Week Two

Mock in-class interview   So ends Week Two! This week in documentary filmmaking, we focused on the delicate art of interviewing subjects: something we all need to master (to some degree) for our final project. Including the practical elements of how to light your subject most effectively and how to record sound using a few …

Documentary Filmmaking

Hello! I am taking Documentary Filmmaking, a block centered around the creative and technical approaches to making documentaries, taught by alum Doug Pray (a documentary filmmaker himself). After a packed week, I’m excited to share some of the many tips, ideas, and artistic lessons I have already absorbed. My favorite assignment we did this week …

Disney is My Religion

Last night we read “The Happiest Place on Earth: Disney’s America and the Commodification of Religion,” (Mazur and Koda). It argues that for many Americans, salvation is a commodity. Disney is competing with religion by offering the same products: “mythologies, symbols, rituals, and notions of community by which consumers organize their lives.” Disney provides lessons …

Debutante Balls: A Religious Experience

Last Wednesday I handed in my senior thesis, “A Sociological Study of Debutantes.”  Sociology of Religion started the following Monday and it was my first class since before Thanksgiving break. I was excited to finally be able to forget about my thesis. I should have known that it wouldn’t be that easy to forget. Our …

Ignorance, Knowledge, Dejection, Power, and Contextualization of Self in Outer Space. A Cycle.

We’ve just come to the end of third week, which means that we are approaching the dreaded FOURTH WEEK. This is when students survive on pizza, candy, and coffee. Lots of coffee. The end for my class in particular involves a systematic organizing of the concepts we’ve learned. Part of this is asking questions: Have …

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