Conceptualization

After reading the Shaking The Money Tree text and discussing my project in class I am beginning to formulate a clearer understanding of how my project will unfold. I will be creating a proto-type entity during the course of this class with the hope to be able to recreate a similar entity during my anthropological field research. The ultimate goal for this is to offer a media project and internet presence as a reciprocal gift for allowing my presence and research within the community I will be staying. This experiment will be within a much more controlled environment with access to resources and time compared to the time I will be spending in Guatemala. As I decipher and decode the technological jargon thrown around in our classroom I am picking up useful ideas of how to market and implant my project on the Internet. Shaking the Money Tree also provided me with insight on how to successfully reach target audiences, appeal to the appropriate markets, and contact potential funding sources. I intend to continue filming and accumulating footage for my proto-type advertisement, weather permitting.

I am excited to be able to complete every step of this process because my prior work involved co-creators who had designated tasks. The diversification of labor during those projects left me specializing in only one component of film making- cinematography. To be able to produce a final project from start to finish on my own is a skill I have wanted since I began tinkering with visual media. This class is going to not only allow me the opportunity to accomplish this, I will be able to take the finished product and breathe life into it on the Internet. This skill set will prove useful to me not only for my summer field research, but for the future of my career which I envision having a visual media component.