My Documetary Piece on Danielle Fellguth

I decided to do a documentary on my best friend, Danielle Denise Fellguth because I was inspired by her disability pride. Although she has cerebral palsy, she has the self-determination to be proud of her disability and share with others about her experiences and spread disability awareness. I didn't really have to do any research about Danielle because she is my best friend and she tells me everything-from her accomplishments to her life challenges. I did; however, had to research about Danielle's disability, cerebral palsy, since I never knew what it was about. My questions were focused and direct because they touched on Danielle's life struggles, the benefits of having a disability, and how she balances her disability advocacy with her school and friends. For my documentary piece, I imagined shooting b-roll of Danielle being a typical teenager who is capable of accomplishing whatever she sets her mind to.


I chose to film at school and my friend's house for my documentary piece because they were the most convenient places to shoot. The quality of my b-roll are pretty good, despite the fact that I had limited amounts of time to shoot them. My most creative shot is of Danielle talking on the phone and working on her computer. This scene is suppose to show that Danielle is on an important call with members of the disability awareness national board she works for. I like the shots for this scene because I used a lot of different camera angles. I did a over the shoulder, close-up, and medium shot of Danielle in the scene in order to make the scene more interesting for the audience to watch. I did use a variety of shot selections, such as scenes of Danielle's daily school routine, Danielle hanging out with friends during lunch, Danielle in the office switching wheelchairs, and Danielle working on homework. My camera moves when shooting the b-roll was a little shaky because I didn't use a tripod. However, by using a tripod for the interview, it all turned out well because the shots were more stable and the audience wouldn't be distracted by the shaking of the camera and the seriousness of my topic would reach out to them more effectively. I tried my best to avoid zooming too much, but I couldn't help panning while shooting. The lighting in my shots are not too bright, but not too dark. The focus in my shots turned out pretty well because Danielle, along with a number of other people in the shots, weren't blurry and remained in focus throughout each shot. My opening and closing voice-over was loud enough to hear and clear enough to understand.

My opening voice-over introduces who Danielle is and how she will be the main focus of the documentary. In my voice-over, in order to grab the audience's attention I said "She is a typical teenage girl, but one thing that makes her unique is her life-long disability". This statement will immediately grab people's attention because it is rare for them to view documentaries on disabled people. My documentary was definitely informative because it tells others that disabled people refuse to let their disabilities hold them back in society. My closing voice over states that although Danielle is disabled, she has the strength to be whoever she wants to be and accomplish any goals she sets her mind to. The final thought I want people to have after viewing my piece is that everyone is equal and everyone has the capability to accomplish anything in life.


While the audience hears my two voice overs and the interview, footage of Danielle doing her daily school routine and working on disability advocacy is shown. I edited it this way because the message in the voice overs link to what the audience will see. The only transitions I used were fade in/out and cross-dissolve. I used the software, Livetype, to create my title and it was amazing how it lets you select from dozens of title animations to use. Throughout the documentary it is apparent to see the unusual jump cuts that break the rules of continuity. This was especially difficult to fix because Danielle often forgot what she was going to say during the interview, or she messed up, so we had to start over.
















What I like the most about my piece is the focus on reality, as opposed to fiction. I like the fact that it speaks the truth about our world and how people struggle and thrive in our world. If I had more time to do my piece, I would re-shoot my b-roll, select better background music, and fix the jump-cuts. After working on this project, I've learned that you never know what people are dealing with so it is always better to get to know someone before you judge them.

"Going Beyond the Still Image"- The Cabbie

1. Characterization- who is in the movie
2. Conflict- what is the climatic moment
3. The resolution and feeling left in the film

The main character is the taxi driver who finds a teddy bear on the ground after dropping off a passenger. He seems very dark and mysterious at first because we don't know what his intentions are with the teddy bear. He decides to bring the bear home and we continue to question his actions. However, when the audience sees him tucking the teddy bear under his daughter's arm and kisses her, we understand that the taxi driver is harmless. At that moment we realize that he loves his daughter very much, so he gives her a present (although he picked it up from the ground). The minor character is the daughter. She seems innocent as we watch her sleep. She is surprised and delighted when she discovers a new toy beside her.

I think the climax of the film is when the daughter finds a hole in the bear and pulls out a key. She holds it up in front of her and her face blurs, while the key begins to be focused more. I think the discovery of the key is the climax because all along we believed the bear was a harmless toy, but in reality it was hiding a mysterious key. It gives the story a twist and the plot heads in a different direction, less on the father and girl, and more on the scary crate containing the unknown.

The resolution of the film is when we see a close up of a mysterious crate. The camera slowly zooms out until the audience sees a long shot of a mysterious crate in the middle of a dark room. We don't know what is going on. This leaves the audience with a lot of questions. Does the key open the crate? What does the crate contain? What is the girl going to do next? How is the father going to react? Who put the key in the teddy bear? Will the story end in tragedy? The ending of the short film leaves the audience with far more questions than answers, so we are left to imagine what the final ending of the entire story will be.

Exotic Travel to The Island of the Bahamas

If I could travel to any exotic land in the world, my first choice would be the Bahamas. The Bahamas is an English-speaking country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets (rocks). Its total area is almost 14000 kilometers squared, with an estimated population of 330,000. Its capital is Nassau.

The second the plane lands and I step into the Bahama sun, I know I'm in paradise. After checking in at a hotel near the beach, I grab my snorkeling gear and run to the waters. I put on my mask and snorkel and swim a couple feet. I deep my head into the clear water and immediately I am amazed by the exotic sea life. I see lots of tropical fish, turtles, coral and sharks. After 20 minutes or so, I swim back to shore and go back to my room to change.

I return to the beach with a towel, sun tan lotion, sunglasses, and my Ipod-- ready to lay in the sun to tan. I lay out the towel,rub on sun tan lotion, lie down, put on my sunglasses and turn on my Ipod. Absolutely perfect.

After an hour, my stomach tells me that it needs food. I hurry to slip on a sun dress and go to the nearest restaurant. The waiter recommends that I try their famous conch-- ocean mollusks. When my dish arrives, I sink my fork into the meaty flesh and put it in my mouth. The meat was absolutely delicious. The conch is saturated in lime and served with coconut. I melt into a state of admiration.

The first half of my day complete, I think about what to do next. Then it hit me...hiking! I pack all the necessary supplies I will need and I head off to the mangrove marshes of the island. While hiking, I see crepe murtles, Bougainvillaea, orchids, Hibiscus, and the national flower of the Bahamas, Yellow Elder. I spot horses, raccoons, turtles, and iguanas. My surroundings really make me stop to enjoy nature. It is so difficult to stop and think while in the city. But, here...it's so calm and majestic.

It's near dusk when I return to the beach. The last thing on my list is horseback riding. I never get the opportunity to ride horses in America, so I'll get my chance here. Excitedly, I get on the saddle

and gallop on the beach at sunset. It's so relaxing. My love for the island continues to grow. Having enough fun for the day, I get off the horse, pet it and walk slowly back to my hotel room. The warm sand seep between my toes. Too tired to do anything else, I jump into bed and sink into a deep sleep, dreaming about what adventure lies for me tomorrow...

Short Film-Reverie

This is a screen shot of a guy sleeping on the couch. He fell asleep while watching t.v., forgetting that he was suppose to meet up with a beautiful woman soon. The environment that the director chose to film had low lighting, but he made the right choice in choosing the DSLR- Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera (Canon D7). The camera is able to create selective focus and capture light due to its lens. The camera may be advanced enough to search for all available sources of light, in this case the television.




This is a screen shot of the guy riding in a helicopter. He is in a helicopter because he is searching for the beautiful woman waiting for him. He is probably late and needs the fastest kind of transportation. The lighting is very interesting here. It is difficult to tell if the environment is dark or not because the guy seems very bright. The camera is very successful in excluding the low lighting and focusing enough to create a brighter shot. The possible light
sources that the camera may find to help itself adjust to the environment in order to create the right contrast is the moon or sun, and the city lights.





This is a screen shot of the two main characters meeting together for the short film's climax. We've been watching the guy racing all over town to find this one beautiful woman, and now he has finally found her. She is ecstatic to see him. He grabs her passionately and pulls her in for a kiss. The lighting, once again, is very low in this environment, but the camera has special abilities to create selective focus and capture all available light around it. In this case, the available light source is the bridge in the background.

Editing Demo Critique

1. The first story of a student playing bazinga and the other student going to the bathroom demonstrates the concept of intercutting because the camera cuts between the two separate lines of action that are happening at the same time. The second story of a student working on a project and another student not saving the project and going on Facebook demonstrates the concept of axis match. The two stories demonstrate my concepts really well because they show how different shots and camera angles combine to make stories more creative and entertaining. Some problems I had during the pre-production was thinking of two stories to demonstrate the concepts. The story demonstrating intercutting was not as interesting as I hoped. If I had the chance to do this project again, I would create two lines of action that meet together in the end that brings more dramatic tension for the viewers.

2. Andrew was the director during the production, and I think he has done a wonderful job using creative shots and techniques that would bring the story to life on screen. The shots flow together and follow the rules of continuity. The most creative shot that I like is the intercutting story. In this story, a student is playing a game on the computer while his partner, student 2, is walking to the bathroom and back. I like how my group and I did a over the shoulder shot of student 2 opening the classroom door and suddenly it cuts to a shot inside the classroom. The shot of student2 can be seen already walking in the classroom, and the door is closing behind her. This is called a match action cut or movement match. It was a smooth cut that followed the rules of continuity and came out perfect. Another shot that I love is in the axis match scene, where a long shot of a student can be seen working on a project. The camera suddenly moves forward along the z-axis and we see a close-up of the computer screen. The angle from which the camera shoots the action remains the same from shot to shot.

3. Challenges that I had during editing was importing the music and voiceover. I didn't know that I was suppose to save the music and voiceover in my student folder, so when I was editing in final cut pro, the audio wasn't playing. It was dead silent. I was freaking out, until Mr. Bigue explained how to solve the problem. Another challenge I had was finding the right background music to complement my editing demo. I had to search for music one by one in garage band and itunes, so it took a while to find the right one. Also, limiting the scenes to about one to two minutes was a challenge because the shots we took were kind of long. I was forced to cut out some shots and speed up most of the clips in order to make the entire movie within the time limit.