Definition: a system of moral principles.

How do I approach my topic ethically?

Well, I won’t be prejudice. I won’t disrespect anyone’s culture. My topic isn’t very controversial: Traffic being allowed on Main Street again. 

I don’t see how it could hurt peoples’ morals.

It will show many different opinions. But everyone has a right to their own opinion. 

My ethics are to be kind, respect everyone and give everyone a right to say whatever they want. 

In all honesty, I don’t think I’m ready for shooting. I thought of the idea on Saturday, and it’s Tuesday, I don’t have many ideas in mind. I’m so lucky I don’t get the camera until next Thursday. I thought of some places to shoot but some of them aren’t even in DOWNTOWN. I need to make sure EVERYTHING I’m shooting is in Downtown. This is a documentary about the DOWNTOWN RENAISSANCE not the BUFFALO RENAISSANCE. I feel really stressed out. I don’t think I’m going to have enough time to shoot. I’m usually pretty good about deadlines and always hand things in on time and get them done on time, but this, this is going by way too quickly. I thought we’d get at least a week with the camera, but I only have half of Thursday, Friday, and the morning of Saturday. I have NO idea who I’m going to interview. My mom just said I probably won’t be able to get an interview and I need approval from M&T. What if I can’t get approval? I can’t change ideas now. It’s too late. I can’t make another proposal. I wish this documentary was just on downtown Buffalo. Do whatever you want. I would just take shots of Coca Cola field and the First Niagara Center and the Harbor, but now it has to be complicated. I really don’t want to do an interview. I’m terrible at asking questions and being friendly. I’m too shy. UGH. I’ll just shoot the Washington Street Renovation, M&T concert series, the Bertoia Fountain (I hope that’s downtown), and the Harbor. I just wish we had more time, but I know the best directors have to work on time constraints and have complications like this all the time, I shouldn’t be acting like such a baby and like it’s the end of the world. I’ll get it done. I hope. I’m going to try my best.

Reading these pages were very helpful and gave me more knowledge on how to shoot a good interview and how to use the camera successfully and to capture great footage. It’s going to be a hassle to adjust the focus and white balance every time I record something, but it is necessary. I need to remember to do that. I also need to remember to shoot MORE than I need. On page 47 it explains how I should have the interviewee fully explain everything. I’m a little worried that whoever I’m interviewing will have a problem and will not have an unlimited amount of time for this interview. They’ll probably try to get it done as quickly as possible, but I’ll try to be a little pushy but not too pushy, just so they’ll answer the questions as specific as possible. Cinema Verite also taught me some good tips. I should shoot as much as possible. The background and area around the interviewer and think about the audience. I should be mindful on what they want to see, since they are the ones going to be viewing it. I also need to make the interviewee feel as comfortable as possible. I need to be very friendly so they don’t feel uneasy and will answer the questions with confidence. 

This article stressed one thing: it’s the little things that count, and that is entirely true. Just picking up the trash and cutting the grass will make the area look so much better and visually pleasing. When you see litter on the ground it will make you think less of the city and won’t make you want to come back. We should all do our part to fix up our city. Let’s all take one day to pick up all of the litter and to always be sure to throw our trash away no matter how small it is. Litter belongs in the garbage. There should be trash cans everywhere for easy access. We should make the trash cans more appealing and fun to look at so it brightens up the town. We really need to “paint the town polka dot” and make it dazzling. The ten elements mentioned in the article are so important and will be accomplished someday, and when it is we’ll wonder why Buffalo hadn’t always looked this wonderful and why we took so long to fix it up. 

I can’t believe they were working on having a Bass Pro Shop downtown for nine whole years and then they back out of it. Maybe that was for the best. Buffalo can accomplish so much more and will. Having a Bass Pro Shop down by the water would’ve been cool and probably would’ve gotten a lot of business but it wasn’t the best idea, and I guess they realized that.

I really admire what urban planners are doing for Buffalo. They’re preserving and improving our city which will help a lot. It will attract visitors and strengthen the economy. They’re also trying to eliminate pollution which will lead to a healthier environment to live in. These people are doing their absolute best to make our city a beautiful place to live in and I would love to help in some way. Buffalo has so much potential and I truly believe the Buffalo Green Code will allow it to reach its potential. 

Preserving historical areas and buildings in Buffalo should be a top priority. These buildings will attract visitors and create jobs which will help the economy. There would be no downsides besides pollution but if we do our part as a community to stop pollution by reducing, reusing and recycling that will help a great deal.

I think downtown should not have a commercial grocery store. Stick with small businesses and outdoor markets so they can make some money, they need it. Maybe a small grocery store could help but I think they can manage without one. 

The videos we saw didn’t impress me too much. The first one about graffiti I thought was interesting though. It’s not a topic that is normally talked about in a positive way so it’s good to see people who are for it and think it’s art. In the other videos about the downsides to Buffalo, were a bit boring. The one where all the camera was showing were shots of dark places was very repetitive. The sounds in the background were cool but overall it was a drag to watch. There were very good shots though. You could tell the camera person took their time to shoot as precisely as possible. I felt the video about the people falling into the Niagara Falls was the best one. It was interesting and kept me alert. I was happy there was background music and an actual witness of someone who fell into the falls. 

The videos were overall well made for kids who didn’t have much experience. I hope I can make a great video that will attract people’s attention and keep them intrigued and hopefully they’ll learn a bit about Buffalo too. 

I really enjoyed going to the Book Arts Center. I didn’t even know such a thing existed in Buffalo before today. It is such a cool little shop. I hope they stay in business for a very long time. I loved looking at all of the artwork that local artists had in the shop. It’s so nice to give artists a chance to have their artwork be shown and maybe even sold. I’d love to put an artwork in there someday. I also loved the basement of the shop. It’s so cool how they make their prints. If I ever wanted a poster to be made, I’d go to them. 

Some entrepreneurship I would like to see in Buffalo are more places like that. Art galleries and maybe some music stores. Anything to make Buffalo an even more interesting and artistic place. Maybe some new restaurants and antique places.

I also liked going to the Lafayette Hotel, which really isn’t much of a hotel yet, but when it is I guarantee it will be a beautiful hotel that everyone will want to stay at. The architecture on the outside and lobby of it is already gorgeous, so it can only go up from there.