My interview with my aunty (Punahou Alum) went pretty well. I had many questions to ask, but my aunty kept talking more and more about the subject and eventually answered some of my questions even though I had only asked her one. She went over and beyond my questions and by doing so answered more questions than I even wanted to ask. Thankfully she did most of the talking, so even though I began to run out of questions toward the end, the interview lasted a good 15 minutes or so.
From this interview, I was able to get information about how my aunty saw stereotypes and cliques back in 1980. This is perfect as the information will probably be nearly identical as my classmates interviews with present students. But, of course, at the same time my aunty's interview will show that some stereotypes have changed or become less noticable over the years.
I tried to answer all types of questions. I asked how stereotypes affected her and asked her to name to the stereotypes and such. Yet there were probably different types of questions that I missed during the interview. Still, the interview seems to be done correctly and answers many of the questions that we had.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Monday, October 1, 2007
Production Log: Interview and Cinematography Preperation
My job is to interview an alum from Punahou. From the interview I want to be able to get a clear picture of whether Punahou's stereotypes and cliques were the same or if they were different around 20 years ago. I don't really have a desired response from the interviewiee because either way, their words will show whether or not Punahou's stereotypes have changed over the years. If anything, I am hoping to hear that Punahou has had different cliques and stereotypes over the years. That way I will be able to show that after 20 years or so, Punahou has evolved and changed. It would seem more interesting to show differences in the past to the present, instead of just showing that everything is still the same. Whatever the response is, this interview will prove useful in the documentary because it will compare Punahou's stereotypical groups in the presnt, to its stereotypical groups in the past.
My strategy is to ask the questions that I have already thought of, but at the same time, just go with the flow and try to have a conversation with my interviewiee. The questions that I will definitly try to be asking will be something like this: "Who are you? And what class did you graduate?", "Was there different cliques and hangouts back in your day?", "What stereotypical group did you think you belonged in, and why?", "Try to name a few other stereotypical groups that you can remember.", "Do you think it's right for people to catagorize other people into groups?", "Did people associate you more or less with the people you hung out with?", "Can you remember specific spots where different stereotypical groups would hang out?", etc, etc.
Of course if my interviewiee doesn't remember much about her highschool life, or says she wasn't in any clique or that there were no stereotypes in the past, then I will be short of questions. If this happens, then I will need to somehow think of important questions that are still relevant to the topic to create a good, long, imformative interview. Of course I am also counting on that the alum I interview will have much to say about the topic.
I will be interviewing the alum at her house, since she is my aunty. My plan is to shoot the house, then zoom into a window that connects to the room my aunty is in. That way the audience will get a feel to where she lives and the kind of enviornment we are in. It will also show that we are now away from Punahou School, and entering a whole new area. Then after shooting the house and such(which will probably be around the middle of the screenshot), I will then go straight to the interview. By doing the interview in her house, and hopefully her office room, it will show that she is a successful and hard working alum. Depending on what objects are in her room, it just may show what kind of person she is, which will be good for an interview about stereotypes in highschool.
I also want to film her from an upward angle to try and show the impression that she is older and more superior than us. As she should be, since she is an alum of Punahou. I also want to try to keep her face toward the center of the shot, so that her face is the main focus of the interview. But visually, my interview won't really fit into the rest of the documentary. This is because most of the documentary will be filmed in school, but mine being an exception shall be filmed outside of Punahou, making it seem like it doesn't belong. But the content of the interview is very important, and will be an asset to our documentary.
My strategy is to ask the questions that I have already thought of, but at the same time, just go with the flow and try to have a conversation with my interviewiee. The questions that I will definitly try to be asking will be something like this: "Who are you? And what class did you graduate?", "Was there different cliques and hangouts back in your day?", "What stereotypical group did you think you belonged in, and why?", "Try to name a few other stereotypical groups that you can remember.", "Do you think it's right for people to catagorize other people into groups?", "Did people associate you more or less with the people you hung out with?", "Can you remember specific spots where different stereotypical groups would hang out?", etc, etc.
Of course if my interviewiee doesn't remember much about her highschool life, or says she wasn't in any clique or that there were no stereotypes in the past, then I will be short of questions. If this happens, then I will need to somehow think of important questions that are still relevant to the topic to create a good, long, imformative interview. Of course I am also counting on that the alum I interview will have much to say about the topic.
I will be interviewing the alum at her house, since she is my aunty. My plan is to shoot the house, then zoom into a window that connects to the room my aunty is in. That way the audience will get a feel to where she lives and the kind of enviornment we are in. It will also show that we are now away from Punahou School, and entering a whole new area. Then after shooting the house and such(which will probably be around the middle of the screenshot), I will then go straight to the interview. By doing the interview in her house, and hopefully her office room, it will show that she is a successful and hard working alum. Depending on what objects are in her room, it just may show what kind of person she is, which will be good for an interview about stereotypes in highschool.
I also want to film her from an upward angle to try and show the impression that she is older and more superior than us. As she should be, since she is an alum of Punahou. I also want to try to keep her face toward the center of the shot, so that her face is the main focus of the interview. But visually, my interview won't really fit into the rest of the documentary. This is because most of the documentary will be filmed in school, but mine being an exception shall be filmed outside of Punahou, making it seem like it doesn't belong. But the content of the interview is very important, and will be an asset to our documentary.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Second Production Log Entry
Since we our focusing our documentary on the stereotypes at Punahou, I think the structure for it should be in the order of our age. Any other way wouldn't have a solid beginning or ending. You could go by the interests or hang out spots of the people, but then you could start the documentary and end it in any order. There wouldn't be much structure in that.
But by doing it by age, its obvious you start off with the freshmen (youngest) and probably end with the seniors (oldest). Then in between each class, there should be interviews of teachers, dean members, and/or the staff. That way we would have more varied responses. We would have the responses from the actual students who would have a pretty good idea what stereotype they fall into, and we would have the response of the adults, who can only see and assume what clique we would hang out in.
It would also be pretty easy to pull off, or at least not much of a challenge. All we would have to do is interview a couple of students from each class (freshmen,sophomores,juniors,seniors,staff) and let them do the talking. Then we could narrate to show what we would have found out about the students and/or the staff and how they all think about or deal with stereotypes. We could also add in what we, the students of the class, have to say about the stereotypes. We could also add what stereotype we think we belong in, although its not necessary to have our feedback.
What's most important is to get the information from the students. And if we go by age, we will be able to have a good sense of the time line and it will be structured quite nicely.
But by doing it by age, its obvious you start off with the freshmen (youngest) and probably end with the seniors (oldest). Then in between each class, there should be interviews of teachers, dean members, and/or the staff. That way we would have more varied responses. We would have the responses from the actual students who would have a pretty good idea what stereotype they fall into, and we would have the response of the adults, who can only see and assume what clique we would hang out in.
It would also be pretty easy to pull off, or at least not much of a challenge. All we would have to do is interview a couple of students from each class (freshmen,sophomores,juniors,seniors,staff) and let them do the talking. Then we could narrate to show what we would have found out about the students and/or the staff and how they all think about or deal with stereotypes. We could also add in what we, the students of the class, have to say about the stereotypes. We could also add what stereotype we think we belong in, although its not necessary to have our feedback.
What's most important is to get the information from the students. And if we go by age, we will be able to have a good sense of the time line and it will be structured quite nicely.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Critical Thinking: Paris is Burning
A good documentary should have many different view points. That way most of the aspects can be shown from many angles. With different perspectives, the audience will be able to see what different types of people think of the subject. That way they can get a sense of what some of the population thinks of it. The audience can also try and compare their thoughts with the thoughts of others. A documentary should also clearly show the point that the director is trying to get across. Or get the point out there and leave it in the open, if the director wants a vague feeling with questions unanswered. Good documentaries should also have interviews with people that the director doesn't know personally. That way, the subject can be shown through other people's words. And since they won’t know the director, they won’t be influenced as much as if they knew him/her.
The film "Paris is Burning" was a pretty good documentary and fit into most of the criteria. And it even went beyond because the director took her time to show her point and took over 5 years before deciding to end her filming. The film also had many interviews with different gay people. And as Livingston had wanted us to perhaps start thinking of why the gays do what they do, it’s seems okay that there wasn’t interviews with the straight people. Having a straight perspective in this documentary wouldn’t have made much a difference, since the main point is only circulating around the gay population. This documentary was great and very informative. It was even entertaining and interesting. It showed very clearly what the gay population had to go through back in the 80's and early 90's.
The film "Paris is Burning" was a pretty good documentary and fit into most of the criteria. And it even went beyond because the director took her time to show her point and took over 5 years before deciding to end her filming. The film also had many interviews with different gay people. And as Livingston had wanted us to perhaps start thinking of why the gays do what they do, it’s seems okay that there wasn’t interviews with the straight people. Having a straight perspective in this documentary wouldn’t have made much a difference, since the main point is only circulating around the gay population. This documentary was great and very informative. It was even entertaining and interesting. It showed very clearly what the gay population had to go through back in the 80's and early 90's.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Production Log: Brainstorming
Some questions I want to ask are going to be close to the following. In your group of friends, how many of you are the same ethnicity? What stereotype do you think you and your friends fit into? Do you think that everyone should only hang out with their same ethnicity group? Do you think people can have more than one labled "stereotypical" group? Also, are you comfortable with people from a different group of friends/with different ethnicities? From these questions I definitly wish to have a very varied response. This is because everyone is different, and they should all have different views on the topic. The people I'm asking should also be in a different groups of friends, thus maybe varying the answer even more so. The target audience will definitly be the high school kids of Punahou.
To make this documentary successful, I should know the different ethnicites and groups there are here in Punahou. Since there are so many different ethnicities, it would be hard to list all of them. But I can remember the main ones, such as Asian, Caucasian, Black, etc. I should also try to brush up on the history of the ethnicities. That way, for example, if I knew that blacks and whites used to fight in the past, but now they are friends, I can conclude that in the present day we have became comfortable with the ones that our ancestors used to fight against. It would also show that we have mixed groups of friends. I can find out about past ethnicity disputes by simply googling the information, or using the dictionary/books. To make sure that I know the names of all the "labled" groups of people in Punahou, I can just ask around and see what people think the stereotype names should be.
To make this documentary successful, I should know the different ethnicites and groups there are here in Punahou. Since there are so many different ethnicities, it would be hard to list all of them. But I can remember the main ones, such as Asian, Caucasian, Black, etc. I should also try to brush up on the history of the ethnicities. That way, for example, if I knew that blacks and whites used to fight in the past, but now they are friends, I can conclude that in the present day we have became comfortable with the ones that our ancestors used to fight against. It would also show that we have mixed groups of friends. I can find out about past ethnicity disputes by simply googling the information, or using the dictionary/books. To make sure that I know the names of all the "labled" groups of people in Punahou, I can just ask around and see what people think the stereotype names should be.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Cycle Paper 2
This is a short story that I have just made up with my imagination. It has nothing to do with my life what so ever.
The morning was quiet and uneventful as always. As I rose from my bed, I began to wonder if today will be the same as any other day; the usual, the norm, the same things that always happends. And as the day went on, it seemed to be another boring regular day. I ate my breakfast, put on my gear, and headed out as usual. Around noon, I had already taken out more monsters than I could count, which meant that I would earn more gold (something I have to much of already).
That's right, I'm nothing more than a mercenary, a bounty hunter, a man without a name. In this world, all we do is kill the beasts that have infected our planet, not something someone would be pround of. But I did the job, just for the sake of making a living. I can't be sure of it, but from all the rumours I have heard, I'm either one of the best, or THE best mercenary out there.
Now as I was saying, the day seemed uneventful (as always). But to my surprise, I had gotten a new mission, via my digital PDA. The mission was described as the following :
Dear unknown hunter,
A rare beast has appeared in the caves to the north. If not taken care of, it could destroy the very few cities that remain intact. Please take care of this matter.
PS. This monster is quite strong...it may even prove impossible for YOU to take it down..be warned.
As I read that I laughed to myself. There's no way any monster of any kind could kill me, after all, my skills were beyond exceptional. I decided to take on the quest...
After around three hours or so of traveling to the cave in which the beast was seen last, I won't lie to you, my legs were a little tired from all the walking and climbing. But tired legs wouldn't be enough to stop me from taking on this legenday creature.
As I neared the entrance, I could feel its presence. The creature was awake and was looking straight at me from inside the dark depths of the cave. Quickly I snuck around it and hit it dead on with my sword. I kept running around, dodging the monsters attacks, and hitting it with my own. BUT, to my shock, I found that I was doing nothing more than tickle the awesome beast. I never gave up, I kept going, thinking that I could slay it, but knowing that this may in fact be my final battle....
Now, here I am, nothing more than a ghost without a name. I'm here to tell you to NEVER underestimate your opponents. If you do...it just may cost you your life.
The morning was quiet and uneventful as always. As I rose from my bed, I began to wonder if today will be the same as any other day; the usual, the norm, the same things that always happends. And as the day went on, it seemed to be another boring regular day. I ate my breakfast, put on my gear, and headed out as usual. Around noon, I had already taken out more monsters than I could count, which meant that I would earn more gold (something I have to much of already).
That's right, I'm nothing more than a mercenary, a bounty hunter, a man without a name. In this world, all we do is kill the beasts that have infected our planet, not something someone would be pround of. But I did the job, just for the sake of making a living. I can't be sure of it, but from all the rumours I have heard, I'm either one of the best, or THE best mercenary out there.
Now as I was saying, the day seemed uneventful (as always). But to my surprise, I had gotten a new mission, via my digital PDA. The mission was described as the following :
Dear unknown hunter,
A rare beast has appeared in the caves to the north. If not taken care of, it could destroy the very few cities that remain intact. Please take care of this matter.
PS. This monster is quite strong...it may even prove impossible for YOU to take it down..be warned.
As I read that I laughed to myself. There's no way any monster of any kind could kill me, after all, my skills were beyond exceptional. I decided to take on the quest...
After around three hours or so of traveling to the cave in which the beast was seen last, I won't lie to you, my legs were a little tired from all the walking and climbing. But tired legs wouldn't be enough to stop me from taking on this legenday creature.
As I neared the entrance, I could feel its presence. The creature was awake and was looking straight at me from inside the dark depths of the cave. Quickly I snuck around it and hit it dead on with my sword. I kept running around, dodging the monsters attacks, and hitting it with my own. BUT, to my shock, I found that I was doing nothing more than tickle the awesome beast. I never gave up, I kept going, thinking that I could slay it, but knowing that this may in fact be my final battle....
Now, here I am, nothing more than a ghost without a name. I'm here to tell you to NEVER underestimate your opponents. If you do...it just may cost you your life.
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