In your Filmmakers’ Journal entries, reflect on the films we watch for class.
Having a regular journal writing practice sharpens your powers of observation. It also forces you to think about your experience, and it facilitates memory and imagination.
A couple of guiding questions for journaling (you are free to set these questions aside and free-write):
What was the documentary about? What was the message or take-away? Describe the film. Try to come up with a loglineLinks to an external site..（https://www.filmdaily.tv/logline/documentary-logline-examples）
What did you notice? What did it make you wonder about? Describe your reaction, how it made you feel, what it made you think about.
Some guiding questions for journaling:
• What was the documentary about? What was the message or take-away? Describe the film. Try to come up with a logline.
• What did you notice? What did it make you wonder about? Describe your reaction, how it made you feel, what it made you think about.
• Did the film speak to you or was it hard to relate to? What seemed most relevant to your life? Who do you think is the main audience for the film?
• What were the various materials assembled in the documentary? Make a list.
• Who was interviewed? (List them.) Why do you think they were chosen? What did each contribute?
• Whose voices were absent? What do you think they might’ve added?
• What was the structure? Were there clearly marked sections or parts, or were there more subtle shifts? If they were more subtle, did you notice any?
• What techniques were used to maintain viewer interest?
• What are the film’s strengths as a documentary? What was most compelling or innovative about it?
• What are its weaknesses or problems? Where does the documentary falter? What could it have done better?
• What ethical issues are raised in the film? What ethical questions does the content of the film explicitly ask its audience to think about?
• What ethical issues does the production of the film raise that the content does not address explicitly, or even tries to hide?
• Do you notice any similarities between this film and another documentary you’ve watched? Any differences or contrasts?
• Ask ChatGPT to write a summary or comment on the film. What does auto-text-generation technology focus on and what does it leave out?
• Did the assigned reading prompt you to notice or understand something about the that you might not have noticed otherwise? Did it offer some specific vocabulary that you could use to comment on the film?
