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Struggles Faced by Girls in Safe Houses |
Since 2017, I have had the humbling opportunity to travel with my father and World Vision (WV) to see and understand how their actions have promoted justice, equity and hope amongst the impoverished. When deciding a topic, I wanted to create a product that would discuss the hardships of a specific group in Zambia, preferably females; and with assistance from WV safe houses became a desirable target. The Special Assistant to the National Director explained that the organisation (WV) concluded their control and maintenance of safe houses because they felt enough had been done in recruiting proper mentors, building more houses in indigent areas, getting assistance from schools and providing furniture for the girls. After talking to five girls, I realised the neglect and torment they experienced from their communities made it difficult for them to pursue their aspirations and after the sentimental experience, it felt important to address their hardships. A documentary was seen as an effective way to use diction and visuals to enhance my audience's understanding of the Hope’s experience through a sentimental manner. You can watch my documentary here
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Video
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Question Section
Challenges
Some challenges I faced were finding time to adequately film the
documentary, accessing equipment and time- management. Seeing that I started filming during the rain season, there were times when I abruptly stopped filming to prevent the scenes from looking too different . To combat this challenge, in scenes where the predominant mood was isolation, sadness, and hopelessness, I filmed them as the rain poured in order to incorporate an emotional context. A second challenge was getting proper sound equipment. I had not considered this at the beginning of the project, therefore it was relatively difficult to overcome seeing that Hope already began school and I couldn't find a time to meet with her. I tried using my phone but the muffling sounds were noticeable and both Garage Band and Final Cut Pro could not remove them without creating a static effect. Due to time constraints, I acknowledged other adjustments but decided to create a verbatim script of Hope's interview by asking my neighbour to narrate it. I chose her as a narrator as she had experience in drama classes and could employ emotions into her diction. |
Achievements
I enjoyed talking to Hope and several other girls to understand what they have been through. Their stories were not only revelations of hope, but of
perseverance and valiance, as they expressed some of the challenges they faced and how they overcame them. I also enjoyed filming the documentary because it was fun to think of other ways to employ emotion by using the setting or telling my sister to do certain actions. I am proud that I was able to make a documentary!! In the beginning of the project, I thought creating a documentary would be quite unrealistic and that I would have to find another way to present Hope's. struggles. Regardless of the fact that some of the scenes were shaky, I feel that the documentary showed my basic understanding of filmmaking . Additionally, I was quite proud that I was able to make the documentary understandable for all audiences because I wanted to ensure that many could depict the struggles Hope faced. |
Advice
USE YOUR BREAK TO DISCOVER YOUR INTERESTS!! After the summer break, I had a difficult time finding what I wanted to do. The pressure of trying to find a topic that would enable me to develop a new skill, whilst doing something I loved was very difficult. As a result, during the brainstorming process, I limited myself and choose projects that were quite simple and did not require much work. It was until I sat down, wrote all the things I enjoyed doing and what I would love to learn, that I realised that the project does not have to be simple but
something worthwhile. By making it worthwhile, you do not have to dread every Personal Project meeting but do it because you love it. |