Poetic Journey – Advanced Short Form Documentary

In an assignment in the Advanced Short Form Documentary class taught by Tim Broekema, students where given the challenge of creating a video in the idea of Poetic Documentaries, a from first seen in the 1920s.

It prioritize experiences, visuals, and aim to present the world from diverse perspectives. Characterized by abstractness and a flexible narrative structure, this sub-genre of documentaries boldly ventures into unconventional and experimental forms and themes. Its primary objective is to evoke emotions rather than convey a definitive reality.

Here are examples from two of our Photojournalism & Documentary students in the class.

Rod by Sean McInnis

A look inside the underground, do-it-yourself, traveling musical duo ROD, featuring Micah Wu and Angie Willcutt.

 

Like Father, Like Son by Brett Phelps

Maya Angelou said, “Every journey begins with a single step.” For Michael Phelps, his journey with fishing began with the first cast he made as a child with his father on a dock at the Lake of the Ozarks near Versailles, Missouri. Phelps continues this father-son pastime with his sons on the pond banks and lakes of Kentucky. Phelps understands that it’s not fish he is after, it’s something much more significant.

The Life After, By Arthur H. Trickett-Wile

WKUPJ junior, Arthur H. Trickett-Wile looks at the challenges one faces while being a force to challenge students on a daily basis.

Dr. Craig T. Cobane built the Western Kentucky University’s Mahurin Honors College from the ground up, working tirelessly and enthusiastically around the clock. But during an exploratory shoulder surgery last year, the surgeon found something that would change his life forever.

Looking Inwards

LOOKING INWARDS

As the global pandemic transitioned from novelty to reality, Western Kentucky University college students realized their lives would be altered forever

When students of the School of Media at Western Kentucky University beelined from their cramped dorm rooms and fluorescent lit classrooms in Jody Richards Hall to enjoy a week respite on March 6, 2020, they were blissfully ignorant of the storm that was about to shatter their perception of what college education would become, how their world would change and what their future may become.

The COVID-19 pandemic at first felt like this bump in the road that was merely an inconvenience but as WKU President Timothy Caboni, like other schools across the country and around the globe, announced classes were to move online for the rest of the semester, college life as it used to be quickly became a distant, hazy dream. Dimly lit basements or child-hood bedrooms became the new classroom as increasingly un-kept students clung to their red solo cups which were filled with a liquid of ambiguous content (at least to the professor) as they swayed to whatever heavy bass they could feel in their mind as they pretended to maintain attention in the new Zoom world. Instantly gone from their grasps the sensations of college life freedom.

View the complete project online at: http://lookinginwards.tilda.ws

Produced by Gabi Broekema

Content by Fatimah Alhamdin, Grace Bailey, Raaj Banga, Morgan Bass, Gabi Broekema, Alex Driehaus, Kennedy Gott, Morgan Hornsby, Missy Johnson, Cassady Lamb, Sam Mallon, Vonn Pillman, Rachel Taylor, Lily Estella Thompson

Photo and Journal entry by Sam Mallon

SELF PORTRAIT
MARCH, 2020
I find myself exhausted though my quarantine days are filled with very little movement. I long for places to go and people to see; I am grieving the could-have, would-have, should-have-beens. I am grateful that I am safe and it is my responsibility to keep others safe, so I have been staying inside and learning to spend time with myself. I have found solace in the fact that the trees are turning green — they remind me that we are all still growing —I am eager to see how much stronger we are on the other side of the current pandemic.


Video and Journal by Lily Estella Thompson

MAKING IT THROUGH
SUMMER, 2020
“Upon reflection of our relationship throughout the pandemic, Brandon and I try to make sense about what went wrong, and what went right during this time of isolation. In a video and thru images I took, we are both made to talk about what it has been like living together through one of the most historic times in our lives.”

 

Photo and Journal by Morgan Bass
SELF PORTRAIT
MAY, 2020
I used to be an extrovert, someone who would strike up conversations with strangers for fun. After half a year in social isolation, the mere thought of putting myself out there like that is suffocating. Since March of 2020, I have been on a downward spiral into a pit of panic attacks and depressive episodes. I have been trying to act like the person I was before, but there is a piece that is now missing from that person that I used to be, and I am not sure how to pretend that it isn’t.

 

Photo of her family by Rachel Taylor
FAMILY CHURCH SERVICE
APRIL, 2020
“The first thing I’m doing when quarantine is over is going to church,” Catherine Taylor said on Sunday. Much like her husband, she has missed very few Sundays and longs to be back in the church building she grew up in, rather than praying virtually on her front porch. “I know that church isn’t just a building, but I can’t wait to be worshiping with my church family again.” she added.

Write-In by Alex Maxwell

Senior Photojournalism major Alex Maxwell follows the unlikely campaign of Tom Morris who was running as a write-in candidate for Mayor of Bowling Green, Ky.

Longtime Bowling Green resident Tom Morris launched his campaign for the office of Mayor in July of 2020, falling just behind the deadline to get his name on the ballot. With no time to waste, he began vigorously campaigning as a write-in candidate.

What are the chances of winning a write-in campaign? If the United States Senate is taken as an example, the odds are slim.

To see the complete story visit: https://spark.adobe.com/page/U21WHS5ndUFkL/

 

 

A Relative, A Revelation | by Chris Kohley

Senior WKU Photojournalism major Chris Kohley depicts in this multimedia project how history lives on for local historian Tommy Hines as he uncovers facts about his ancestor with the same name. “They called him the most dangerous man in the Confederacy,” Tommy Hines said of Thomas Henry Hines, a soldier that fought for the south during the Civil War.

As Executive Director of the South Union Shaker Village, Tommy has uncovered revelations about his ancestor and grappled with his role in the Civil War.

You can view the entire project here.

 

How are Kentuckians facing the future of work?

The Way We Work

In place of coal miners stand robotic machines. Instead of farmhands, Bluetooth tracking-chips count cattle. Older folks are on their toes, redefining, revamping and reconsidering their work, while younger people are charging boldly and soberly toward their specialized and technical careers. As the workforce transforms at breakneck speed, it seems that if Kentuckians don’t take advantage of the myriad modern technological opportunities, they’ll be left in the coal dust. The Way We Work follows farmer, Mark Chapman, former coal-mine worker William Stevens and high school senior Kendall Pearson as they navigate the tricky job market and determine what may career path may be best for them.

SEE THE PROJECT HERE

 

Eleven years later and still waiting for answers

 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2019, 8.29 A.M. LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – The sun has a hard time getting through the curtains in Karr's apartment in The Highlands, a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Her eyes are sensitive to light, so there is a purpose for the darkness. She walks around the kitchen, feeding her service dog, Blaze, and gets dressed in a flat cap, shirt and pants, leaving her joggers in the bedroom. She needs to move on after a rough night, she explains. The sheets were messy when she woke up. Blaze was laying on her chest; he does this to stop her night terrors. The anxiety returned when she placed her head on the pillow last night. She found no peace.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2019, 8.29 A.M. LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – The sun has a hard time getting through the curtains in Karr’s apartment in The Highlands, a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Her eyes are sensitive to light, so there is a purpose for the darkness. She walks around the kitchen, feeding her service dog, Blaze, and gets dressed in a flat cap, shirt and pants, leaving her joggers in the bedroom. She needs to move on after a rough night, she explains. The sheets were messy when she woke up. Blaze was laying on her chest; he does this to stop her night terrors. The anxiety returned when she placed her head on the pillow last night. She found no peace.

 

A Wounded Soldier

WKU Journalism and Photojournalism students, Sara Krog and Sofie Mortensen tell the story of Veteran Megan Karr who suffers PTSD caused by her experience of sexual assault by two colleagues, while serving in the military.

“After the incident I changed, not necessarily for the better, but for the worse. I struggle a lot, and that struggle has been tough, especially for the people who knew me before. I guess this is what affected my family situation.”

SEE THE COMPLETE STORY