iMovie: Marriage Equality
Documentaries are used to provided factual information to a broad audience. This documentary is used as a public service announcement in the documentary form to discuss the issues surrounding marriage equality. In order to create awareness about the issues and viewpoints on the topic, two different approaches, as well as editing tactics, were used to create a short compilation of informational clips. Through these approaches, it was hoped that a documentary could bring to light the truths and concerns of marriage equality by showing those who oppose and those who support.
Marriage equality was the concept that Marcell, Sophia, and Jaclyn chose to represent. Each member of the group has dealt with concerns such as empathy, equal rights, and the issues surrounding adoption. Since all of the above concerns are in one way or another intertwined within marriage equality, that was the big idea that was agreed upon. From this point forward the group used concept mapping as well as provided worksheets to work out details. Through these processes, it was decided on to focus on LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgendered, and Questioning) and how marriage (in) equality protects the metanarrative of the “Majority”. In order to be as unbiased as possible it was decided to pick random people from Kirkhof from various ethnic groups, sexes, and ages. Then, the group thought about questions that they could ask, camera angles, and the like.
In creating a storyboard and filming the documentary the group focused on two types of interviews. The first interview, with Kim Ranger, provided context and information on the issues from someone who faces inequality on an everyday basis. This created a sense of awareness for the viewers on subjects that they may not think about everyday, such as medical rights and simple tax laws. Also, this addresses the rights those who are fighting for equal marriage rights have currently and what they want in the future. The next interview addressed the public asking how they define marriage, how being for or against equal marriage affects them, what the pros and cons of equal marriage rights are, and why they would choose to be for or against marriage equality. These questions were used so that there was support from both sides and a general awareness of different outlooks provided to the viewing audience. When constructing the interviews it was decided that the interviewee would be the major focus of the clip, with a straight on angle in order keep the focus on their responses.
Following filming, all of the clips were uploaded and parts were split between the group members. Marcell addressed the interview by providing informational clips from the interview with Kim Ranger. Jaclyn and Sophia split the questions to provide the audience with a variety of responses from those interviewed. Marcell used longer clips in order to provide context and quality information from the interview with Kim Ranger. In contrast, Jaclyn and Sophia used short clips to provide a range of answers and wide variety of demographics and opinions to address the questions. This resulted in the documentary first highlighting the issues within the community and then short responses on opinions, concerns, and feelings on the issue of marriage equality.
As a result a short public service announcement was created focusing on the issues and questions at hand as well as the many views that come with them. In order to solve the pressing issues, such as marriage equality, people must become aware of the limits of their own experiences. By showing many view points, it can be hoped together as a society we can overcome such obstacles by becoming more empathetic. This video, as a compilation, is meant to open doors so that these issues no longer exist.
Definitely a very informative video. Paced well, transitions were nicely handled. Audio levels on some of the voices felt a bit low. A background track would have been nice but doesn't feel required. The varying opinions was a good decision.
ReplyDeleteYour video was very informative and I the "documentary style" was really well done. Technically it was well done, especially with the transitions.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I thought was a good idea was not having background music play. I think that it might have distracted, so good job!
I really liked the "interview the man/woman on the street" approach, it lent authenticity to "how do people feel" about this. The idea of covering both sides was interesting to me as I have always thought of a psa as having one side to argue or put forth.
ReplyDeleteI think talking to a variety of people was effective and very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe last person talking was hard to hear and it was distracting to have the questions on the screen at the same time.
Well done!
I like how "raw" your film was, it made it seem more real. More people would have been helpful I think, and the cuts in the film were a little sloppy. I worked hard to make the cuts in my film, even if the person was in the middle of a run-on sentence, to sound like it was the end of the sentence. I understand that these people had very little time and you were in a busy place, and I didn't find the background noise distracting, it added to that "raw" quality. The interview in the beginning was helpful, had a lot of meat to it, but it felt disjointed from the rest of the interviews. Maybe just interviewing that African-American longer and using just those two would have been more successful. I'm also not sure some of your best stuff was in the film, like that quote you talked about where the girl said she thought there should be equality in marriage BECAUSE of religion. I don't remember hearing/seeing that in the film and that would have been a good piece to add. Aesthetically, it was not as punchy as it could have been, but maybe that was the aesthetic you were going for.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate incorporating other political perspectives right away (specifically, the information about taxes), which is also important to consider in addition to the way people feel about it. You got a huge variety of participants, giving me the sense that it is an important issue that lots of people want to talk about. My only criticism is that I don't feel like both sides were represented as equally as you expressed. It seems to me that you are establishing a clear perspective, with the large majority agreeing with your ideas. This is completely fine, of course, but I feel like it is less of a dialogue between two sides of an issue than it is one perspective being reinforced.
ReplyDeleteYou have made a nice video. The last scene, with the voice over, was incredibly confusing. The choice to add questions over the voice made those questions hard to read.
ReplyDeleteIs impartiality the best way to convey your message that is so divisive? The way in which you verbalize “Marriage (in)Equality” reveals your views. I am glad you tried to include a diverse group of oppinions.
You have made a nice video. The last scene, with the voice over, was incredibly confusing. The choice to add questions over the voice made those questions hard to read.
ReplyDeleteIs impartiality the best way to convey your message that is so divisive? The way in which you verbalize “Marriage (in)Equality” reveals your views. I am glad you tried to include a diverse group of oppinions.