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Sparkle (2)
If you were to ask me, "Why does the video keep blipping out to blue-stripey things and making a high-pitched tone?" my answer wouldn't come easily. In fact, I might have no explanation for you because the current cut took two years of work to get to this point.
The short version response is: very little budget, student videographer and producer, student's understanding of Final Cut, and student's computer equipment that had a catastrophic failure. Oh, and..."It breaks my heart. I'm trying to learn how to use iMovie well enough to rebuild the whole video."
I MIGHT be able to provide you with that answer, but it would depend upon the day.
Two years ago I had a final project assignment for a nine-month program I had taken at the Center for Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma Healthy Sciences Center. It was so rough. We watched examinations of children brought in for physical abuse symptoms, we studied X-rays and child death files, we visited Level E residential homes in the state where the case worker to child ratio is 1:2.
Yes, the cases in the Level E home were that rough. Sometimes the memories of what I saw would haunt my dreams and I would play out a fantasy where I convinced the state that the ratio should be one case worker per child...that they couldn't handle two.
So I wanted the final project to be meaningful. I decided to conduct six interviews all across the state to see what the current narratives on child abuse and neglect within our state were, and to turn clips from the interview into a thirty minute documentary. I wanted to share the "pulse" of Oklahomans on their knowledge and how they described child abuse and neglect. I wanted to see what they thought were appropriate solutions to the problem.
So I did. I traveled to the Otoe-Missouria and Ponca Tribes in the north, I traveled to the west and interviewed someone who lived in a trailer house, someone who lived with her parents, someone who was a teacher and an engineer. I traveled to a city to get perspectives of the black community, and to a church. Not all of those I interviewed were okay to have their responses shared in the video, but many were.
And so here is my project as it stands right now...a thirty-minute documentary with blue-stripey blips...that needs to be rebuilt because of circumstances outside of my control:
Narratives on Child Abuse and Neglect in Oklahoma from Kelly Roberts on Vimeo.
Six 1.5 hour interviews were conducted with a variety of Oklahomans in the summer of 2009. The responses of the interviewees were compiled into a 30 minute documentary over perspectives of child abuse and neglect in Oklahoma.
I don't know when I'll get to rebuild the video, but I know I'll do it. I have a feeling I'm going to choose better music. I might re-cut some of the clips, and I might provide a bit more text between the scenes. I know it's going to be a lot of work. But I want to honor those who provided the time, and I want to share the information as much as I can in my state.
So...I'm starting with you. And, I'm sharing this to encourage you to continue your work. And, I'm doing that because I need a bit of encouragement myself...I'm discouraged about going back to the drawing board. And I'm also sharing because...I just really, really want child abuse and neglect to continue to decrease. Until it's gone.
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Find me at the Red Dirt Chronicles...
Best, Red Dirt Kelly
