For my Capstone project, I created a documentary film comprised of three interviews with individuals who work in careers involving the end of life. I interviewed a funeral director, a hospice social worker, and a ceremonialist. I asked them a series of questions to learn more about their perspectives on death because of their work. I learned the importance of talking about death and its intricacies and working with other people to better understand it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q05KlQsuI2tCBYGUCDkp-fcLFObIODuN/view?usp=sharingusp=sharing

Through months of exploration, confusion, struggle and eventually accomplishment I finished my capstone. The main focus of my capstone is expression. I sought out to find ways to express feelings through art, specifically photography. Oftentimes expressing feelings can be hard and visually expressing them is even harder. So I decided to tell the subjects of my project to write out exactly how they felt and what they wanted to say. I had them design a shirt or, in one case paint on their body with the words they felt needed to be said. After that, I photographed them and then interviewed them. I decided not to ask any guiding questions besides “What do the words you wrote mean to you. And why are they important?”

LINK TO CAPSTONE MATERIALS

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HWT9amhNgpfNDUy7ERaFI93HbdcZvXXd?usp=share_link

For my senior capstone project, I created five short films. Each were written based on the five core values of SLA. I took those prompts with varying degrees of literality: some were written based on another meaning of the word, some ended up having very little to do with it, and some were more obviously inspired by the value itself. After finishing my scripts and sending them out for feedback, I shot all five of them over a month. In most cases, I was able to shoot an entire film over a few hours in one day, but I did have to pick up extra shoots a few times. I wrapped shooting and edited my films using Premiere Pro, a software that we learned how to use in Digital Video. I knew in the early stages of my project that I wanted to collaborate with the wonderfully creative community at my school. The cast and crew of these films are composed almost entirely of SLA students and staff. I enlisted the help of close friends, as well as students whom I hadn’t even met before. Directing people who I didn’t know was one of the biggest challenges for me throughout this process. It also was one of the most rewarding aspects of the experience. While these films are my writing, directing, and editing, they wouldn’t have been possible without the people who graciously helped me. Filmmaking is a collaborative art, and as I intended, my capstone is proof of that.

Link to my capstone films: https://vimeo.com/829258891

Link to my process paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iSmtpCZKVmKGEFCN071qQClwVuXpa6ET7MkgkxKS59g/edit?usp=sharing

Link to my annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PkOrFW2-bA_fDqIQMiKCT88cypTZok_iqPDRUHGQWyI/edit?usp=sharing

Through the course of my capstone project, I went looking for things that reflected my passions and personal growth. After my experiences with My School Votes and diving into various resources and lessons on voter education, I felt it was important to bring these crucial topics to my school community. It took time and contemplation to find the perfect concept that resonated with me, but when I did, I knew it was worth the effort. Crafting a lesson plan that would not only educate but also engage my underclassmen became my mission. I wanted to make the learning experience fun and enlightening, so I incorporated activities that allowed everyone to participate and win incentives along the way. It was nice to see my peers get involved and witness the fun that some students experienced. As the lesson plan unfolded, I made sure to discuss the upcoming election and we worked to explore the candidates so they could cast their own ballots and reflect. To tie everything together, I continued work on a website I had created back in 2020, where I expanded on the significance of my capstone project. Through this platform, I aimed to convey the importance of voter education and how it could shape our future. This entire journey has been a visual to my growth and the realization that when we pursue things that align with our passions, meaningful ideas can take shape.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Lw2hd1W4W5tZeClTF7nhkMXtrISI-G02rF5ZelLv68/edit?usp=sharing Website link: https://synaiharris.wixsite.com/everysynaibreae

For my capstone, I created baking videos and posted them on Instagram representing the five core values. For the first couple of months, I did research on a lot of different baking tips and I put it all together in a Google Document. I also did a lot of research to find the recipes I wanted to bake. For inquiry, I asked how can baking videos impact the SLA community. My reflection was that I should have researched how to get good angles for making baking videos for Instagram. Through this project, I learned how important it is to measure correctly and not miss any details when it comes to filming a video on baking. It’s also important to take your time when you are editing the videos so that it turns out well. That’s something that I learned from this project. When you slow down, you have a better outcome with anything that you do but it was really important for my project because you have to measure everything correctly and you have to film the videos right or else you would have to start all over again.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PithCDC7kjRAPfPb91GFixPNNFGhBvHe9SPSVoBQqi4/edit