Research and Planning Personal doc

There were various components that went into our documentaries production. One of the most important being the research aspect. Before beginning my researched, I remebered the main purpose of documentaries is to embody a "Slice of Life". This made me realize I had to choose a topic for my documentary, based on something socially significant and prevalent in the world today. 

 My first instinct was to think about reoccurring issues or events that go on around me. On a personal level, I thought about my family and things they've gone through and on a wider scale, I thought about the pressures of being a school student.

Student Approach- Over 4,000 students attend the high school I'm enrolled in, Cypress Bay High school. In my school, there is a wide array of difficult academic class options, including Aice and Ap. Almost all students are either forced to take these rigorous courses because of their parents or encouraged to take them, due to the competitiveness within the school. Moreover, Cypress Bay also offers a diverse range of clubs, such as the Drama club, Multicultural club, Pinkind, SGA, and many more. These are overlapped with all the extracurricular activities students typically are part of. As an active student, I sometimes struggle balancing my schedule and having time for everything without being overwhelmed. As I socialize with peers more, I realize I'm not the only one having a difficult time carrying out my day-to-day routine. It made me draw the conclusion that I'm only one amongst the many students finding it hard to strive in such a time consuming and work demanding environment. I really did like this idea and found formfitting interviewees; however, it didn't encompass the true issue I wanted to tackle and distribute to my audience.

SOOOO, I decided to dive even deeper into personal issues others can relate to, by focusing on my family. I chose to concentrate on my grandmother. This is because she is an extremely powerful woman with an even more powerful story. My grandmother, Susana Hernandez, is a super immigrant. This may sound bad, so let me put it into context. Susana was born in the impoverished area in Havanna Cuba. Her childhood was intense and tremendously difficult. The country had terrible food insecurity, leaving her and her family starved at times. When they weren't starving, the food sources were very limited which is difficult when part of such a big family. Not only was food limited, but also the chances of opportunity. Sadly, in Cuba, citizens don't have much of a future. When you live there, you're stuck, regardless of the conditions. My grandmother was one of the few that made it out of Cuba. She went from Cuba to Budapest Hungary, to the United States of America. THIS is what makes her a super immigrant. I believe her story was important to share, as there are a lot of immigrant stories that aren't shared enough. The whole journey she went through was unbelievably difficult. To show how much migrancy affects one's future, people must be educated, as well as exposed to the situation. I believe a documentary about this issue is the perfect way to grab people's attention visually and auditorily hearing the story. 

 My Strong, beautiful grandmother 

After solidifying this was what I wanted to use, I made sure my teammates liked the idea too. Once they agreed to it, I asked my grandmother if she was comfortable with the idea. Shortly after, the pre-production process began. The first thing I did was brainstorm the kind of questions I wanted to incorporate within the document, to let my grandma answer comfortably and confidently. Then Miguel and I began work coming up with all the shots and brainstorming different types of B-roll. After this, we realized that it would be smart to incorporate another interviewee. After thinking about the possible options (me, my grandfather, and my mother), we decided to use my mother, as she is the one that experienced a portion of this journey with her. Since we made this decision, we made sure to get her approval. This choice added lots of depth into the documentary. After all of the framework was finished, we brainstormed and obtained all the mise-en-scene elements, b-roll, and equipment.