Digital Video - Week 4



04/03/2020

I spoke with Lee briefly and she told me she has been in contact with Nathan (Enoch's dad) and I have to just wait for him to talk about it with his ex about it and then he'll get in contact with me.

 We didn't really have a class today and so most went to help out with the film boot camp, but they looked like they had more people than they needed. I went back to the classroom and worked on the storyboards, which consisted of staged b-roll for my documentary with Enoch in mind.










I heard back from Nathan last night via email and informed me Enoch is no longer leading the school climate strikes anymore and referred me to Ashleigh Putt-Fallows. He did like my showreel and hoped for the very best for my documentary.

Bender, L., Burns, S. Z., Chilcott, L., & David, L. (Producers), & Guggenheim, D. (Director). (2006). An Inconvenient Truth [Motion picture]. Paramount Classics; Participant Productions.




I watched 15 minutes of the documentary this morning...

 Al Gore compared climate change denial to those who ignored Winston Churchill about another war with Germany (WWII)

 The documentary addresses how he overcame personal tragedies - losing a presidential election, his son's accident

 Subtle zooms on high resolution still images

 Not only we learn of Al Gore through the downsides of his life, but get to know him as a character by being informed about his early life and upbringing. Music is continued to be used.

 Al Gore's findings is not far from what is happening right now in the world. It seems to have more credibility and relevance now in 2020 than it did in 2006.

 I watched the rest of the documentary tonight...

 The documentary includes archival footage of a US senator, and former US presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Snr as a way to present opposing views. Applying this makes the film's subject two-sized because it not only comes out of Al Gore's mouth, which makes it even more two-sided than 2040. Al Gore also has discussions with scientists in China that support his arguments

 Scientists have been persecuted and/or their reputation, credibility, or career ruined.

 Economy vs the environment is comparable to gold bars vs the planet

 It's human nature for us to take a long time to connect the dots e.g the tobacco industry was big part of the economy like other industries that rely on carbon emissions, but it ultimately led to millions of deaths

 Like the tobacco industry, we could lose millions of lives due to being blind to the real issues

 We are capable of change - democracy, freedom, the womens' right to vote, non-violence movements against oppression, the end of fascism, the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union, cures for diseases like polio and smallpox, treatment for cancer and diabetes, the end of apartheid in South Africa, and the Moon landing 

From that sentiment, I believe history has taught us that if we can do this, we can do the same for climate change, and history is proof that we are capable of change despite the odds, especially when it comes down to risking the economy in favour of the greater good.

 The film at the end returns to the calm, idyllic beginning

 How to contribute through climate action is stated in between the ending credits starts

 My review of An Inconvenient Truth
Despite being partly documentary, lecture, and biographical documentary, it still works as an effective documentary and succeeds in delivering the film's message. 
The message being encouraging climate action and the urgency of taking climate change seriously.
It certainly has currently stood the test of time by being more relevant now than it did at the time of the film's release.

05/03/2020

I sent an email to Ashleigh requesting her involvement in my documentary as the main subject.


06/03/2020

I heard back from Ashleigh and she is very keen to be involved and she asked when we should meet for further discussions. I replied saying that it depends on what suits her, but it would be good in the weekend. Later I realised she likely wouldn't receive this email until after this weekend

 James Shaw meeting


I went along to James Shaw;s climate meeting at South Alive. I decided on the day to try and film the event. James Shaw is the Minster for Climate Change and Leader of the New Zealand Green Party. 
I didn't bring the X200 because I didn't want to give the wrong impression that I had an ulterior motive or hidden agenda like I only came to as an advantage for my documentary. That and also because I didn't think it was likely that James Shaw would allow it.

 I went along the event and spoke to James Shaw and his communications manager, Danny Stephens about the idea of me filming his talk. They were surprisingly more open and transparent about it than I thought. 
I filmed the talk on my phone. It was quite awkward filming on my phone because my hands would stiff after five minutes or more and I was worried that I was blocking the phone's internal mic. 
There was only enough space on my phone for 54 minutes of video

 I later found out that I did accidentally blocked the mic when Shaw spoke about the school climate strike movement, making the sound muffled and is inconvenient because that is the subject of my documentary.
Looking back, I would had brought along the X200 anyway.

 I also kept notes on important information from Shaw that wasn't captured on my phone because I only filmed some of the meeting to suit my phone's storage space.
One of the videos are vertical where it should be landscape, but I can fix that in post.

 I received the contact details of Shaw's communication manager, so that if I end up using the footage, I send him a release form for James Shaw to sign for my documentary.
I am hoping to try and salvage the footage for something usable for when it comes to post-production and potentially the footage could be on display at the one of the exhibitions for this paper and the research paper.

08/03/2020

I heard back from Ashleigh today that after 5pm on Thursday would suit her best. I will need to reply back to her on where to meet. I also have to keep in mind that I will need to leave the group project class early on that day, which is shouldn't matter much since we have been finishing class early recently.

 I also saw the School 4 Climate Strike Facebook page hinted that announcements and news on the next school climate strike will be released very soon, perhaps within the next few days.

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