(1)

If I were to continue working with participants in my media career, I would consistently refer back to my Ethics Charter. The core learning lesson that stuck out to me is to ‘love the people you film’ (Boyton, 2016). This for me encapsulates what it means to be a storyteller and media maker. For example, viewing the participant not just as an object for a story but a real person with emotions, histories and complexity. Being transparent with participants helps to build trust and reduces the risk of miscommunication. Media making often requires us to cut down audio making speech more precise and rearranging simple phrases or words. Throughout this process, I learnt the importance of honouring the true intentions of the participant by understanding their perspective and asking for clarification. Even before starting the interview, making the participant feel welcomed, safe and heard by using open communication and a friendly attitude. Taking responsibility when something is misrepresented by doing my research, involving the participant, being transparent and sending a copy of the media artefact to the participant before distribution. Finally, I am including in my Ethics Charter a commitment to giving proper credit to the resources I used and acknowledging the contributions of everyone who helped me with the project.

(2)

In regards to this assignment I worked on it solo. I found it quite fun as I was able to schedule the production around my schedule and it took out the need to line up schedules with other people. This gave me flexibility but also taught me self discipline as I couldn’t rely on group members for motivation and deadlines. I also enjoyed the fact that I had creative control over my project. Oftentimes working in groups ideas would be overshadowed by others, while working solo, my idea was the final say. 

Although this may be true, my process included working collaboratively with others in order to create a successful documentary. Learning the course content allowed me to expand my ideas and motivated me to try new things. Getting feedback from Rohan as a media making professional, gave me more perspective and taught me problem solving skills. Applying in class and written feedback from my peers was helpful as it came from a fellow media student and generation z point of view. Working with my sister, Tiana, during the interview process allowed my mother to be more comfortable and express her true feelings. As well as constantly reviewing my WIP with my brother and sister for feedback, allowed me to fine tune my work. 

Even though I worked solo, I knew that reaching out to people would only boost my work as it gave me different perspectives that weren’t just my own and therefore using the feedback to improve and refine my work. 

(3)

When thinking of Bill Nichols’ (1991) ‘Modes of Documentary‘, I believe my documentary is a culmination of the expository, performative and observational modes.  

I use the expository mode through archival footage and my voice of god narration. This allowed me to give my perspective on my mother’s story but also allowed me to guide the audience on how to feel; appreciation, admiration and gratitude. 

In the performative mode, I used animation to conceptualise and express my mother’s memories of leaving Vietnam. Animation in this mode prioritises emotions over objective truth. An example of my understanding of the performative mode is watching ‘Waltz with Bashir’ (Folman, 2008) which conveyed the directors personal memories and psychological effects of war. The film reflects on the subjective experience rather than a factual, objective truth.

While filming, I constantly keep in mind Frederick Wiseman’s documentary film making technique of long observational shots, in reference to ‘Boxing Gym’ (2010). Examples of this was when my mother was taking in the laundry or eating her cake. This helped me a lot in post-production as it gave me more footage to experiment, allowed me to experiment with rhythm and created a sense of authenticity and realism.

(4)

If I were to continue to work on this artefact, I would like the ability to adapt it into a portrait format to create social media content, as my intended audience are of a younger demographic, who can relate to having immigrant parents. As my intended career pathway is around the social media sphere, I would re-editing the documentary into micro-stories and post them on Tik Tok and Instagram. Inspired by in class student examples, I would also like to improve my animation skills, to tell stories through images I can create in my mind. I would also like the ability to tell more stories without using talking heads as it allowed me to have more creative freedom by making an effort to seek out archival footage, focus on creating an immersive soundscape and honing in on the impact of visual storytelling. Ideas I would like to explore further; my mother’s motivations in moving, her relationship with her parents then vs now, her connection to her people and land, her cultural identity etc. 

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