Short Documentary Piece

Pitch

Short (3-5 min.) documentary that goes outside the classroom and into the halls and streets of Hunter College to ask people, “what’s on your iPod?” We want to seek out possible interviewees, with their permission, and discover what kind of music they listen to and why?

Production Notes

Interviews: shoot in and outside of Hunter College, pause briefly and record ambient sound. We want to express a sense of feeling for the environment but it’s important that audio not interfere with dialogue. We should avoid asking questions that can be answered with a simple yes/no and try to engage the interviewee in a conversation about their relationship with music.

Possible interview questions:

• · What are you listening to right now?
• · What’s on your iPod?
• · What kind of music do you listen to?
• · Who is your favorite artist or band and why?
• · What’s your favorite song and why?
• · What was the last song you listened to?
• · How much of a role does music play in your life?
• · Who is the best artist/band of all time and why?
• · Etc…

While shooting, we will try to provide just enough headroom so that the subject remains in focus and the background slightly out of focus. As far as making the video visually interesting, we want to shoot some shots of the overall environment, up-close on hands and iPod screens, that we can mix with multiple angles shot during the interview. See what makes the person unique and how the music they listen to reflects that. The interviewee should have eye contact with the camera, as if they are speaking directly to the lens of the camera.

While editing, we will add a brief music clip of the song the interviewee is discussing in the background. We will also have to add text:

Black screen: “What does Hunter listen to?”

Interviewee’s name and where they are from is visible in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.

Jenni

Relationship with Media Today

We live in a society driven by media, our consumption is insatiable for the constant feed of up-to-date news and entertainment. I've become so dependent on the immediacy and accessibility of media, that it's difficult to imagine what life would be like without the many forms that I view on a daily basis.

For news and current events, I watch CNN, HLN or browse huffingtonpost.com, I like to visit these mediums daily as a means of staying informed and connected to the outside world. From time to time, the Huffington Post will include interesting articles written by actors, musicians and other celebrities. It's important to have a variety of informative sources, especially on controversial topics. The web site is user-friendly and contains tons of categorized articles at your fingertips.

Browsing YouTube and various digital design blogs is a great way of exploring work that inspires and connects me with other artists from around the globe. I tend to shy away from popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace, but Internet discussion forums provide a place to share my ideas and build a sense of community that without this technology could not have been possible.

I also view alternative media like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and late night talk shows like The Tonight Show and Chelsea Lately, they offer a more light-hearted take on reality, of course they're meant to entertain and not necessarily to inform. Ultimately, these shows present information comically and mock major cable networks like FOX, CNN and MSNBC.

My vices are reality TV and gossip sites- forms of being entertained in the most mindless way. It's sort of a love/hate relationship, gossip sites can be funny, but I hate the way they sometimes portray women and uphold certain beauty standards. Reality shows also glorify dangerous behaviors and some would say "dumbs down*" our culture, but for the most part it's just plain ridiculously entertaining.

*Elite versus Mass, Jurgen Kronig

Jenni