Reflection on Doc Assignment (So Far)

As I was thinking about what I wanted my students to do for a doc assignment, I settled on the idea of having them make a short documentary in conjunction with their job shadow day.  Partly, I wanted to hear some different responses from my students the day after job shadowing besides, “I just sat around all day,” or “I still don’t understand what my parent does.”  I also knew that it would be easy for me to go to my dad’s workplace (a mechanic shop) and record some footage since my car was due for an oil change. 

            I was right about it being easy to take my car in for an oil change like I always do every three months, but I think I overestimated people’s willingness to be on camera.  Granted, the first my dad heard about my filming project was when my mom talked to him on the phone and she mentioned it in passing (which was about 30 minutes before I showed up there with my car and camera), so he didn’t exactly have time to contemplate whether he wanted to do it or not. 

            After I arrived, I talked to my dad for a few minutes and then talked to my two uncles and another co-worker who also work there.  When I asked if I could interview them on camera, only one of them agreed without any apprehension.  I ended up filming the three of them before walking back to my dad’s work area to set up the tripod.  Compared to my uncles, he seemed even more reluctant to be on camera, and when I pressed him just a little, he didn’t cave.  I thought, if he really doesn’t want to be interviewed on camera, I’m not going to make him.  I asked if I could just record him working, and he said yes, so much of the b-roll is of him. 

            Lesson learned: the presence of a camera is scarier to some than I thought it would be.  Like my dad, at least a portion of my students’ parents wouldn’t want to be interviewed on camera, so I would need to include options for whom and what my students could film in the assignment description.  Instead of requiring students to interview a parent for the job-shadow assignment, I might write something like “Interview your parent and/or co-workers to find out more about this business/career.”