Documentary Projects
Documentaries are a way of understanding the world, of asking questions, getting answers, and weaving those answers into a new narrative that makes sense of a complicated reality. The topics can be as big as the future of the planet or as small as a child’s party. The documentaries that people create in this program should grow out of their own curiosity and passion, so there is no way to say in advance what people will do.
For some students, documentary topics may grow out of their unique experiences at their community service work and/or internship:
- Working on constructing a home in New Orleans may lead to a documentary about the family that is moving in.
- Working in a women’s shelter may lead to a documentary about abuse.
- Volunteering with an environmental group in Salt Lake City may lead to a documentary about imperiled public land.
On the other hand, one might choose to make a documentary about something that intrigues her about the town that she is living in. Maybe it is something that already interests you about the area or possibly an event or person you meet while living in the city:
- Meeting a trumpet player might inspire you to profile a band trying to make it big in the Big Easy.
- Meeting a young Mormon family might lead to a documentary about what it's like to settle down early and take on a parental role.
Every city has a million stories, but Salt Lake City is particularly rich in those that have to do with religion, cultural clashes and environmental conflict. New Orleans has Mardi Gras, funereal marching bands, and the striking contrasts between a hedonistic tourist culture and a poor, struggling city trying to get back on its feet. And since Katrina, everyone in New Orleans has a story.
Each medium—video, audio, photography—has its unique strengths, and each will bring out different aspects of the same story. Just as the documentary subjects are a matter of individual choice, so too is the medium. We encourage people to explore and combine different media, but the ultimate choice is theirs.
A few of the infinite number of documentary ideas:
- Portraits of people in their post-Katrina houses, along with their stories
- The struggles of a Somali family resettling in Salt Lake City
- The life of a New Orleans street performer
- Stories of young Mormon missionaries
- The battle over rebuilding neighborhoods in New Orleans
- Battles over the commercial use of public lands
- Being the only person on your block in post-Katrina New Orleans
- Conflicts within the Mormon church
- Second line marching bands in New Orleans
- Conflicts between the gay community and the religious right in Salt Lake
- An intergenerational family of musicians in New Orleans
- The plight of the homeless in any city
- Preparing for the next hurricane