Day 1: Introduction to documentaries

Documentaries was the main focus of this new quarter of our class. We were first introduced to the concept of them as Mrs.Stoklosa talked about them. Previously, I had never really paid attention to documentaries much. I may have had a faint memory of watching an animal one but I couldn't remember much of it. She went over about all the different types of genres within documentaries like mockumentaries and historical documentaries. Things like whether they were participation or observational were also included. The point of documentaries are films that capture the realities of things and display them with a certain intent. Historical documentaries are made in order to give summaries and retellings of past events in order to be digestible for audiences while things like mockumentaries will depict fictional events, but presented as a documentary. These nuances make it so every documentary is special in their own way. 

As a way of introducing us to them we were first made to watch a documentary called "American Promise" that was the story of two boys who grew up attending Dalton High School in new york. We get to see their struggles, their everyday activities and get to really know these people by the end of it. The story was extremely captivating as I found it very relatable to myself and to the family around me. My cousin attended a school much like Dalton. Seeing my cousin in the boys I was really able to take in everything and sympathize heavily. It was by far one of the best introductions to a documentary I could have asked for. When Mrs. Stoklosa asked us whether the next year should watch it because it seemed largely outdated, I was happy when the class roared for her to have them watch it. Especially the discussion afterword's on whether we really got to see their real face through the documentary. It helped me understand the idea of documentaries much better.  

Next we watched a film called "Exit Through The Gift Shop". This film I liked significantly less not only because it wasn't my style but I didn't particularly like the "main character of it. However, the technical aspects of the documentary were extremely well done, especially the editing. I found it extremely interesting how the person who was telling the story, Banksy, a well known street artist is the one who tells the story. It portrays Thierry in a very negative light which would be odd for someone who is supposed to be the main focus. It was like he didn't like how Thierry claimed his fame so he portrayed how he thought he should be viewed. Like he was telling the audience "this guy isn't as cool as he is cracked up to be". This helped me understand that every person has a specific intent with what they want to portray in their documentary and it is up to the viewers to interpret it their own way. 

We watched a few more op documentaries that were cute and like one about a farm where people helped disabled animals called "Pickles" or a lawyer speaking up about war crimes in "The Case Against Torture". With that, our time of learning had been up and it was basically time to start our very own documentary project. I was certainly looking forward to it!