New Release

Sewickley, PA

  Geoff Klein, a senior broadcast communications major, is the son of Gene and Pam Klein and a graduate of Quaker Valley High School. His documentary, The Magic of Literacy, is about the First Book Westminster program and raising the importance of a child having literature at a young age. It hopes to encourage the audience to donate their time and/or money toward the First Book organization. Professionals discuss their opinion of First Book and its mission to provide poor families with books. Geoff has always loved doing community service and was very excited about helping the organization. “I love what the organization does for families and I hope this documentary inspires people to help out,” Geoff said. “I think my favorite part of this whole experience was making the music; being a musician myself and working with the other great artists really made it fun for me.” 

Invitation

You are cordially invited to the viewing of “The Magic of Literacy”, a documentary about The First Book Westminster Program. This documentary hopes to encourage the viewer to donate their time and/or money toward the organization. It also aspires to raise the awareness of the importance of a child having literature at a young age. Professionals discuss their opinion of First Book and its mission to provide poor families with literature. We hope to see you December 3^rd around 2pm in Mueller Theater. 

Evaluating the Final Product

Today I am asked to talk about three skills or abilities that I deem detrimental to my documentary. These skills will then be used to grade and assess my production. So what do I think is most important? The most important is good video, because with out good pictures you can't tell a great story. While producing this documentary I was often very worried about some shots, but loved others. Sometimes I caught moments I didn't even expect and they enhanced my story that much more. Sometimes its about patience keeping a shot an extra couple minutes to capture the moment. Though I believe it will help and hurt my assessment at the same time, I believe that you have to have good video. Second is how you put it together so the editing of it should be second most important. If you don't follow some type of chronological or storytelling path then your story looks randomly put together. Making sure every interview makes sense and works with what you show is extremely important. It was a lot harder for me to make a story out of mine with out a narrator, but I believe when I'm done it'll make sense that I didn't have one. It might come to no surprise then that the last skill is audio. This where I've got the cat in the bag, but first I'll explain its importance. So you have interviews, music, and audio from your b-roll which we like to call nat-sound. I imagine telling a story to a little kid when I think of using nat-sound. I know that it helps them with their imagination to hear the sound as its being read from the book. I take this and I use the same style for adults and thats how movies help books tell their story. I love the fact that I have suiting music for my documentary that flows with the style I present it and nat-sound of children reading and learning. All of this will help towards telling my story which comes to another trait that I think everything goes into which is storytelling. Okay at the beginning I told you I had to pick three so I did and to me those are all important because they tell a great story and story telling is the name of the game in a documentary. Therefore it would be unfair of me to at least recognition the importance of storytelling. How do you determine whether or not you like a book, a novel, a movie, ect? That's right storytelling is how and these three traits used correctly enhance the story that much more. So when my professor, the audience, and whom ever else watches this later on decides if they like it or not. I hope that they hold me to these three things, because I'll be focused on keeping them in check.

Presentation Style and Structure

Today I am talking about how my documentary will be voiced. My documentary will not have a narrator, instead the interviews will speak for themselves. I will use words during my b-roll to structure the documentary so that it present facts with audio from interviews. I decided to take this approach because I think with my documentary it better to hear the professionals voice their own opinion and talk about themselves rather than have someone introduce them and sum up what they have to say. I think that most of the time when I interview someone I like hearing them say what they have to say better than when I say it for them. I break it up with having the professionals talk about one specific opinion they have relevant to what the facts have said and what the other professionals had to say. Arguably I think the documentary has a beginning we see the secretary for first book with videos of bookshelves and you hear about this organization, followed by a middle information about first book along with professional opinions on the organization, and end why is it so important that people help out this organization.

Music Selection

Today I'd like to talk about how I selected the music I am using for my documentary. I have been good friends with my guitar teacher Brent Stater who has taught me a lot since I first met him. He has a really great taste for music and has been teaching for quite some time now. He is involved a band and has done a lot of opera in the past. I knew he would be a great choice and he loved the idea of making music for the documentary the moment I explained what it was about. He mentioned as a parent that he has tried his very best to bring his children up well. He agreed that this project was detrimental to the organization in helping children with literacy. Therefore he was the primary writer behind most of the music. However he wasn't the only musician I wanted to use though, Ricci Minella is the lead guitarist and lead singer of my band "The Fields". Ricci is a by far one of the best writers I have had the fortune to come across. He is also a very talented singer and with his catchy lyrics and chords I always find something sentimental about the sound. I was able to get a few recordings done of just him playing guitar and singing. I think the songs I chose will increase the entertainment of the production as a whole. I always heard uplifting music along in the background as hard facts are given along with touching video. I believe that I have found music that will keep it simple and keep the audience entertained. I found little to no trouble in the recording process, but I was asked to help with the writing a little bit. Therefore the only problem I came across was some writer's block. I have been involved with music for a long time now and have a lot of experience in the recording field. I was very happy with myself with how the music turned out after post production.

A lesson to be learned

http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/broken-camera.jpg

One problem I ran into and didn't really expect was a technical error with the camera. I didn't end up breaking my camera, but learned a valuable lesson from last second shooting. It was raining the day I tried to shoot some of the children in my video and I ended up not getting any video that day. The cold and rain caused there to be a dew warning in the camera. This caused the camera to not want to turn on until it warmed up a little more. I ended up calling a few people not knowing what exactly the warning on the view finder meant at first. After talking to the technical director we decided to let the camera sit in a warm area and hoped for the best. However I was running out of time and after a good ten minutes of trying to turn on the camera and failing I had to bag the shooting for that day. I later received a call from my professor suggesting that next time I take out the camera to shoot that I take it out at least an hour before I planned on shooting. I kept this advice as I moved on in shooting my project. Word to the wise, don't leave your camera in your car on a cold day and take it out only seconds before you want to shoot your video.

What's in it for me beyond the requirement?

Today I'd like to address how the service learning plan of Westminster is a huge part of my project. Let me first start off with a quote from the overview that I held true to my project. "Service Learning allows  students to grasp "real-life" experiences in their field of study, while meeting community needs through service." I am a broadcast communications major and it wouldn't be weird or out of line for a boss to one day ask me to create a documentary. In fact, a lot of great broadcast communication majors become the directors behind really great documentaries. Therefore I am getting a real-life experience by having a certain deadline for when the project is due, having certain requirements that I have to follow, by contacting all of the participants and getting them involved, and finally all the field work with the camera. The community service comes from helping an organization that assists families who can't afford books for their children. I am helping this organization by supporting it through my documentary, which hopes to first inform the audience of the organization and second to persuade them to assist the organization in any way that they can. Therefore my project doesn't just benefit me so I can continue on to graduation but rather it benefits this organization through the support my project provides. Thus I believe my project can be considered part of the service learning plan here at Westminster. I invite you to look it up for yourself by including this link.
http://www.westminster.edu/acad/drinko/sl/sl_overview.cfm

Some general information

I hope that this blog doesn't seem too unorganized and hope that most people who follow it can see where I am going with this project. I am not a huge blogger so this is my first time really blogging about anything and I am just trying to follow the questions or the topics brought up in our class. This blog is to keep everyone updated on what's going on with my project, who I am interviewing, who is going to watch it first when and give me feedback, and hopefully every little detail you would ever want to know. I also made a short video last year sort of summing up what I wanted to do when I started this and I feel that these general things are still my vision today. So thank you for following this blog and I hope that everything so far has been posted in a way that can be understood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC7yLs7milI&feature=channel_video_title

Meet the Experts

Pam Klein

Pam is reading specialist at a K-5 West Mifflin Elementary School, she knows first hand the importance of reading at an early age is. Her expertise is used to persuade the importance of literacy and give a professional opinion on the organization.

FAQ & Festival

FAQ

Q: Where are you shopping your documentary for peer review?  

A: I'd like to somehow get premieres of my documentary on youtube with out spilling the whole story. This way peers can see videos and hear the audio and I am not spoiling the surprise completely, but rather teasing the documentary.

Q: Why is putting it out there for review, feedback and a competition important?  

A: I think hearing other people's ideas can always shape your documentary and inspire new ideas of your own. Hearing another person's perspective can always shed light on something you yourself didn't think of before. Also you realize that talking with peers that you know have made great productions in the past will always have good constructive criticism to give.

Q: What is your biggest hope and fear for the competition you have to enter?

A: My biggest hope would be to win it; the festival is close enough that I could drive out and accept the award. I'd also settle for receiving an e-mail or notification that my documentary was throughly enjoyed if it did not win. My biggest fear would have to be if it wasn't enjoyed at all or received negative feedback. I don't know if this information could be relayed to me by the festival, but it is still definitely a fear of mine.

The Festival

I'll be entering in The Great Lakes International Film Festival. I chose this festival because the rules and regulations were rather loose therefore granting me the ability to follow my vision without running into problems. I also decided on this festival due to the location; it is very close to the college in case anyone would be interested in going. It would fall under the category of documentary short. The deadline is about January 8th and the festival takes place the following september (around 23rd).

http://www.greatlakesfilmfest.com/

This link will take you to their website where you can see past festivals and the current entries as well.

Meet the partcipants

Participants

                        Susanne Palumbo

Secretary of the First Book Westminster organization also an Education Major and graduate from Westminster College. Palumbo is able to provide the information on the organization, along with a valuable opinion on the production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD1-P9p4sCc&feature=channel_video_title

Overview

The Quest Production Company presents a documentary digital short about First Book Westminster and the importance of reading.

First Book Westminster is an organization that gives books to children who can’t afford them. The organization works with many other reading organizations in hopes to promote a positive reaction in children towards reading a book. 

Susan Gentile, Rita Hoepp, and Pam Klein are all knowledgeable professionals in their field of expertise. They discuss the importance of reading at a younger age and literacy in general. This research is done to promote the program First Book and persuade the audience to volunteer or donate money for the program.

If children can receive books at a younger age and receive positive reinforcement towards reading them then they are encouraged to read more, which stimulates their reading and writing capabilities.

The documentary starts out with a slow-motion shot of a library shelf along with uplifting music, then audio from an interview on the importance of reading books. The next shot shows a parent reading to their child along with an interview on how important reading at an early age is. Followed a clip from the interview of the secretary of the First Book telling the basics of the program, then clips of children along with interview of a professional giving their opinion on the program. Next a clip of a child reading a book alone with interview from the secretary giving specific information about the organization, followed by shots of books with an interview of a professional. 

The main shots include pictures of children reading, pictures books and libraries, adults reading books to children, and clips from the interviews. 

By allowing the professionals and participants to narrate the documentary the story is told from people who know the importance of reading and First Book. This way the story telling is enriched by what they have to say rather than an announcer generalizing everything. The method behind this is that people say things that are better heard directly than from someone else.

Mentors

On Campus Mentor:

Eileen Morelli

Eileen is the faculty advisor for First Book Westminster and relays important details about the organization. Also she can provide corrections to any errors in the facts that I present. She is an associate professor of education who teaches: 

• Education 302 - Language Arts and Children’s Literature
• Education 351 - Reading in the Content Areas
• Education 601 - Teaching in the Elementary School
• Reading 830 - Children’s Literature

Education:

• Ed. D. - University of Pittsburgh (Education/Reading and Higher Education Administration)
• M.Ed. - Valparaiso University (Education/Reading Specialist
• B.A. - Youngstown State University (Elementary Education –Grades K-8)

http://www.westminster.edu/acad/educ/faculty/faculty_morelli.cfm

Off-Campus Mentor:


David Birdy

Dave is a project manager, technical manager, RED One Owner & DIT, and Video Engineer for sports and entertainment. He is also a new media consultant so if there is one person who could look at my videos and really give me some great advice it would be Dave. I am keeping close contact with him and e-mail him anytime I have clips I want him to look at and give constructive criticism.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001526613382

Video footage

So I have a lot of great video from over the summer, but I'd like to make sure I still have everything from last semester all saved up before I start working on editing the rest. So first thing first is to check my project from last semester and go from there.

Blog

I remembered having a blog all ready set up from a previous class, but forgot the password so after countless attempts of guessing I just reset and wrote it down. Now I can start posting up pictures and keep everyone updated.