Critical Reflection

The episodic documentary, "Make it Happen," works to develop a better understanding of immigrant’s experiences in the United States through uplifting immigrant stories. Through indirect interviews, "Make it Happen" informs of foreign cultures and how they comprise the United States.

"Make it Happen" was inspired by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson's, "American Promise," a documentary that explores the roles of parenting and the U.S. educational system on two young men. Documentaries typically use indirect interviews to create a verité look, better illustrating the life of the subject. Parallel editing is also a common technical convention used to connect the storyline presented through the interviews to real-life situations. 

Image from: https://www.amazon.com/American-Promise-Mich%C3%A8le-Stephenson/dp/B00JKTFQTM

"Make it Happen" incorporates these elements, alongside Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson's use of various subjects; however, due to constraints in the length of the excerpt, we were only able to include two subjects, otherwise the documentary would have felt rushed. Interviewing Javier’s daughter, Isabella, allows for a more complete view of Javier’s life as a business owner, decreasing the product’s bias as there is more than one perspective. 

Subject and his family. Image from: https://www.wunc.org/2014-02-03/american-promise-probes-race-issues-in-nyc-private-school

Since the documentary, "Make it Happen," is based on immigrant stories, it has a relatively small target audience. It falls under the cultural/ societal category which tends to provide educational and informative content while providing real-life stories that shed light on foreign experiences. Although episodic documentaries are the preferred format amongst viewers in the United States, only 20.3% of people ages 19-29 and 11.10% of people ages 30-45 prefer cultural/ societal documentaries. Young adults are the main viewers of cultural/ societal documentaries as they are more likely to stay informed on social issues and challenge their current world views, making them the target age for “Make it Happen.” However, the target age range is 18-40, ranging from young adults to adults. Viewers of this piece would either be immigrants, social activists, or people looking to expand their world view. 

Images from: https://amt-lab.org/blog/2021/1/surveys-interviews-and-recommendations-for-documentary-distribution

The brand for “Make it Happen” is meant to engage our audience, inform people about different cultures, and present their stories (relating to immigrating to the United States) in a positive light. Our brand was developed using Kapferer’s brand identity prism which separates identity by internal and external elements. The external elements include physique, relationship with consumers, and reflection (stereotypical customer), while the internal elements include personality, culture and self-image. By considering Kapferer’s brand identity prism, we were able to develop a bold brand that is open and friendly, family-based, resilient and curious, connected and caring about social causes, and empathetic and encouraging.

Image from: https://www.figma.com/community/file/835771758956231837/kapferer-brand-identity-prism

The Facebook page for “Make it Happen” contains content that is meant to advertise the documentary to the social media platforms users while highlighting several of the main subjects featured in various episodes. For example, there are posts of Maria Baiz, who is featured in later episodes. She is a freelance photographer from Venezuela. The variety of content, ranging from graphics to videos about her success, helps develop the resilient aspect of the brand of the documentary and develop better representation for immigrants.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Make-It-Happen/61557265820408/

Moreover, the brand for “Make it Happen” is further shown through the magazine spread. To fit the idea that we are an open and friendly brand, the article is topic centered. This will make our audience feel more connected to the topic as it gives context about our subject's company that is not shown in the 5-minute excerpt. 

Magazine Spread

"Make it Happen" has two target audiences, the main is people who immigrated to the US in hopes of better opportunities, and the second is natural born US citizens. The documentary being produced in the United States is crucial as the US has the highest number of immigrants in the world. People who have immigrated from foreign countries are subject to prejudice, so our product presents immigrants in a positive light, hoping to help break this harmful habit. With the increasing media coverage from movements like the US Immigrant Rights Movement, consumers have become more interested in societal and cultural documentaries. Diversity within the cast was shown through the Latin-American business owner, Javier.

Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/immigration-by-country

Within the extract of the episode, we were able to address the issue of prejudice against immigrants. Javier’s native language is Spanish, but he had to learn English to run his business in the United States without the use of an interpreter. With the help of classes from his local community college, he was able to learn, but his Venezuelan accent remains. Due to this, Javier has experienced stigma. In the United States, Latin Americans can be perceived as “lazy” and “unwilling to properly learn English,” so when people hear Javier’s accent, they may associate these qualities to him. In turn, making it harder for him to motivate himself to communicate in English, and therefore, run his business. However, his ability to overcome obstacles and run a successful business is meant to inspire the target audience.

Throughout the past ten weeks, we have worked on developing "Make it Happen," but now, it is time to reflect on the process. Despite the brand being well developed through the magazine spread and the social media page, the documentary excerpt needs more b-roll to tie it together. Too much time was spent featuring the interviews themselves which made the documentary feel slow. Although there was b-roll of our subject, Javier, working in his office, the documentary would have benefitted from b-roll that directly related to the matter at hand. For example, Javier's recounting of his brother's death testing his resilience would have been complemented by footage of him flipping through an old photo album of his brother, adding a more real and personal element to the documentary. Overall, the documentary excerpt was well done and is bound to create a more positive attitude toward immigrants in the United States.

Sources:

https://amt-lab.org/blog/2021/1/surveys-interviews-and-recommendations-for-documentary-distribution

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/immigration-by-country

Images from:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Promise-Mich%C3%A8le-Stephenson/dp/B00JKTFQTM

https://www.wunc.org/2014-02-03/american-promise-probes-race-issues-in-nyc-private-school

https://amt-lab.org/blog/2021/1/surveys-interviews-and-recommendations-for-documentary-distribution

https://www.figma.com/community/file/835771758956231837/kapferer-brand-identity-prism

https://www.facebook.com/people/Make-It-Happen/61557265820408/

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/immigration-by-country

 

Project Components

Hey everyone!

We have finished our documentary excerpt!! Before I show you the final result, I wanted to explain some key changes that we made. While editing, we realized that we went over the five minute constraint, so we had to cut out the part about Javier's business expansion, meaning that this is not the end of the documentary episode, but it is pretty close to it. Moreover, we decided to start off the documentary with a brief summary of Javier's challenges, so that the resilience portion of the excerpt made more sense. 

Magazine Spread

Here is the link to the documentary excerpt! It also includes the magazine spread, in case you want a closer look! Google Drive Folder- Documentary excerpt and Magazine Spread. 

In case you haven't been keeping up with our Facebook page, here is the link: Social Media Page

Individual Components/ Back-up Links: 

Video Component

Print Component

Digital Component

Final Reflective Comments

Hey everyone!

As our project comes to a close this week, I wanted to thank you all for coming along with me on this journey with me. I am sad to see it go, but I am very proud of our final result. Editing is coming along nicely, but the process has definitely made me realize that we did not need to film as much as we did. We needed to be more confident in our storyboard. We spent so much time planning and deciding exactly what was going to go into this except of the documentary, but decided to film extra footage anyway. It made for a difficult time searching through the footage, but we managed. 

Filming is always my favorite part of these projects. It is a great bonding experience to have with your group members, and, in this case, with our subject. Seeing Javier’s office and watching him package deliveries was so much fun. It opened my eyes to an industry I had never really paid attention to. 

Finally, planning. This time around, we spent so much time planning. I had never filmed so close to a projects deadline, but I don’t regret it. I felt so prepared due to the extensive research and time that I put into my blog and this project. 

I hope you all enjoyed watching this project progress and have kept up with all of it. Thank you for being here.

Love,

Mari

Editing

Hey everyone!

Now that we've filmed all of our interviews, it is time to start editing! 

Sorting through footage

We had Isa email Lucas the clips, we filmed so much that it wouldn’t send through our media group chat. Lucas felt a little overwhelmed by this, but it helped him organize and sort through the footage. He split it up intro 3 folders: Javier’s interviews, Isa’s interviews, and the b-roll. 

Editing

Lucas increased the audio gain on the interview clips, so that it was easier to hear. Also, we had trouble finding the right music for the documentary. Music is always difficult to find, nothing ever seems to fit the “vibe” you’re going for, but we found the perfect audio, it was happy and inspirational, and fit very well. While editing, we cut out the interview questions to make the documentary seem more natural.

Here are some progress pics, courtesy of Lucas!

The project is coming along nicely! I really love how it is turning out so far. Stay tuned for the key changes we make while editing!

Final Filming

Hey everyone!

Today we are filming Javier's interview and some more b-roll! Javier had a shipment he needed to package today, so it made for some great b-roll of the shipment being sent out. Below, I’ll give you guys a sneak peak of the footage + some of the interviews!

Javier's office

Javier talks about work/ life balance

Story of a rewarding moment

Filming today was really fun! We had a good time listening to Javier's experiences as a business owner. Isa filmed the b-roll after I had left and she did such a good job, as alwayss :) see you next time!!

Final Group Meeting

Hey everyone!

Today we had a group meeting! I met with Mariana Sanin, Morgan, Grace, and Evan. It was such a friendly group and we were all able to give each other helpful feedback. We’re all struggling on different aspects of the project. There were also very diverse project types. 

Mariana is doing a short film. She isn’t done filming, but she says it is going well. Her biggest problem right now is that she needs actors for the house party part of her romance story.

Morgan is doing a film promo. She finished filming and Mariana was helping her with editing, teaching her effects and tricks.

Grace is doing a documentary. She finished filming and is struggling with her magazine. Since mine is mostly done, I was able to help her brainstorm ideas.

Mia is doing music video with two separate storylines. She is struggling with her key art. I helped her portray the idea of the separate storylines in her art. We took inspiration from “Moonlight.”

Evan is doing a short film is about family and memories. His biggest issue is that the kid he is using for the flashback scenes isn’t cooperating, so he wants to change his topic. We helped him come up with some new ideas and I hope his project turns out like he wants it to.

As for me, filming is a work in progress, but all of the other components are done or close to done. They really liked the content of my magazine article. They also helped me decide which design for the magazine article. They loved the Facebook page!

Here is the team!

Group meetings are always super insightful, so I’m glad we got to do one more before the end of the 10 weeks!

Critical Reflection Research

HAPPY FRIDAY!

So, we are considerable behind on our filming considering we haven't interviewed the star of the episode and I'm stressed, blog. We have all had so many conflicts and issues, mainly relating to health, during these past couple of weeks, so it's been hard to get together, but I am trying to stay calm and confident in our project. 

Since I can't show you any new film and I have already thoroughly planned the doc, I figured I'd do the next best thing... research for the critical reflection!

From TStok... Critical Reflection

Candidates must write an evaluative essay of around 1000 words. This critical reflection of their work should be guided by the following compulsory questions:

• 1. How do your products represent social groups or issues?

• 2. How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

• 3. How do your products engage with the audience?

• 4. How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

1. Our main topic is uplifting immigrant stories, so we know how our product represents social groups... 

Our product has two target audiences: the main is people who immigrated to the US in hopes of better opportunities, and the second is natural born US citizens. Our doc being produced in the United States is important as the US has the highest number of immigrants in the world. We know that people from foreign countries/ cultures are subject to prejudice, so our product presents immigrants in a positive light, hoping to help break this harmful habit. 

2. To show how the elements of our production showcase a sense of branding, I wanted to take a look at a project I did earlier in the year, the Brand Identity Project. The most important element of this project was the brand identity prism, shown on slide 3.

Slide 3:

Slide 3 Script:

For the brand identity prism, I wanted to focus specifically on self-image, reflection, relationship, and physique. My brand sees itself creative, helpful, and encouraging which is why our reflection is based on people who have a growth mentality. In order for the brand to achieve its purpose of helping people build up, it needs to target people who want to grow. Through our willingness to help, we create a close relationship with our consumers. Additionally, the blue, green tones because green represents growth. stricter lines with a little occasional curve

Personality: simple, modern

Relationship: close to consumers, willingness to help

Culture: honesty, connection, communication

Reflection: people who have a growth mentality

Self-image: creative, helpful, encouraging

What each element means:

I figured I could use the elements of the prism to showcase our portfolio project's sense of branding.

Physique: blue, global, bold

Personality: happy, resilient, outgoing, curious

Relationship: close, family, open

Culture: social causes, connection

Reflection: families, business owners, immigrants

Self-image: empathetic, encouraging

I believe these elements match well with our social media, magazine article, and documentary.

3. Engaging with audiences

source: https://amt-lab.org/blog/2021/1/surveys-interviews-and-recommendations-for-documentary-distribution

Since "Make it Happen" is a documentary based on immigrant stories, it has a relatively small target audience as it falls under the cultural/ societal. Although episodic documentaries are the preferred format amongst viewers in the United States, only 20.3% of people ages 19-29 and 11.10% of people ages 30-45 prefer cultural/ societal documentaries. Young adults watch cultural/ societal documentaries as they tend to provide educational and informative content while providing real-life stories that shed light on foreign experiences. The target age range for "Make it Happen" is 18-40. Viewers of this piece would either be immigrants, social activists, or people looking to expand their world view. It is meant to help audiences stay informed on social issues and challenge their previous beliefs about certain cultures.

4. How research informed our products and the way they use/ challenge conventions:

This question has been answered through a series of blog posts all relating to the research behind each component: the doc, the magazine, and the social media. I will link them below. Feel free to take a look!

Doc: https://marianasmediablogperiod4.blogspot.com/2024/02/genre-refresh.html and https://marianasmediablogperiod4.blogspot.com/2023/12/back-and-better-than-ever.html

Magazine: https://marianasmediablogperiod4.blogspot.com/2024/03/print-component-research.html

Social Media: https://marianasmediablogperiod4.blogspot.com/2024/02/social-media.html

Alrighty, that took quite some time, but I feel so much more prepared for the critical reflection! See you Monday ;)