Maria & Jennifer's Documentary on Firefighters and the Night of the San Bruno Pipeline Explosion

By Maria Luevano and Jennifer Lewis

Purpose:
To give people a view into the daily life of a firestation and show the responses of firefighters in the area to the San Bruno fire as well as its effects.

Contacts:
San Bruno firefighters (specific station?)

Interview Questions:
what was your inspiration to become a fire fighter?
what was your first reaction upon seeing the fire?
what goes through your head when you hear the alarm going off?
most memorable moment on the job? good and bad
how does it feel to have such a huge responsibility on the job every day?
how does it feel to live in the station for long periods of time?
what were the biggest challenges you faced during the san bruno fire?
how was the fire unique, if at all?

General Flow:
beginning: with a day in the life of the firefighters and their everyday activities. We introduce our topic of firefighters and introduce a fire station(s). Shots of a fire station and firefighters at work will be displayed to reach out to the audience about what they will be viewing. B-roll will debrief what it is like daily for a firefighter on duty.
middle: Next what it is like to be in these fires and their personal experiences on the job will be discussed through brief interviews with fire fighters themselves. Also footage from the San Bruno fire will be taken into consideration.
ending: Finally with their responses and reactions as a unit and personally to the san bruno fire and its lasting effects. The firefighters will give us their insights on what this fire meant to them and how they delt with the effects of it.

Shot List:
-CU of fire hydrate an pan over to reveal a LS of a fire station
-LS of firemen
-CU of interviewers(firemen)
-CU of fire fighting materials
-LS,WS,MCU(b-roll) of fire fighters in action with their different jobs
-MS of fire truck
-MWS/CU of badges
-POV of a job that a fire fighter would be doing in a fire station

Intro: 
Firefighters all around the world save many lives everyday. Sometimes we don't really get to see what the life is like for a firefighter on a daily basis. Rescue operations are what they are trained for. Recently fire fighters from all around came to our city of San Bruno and cleared out a gas fire. Firefighters do the best they can do for their community. As we all look up to them as heroes, they don't think of themselves  with a title of being a "hero". They are just doing their job they state. We are going to take a deeper look into the life of a firefighter on a daily basis and what their thoughts are on their personal experiences with the San Bruno fire.


Closer: 
In the end, not everything may be what it use to be, but firefighters stop the disaster from introducing us to a living hell. On a daily basis, how many firefighters risk their lives for our safety each and everyday? Do we know what it's like to be put in a life or death situation? We don't those numbers and answers! These men and woman put their lives on the line for ours. More recognition for the work these firefighters put in for our lives needs to be granted. We need to show our support for them and how we appreciate what they do to keep us and our communities safe!

Short Documentary Film Review

In the "True Life" documentary about post-traumatic stress disorder is really sad. It is about three men who have post-traumatic stress disorder after coming home from the war and realizing that they have to return to the civilian life. Once the doctors told them they had post-traumatic stress disorder the army wouldn't take them back. They had a life long run that they needed to occupy with a job. All three men explain what it was like on the battlefield and how different and difficult it is to return to a normal life style. The first guy talks about how his life that he wants to fix and go into treatment keeps being postponed due to his DUI. The second guy talks about how not only was he in Iraq but his mom was as well. He explains how it was a little easier to have someone there that understand what he went through and someone who he can go and talk to. He also expresses how suicidal he was at one point and that he never wants to go back to that "dark hole" again. The third guy talks about how he can't sleep and get over the fact that he witnessed an innocent father and his son being killed in Iraq. He allows us to see how at the moment yes it was a war but now he can never give those life's back that weren't deserved to be taken away. I believe that the message of this documentary is to inform us about what post-traumatic stress disorder is and what it can do to you mentally, emotionally, and physically.

The camera work in this documentary is done pretty well but there are some shots that could of been improved. Some shots were shaky as well. In some of the shots the cinematographer does a good job of using foreground, mid-ground, and background in various shots. The cinematographer also does a good job at close-ups to reveal the pain that these men have been going through. There was a couple dollying and panning shots that was a good effect too add to the documentary. In this picture to the right, earlier in the shot, the camera was dollying though a neighborhood focusing on wrecked houses and etc. and then panned over a little to reveal this guy sitting on the truck that was driving through the neighborhood. I felt that it was a good idea to reveal the place and character. There was also a various amount of long shots and waist shots used throughout the documentary. The use of B-roll in this documentary was an important role in order for us to capture the experience and feelings that these men were going through.






The cutting and timing between shots was smooth and surreal. There were no cuts that were disturbing to the documentary. Most of the cuts were straight on cuts and no special effects to the cuts. I believe that if the special effects were added to this documentary, then the whole feeling to the situation being expressed at the beginning would have been lost. I also believe that getting to the point in the documentary helped a lot out. The sound design in this film was not a heavy affect that was needed in this documentary. Music was constant throughout and connected with the flow of what was being showed and said to the audience. If on of the men was talking about something depressing the music would decrease to a slow tempo to match the mood.

At the end of this documentary, I thought that it well deserved a round of applause because these men served our country and fought for our and their lives. Also because they go through something that we can't always relate to on a daily basis. They have to get there life back to normal while we already have a normal life. The things they saw and heard at war can never compare to what we see on TV. It's a totally different world when seeing it happen right in front of you with your own eyes.

Baraka Film Review

As we watched the movie Baraka, my first impression was amazed but also confused at the same time. In the beginning I wanted to know why they were showing us these unique places and the meaning behind everything. But at the same time I was astonished by the locations they picked because it opened up your eyes to a new world. I never thought what other countries would look like exactly. They are very unique and are "jaw-dropping". I thought that the different locations and cultures was a good comparison to our own culture and city that we live in. You really get to see the other side of the world in a matter of minutes!  This movie just doesn't focus on one region in the world, but it focuses on a lot of different places that shape our world. The cinematography in this movie is absolutely beautiful. There was a lot of slow motion, panning, and speeding up of clips. Most of the shots are held long enough for us to depict the beauty of the scene and the beauty of nature. I believe that the music choice helps give us a range of emotions from the range of the musics high beats to low beats throughout the movie. Overall I believe that the movie tells us about the beauty of life no matter where you may be located.

1. I believe that the movie is titled "breathe" because I think that the directors are trying to tell us that life is beautiful and we need to breathe. A lot of people in this world tend to rush through things and pass by opportunities. I also believe that the movie is titled "breathe" because were breathing in new insights of places we may or have never seen before.

2. I think that the planetary perspective of the film does express a critique of the modern world. The movie shows us different locations, people and animals around the world. I believe that the movie tries to contrast the different types of living style throughout the different cultures and landscapes in the world.
3. The message I received from the film "Baraka" is that our life has been corrupted by technology and sometimes we dwell too much around the fancy machinery we have instead of just sitting outside and enjoying the nature that we have around us. I also feel that the movie "Baraka" tells us that we need to respect the nature aspect of our world and not lean on technology so much.
4. I believe that the absence of voice and text doesn't really affect the film at all. I believe this because it allows us to take in what we see and not have to listen/read and watch at the same time. I believe that this technique is used with a purpose and that purpose is to let us see the world without any distractions.

5. The images I saw that  applied to culture was the performance of Kecak at the temple Tampaksiring, Bali, Indonesia. This related to nature because it is part of their natural culture in Indonesia and they believe in it. Also because their natural culture is what they practice and they think it is beautiful. The images I saw that applied to the city was the Shibuya Station, Tokyo, Japan. This contrasts to nature because it shows us how busy our cities are and how unnatural it is compared to nature in general. It also shows how corrupted our lives are becoming from the natural world.

6. Some possible interpretations of the monk on the street following the images of the cigarette factory and the city streets is that the monk represents pure nature and what it use to be like while the cigarette factory and the streets resemble the impacted world that has been corrupted by the new findings in technology. Technology has made humans forget the real beauty of nature in this world and how pure it use to be.

7. The kind of social statement that the film "Baraka" makes with the people on the refuse heap and the images of the poor is to show the differences in life styles. Some people are good financially while others  are fighting for a better life. The images show the differences between what people have and the other side which is what people don't have.
8. The music that stood out to me was the music that related to what was being shown in the film. When something calm and beautiful was being shown there would be soothing music. And when something exciting or interesting was being shown then the music would get louder and the beat would get faster.
9. I believe we watched "Baraka" to show us what the world holds for us. I believe that this movie is to show us that our world is made up of many different things but the one thing we have in common is our nature. I also think that this movie helps expose us to the beauty and reality of our world that we live in each and every day. The only way that this vision could arise without seeing this film would to go and actually see these locations physically. This film definitely makes me want to travel because I want to see what else is out there in our world to discover. I also want to see the different sides of culture and living styles compared to what we have here in America.