Doc Mode Activity 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPq8fFTiN7Q

For this documentary mode activity, I focused on trying to make a documentary that had elements of the participatory mode. In Sick Around the World and Sicko the filmmakers asked normal citizens what they thought about health care. This gave me the idea to ask BYU students what they thought about caffeine since it is a type of health concern at BYU. Therefore, I decided to focus my doc on BYU students perspective on caffeine and on their opinion on whether BYU should sell caffeinated drinks on campus. I interviewed several students asking what they thought about caffeinated drinks and whether or not they thought BYU should sell them on campus. Interviews, as we discussed in class and as the reading discussed, is a common part of participatory mode documentaries because they demonstrate the interaction between the filmmaker and the social actors. I feel my film is not as strong of a participatory doc since the audience never sees me but only hears me ask a question and ask for clarification. 

We also discussed in class that participatory documentaries commonly have an pointed opinion. Sicko clearly demonstrated this idea through Michael Moore’s very pointed irony. I feel mine lacks this opinion since seems more to just observes the students’ answers. The only way in which I feel I did point the opinions of the film was in decided which interviews to include, what part of the interviews to include, and the order of the clips. For example, I tried to show that the their could be a possibility of caffeinated drinks eventually being sold at BYU by having the last shot be of the student of draws upon the historical fact that now BYU allows mustaches so maybe someday they will sell caffeinated drinks. 

Another concept addressed in the reading is ethics and how a filmmaker can manipulate subjects to get the reaction they want. I thought about this when making my film because one of the students I interviewed, I know to be highly addicted to caffeinated drinks. He is usually always drinking a Monster and this contributes to his having a sleeping problem. I really wanted to get this dynamic of his addiction in the film but he didn’t want that represented on camera and so filtered his answers. Also, I had footage of other students teasing him about his addiction but I decided not to include this because I know he would be very hurt by this being documented on camera.