Our film is progressing very well so far. We have our filming done except for the last scene and we've edited about half of it. Some challenges were going during school to film and finding out that we had shot in the wrong format. We fixed it though and now it's running smoothly. We also can't think of a title since the title for the story that the film is based off of is no longer valid. That's probably my main concern, which is good.
On Monday, when my group went to film, I was the person to bring Alex clothes and I also did his makeup to make him look like he had a black eye which was really fun. I also acted in it and created a layout of the poster with the help of Maddie. We took some shots from our footage and have started to put them into photoshop.
What I specifically need to get done is the poster. I just need one more picture and then I'll be done. I also really need to think of a title that isn't cliche or just a summary of what happens. Those are my goals for the next week.
Here's Alex with his black eye. You can't see it too well but Wesley wanted it to be pretty subtle.
A little bit earlier this week, while I was on Facebook, I came across this video. It's a man narrating part of his childhood along with some animations. He talks about his personal experience being bullied and then how it can affect everyone. It's one long poem and it is extremely powerful. It really connects to anyone listening, even if you haven't really been bullied much like me, it still brings out the memories of when people were mean. It made me feel terrible at first but then he gets to the part where he becomes encouraging and it brings tears to my eyes. His words and the way he speaks reaches out and touches whomever's listening. One quote from this that I love is "and if you can't see anything beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror. Look a little closer. Stare a little longer. Because there's something inside you that made you keep trying despite everyone who told you to quit."
When I clicked on the link it took me to this website, Upworthy.com. I started looking around after watching this video a few times and found so many stories that are inspirational or sad or make me want to get out into the world and do something. I go on Upworthy a lot now to see different stories and what's going on in the world. It's kind of like a newspaper for more social issues.
Another video I saw and liked was one where they had a forensic composite artist, someone who draws the faces of suspects after somebody describes that person, come in and have people describe themselves to him without having him look at them. Once he did this, they brought in other people that had just met the person recently drawn and had them describe the original person. What they found out was that when people described themselves, they took the flaws that they saw in themselves and emphasized that, making them look worse than they are. When the stranger described them, the sketch looks much prettier and open and more friendly than when the woman described herself. This was another very powerful video as it showed that women usually focus on what they believe is wrong with them, while other people look at the beauty in them.
My topic for the documentary was open/closed lunch at Blair. At first, I was leaning towards open lunch but after the discussions that we had with the principal and the head of security I have switched my opinion. Taking into account the safety risks for students crossing a busy intersection while rushing is very dangerous. I'm satisfied with the amount that I know about my topic and I have no regrets about what topic we chose. I really liked the freedom that we had in choosing these topics. This process helped me learn why we have a closed lunch policy. I also learned how difficult it is to create a documentary. You can't really write a script for it, so you have to watch all of your interviews and b-roll and cut them in away that will get your point across.
My group's biggest challenge was definitely Final Cut Pro. It would quit a lot or wouldn't open sometimes and occasionally it would delete our work. It also took forever to render which slowed us down. We didn't really "overcome" this issue, we just learned how to deal with it. If I had the chance to create another documentary I would definitely get extra b-roll because my group ended up needing to get more.
I think the only way my teacher could have helped more would have been to come around to our group more often to help with the structure.
This past Sunday, March 3, I participated in the Triple Crown Race at Ski Liberty. I've been doing a race program at liberty for the past two years and this year I decided to actually do the race. It was really fun to go, even though I only went down the course twice. I was number 246 so I was almost last to go, which definitely gave me a disadvantage. By the time I went the first time, there was a carved path around the gates and the course was worn down to ice. On one of the last gates I was moving really fast and so I slipped on the ice and almost fell. I managed to catch my balance but it definitely knocked off a solid second and a half, which is a lot for a race.
I was in the women's 15-18 age group which put me at another disadvantage since I'm at the bottom of my group. I was there with my friends Chase (a girl, 16), Campbell (14), and Marcel (14). I ended up placing 2nd in my group and 7th out of all the women in the race. Chase got 3rd in our group and 12th overall. Campbell got 4th in his group and 15th overall and Marcel got 3rd in his group and 13th overall. It was a really fun race and I'm glad I did it. It made me want to ski more because I know my potential, and I'm definitely going to continue racing.
It's been a while since I've posted but today I'm here to talk about my drawings. Earlier I wrote a post about the geometrical designs that I doodle during class but recently I've developed a yearning towards creating block letters and making it look like a ribbon is stringing through them.
Today in French I did this and was struck with the desire to draw a hand. Now if anyone had asked me before that I would have said "oh no, I'm terrible at drawing realistic things" but what I discovered was if I just look at my hand I can recreate it on paper.
When I got home I started a drawing of a girl (which is surprising because I tend to shy away from drawing people) who was floating in the air. Then I added the ribbon thing wrapping around her body and block letters saying "TRANQUIL" at the top, also wrapped in the ribbon.
I'm not entirely sure why I wrote "tranquil" but I guess I just felt it when I was drawing. I don't think it's done yet, but I don't know what else to add. It just feels a bit empty on the sides. I've been thinking of maybe just adding some wavy lines circling around the girl but I'm not sure if that would add to the aesthetics of the picture or detract from it. I'll probably make the decision sometime during school tomorrow.
This drawing has inspired me to continue pursuing art. I'm going to develop my ability and get better at drawing real life things and maybe take an art class in the summer or during senior year.
I haven't posted in almost a month, but this week I decided to make a post about my recent obsession. I really like DIYs because you can take something really old or cheap and make it into something really cool. Today I got four plain tshirts from Michael's for $10: a red one, black one, purple one, and blue one. I spent a while looking at different tutorials and found a few that were cool. With the black one today I made a skull cutout on the back. I just cut some holes to make it look like a face. It's hard to describe but I'm wearing it to school tomorrow :) with the red one I'm planning on cutting out a woven cross kind of thing on the back. With the blue one I'm making bows on the back and with the purple one I'm fringing the bottom. I'm really excited to do all of these they're easy and really fun! I've also found a lot of tutorials about shorts that are like how to dip-dye and stud them and Leah and I are going to try a bunch over the summer. That's all I can think of for now, maybe I'll have more to write about after exam week (probably not)
The Invisible War, a documentary by Kirby Dick, is about Military Sexual Assault. The movie shows the
awful military sexual assault through several interviews with real-life
Military rape victims. The 97-minute-long film is about the experiences and
consequences of seven or eight Veterans that were victimized during their
service. There were almost 100 people interviewed in total for the film.
The interviews captured the vulnerable
experiences that these veterans had and helped the viewer empathize with them. The
movie brings forth a wave of emotions from the viewer with the miserable
testimonies from the relatives of the rape victims who explain how hard it was
for that person. The interviews were also very emotionally effective because
they usually ended with the interviewee crying.
The film uses archival footage (WWII
videos of the military happily asking women to join), which is a bitter
contrast to the image that the victims give. The main interviewee was Kori Cioca,
a military rape victim who has PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, and a facial injury
that left her unable to chew. She was raped during her deportation by one of
her superiors and she then had to report the rape to the rapist.
The movie addresses the issue of the
military’s failure to support the veterans working for them. What this issue
basically is is that the military requires soldiers to put their lives in jeopardy
for the country but refuses to give them the most basic protection against
rapists in the armed forces. Most likely for legal reasons, the movie doesn’t
disclose the names of rapists, only the location and rank of each officer
connected with the victim. During the documentary, high military officials
tried to defend the system by showing unprofessional military videos that warn
soldiers about sexual assault.
The director incorporated text by
putting in statistics of the number of people affected by sexual assault in the
military. The movie uses several cinematic effects throughout it that makes it
a very interesting documentary to watch. There is no real plot but there is
definitely a structure to it. The victims and their families are interviewed
first, followed by interviews with people somehow related to the story. An
example of this was when Kori was interviewed about the legal part of her
assault and the next interview was with a military executive about the legal
procedure for prosecuting a military official.
The
director decided not to reenact any part of the film for obvious reasons, so
there wasn’t really any dramatic aspect. The music was only really noticeable
during the interviews where soft music played in the background. This is an
excellent and compelling documentary and I strongly recommend it.
