Adrienne-Filming Techniques & Aesthetics; Citing Evidence/Thesis

                Regarding Boyechko’s advice on shooting B-roll footage, I found some of it difficult to understand due to lingo. Phrases like “slider shots,” “monopod,” and “white balance” make very little sense to me. Despite this, the article gave me ideas for potential B-roll shots like entrances, buildings, and interviewee’s arrivals. I’m not sure if I should try to get any footage during my interview on Monday because I’ll only have my shoddy iPod camera, but I might make a few attempts.

                I found Michael Moore’s tenets for documentaries to be interesting, especially his advice to use humor. I don’t think I’ll be able to incorporate humor into the project, but I think a more light-hearted tone would come across better. I also found his advice on audience reaction to be particularly poignant: “Depressed is a passive emotion. Anger is active. Anger will mean that maybe 5 percent, 10 percent of that audience will get up and say, "I gotta do something. I'm going to tell others about this. I'm going to go look up more about this on the Internet. I'm gonna join a group and fight this!" To evoke this sort of reaction, I’ll need to present my audience with evidence that change is needed, preferably emotionally-charged evidence, and then a set of individually feasible solutions. I will need to give my audience their own way to “do something.” Moore also warns against assuming your audience is completely ignorant about your topic. This would be particularly obnoxious for me to do, because I only discovered the issue of the DCF through my local news. It’s guaranteed that many others saw the same broadcast or a similar one. While of course it’s important to introduce the topic with clarity, I’ll need to avoid being heavy-handed with my explanations.

Boyechko, Slavik. "How To Shoot B-Roll." Transom. Transom, 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2015.

Moore, Michael. "Michael Moore's 13 Rules for Making Documentary Films." Michael Moore's 13 Rules for Making Documentary Films. Indiewire, 10 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2015.

                There are a few stories I’d like to tell and learn about: I’d like to tell the story of what life can be like in foster care, good and bad, the story of how adopting a child from foster care has affected the lives of parents, and how the DCF has found itself in this crisis. My first interview with my Human Services teacher revealed to me a lot about the DCF’s  recent history. Unfortunately I don’t have my notes from that discussion on hand, but I’ll do my best to recount what I know.

                At one point, Vermont’s legislature voted to cut the budget of the DCF, which forced them to cut down their staff. This included social workers, so the cases of those who left the Department were distributed to other social workers. Outside of the DCF, Vermont’s opiate crisis was boosting the number of children removed from their parent’s custody. This put strain on the social workers, who already had too many caseloads.  

Alex’s blog post from October 11^th cites that the Office of the Child Advocate has conducted research that shows “more than two-thirds of social workers said their job had caused them emotional or mental instability…” It’s clear that social workers operating under such stress cannot do their job as well as they could. To ensure the well-being of Vermont’s children, the conditions under which Vermont’s social workers do their job must change.

Bickart, Alex. "Whats The Story? The Vermont Young People Social Action Team-Alex Bickart." Whats The Story? The Vermont Young People Social Action Team-Alex Bickart. Alex Bickart, 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Dec. 2015.

Wiggin, Sal. Personal interview. 8 Oct. 2015.