Lawrence Media Minds

Interviews;
Sony Camcorder & Canon SLR-LIKE

Collecting material on media in Africa and media in America and the connection between the two.

Interviewing people has been difficult because most people have not thought of the questions that we have chosen to ask them. We allow them to review the questions beforehand however these questions are more complicated than we meant them to be. The reaction is something to explore as well, because our project is about what people do not think about. And we are shedding light onto this invisible connection.

We have so far interviewed;
Nidal Kram - African - American, Sudan
Mariah Mateo - American, Uganda and Sierra Leone
Natalie Fordwor - Ghanaian
David Frempong - Ghanaian
Sarah Ehlinger - American, Sierra Leone
Natalie Gratton - American, Sierra Leone
Harjinder Bedi - American, Ghana Togo and Benin
William Meadows - American, Sierra Leone
Chelsey Sand - American, Sierra Leone

So far it has been difficult with some and easy with others depending on how much they have thought about or been subjected to the issue. Engaging people is key, explaining and simplifying the questions, and trying to set them up in an environment where they are comfortable.

Bridging the Multicultural Media Gap

Sierra Leoneon filmmaker,
Karim Bah

http://standardtimespress.net/cgi-bin/artman/publish/printer_4341.shtml
(highlight the text)

Babylon Illusion - a vision of a different culture with an accompanying assumption that that culture is better, contains more opporunities, and that life is more exciting there as opposed to where they are.

Karim Bah made a film Babylon Illusion that contains interview footage of Africans in western countries, UK, and the USA, where these gold diggers are complaining about how hard the life is there. The documentary is in a sense critiquing them, but also it is an attempt to desolve this illusion that Africans have that "the west is better", and it is an attempt to initiate actions that lead to pride in their own country.

Zenabu and I intend to investigate what type of media create such an illusion. Americans suffer from a similar illusion, based on adventure, excitement, or violence and war.

Goal; 10+ minutes of quality video footage containing a mixture of new media arts, politics, and entertainment that explains this "Babylon Illusion" that westerners have of the African world and that Africans have of the western world.

Media bridges this gap as long as it is not misunderstood. However, a gap may not be able to be bridged if there is no old media material to build it with. The Missing Link we deal with today is literacy.

Material;
-Video footage of West African interviews
-Audio clips of interviews
-West African music
-Interviews of Lawrentians effected by this multicultural media
-Youtube clips
-Skype examples
-Written script
-stories

Technology;
-MAC
-Canon SLR-like w/1 hr video footage
-LaCie backup hard drive
-flashdrive 4GB
-Final Cut
-projector