Final Project: "The Social Fight Pit" Short Film (Ali Ismail)

I'll keep the summary brief as the film is approximately 15 minutes in length altogether.

       As I've stated throughout the course of planning this project, the topic my project is about is Internet Anonymity and how it makes us act when we have it. We are in an age where we can be connected to many people, but we all do so with a second identity that we mold ourselves for the sake of using the Internet. Actions can hold less consequences across the Internet making people care less about how they treat others and what they actually say.

       I wanted to tackle this project from a more creative aspect. I didn't want to make a boring informative piece on the subject, nor did I want to take the easy path and just say that Internet Anonymity is bad. Through my research, there actually is quite a benefit to having this identity. I mean just imagine as one of the main characters Apa brings up in her argument, imagine if every time you made a post online all of your information was there for the world to see. I wanted to push my craft and make something I could be proud of outside of just doing something for a class, but I didn't want to just make a straightforward editorial or documentary. So realizing that I'm a glutton for punishment and straight up masochist, I decided to take this on as a Narrative Project made in the timespan of approximately one month, when the Narrative Production Class gives you a total of 3-4 months to make a short film. A Narrative Film serves my purpose best as I can create my own world to deliver a message. What I value greatly is the ability to view both perspectives in order to reach the best possible conclusion. The month has been grueling and tough, but I'm proud to present with the help of wonderful people such as David from the class, The Social Fight Pit!!!

Title Card for the Short Film.
Drawn by my lovely and supportive girlfriend <3

       This film's intended audience is for the general public; primarily people that spend a lot of time browsing the Internet through Youtube and much more. Even people who aren't active Internet browsers can relate to this experience, so I wanted to keep the film fun, humorful, and direct enough so that people can understand the message and have a takeaway from it, rather than be confused by a more experimental abstract film. What's that message? Ahh you'll have to watch the film to find out

Sly Obama wink

Without further ado I present to you the result of 8% blood,  80% sweat, and 12% tears; My Short Narrative Film The Social Fight Pit!!!

Final: It's A Living

Strong Language Warning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s6h6DKpzhI&feature=youtu.be

 An abridged version of the full video


It's A Living is a project to help the voice of people on the low end of the economic totem pole to be heard by the masses. In this video, I interview Moses Leiva, a Bayonne resident with a sailor's mouth working as a janitor, and his experiences. Spending most of his life close to the thresh hold of poverty, Moses has spent the last year living with his fiancee's family after being evicted from his home.

Though my original plan for this project was to make a single video featuring many interviewees I soon realized a single video is very limiting. I felt the project would be better realized as a continued series, talking to people in the vein of a portrait documentary short covering the subjects I brought up in my project proposal , such as minimum wage, poverty and welfare.

Since each video would be focused on one person, it would allow more flexibility to interact with them and allow them to speak. Taking this further, the production values could expand, such as following the subjects in their day to day life(something I wanted to do with Moses but his employer refused to let me record him at his work) and a use of After Effect to make more dynamic video presentations along the lines of a video you would find on Buzzfeed(I have no access to After Effect so that's off the table for now).

Having a specific goal in mind with the series also allows me to really focus in on a social problem and using convergence culture to spread the knowledge. Moses was a great first subject for the project because of how knowledgeable on the subject he is(I had no idea there were so many PhDs in poverty, for example) while he also knew about a lot of the sources I brought up below. I believe there is a lot of room for this project to grow from here, to spread awareness of economic problems from the perspective of people who are not always heard.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2015/12/ST_2015-12-09_middle-class-05.png

Reich, Robert. "The Morality of a $15 Minimum." Robert Reich (). N.p., 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://robertreich.org/post/131476708345>.

"UC Davis Center for Poverty Research." Who Are the Working Poor? -. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/who-are-working-poor>.

Parlapiano, Alicia, Robert Gebeloff, and Shan Carter. "The Shrinking American Middle Class." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Jan. 2015. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/25/upshot/shrinking-middle-class.html?_r=0>.

"Minimum Wage since 1938." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/minimum-wage-since-1938/>.

"Minimum Wage Mythbusters." - U.S. Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://www.dol.gov/minwage/mythbuster.htm>.

"Living Wage NYC." Living Wage NYC. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://www.livingwagenyc.org/pagedetail.php?id=3>.

"The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground." Pew Research Centers Social Demographic Trends Project RSS. N.p., 09 Dec. 2015. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. <http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/09/the-american-middle-class-is-losing-ground/>.

I Define Me: Asian American Representation in Media (Final)

I Define Me Website 

Margaret Cho as North Korean General at the Golden Globes (2015)

          It is a topic that needs to be shared in conversation. Although the population of Asian Americans has grown substantially throughout the years, there is still an issue of representation of Asian Americans in the media. My project focuses specifically on the issues of representations for Asian American women. In my research, I was enlightened of the issues Asian American women have dealt with and still deal with representation and in the media industry. While dealing with the lack of representation, Asian American women also have to see their cultures be simplified and categorized into unhealthy and unrealistic representation. With all this said, I think it is time for people represented in such a way to take control of their own narratives. If the media cannot correctly represent Asian American women, the audience should take it to themselves to spread the word of this injustice. We must define ourselves.

          My final project in Convergence focuses on Asian American women and their representation in the media. For this social issue, I decided to create a website that shares information on the issues on representation for Asian American women. It talks about the different stereotypes, the lack of representation, and what some people in the media business have to say about the whole issue. Even though the website is not fully finished, I have big plans for it to be used as a platform where audiences can read more into the issue, see different stories and videos that talk more about the issue, promote Asian American women in media, and even communicate more about it through this website.

Actress Anna May Wong

         The first part of the website will be a blog that constantly updates news and additional websites that add to the conversation on Asian American representation. The second part will focus more on the history on Asian American representation, the faults in the stereotypes and lack of, and even the faults in whitewashing and appropriation of Asian American culture. The website will also provide recommended movies and television shows as well as other media and people in media to follow. With this said, the site will work as a kind of promotion that is more needed for Asian American women in media.

          The last part of my website will be more social. In this part of the site, people can share stories and communicate with others through forums on the subject.

           Even though the website is not done yet, I plan to bring awareness to this issue in the media and how people should start the conversation more on how a community should and should not be represented. And if the media cannot successfully define me, then this website shows that as a community, we must define ourselves in a new, positive way.

Actress Lucy Liu on her experience with Asian women representation in her career

Resource List:

Websites:
- "Representation of Asian American Women in Media." Storify. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

- "Asian Women Aren't Your Oriental, Submissive, China Dolls." Groupthink. 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 2   Nov. 2015.

- "Restrictive Portrayals of Asians in the Media and How to Balance Them." MANAA. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

- Wo, Emily. "Beyond the Color Line: Asian American Representations in the Media." 2012. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.

- Haque, Zahra. "Representation of Asian Americans in Film Limited." WSN. 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

- Qiang, Ashley. "When Asian Americans Appear On TV, It's Usually As One Of These Racist Stereotypes." Slant. 22 Aug. 2015. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.

Books:

- Kim, Youna. Women and the Media in Asia: The Precarious Self. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.

- Nam, Vickie. Yell-oh Girls!: Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing up Asian American. New York: Quill, 2001. Print.

- Ono, Kent A., and Vincent N. Pham. Asian Americans and the Media. Cambridge: Polity, 2009. Print.

Videos:

- "Asian American Women in Hollywood and Beyond" Panel." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Jan. 2012. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.

- Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded. Dir. Elaine H. Kim. Asian Women United of California, 2011. Film.