"Sacey/Spa" by Melody C. Miller Review

One thing that i felt the director handled well in this documentary was both sound design and their placements of the shots. They chose to show the speaker's face in the interview and it was extremely more powerful than if they decided to hide the raped victim's face. The reason that this is so is because by showing us their faces we can see that the girls truly are young women, and no older than their late teens.


The narrative is told by the victims themselves, instead of by a witness or someone who has simply heard about the crimes. This makes it much more personal. The women are telling us their life story, and they speak so fluidly that it feels like the experience wasn't necessarily "special" or rather a shocking experience. This communicates how frequently women are victimized, and how people aren't aware of these crimes even though they are occurring in neighboring cities, or even in the cities that they live in. Oakland for example is the city that was focused on and Oakland is only across the Bay from San Bruno. It is quite remarkable and appalling that this is true. Then the director decides to actually show us women who are currently out on the streets "working."

It's distressing that the police do nothing about these women who unfortunately were forced to lose their dignity at a young age. The women speaking also explain how "this is our fight" and that in order for justice to come that all people must cooperate with the law instead of living in fear and hiding the truth from officials. Still, i feel that the police officials should do more about these rape victims because 1 in 5 women being raped and 1 in 10 boys being raped is just such a high percentage that it makes one questioned when they too shall be victimized. However, it is warming to know that their are organizations such as "Missy" who are aiding these women. Indeed this documentary thoroughly informs its audience and definitely myself about the corruption on the streets in this world.
The sound design really creates a sorrowful tone for the piece. In the opening shots


the women's eyes and bloody faces already convey the painful experience that the young women endured. But the choice to focus the camera on only the eyes adds more sympathy and emotion to the shot. This of course is intensified with the musical score that continuously brings the viewer into a sorrowful mood. A mood that makes the audience feel the pain or try to emulate the pain that these women faced. A pain that won't stop until the message of stopping rape and child abuse is heard. This documentary does a great job of sending this message, but it is up to the viewer to choose to listen to it or to ignore it.

Short Documentary

Purpose: To inform people, specifically students, of the hardships that teachers face on a daily basis so that people may become more appreciative of the underpaid teachers. Contacts: Teachers, students, parents. Interview Questions: To Teacher: Why do you believe that teachers are so underappreciated? Do you donate extra time to your students outside of class? If so about how much time do you think that the average teacher works outside of class? To Parents: If your child were to get a bad grade would you blame the child, or the teacher? Do you feel that teachers should receive more gratitude? To Student: How do you feel about your teachers?
General Flow: The beginning will be parents and students answering the questions about teachers. Afterwards the teachers will get to rant about how they feel. Clips of teachers staying after school to tutor students will be shown. Then statistics of teacher wages will be shown. Finally the film will conclude with the teachers challenging students and parents to become more appreciative of the teachers because of the hard work and long hours that they spend to teach the young minds.
Shot List- Images of statistics. Close ups of teachers somewhat enraged with unappreciative students and parents. Long shots and medium shots of teachers spending time with their students after school. Close ups of the parents and students will be shown. Finally a list of the average teacher to student ratio and lastly the average amount of time teachers spend at school.
Scripts: Will rely on teacher’s answers to questions and their take on the piece.
Intro: Teachers, the men and women who have taught us all what we know to this day. Teachers, the most underappreciated workers in America today. Teachers, some of the hardest workers in America.
Closing: Hopefully budget cuts will no longer affect teachers because they indeed deserve so much more money and gratitude than what they currently receive. Perhaps a simple thank you from a student or parent to their teacher will suffice for the teacher, but they certainly deserve much more.

Baraka Review

1. The film is entitled "breath" because the film attempts to capture our breath and our minds. The film shows the world in an outlook never seen before. It shows the world versus just one individual country or province. By doing this the audience is able to see the beauty of the world, and the darkness of it as well. Just as we share the planet's air with every breath we take, we also share the troubles that the world holds.
2. The film definitely critiques the modern world. The most obvious critique was that humans have constantly murdered each other which is a horrid fact that can't be forgotten.

Genocides for example were human acts that killed millions of innocent people. The film shows pictures of holocaust victims as well as other victims from less known yet still devastating genocides. By showing this the film tries to grab the audience's attention and try to teach us that violence is never the answer. The real answer to problems is love because everyone on the planet shares the same home. Regardless of race or any other fictional grouping that one may belong to. The second critique was that people dont appreciate the world.

The breathtaking sites that the film showed brought every person in awe. The reason that this is is because people don't ever get to see these beautiful places on our planet. The film encourages us to travel and see this remote locations because they are the only places whose beauty hasn't been destroyed by modern civilization.
3. I get the message to travel and to appreciate life and taste and smell and everything much more. This is because life is precious and we must appreciate it and make the best of it while we're on this beautiful planet we call home.
4. The absence of voice and text allows for anyone in the world to watch the movie and understand the movie. Language restricts films to the native lands where that specific language is spoken. By not including language and text all people no matter where in the world can see the visuals of the film and comprehend the underlying messages in the film.

5. The image of the people living next to the water shows our relationship with nature. It shows that there are still people in the world who keep in touch with nature, and because they do this they can experience the beauty of nature on a regular basis. This contrasts the city liver who stays confined to their home in the suburbs. The image urges these city dwellers to leave their cell and explore and appreciate the beauty that exists beyond the city's borders.
6.It suggests that religion has made a huge impact on humanity. Also that people should respect those with religion just as people should respect nature. Furthermore, the film suggests that spirituality is the gateway to ecstasy in one's life. The monk shows someone who is attempting to find happiness through religion which is in contrast to the citizens surrounding him who are dashing to their eight hour long job.
7. It shows how neglected that society is and those people are. Modern civilization may appear to be great, but this civilization hasn't bothered to reach the lives of the still poor. Large companies focus more on making money than on helping people. That is how our society and several societies globally function. Even though we all live on the same planet people ostracize other groups who are in dire need. The film calls to modern society to aid these people who have been discarded into the shadows because at the end of the day we all share the same planet and the same air.
8. The breathing in the city stood out to me the most. This is because the breathing shows how unified people truly are. In school we are taught that we are all individuals and that we must stand out from one another. however, the film shows us that we actually are all the same and we should help one another instead of focusing on ourselves.
9. No this vision would have never been brought to my attention if it weren't with watching this film. This vision couldn't really have been created again because i don't believe that there is any way that someone could recreate this vision without simply remaking this film.It does make me want to travel because now i know what a beautiful and vast environment that Earth holds.