Capturing The Friedmans essays

Capturing The Friedmans essays Given that most filmmakers act as representatives of those they film or the institution sponsoring them rather than as community members, tensions often arise between the filmmakers desire to make a compelling film and the individuals desire to have their social rights personal dignity respected (Nichols, 2001, p.11). Nichols believes that ethics becomes the measure of the ways in which negotiations about the nature of the relations and considerations between filmmaker and subject impact on the three-way relationship between filmmaker, subject and viewer (Nichols, 2001). I agree with Nichols comments that all documentaries of any mode must make ethical considerations and that tensions surrounding these are articulated very differently across the various modes of documentary that are outlined in Nichols taxonomy, changing the power play that is present between filmmaker, subject and viewer. I have chosen the observational film Dont Look Back (1967) and the interactive film Capturing the Friedmans (2003). By outlining examples from the film in accordance with Bill Nichols taxonomy of documentary modes, I endeavour to provide evidence that the different formal and stylistic choices in documentary filmmaking manifest different ethical choices in the three-way relationship. The chosen films not only present starkly different modes, stylistic choices, content, structure, pace, aesthetics, culture, dynamics, historical eras, results, purpose and so on, they both involve entirely different subjects. Bob Dylan is the subject of Dont look back. D.A Pennebaker directed the film in 1965 during a 2-week music tour. The film has been referred to as a promotional rockementary, in that it is presented like a travelogue of an infamous, influential musician and world identity on tour throughout England. Capturing the Friedmans however, is an interactive docum...

How to Study for a Social Science Test

How to Study for a Social Science Test When you study for a test in one of the social sciences, like history, government, anthropology, economics, and sociology, you must keep in mind that three things are important. You must understand the vocabulary of your discipline.You must understand the concepts you encounter in each segment of your study.You must understand the significance of each concept. Students are sometimes frustrated after an exam in the social sciences because they feel they prepared adequately but discovered during the exam that their efforts didnt seem to make a difference at all. The reason this happens is because students prepare for one or two of the items above, but they dont prepare for all three. Common Mistakes When Studying Social Science Vocabulary   The most common mistake students make is studying the vocabulary alone - or mixing concepts in with vocabulary. There is a big difference! To understand this, you can think of your material as a batch of cookies that you need to prepare. The vocabulary words are the ingredients, like sugar, flour, and eggs.Each individual concept is a cookie. Each looks a little different from the others, but each one stands alone as important.Altogether, the cookies make up a batch. You must create an entire batch of comprehension when you study for an exam in social science; you cant stop with a collection of ingredients! Here is why this is so important: Vocabulary words show up as short answer or fill-in-the-blank questions. Concepts often show up as multiple choice questions and essay questions. Treat your vocabulary as a set of ingredients for understanding the concepts. Use flashcards to memorize your vocabulary, but remember that to fully understand your vocabulary definitions, you must also understand how they fit into the larger concepts. Example: Imagine that you are preparing for a political science test. A few vocabulary words are a candidate, vote, and nominate. You must understand these individually before you can understand the concept of an election cycle. Studying in Stages The bottom line for preparing for a test in any social science is that you must study in stages. Practice vocabulary, but also study concepts and understand how different vocabulary words fit into each concept. Your concepts will also fit into a greater collection of knowledge (batch), like a specific historical period (Progressive Era) or a certain government type (dictatorship). The concepts you study are as individual as your vocabulary words, but it will take time and practice to recognize concepts as entities because the lines can be somewhat blurred. Why? The idea of a single vote (vocabulary word) is pretty clear cut. The idea of a dictatorship? That can be defined as many things. It can be a country with a dictator or a country with a very strong leader who demonstrates unchallenged authority, or it can even be an office that holds control over an entire government. Actually, the term is used to define an entity (like a company) that is controlled by one person or one office. See how blurred the concept can become? To summarize, any time you study for a social science test, you must go back and forth studying vocabulary, studying concepts, and studying how those concepts fit into the overall theme or time period. To study effectively for a social science exam, you must give yourself at least three days of study. You can use your time wisely and gain a full understanding of both terminology and concepts by using a method called  3 Way 3 Day study technique.