black person, how were you treated as a child/teen/young adult?

What was school like?

How did you view the Civil Rights Movement when it began? How did it affect you?

Tell me about major events in your life that dealt with racism or the Civil Rights.

When people hear you life story, what do you want them to take away from it? What do you want them to learn?

How are things different today compared to when you were growing up?

What are you thoughts on people who think we should not focus on the past or talk about slavery or major issues that deals with black people?

Do you think it is important for people to record their parents and grandparents’ experiences with racism and Civil Rights?

Conventions

Relies mainly on talking heads so that the focus will be on the interviewee and their connection to what is being told. Interviewer will sit off camera at eye level to prevent interviewee from looking extremely up or down.

Family photos may be used and images of specific locations.

Voiceover narration or text will accompany any photos used.

Point of View

Preserving current African American history so that the future does not forget what their own parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents experienced in order to have the freedoms that we have today; the importance of recording and remembering this history.

Voices

Dominant voices are Mr. Wiley and Mrs. Jewell, both African Americans living in the South.

Structure

Chronological or Narrative, depending on how some events inter-relates.

Subject

Not letting the past die. Preserving the struggle and experiences of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Compares with the efforts of SHOAH in preserving the life stories of people we would never expect to have dramatic experiences of major events.

Important social relevance: Those who experienced the Civil Rights Movement directly are getting older or have died. Many do not realize how important their stories are in reflecting the true nature of what those times were like. Some historians want to place a beginning and ending date to the Civil Rights despite there being little to no finite resolution to the issues.

Maker

Presence of maker will be absent except where questions will be heard to clarify an interviewee’s answer.

Location: Liberty Garden

Documentary Proposal Draft

Rebecca
Final Project

1. In life I believe that we need to be aware of how connected we are to the Civil Rights movement and not take what our parents and grandparents stories are for granted.

My film will show this in action by exploring the experiencers of my interviewees before during and after the Civil Rights Movement.

The main conflict is between what we know of Civil Rights and what we don't know of our family members experiences and how it's affected us.

2. Although many want to believe that the Civil Rights movement has come and gone. We still have a fight to finish. I will interview people from different generations, showing how they remember Civil Rights and what they believe younger generations don't know.

3. The sequence actions will be in areas that the interviewees are comfortable; their homes, outdoors, ect.

The factual information will come from the interviewees.

The conflicts it evidences will be how little today's society remember about the movement and how it effects them directly, and the importance of recording the past.

The events will be structured in a linear manner of the interviewees life stories.

The sequences will contribute to the film as a whole by telling the history of Civil Rights through the eyes different generations and their perceptions of the events.

It will specifically contribute to the film's hypothesis that it is very important that we know this history, remember it, and record it for future generations.

I expect to get imagery that people can relate to; Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, ect.

4. Main Characters

Mr. Wiley (the before, beginning, after) He's the first generation.

Mrs. Jewell (the during, after) She's the second generation.

Various adults and young adults (the after) These are the third and forth generations.

None of the current characters are related.

5. Conflict

The characters will know that they are trying to inform people how close history is to them, and how important it is that they learn about they're relative's experiences from the movement.

Some of the opposition that may come up is "Why is it important that we remember or tell these stories since it's the past and we should move forward." They may not be willing to talk about certain events.

6. My intended audience will be those who experienced the movement, but assume that their children know what it was like; young adults who know little to no history of what their parents or grandparents went through, and believe it's not important; and teens who do not know that their grandparents or parents went through the Civil Rights movement.

I expect my audience to know of the movement, but either have no desire to speak about it or know little about the experiences.

The audience biases will be that the stories are nothing new; questioning why it is important to know their family's stories; surprise that their loved ones directly experienced the movement and that it's a continued fight; and assuming their kids know about the Civil Rights movement.

People will see new truths of the movement because these will not be famous leaders or well known people.

7. To-Camera Interviews

Metaphoric roles will be Past (Before), Present (During), Future (After).

8. Most of the time allocated will be on Mr. Wiley and Mrs. Jewell since they directly experienced the movement; with the younger generation summing up the last part.

There will not parallel story telling unless their are certain events that the characters have experienced directly.

9. The lighting will be natural and indoor lighting.

Camera handling will be stationary so that the focus is on the interviewees.

10. The resolution will establish how important it is to record our relatives experiences. However, it could show how hard it is for them to remember certain events in their life due to age or how traumatic the experiences were.

Self Critique

Rebecca
Group Project 2

The challenge for the unconventional method was matching the movements and smoothing shots together. Some of the shots I would've liked to be shorter, but did not have shots that matched up with previous shots. I know I'll have to rework the last scene. I need to cut faster in certain areas and probably change its sequence.

Lilly Wei: LES is More

Rebecca

Visiting Artist Response

Lilly Wei is a curator and art critic in New York that has an eye for the strange, grotesque and up-and-coming. A subject matter that many up-and-coming artists focus on, but find they are not able to enter the commercialized Chelsea art market. Lilly Wei has found that these artists, along with galleries located in the Chelsea area, are moving to the Lower East Side to open galleries that offer affordable art and take advantage of the cheap real estate. Because these galleries offer affordable art to the average art lover, the LES (Lower East Side) avoids the commercialism of the Chelsea. Of course, Wei makes clear that this is the case at the moment and will most likely change as its popularity grows. When asked if LES will become like Chelsea, she believes that it will not. She acknowledged that LES will change, as transition was "part of New York life," but that it would find its own niche in the art market.

As for her interest as a curator, Lilly Wei does not stick with one subject matter or media. She prefers to stay eclectic in her interest, avoiding academia school of thought. Currently, though, Wei is focusing on video artist; an art form that she sees as becoming more prominent, and deserving a deeper look at. She encouraged artist not to "be married to a specific subject" and to go outside their comfort zone. A statement that, I personally, agree with. Certain subject matter requires the use of media that one may not normally use, and it helps artists expand their subject matter. Wei, also, stated the importance of artist statements. She showed many examples of what the galleries in LES were showing, and many had what the average person would view as strange or borderline pornographic. However, when she read or explained the contents of the artists' statements on their works, the viewer reads the art in a totally different manner. Artist statements are very important, particularly for artist who are showing in conservative areas in the US and around the world.

The presentation seemed rushed and, for many, a bit boring, but it was very informative. Lilly Wei briefly spoke of and mentioned artists that many of us have never heard of. She, also, encouraged us to visit these galleries in LES. By telling us about the new movement of galleries in New York, it gives us an idea of where we may want to show our works.