What are the particular issues, tasks or problems you have encountered or anticipate during your site visits?
So far, the only problem or issue that I have encountered with site visits are the logistics behind scheduling. We are a larger group (and we prefer it that way!) but that provides an issue with being on the same page with the Studio. For example, I feel the first group that went had a different experience than the group that went just recently. We are all working together, but sometimes these things can be tedious to work around.
The only personal challenge I can foresee with this project (as of yet) is the view she wishes us to take on USC’s history. I understand that we can take whatever position we wish as filmmakers, but as Kristine mentioned, she has stories she would like to uncover about USC that will probably shed a negative light on Troy. I will be the very first to admit that if anyone at USC “drank the koolaid,” it would be me. Embarrassingly, I blindly imagine that USC could do no wrong, so purposefully displaying a negative light might produce a bit of cognitive dissonance within me. The one redeeming factor about all this is that I realize I hold these inner presumptions, and I am willing to work around them so that I can help my teammates produce a valuable documentary. With all that said, Fight on!
2 comments:
Lynda-
I'm glad you articulated these things. A really simple point to remember might be that you can acknowledge flaws in something and still love it (actually, people work that way, too).
When you consider the age of USC and the hundreds of thousands of people who have passed through it, it makes sense that there would be a few stories that might dull the shining image of "Troy." Keep in mind that overall, USC's image is a positive one for valid reasons. Knowledge of the unfortunate things can strengthen your understanding of and commitment to the university.
Remember when Sharon said that it drives her crazy when people mention the cliched notion that LA's problem is that "people are so superficial"? She said, "if you want to highlight some of the real problems with LA; bad public transportation, no water source, treatment of the poor, that's fine--that has potential to improve something." Well, when someone says to me, "Oh, you work at the University of Spoiled Children," I can fully bash them for how obsolete that stereotype is. I might be able to cite one or two issues that aren't perfect with the university (and there are many, believe me), but I'll be able to drive the discussion in a much more sophisticated direction.
Hope that helps!
I'll pile on here too to add an "amen" to John's comments.
Remember Louis Menand's definition of a documentary: "These movies do have one thing in common, though: they show you what was not intended for you to see. The essential documentary impulse is the impulse to catch life off camera, to film what was not planned to happen, or what would have happened whether someone was there to film it or not. That’s why people make documentaries, and why people go to see them. It’s a genre founded on a paradox."
USC already has a well-funded and very active PR department that produces a lot of great, professional videos about the school. We don't need you to duplicate their work. We do want you to find the "corner of the story" to help us see something about the school that we haven't seen before. And because life is complicated, this will involve looking at your question or issue in all its complexity, not shying away from the negative or the positive attributes.
Some thoughts about this: one idea would be to create a dialogue between the community and the school to try to enable both sides to see some of the controversies from the other perspective (I'm thinking of Linda Flower's "Intercultural Inquiry" here, or the "USC: A School with a Conscience?" video). Is there a way for a film to heal some of the bad blood by giving different perspectives?
Another thing that comes to mind would be looking at the fact that USC is the biggest employer in LA (I can' remember the exact statistics). But from my perspective anyway these workers are largely invisible. We pay attention to the folks on campus with the big paychecks (presidents, football coaches, etc), but what about the workers who clean the dorms or the classrooms? How do they feel about the university? The students? Where do they feel comfortable on campus and where do they feel excluded? Do they come to campus when they're not working? Do their kids want to come to USC?
On a similar note, what about telling the story about who feels welcome where? Jumping off the Bickford piece I recommended earlier, are there groups of students who don't feel at home on campus? Or who didn't at first but now do? What are the programs the school has implemented to support first-generation students? How effective are they?
And, just as John suggested, identifying problems is the first step to making USC an even better place, especially if they're linked with potential solutions.
Great comments!
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