Science+and+Tech

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

**DOCUMENTARIES**
 * Every documentary has an EMOTIONAL CENTER. This makes the audience care about the story.
 * Documentaries make the audience think about the topic and want to talk about it with others.
 * What do they do to make the audience care about the topic?
 * Is it an image?
 * A particular phrase or statistic?
 * A moment of revelation?
 * It won't be ONE thing but a series of things that build up to the one moment that you realize how important the topic is to you.

Choose 2-3 documentaries of your choice to watch from these areas and determine what the emotional center is.

Select a documentary from any of the following areas:
 * Any Environment video
 * People and Places (under the Kid's Video tab)
 * News Videos

Use this Word document and respond to the questions about the emotional center of the documentaries you viewed.

Documentaries

Take 2 Documentary project Watch these videos from the t he project site. You will see many of your peers' works here. __**Be able to describe what it is you can relate to in the films that you view.**__

Take2 Videos


 * **It starts with a story.** Documentaries call for a compelling story that focuses on an important subject or sheds light on a little known situation or personality that others might find interesting. The best documentaries feature stories that their creators felt strongly about or had a personal interest in.
 * **Find out more.** Although you may have firsthand knowledge about the story you're trying to tell, your documentary will tell a richer story if you do background research. Finding out details of the time, place and history of your subject will help immerse viewers in your story.
 * **Take inventory.** As you gather information, be sure to capture it in an organized manner. Stock footage, research material, and ideas for scenes should all be recorded. Index cards work well for this step. Once you've collected all of your information, try to lay it out in a logical fashion that will help you tell your story.
 * **Define the structure.** Any story should have a beginning, middle and end. The most compelling stories have some sort of conflict and resolution. As you construct your story, be sure it has a well-defined structure. Will you tell the story in a chronological or non-linear manner? Will the story be narrated or driven mainly by interviews? Answering these questions will help you determine the structure of your film.
 * **Find your emotional center.** In order to engage you audience, they'll need someone they __can relate to__. Decide early on which person or group should be t__he focus of your documentary__ and then concentrate your efforts on telling that story.

THE SUDAN
 * Looking over the details: Sorting through the information**

Take2 Videos [|Sudan Flowcharts.pdf] [|Sudan Flowchart Tape Numbers .pdf] Example:
 * 1.** Read through the flowcharts. This will give you an overview of all the stories that exist on the raw footage and how they fit together. Finished? Go back and read them again. The decisions you make now will define your entire project. Determine what themes interest you the most. Example: (Sudan) Medicine: then look at the individual story modules that within that flow chart. Choose one. Example Butcher/Surgeon
 * 2.** Now either go to the tape numbers that correspond to that module: Butcher 25,26,27,28,30,,31,32,33 or do a keyword search (in this case "butcher" and "surgeon" to start with and the "Gamar" once you learn his name).
 * Butcher (Pages 28, 91-94, 101-104, 115-117, 120, 128, 151).
 * Surgeon: (Pages 28,104).
 * Gamar : (Pages 91-95, 104, 114-115, 120-127, 144...)

By now you will have discovered that there is also an interview of the Butcher/Surgeon. This is very important – you‘ll want to go over it carefully and note specific lines that are dramatic/intriguing/surprising. A documentary is ALWAYS stronger if you can use the words of the people in it rather than a voice-over narration.


 * Example: **Bad Idea (Butcher/Surgeon):** “Yuck! Can you imagine a culture so primitive that the guy who kills the sheep is also the doctor? I’m going to prove that we’re so much more sophisticated than that. Those people can’t be very smart, can they?


 * Example: **Good Idea (Butcher/Surgeon):** Hey, there’s a Doctors without Borders hospital within spitting distance of the refugee camp. Why would the refugees trust the camp butcher over the western hospital (hint: it’s not because they’re stupid)? What is his background and training? He uses a dried chicken skin to help heal a boy with a compound fracture. When I go on the internet I see that this technique is used on several continents. What is the point of it and is there some medicinal value to his methods? How could medicine in the camp be improved? Is there any way to combine the strengths of the western hospital with the Gamar’s strengths? Etc.


 * How To with Adobe**

Go to middle of page on How to video editing movies:

Adobe Premiere Elements Tutorial

Assessment Survey: This is your opportunity to describe the learning process you went through as you worked with your team to create your Take2 documentaries. Be sure to describe your thoughts in these specific areas:

Go to Take 2 Survey
 * **Collaboration:** How well did the flow between you and your team member go? Did you support each other in the learning process? What did you learn from your teammate?
 * **Leadership:** Did you know when to step up and take charge and when to take a back seat and let someone else lead? Was the balance of power equitable? How will this serve you in some of the projects you tackle in the future?
 * **Problem Solving:** How well did you and your team problem solve. (Hint: you had to do it every step of the way!) Describe what this was like as opposed to following step by step directions or knowing what it took to get and A. (Btw: you all received and excellent grade for your process skills).

**FINAL SELF-ASSESSMENT**:


 * Learning and growing means no one has to tell you how hard to work.
 *  You set personal goals for yourself to succeed or you don't.
 *  __Your task is to evaluate how hard you worked on your project.__
 *  If you could give yourself an honest grade what would it be?
 *  Failure Counts as Done!

Complete this survey: Self-Assessment