Olivia Pridgen AL media studies project

 My inspiration for this documentary comes straight from the heart. Cheerleading has always been my escape from all negative things. I've been through several teams and although I've made great friends and made many memories, none of those teams have felt like home. However, that has changed recently. I became a part of the Hudson High School cheer team and instantly felt a sense of peace.  Once I joined this team, I instantly knew that my documentary would be based on cheerleading. To be more specific, this blog and future blogs will be based on the creation of an excerpt of the first episode of my entire documentary. I want to focus on what cheerleading does for an athlete and dive deeper into the meaning behind the sport. I will do this by showcasing practices where athletes demonstrate pure determination, showing cheer competitions where participants express pure emotion and passion, and by interviewing members of the team as well as coaches.  By interviewing athletes...

  Using these techniques can be extremely helpful when trying to communicate meaning in documentaries. I plan on using straight cuts, graphic match, fade in, and fade out. Using straight cuts will allow me to clearly develop my casts opinions on the Hudson High school cheer team. This is because I will include images and videos that connect to the statements being made. This will allow audiences to make the connection between the statements and the footage, ensuring the opinions are distributed properly. Using graphic matches will allow me to signify a shift in topic. This is a more intriguing way of switching between topics which will keep audiences interested. This will create active consumers. Fade in and fade outs create a seamless transition between different cast members, location, and topic. This will make my documentary excerpt more appealing to audiences' eyes, leaving them yearning for more.                      ...

 This documentary, entitled "Starting 5" is a sports documentary about the NBA. After watching an excerpt of this documentary, I have taken away many techniques and elements that I can utilize in my documentary excerpt.                     CINEMATOGRAPHY:  The first shots of this documentary are closeups, mid shots, and two shots that reveal athletes body language and provide more detail to the viewers. This is a technique that I will certainly include in my documentary so I can ensure that audiences understand the purpose of the documentary as well as what it is like to be a part of a team. By using close ups and mid shots  the athletes' emotions and feelings towards one another will be highlighted  There are then several master shots/establishing shots that display the large crowds at these NBA games. This is a good technique to include in my documentary excerpt because it will clearly express the primary purpo...

The title of my documentary as a whole will be "Full Out". However, the project being completed will only be the first five minutes of the first episode, which will be titled "Champions". This specific episode is about Hudson High school Cheer.  The opening shot will be a collage of photos and videos that flash onto the screen whilst the words "HHS cheer" fade onto the screen. This will be done with intense upbeat score playing in the background. These pictures and videos will be of Hudson High School's cheer team at competitions, practice, and games. There will then be a sound bridge made by a voice over of an athlete on this team describing cheer leading. As the sound bridge continues, the athlete will be seen on camera discussing what cheering at Hudson High School is like. This will be done using rule of thirds in order to capture the background which will be trophies and other props such as ribbons, metals, and uniforms. Another photo will then fa...