A. Brainstorming

Person – Is there someone whose personality, activities, achievements, or other characteristics you find interesting or inspiring?

Pete Hatch, My friend from the university of Maine is a particularly inspiring person.

Place – Is there a natural or man-made setting that holds particular meaning to you or that has sparked your interest for further exploration?

Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine is like a second home to me.

Activity – Is there an endeavor that you are regularly involved with or that interests you?

On the topic of Sugarloaf, yes I’m very interested and involved in skiing and freestyle skiing, especially at Sugarloaf

Behavior – Is there a behavior that you witness regularly among peers or other groups of people that strikes you as interesting or worthy of investigation?

I think it’s pretty broad and would have to be narrowed down, But i think it could be interesting to investigate why people lie and if it can actually be for the better sometimes.

Business – Is there a local economic activity with which you are familiar?

I worked at Orono House of Pizza delivering pizzas, and have also DJ’d for Orono Brewing Company, Could potentially ask those owners and workers if they value a college degree.

Event – Is there a current event you are aware of that could provide subject matter?

The upcoming spring concert announcement could be something controversial

Academic or thematic concept – Is there an issue you have examined in any of your courses at school that you wish to investigate further?

Not really right now

Media – Do you already have footage linked to a person, event, or definable topic?

Yes– we shot on the topic of college being worth it or not to get a job and sustain yourself.

B. Feasibility

Now that you have generated a list of potential topics for your project, consider which options are within your reach. For each of the preceding subjects you listed, consider whether the feasibility of interview candidates, and potential B-roll for this subject.

1. Appropriate – Is the topic acceptable in your current context?

College (worth it?)Orono House / OBC – Acceptable sources for the idea of asking if degrees are worth it, relevant due to proximity to the school.

Sugarloaf (ski pass)- Could ask college kids if they think skiing is overpriced / worth it, or perhaps if the college pass deal is worth it.

Accessible – Can you get to the location/people that you need and do you have permission to be there if needed?

College (worth it?) Orono House / OBC – Both would be readily available again, due to proximity from campus.   Haven’t gotten permission yet, but it’s very likely permission will be      granted. 

Sugarloaf (ski pass)

It would be difficult to shoot on this subject because of how far from campus the mountain is. It would most likely need some interviews at the mountain and b-roll from the mountain making this difficult to achieve.

Size – Is your topic too small? Mark down the ways in which you can examine the topic and make sure that the subject matter is significant enough to hold the viewer’s interest. Essentially, it depends on the proper treatment of the topic and how you can imagine its study; the “smallness” of a topic depends greatly on our own conception of it.

College (worth it?) – Not too small of a subject matter at all, considering we live on a college campus. There will be a plethora of reasons as to why people are going to school, and answers to if they think it’s worth it or not. I think the only problem is going to be trying to find a large variety of people.

College Ski Pass (worth it?) This topic is a lot smaller than my other idea, because you’re really only limited to skiers in Maine, who also go to college in Maine. I think a good way to examine this info may be to either table in the union, or access the schools email database and send out a survey polling how many people actually ski, then perhaps have an include email section saying “if you’re comfortable to speak further on this topic in front of a camera, please include your email below and we will reach out to you”

Scope – Is your topic too big? This can be more difficult than a topic that is “too small.” If you can’t imagine a way of treating the topic satisfactorily, then there is a good chance it might be a bad idea to select it as a central subject of a motion picture. Ask yourself: Is there any way to tackle one aspect of the topic? In addition, a topic that centers on an idea—and not an observable activity, event, or narrative involving people—can be quite difficult to treat eff ectively. It is very useful to determine in advance your approach with an idea-based topic. (Examples: teen gambling; senioritis; dating; etc.)

College (worth it?) – This is a very big topic, but I don’t think it’s too big, because espec-ially on a college campus, pretty much everyone is going to have their  own opinion on this subject. I think we just need to lock in some key questions which really provoke whatever goal or subject we decide on.  

C. Development

From the preparatory work you have done so far in class and lab, select one of the topics, and draft a piece of writing to initiate the development of this project.

1. For this piece of writing, you will choose the most appropriate and useful type of material for the topic and your needs. Pick one from the following choices:
   • a. Pitch – Draft a letter to a prospective investor about why your project is worth supporting/
   • b. Subject – Compose a letter to a subject of or involved participant in the project to convince them to grant an interview.
   • c. Crew – Write a mission statement of project goal that will be shared with your team.
2. Regardless of the format you select for your writing, include the following information:
   • a. Subject – A statement of the primary topic of the project, including people who will be interviewed.
   • b. Objectives – Why do you want to make this project? Include at least three reasons. (“class project” is not enough of a reason to spend your time doing this, so work on something that matters to you, and move from passive to active student)
   • c. Team – Who will be involved in the creation of this project and what roles will each person play?
   • d. Setting – Where will the documentary be made?
   • e. Timeline – What are the stages of production and postproduction for this project? Remember the final edit is due in your lab section Friday Mar 15 (just before Spring Break)
   • Our project is going to capture the average college student’s opinion on the worthwhileness of a college degree. We are going to take at least 5 college students, all from different majors, and varying ages. We will ask these students a handful of questions. Some of the questions will include “Do you think you need a college degree to be successful in life?”, “What roll did your parents play in you coming to college?” ,  “Do you think it would be more difficult to find a job in the field you’re pursuing without a degree?”
   • We want to show all the different reasons kids are coming to school, but also try to see how many kids are feeling pressured, or forced to go to school, and if they truly think they’re going to benefit from it.
   • We also want to give an opportunity to let students vocalize themselves because there is probably going to be some people who feel very strongly on this subject, and it will help to make at least some impact on whoever views it.

Ben – editor

Brody – audio

Marion – director

Kyle – camera/ co-director

Jake – interviewer

Setting – This is going to be filmed at the university of Maine. Using common places like the library and memorial union as backdrops and places to find on the spot candidates for interviews.

We plan on getting all of our shots done before Wednesday the 13th so Ben can have a couple nights to wrap up the editing, other than that, we’d like to have most of our raw footage shot and edited by the end of Sunday (the 10th)

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