What Makes a Good Documentary?

   

 As I have explained in some of my old posts here, that I love film. Any type of film can captivate me in many ways. And my great love of films can be attributed, in the most part, to one man: James Rolfe. 

James Rolfe

      James Rolfe is a young film maker and YouTube content creator. A young me slowly discovering the internet came upon a YouTube channel in 2006 called theangrynintendonerd. I had discovered my future role model. James is most definitely known for his character the Angry Video Game Nerd (which is how I found him). 
      To a young kid interested in film making, seeing someone who was already doing it, and doing it successfully was a glimmer of hope to myself. From this point onward I had found my purpose in life, I was going to 100% be in the film making process one way or another. 
  At this point I began to make films with the family video camera. Making small short epics of adventure and monster fighting was my forte'. It was something I was good at, and I began to feel passion for the process and what I was making. 
     Over the next few years I would begin to become more involved in film making. From the purchase of my own personal camera, my first computer suited for editing, to learning film making for three years in High School, my life would continue on the path of film. 

    And all of this has brought me to this point. I was tasked with making a documentary film about a business/organization in Lexington, KY. I knew immediately what I would write about: the Kentucky Theatre. And as part of this process of making this film, I was tasked to write down what I think are the most important things that make a good documentary. 
So without further ado, my list.

Passion - Documentary films cannot be made well unless they have passion behind them. It doesn't matter the length of the film, if there is no passion; there is no film.

A Good Understanding of Your Objective - In order to make your film successful, you must know what you want to do through your film. Without a proper purpose or reason, you will most assuredly fail.

Good Film and Audio Equipment - Having a nice looking film may seem like a nitpick, however, it is much more important than it may seem. Having a pleasant looking film adds to its effectiveness. You could objectively have a bad documentary, however if you have good cinematography, it can add more to your film than is already there.


With is list concluded, I thought I would share two of my favorite documentaries by James Rolfe. If you have some free time, I highly suggest watching either one. 

The Dragon in my Dreams Documentary

Film by James Rolfe

Cinemassacre 200 Documentary

Film by James Rolfe (Contains some NSFW language)

Experience Writing a Proposal

       Writing a formal proposal is an interesting task. Depending on how comfortable you are with writing in general will determine how will you will do with writing proposals. I personally have had so much experience with writing essays, proposals, idea papers, reports, etc.
For the entirety of my junior year, my english teacher had us write essays every single day. This class almost singlehandedly reformed my writing ability. 

Finding a topic to write about can often be one of the hardest tasks when writing. However, the moment this project was assigned I knew in an instant what I wanted to write about: The Kentucky Theatre.

With the creation of my presentation, I had an equal amount of passion for. Being able to create a captivating presentation to get people on my side to create my idea for the documentary. I hope that through my presentation, people can feel my passion for this project and want to project their ideas onto my own to embody a powerful project that will knock the socks off this project. 

I hope that in the rest of the year, we have more assignments that require us to pour into a paper and write our opinion. Regardless of what people may have said about constantly having to write in high school. I on the other hand don't see it this way. I see this entire project simply as a way to hone my skills. 
Overall, this project was an informative one. It was a skill building opportunity and I hope that through this, my teacher can feel my passion for his class and for school in general.

Kentucky Theatre Presents: The Rocky Horror Picture Sh

Kentucky Theatre Presents: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

        As stated in previous posts of my own, I have mentioned that the Kentucky theatre plays host to the Rocky Horror Picture Show every halloween, and subsequently throughout the year. This event is a major income bringer for the theatre, and not to mention a ton of fun.

  

  If you've never been to the theatre before, please go and experience this for yourself. It is truly something to behold. The amount of work the theatre has to go under to prepare for this event and also provide and clean up for is astounding. Employees are kept late into the night to enjoy the festivities. Throughout the night, the theatre holds a costume contest for the different cosplayers of the characters in the show. The theatre also provides a goodie bag with different items that you will need throughout the showing of the film and the continuation of the event. Even though the film is only an hour and forty minutes long, the event goes on for upwards of 3 hours full of games, jokes, and just plain fun.

Now, while this event is very fun and a wonderful night to do something for the Halloween time frame, it raises a few questions.

1.) Why does this theatre play such a crude movie and show (full of drag queens, sex toys, etc.) in a historic downtown location?

2.) How much does this show alone get the word out about the theatre?

I shall continue my research to find out.

The Kentucky Theatre - Local Business/Organization Research Post

      Movies are undoubtably one of the most defining media influence in my life. Ever since I was a young child, film has always fascinated me. The movement of actors on a screen able to be played and replayed; rewound, sped up, paused, slowed down, etc. This idea set alone is enough to show how wonderful film can be and how truly magical of a media it can be. Movies are able to covey: fear, sadness, joy, laughter, anger all through the story telling and editing of a feature film. Now, to me, seeing a film is not just at home on your couch. No no no; Film should be experienced with an audience in a theatre. Film is not only a pastime or hobby, but rather an experience in and of itself. And within the central Kentucky area, there are no greater theaters than the Kentucky Theatre. 

To this date, I have been to 3 events at the theatre and attended many screenings of films. To say the least, it is my favorite theatre I have ever been to or attended. The old school aesthetic is charming and inviting. The musky smell of old movie magic, popcorn, and history fill the air. It is hard not to be enticed by this theatre's simple and rustic charm. 

The Kentucky Theatre Exterior

 Link to Exterior Picture

The Kentucky Theatre was opened on October 22, 1922. At its time, it was completely revolutionary. The theatre had plush seats, painted murals, marble flooring, indirect lighting, and a modern ventilation system. The theatre for years has not only done showings of plays, musicals, and movies, but has hosted a wide array of other events and continues to be one of the highest sought out venues here in Lexington. For example, every Halloween the theatre hosts the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the troupe of actors that put on the event. If you have never been to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, stop researching now, look no further and just go. The theatre offers a safe pleasant environment for a wonderfully fun event full of laughs and plenty of memories.

The Kentucky Theatre Interior

Link to Interior Picture

As you can see this theatre, despite its age, is still a very popular and unique experience and venue here in Lexington. However there is still a lot that I don't know about this theatre. I still have many questions despite how many times I have been. 

- Why was this theatre so important at the time it was opened?
- Was this the only local theatre in Lexington at the time?
- What other events go on throughout the year here?
- Who owns it now?
- How easy is it to rent out as a venue?

I will continue to research this place throughout the year, while also taking in some fine cinema.

UK Campus - Object Research Post

Wednesday September 4th 2014

        On Wednesday my WRD professor, Andrew Patrick, had our class go out onto our college campus and look at a physical text. We were supposed to analyze it based on Catherine Savini's method of "Looking for Trouble". My particular group's assignment/object was to analyze a petrified tree right outside of our building (pictured below). 

As the assignment moved forward, my group and I were quite... stumped, for lack of a better term. We at first did not see how Savini's method applied to this particular text. However, it became abundantly clear that this method of analyzing text is extremely effective and can truly be applied in any situation. As I can not say for my group collectively, I know I became intensely interested in this stump and the entire meaning behind it!

- Why is this stump here?

- What is so significant about just a stump?

- Who thought this was a good idea?

The Whitfield stump, as it is called, is apparently over 300,000,000 years old! A man named George Whitfield, the manager of Clover Fork Coal Company, had found and removed this stump from a coal mine in the early 1930's. From the time it was found until 1961 it was on display in Knitts, Kentucky. It was then donated by Mr. Whitfield to the University of Kentucky to the Geology department. A gracious donation indeed, however, even through my research I could not find out the specific reason as to why it was donated in the first place. Which leads me to more questions, having my previous questions answered. 

- Why was it donated?

- What did this do for the Geology Department?

Perhaps these answers, will come in time.

The picture above comes from the Geocaching website.