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