Final Blog Post

Hey everyone,

Here are my videos, following my videos will be a recap of what I have done so far, my problems and also my successes.

What this project was about was mainly to capture the essence of community in any way we wanted to. It was great as it did not put a creative cap on all the students in the course. We could venture out and explore ‘community’ in the way that we thought best and in any medium which we were most comfortable with or wanted to try.

Myself, being someone who likes to edit videos, chose to explore ‘community’ by doing a short video documentary. My initial aim for this documentary was to take on Flemington Community Centre and to explore their community as it looked really interesting. However, after emailing them, they did not reply at all. I was quite lost at the beginning but realized that what I could explore was right infront of me, it came in the form of my weekly sunday routine of going to mass at St. Brendan’s Church. I sent St. Brendan’s an email and waited for their reply. To my dismay, even they did not reply after a couple of days. I decided to muster up my courage and head down to St. Brendan’s to ask if I could conduct my interview there. It was awesome! I was greeted warmly by Carol Harris, the parish worker and she introduced me to Father Max Vodola, they explained that they had received the email but during that week, they were just too busy preparing for Easter that they couldn’t reply! The important point is, they agreed to be interviewed!

This really took a load of my back and I could really focus on what I wanted to find out from Father Max and Carol and also how I was going to conduct my study. I employed the help of my ex-uni-mate, Clare Peterson to aid me in asking the questions for the interview and also to help me cover extra bases (she’s great with interviews), this gave me quite a lot of confidence in doing a good job as I have worked with Clare before and we work great together.

Father Max being the Parish Priest and leader to the Flemington and Kensington Catholic religion community, had all the ingredients to what my project would require. I just needed to ask him the right questions. I aimed this project at looking at ‘community’ from the top down, hence it was really great to have a leader of a community to be enthusiastic in being interviewed by me. Carol Harris, the parish worker also added much flavour to the broth as she sometimes gave different insights on what Father Max had said. It was a really ideal situation for a shoot to go, as far as weather and talents go.

After the interviews and digitizing of all the footage, I realized that I had accumulated over an HOUR of interview footage, approximately 35 minutes of Father Max and 25 minutes for Carol, I also had about 75 minutes of cutaways. The challenge I faced now was narrowing everything down to fit into something not too short hence not being true to the video and not too long hence not boring the audience with too much information. I had to split my documentary into two bite sized pieces, the first, 6 minutes and 30 seconds and the second, 5 minutes and 26 seconds. I needed to break them up as if it went past the 10 minute mark, I wouldn’t be able to upload it to Facebook. Breaking it down also helped in terms of keeping things fresh and giving the audience a little break in-between.

For the Social Media aspect of this project, I have uploaded both parts to a couple of different sites. Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo and BlipTV. I also have loaded up an approximate average of 25 tags per video on each site, Vimeo only allowed me to load up to 20 tags, otherwise I’d be able to give you an exact number of tags and not an average. All sites have a comment function hence viewers are able to give feedback on both videos, I’ve already obtained a number of likes and comments on Facebook!

The final portion of the Social Media aspect will not be able to be finished till Father Max and Carol reconstruct the church’s website. As mentioned in my previous posts, Father Max said that they are trying to combine the websites of the two parishes that he is in charge of, the one in Kensington and St. Brendan’s church. During my meeting with Father Max and Carol to show them the video, they said that they’d be more than happy to put up my video and also credit my name to the footage as it was great material in exploring the community of Flemington and Kensington. He has also said that he would look me up to do something similar with Kensington because he really liked my work! I will be burning a DVD for both of them! I will also provide the embed details to them once they have finished with their site.

This has been a great experience and I have definitely learned much from my experience of investigating the word ‘Community’.

Additional things to do! Updates on Loading up to church site

I also recall one of my classmates telling me to load up as many tags as possible onto the sites that I upload it on so that whenever someone search community or anything else, my video will pop up. So far, I’ve thought up of these tags, hopefully they are sufficient.

Community, Transient, Church, Religion, Brendan, Max, Vodola, Carol, Flemington, Interview, Documentary, RMIT, Spaces, Wellington, Language, Catholic, Christian, Team, Love, Priest, Melbourne, St. Brendan’s Day, 2011.

I am not sure if there are anymore… but I guess this will do for now.

I have seen Father Max and spoken to him about putting up the video onto the church site, I also showed Carol and Him the videos just to make sure they are alright with how they are portrayed before I submit it and post it up onto the net. I am just that ethical! Anyway, they were really pleased with the video and said that I really captured the essence of the church on one of their best days in the year, I also had shot the church in a really beautiful light when it was empty. What happened next was really amazing, he said that as he was in charge of the parish down in Kensington, he would speak to me again on coming down to Kensington and doing kind of the same theme of documentary there as I did in St. Brendan’s! But that will be confirmed at a later date.

What I needed to update here was my conversation on loading it up onto their website. Father Max told me that their website, at the moment was going under some reconstruction. And loading it up on their site now wouldn’t be ideal, however, he was in the process of combining the websites of St. Brendan’s and the Church in Kensington together! And would love to put up my video once the reconstruction is complete, along with any future projects that I will have with them (as mentioned above). I am really glad that they like my video and are willing to put them up on their website. I believe that once they do go up, the videos will be able to reach two parishes which my pump up the reach to about 300-400 parishioners. If my estimation is correct of course, it may be more! Who knows! it’s just really exciting. Along with me uploading it to YouTube and the other video sites, I am sure that I will be able to reach many many people and also, since the sites have a function for people to comment, there will be the participatory segment that I was lacking in my project!

Rough Cut Day!

Checking out everyone’s rough cut was pretty great and it really got me thinking of ways to improve my project as well.

Two projects kind of stood out for me, Jim’s doco, the one where he explores local restaurants. What was interesting was that he incorporated a few elements of social media into his project. He incorporated video, which is always a favourite and the internet, in the form of his ‘google map’ type visuals where he put up a couple of videos and you could navigate your way around town viewing these short snippets of footage with the chefs. I felt that it was really innovative and also technically difficult, it also brought the projects theme to a different level.

The other project was Kokoda, where the director brought us out of the country to follow the journey of a group of individuals which apparently he met in the gym, on a trail in Kokoda, facing rough terrain, rivers (which was kind of funny to see the woman cross), inclement weather and other things that I believe we are yet to see. I was only taken back by the footage that he got, which was kind of shaky and sparse of footage of the foliage surrounding them. I’d be worried about his project’s footage quality if he tries to go for a TV length feature. I’ve also seen trailers of another Kokoda trail doco on the TV, however, I did not catch the screening, I just hope that my classmate’s video is different and is able to get a slice of the cake on Kokoda!

Needless to say, there were many projects shown that week and during the two days, at least three quarters of the class had a chance to show their work. Some having many un-edited bits, some not really achieving the theme ‘community’ and some excelling incredibly and pushing the bar of quality up.

I got some feedback on my videos, which was really pleasant, the general consensus was that it’s an easy watch, it’s simple and concise, my talents (Father Max Vodola and Carol Harris) were really good and had a small play between them and also that the segues of questions to answers weren’t awkward, which is the case for many productions. I had to only improve some sound effects at the beginning of the trailer, which I have, by putting in some atmos of car sounds along the road accompanied by my soundtrack, and I had to think of the social element of the project which I have.

I will be putting my videos up on sites such as BlipTV, Vimeo, Youtube and Facebook, hoping to distribute the video as far and wide as possible to get as much exposure as possible. I will also be going to speak to Father Max about putting my videos up on the church website so that I can reach the church community in Flemington. Accompanying the videos on the sites, will be a short excerpt of the project description and also what was involved to come to that product. That short description will be seen in the final post for this course.

So far!

I think it would be safe to say that last weekend was a really eventful one.

I caught St. Brendan’s on a good day as they celebrated St. Brendan’s day and it was AWESOME!

But before that…

Wednesday 11th May

I headed down to the technical support guys at building 9 and asked them about the camera I was going to use. I made sure that the camera that I intended to use was available before I went and got Michael Webster to sign off on the equipment loan. I submitted the form and I was all set equipment-wise.

Equipment borrowed incuded;

• 01 x Sony Z7p
• 01 x Medium XLR cable
• 01 x Camera Tripod
• 01 x Shotgun Mic

I then arranged for Clare Peterson on what time to meet me on Friday for the interview as I am more of a technical person and needed her to help me ask the interview questions.

Friday 13th May

Holy… I didn’t realize it but the day I made the appoint with Father Max and Carol was Friday the 13th!! Anyway, in the morning, I headed down to school to collect the equipment and had to lug it all the way back to my apartment. I unpacked the equipment and packed the required equipment into a smaller bag. Not forgetting the location and personnel release forms and TAPES. I met Clare at a nearby cafe and we went over the questions and brainstormed a little on whether there was anything else that would be beneficial to ask.

We got there at Approximately 2p.m., rang the doorbell and Father Max came out to greet us and gave us access into the church. He was really happy and I am truly appreciative of the opportunity he gave me to interview him. We set up and did the necessary checks for the audio/visual aspects and began the interview.

What surprised me was that Father Max had so many things to say on the word community. He mentioned that the parish community was extremely diverse. Having Vietnamese and other cultures and ethnicities join the mass. He also said that as a leader of the community, it was his job to keep the peace and also maintain balance in the community. This led me to think that community can only thrive when there is proper balance, like nature when there is too much of one thing, it dominates the rest of the community. He also mentioned that language was important but does not limit the potential of the community coming together. All in all, it was a very fruitful interview which last 35minutes! Carol was also very insightful on the word community! In total, the days’ interview time took a total of 1 hour. which was incredible and in a way, there was too much information to squeeze into the short docos.

After the interview I was filming cutaways of the church and realized that within these walls and on these pews, many people from different backgrounds and cultures were here before and this church had been the house that brought all of them together as a community by worshipping the same God.

I confirmed with Father Max whether it would be alright if I came down and documented the mass proceedings on Sunday and that’s when he told me that I caught them on a good day as they were celebrating St. Brendan’s day! Anyway, on Sunday, I brought out the tripod and set up at the back of the church as I did not want to push the limits of his tolerance by walking to the front of the church and distracting the congregation from the sermon delivered. I could only capture visuals from the back which wasn’t ideal but I feel it was sufficient as they were meant to be cutaways anyway.

All in all, the shoot over the two days was really successful and at least in this subject I have a goal and am working towards it!

Documentary Style: Location and Questions

“Always try to interview your subjects in their natural environment. Do not shoot all of the interviews in the same location. Vary it. Let the audience see a little bit about the subject. If possible, take the subject to the site of the event you are covering. This will often evoke powerful feelings and memories of the actual event.” - Dr. Robert G. Nulph

I totally agree with Nulph. Shooting the subject in the site of the event you are covering really does evoke powerful emotions. I remember shooting Ruth Cullen for my Vali Myers production last year in the Nicholas Building and it really brought back memories for her. However, she moved so quickly around the room that it was very difficult to capture all the emotions that flowed out of her. Anyway, coming back to topic, for the church shoot, I am someone who likes control over my environment, handheld shots are nice but as the Z7 is kind of bulky, I feel that getting a steady shot will be difficult, I intend to set up a location and chuck the camera on a tripod so that stabilizing the camera will be the least of my concerns. I believe if I can get that off my back, I will be able to concentrate on getting different frames of the subject and give the audience something different to look at.

The church is infront of a school, so ambient noise will be a problem, wait, thats not all, the church is very echoey as well. That will be trouble. I will need to review the footage that I will get to see if the ambient noise is too distracting, then again, it may give a certain depth to the whole doco.

“Ask the most benign and simple questions first. Eventually, the subjects will forget that the camera is even there.” - Dr. Robert G. Nulph

Nulph says that asking benign and simple questions will create some kind of rapport with the subject and hence allowing them to speak freely and also critically, therefore getting the best results from the interview. I believe that he is right, however, I will need to review the time that I have with my interviewees before I can predict how many simple questions I can afford to ask them. Honestly, I believe that Father Max will be able to deliver as he gives sermons and everything regularly.

Documentary Style: Voiceovers

I saw this in one of the websites I was browsing when preparing for my interviews and I felt that it made sense to me and was kind of the way I wanted to edit my doco too.

“The one thing that you do not do in a Cinéma Vérité style production is use a “voice from above” off-camera narrator. Let your subjects tell their story in their own words. As a director, you have to hone your on-camera interviewing skills, so that the result sounds very natural and true to the life you are recording.” - Dr. Robert G. Nulph

I feel that if a voice-over is used, it distances the subject from the audience. When Nulph said ‘Let your subjects tell their story in the own words.’ I think that it means that I should cut down on any fancy editing of their voices to make them seem more quick witted and able to string their sentences together. I should allow them their pauses when they are thinking. Pauses give time for the interviewees to think, it also gives breathing room for the audience to reflect on what the interviewee has said. That’s very important. At least to me it is!

Learning Contract Edited

I will be making my documentary on the religious community of Flemington. More specifically, I will be going doing a documentary on St. Brendan’s Church which from my observations, comprises of a truly diverse set of cultures. I feel that there is no better way to investigate what community means than investigating a place of worship where parishioners come together to celebrate their common faith. I think that it is a community as the congregation share specifics beliefs and practices which affect their identity hence helping to shape who they are and what they do.

The structure of my documentary will be two four to six minute documentaries exploring the word community. I will be doing interviews with the staff and parish priest, exploring what they think the word community means. It will all be shot on camera and edited into the four minute videos. To me, access is all important in making this documentary as I would need to gain access into the church community and also gain the permission of the staff to allow me to interview them, I will need them to want to be interviewed otherwise this shoot will not be a success. This will enhance my relationship between the subjects and myself as I will be able to learn more about their culture and hopefully gain their trust if they see me as someone who is trying to give them a voice.

Community is a group of people who interact with each other while sharing a geographical location which extends out of the premises of their household, the group may also share similar religious beliefs. In the class discussion, it was mentioned that community was different when compared to society as someone chooses to be a part of that community whereas it is more difficult to choose to be a part or apart from a society. Which I agree with as community can easily be altered if you change your beliefs or geographical location or interests, however, to change your society, you will need a complete change of geographical location as you will need to be ruled over by a different political authority and also adopt different cultural practices.

According to Tonnies, Gemeinschaft or community by blood, denoting unity of being, is developed and differentiated into Gemeinschaft of locality, which is based on a common habitat. In my documentary, I will be applying that theory by investigating whether community is still existent with only a common area.

I may be able to use the above theories in my documentary by questioning the subjects of their thoughts of the different views of society versus community. Or I can just get them to clarify what community means to them, which will solidify the definition of community.

As mentioned above, my four minute documentaries will be caught on camera, and edited to fit into my time frame. If possible I will capture stills, obtain diegetic and non-diegetic sound effects and insert texts into the documentary to either enhance the experience or clarify subjects. Copyright will be given partly to myself and also to RMIT and as it will be going online, I will need to export my video for web so that it is fast to buffer and does not require high specifications for it to play on someone’s computer. Editing the video will most probably be just as difficult as filming it but I am sufficiently skilled enough to attempt both. The only extra thing I may need is an extra pair of hands to either hold the microphone so that good audio is captured in my interviews as ambient noise can be very distracting when listening to someone speak. The equipment needed are as follows;

• Sony Z7p camera kit
• Shotgun Mic
• Short XLR cable
• Tripod
• Mini DV tapes
• Editing suite (Post Production)
• Digital camera (My own, incase I have time to capture stills)

The equipment will be borrowed the day before the planned date of filming. With the equipment form, I will also need permission from the community center to shoot on location, parents of the children and also staff that I will interview.

In post production, I will be using Final Cut Pro (FCP) which is installed on the school editing suites. The only problem is that I do not know whether the suites are up and running yet as the technical services staff have just moved from building 6 to building 9 and may not have fully set up the computers yet. I am confident in my skills in using FCP as I had used it quite regularly during my undergraduate course.

The social environment which I will publish my documentary to is BlipTV, Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook and also St. Brendan’s Church website. The documentaries produced will be appropriate for those environments as it is a documentary exploring the word community. I am members of the first four websites and I have published on them before. There are some restrictions which limit the file size and also time limit of the video which is the reason why I have decided to break down the documentaries into smaller segments.

There are no legal issues yet as I have yet to receive confirmation of permission to film at the community center. However, looking forward, I believe there will be a number of things that can go wrong;

• Weather. If it rains or is overcast, it will not look very good on camera and I will also not be able to capture all their outdoor activities however, as it is a church, I will be able to conduct my interviews indoor.
• Gear. I have not booked down any dates for the interviews yet hence I cannot identify which days I should be booking the equipment. I may only be able to work with the single day loan of equipment which can be frustrating as I will need to sign multiple forms and also book it in and check it out on the same day. I will have to speak to the technical staff to iron this issue out.
• Permission. I will need to wait for their reply on the confirmation before proceeding with my project.
• Crew. I may need an extra pair of hands to move the gear around and also hold the mic or maybe even operate the camera as it will be hard to operate the camera while taking mental notes of what they said hence leading to me missing out on important points to follow up on. I have a friend that will be able to come down to help me with the filming. I have worked with her before and she will be great at asking the questions and thinking of follow up questions as I am more competent with handling the camera.

The submission of this learning contract is the 31st of March. This will be done with ample time. The rough cut of the documentary will be out by week 11, this may or may not be attainable as it all depends on whether the community center allows me to film. And the final submission is in week 12.

I intend to start production in the middle of April. Which gives me two weeks to finish filming and following which four weeks to edit my video. I have not booked the equipment yet as I am still waiting for the confirmation of the community center. These dates work as there is not much due in the second half of April, which allows me to go on location to film and it also works in post-production as I will be bogged down by other deadlines hence will keep the momentum going of producing the documentary.

THANK GOD!

Father Max of St. Brendan’s church has given me the green light! He has been so kind to lend me a helping hand in allowing me to interview him as well as Carol, the Parish worker. He even allowed me to film the Mass proceedings. Which I will need to ask about the ethics of filming that. Great news!!!!

This is everything I’ve gotten so far. It’ll be my guide for the day. I’ve also enlisted the help of my ex-partner in crime during my undergrad studies to help with the interviewing of questions as she is more adept with the english language and interacting with interviewees and i am more proficient with the camera.

Interview Questions for TRANSIENT SPACES

Interviewee 1 – Father Max (Parish Priest)

Some background on yourself, e.g. Priesthood, coming to this church? When did you arrive?

What are your duties other than conducting mass?

What does the word community mean to you? Does it only mean united in religion? Does geography make a difference? Can someone live an hour away but still be part of this community? What about Language, race, ethnicity?

How is this church a community? What elements form this community?

How far would you say the boundaries of St. Brendan’s church community stretch to?

What steps does the church take to encourage community?

How do your duties contribute to the cultivation of this community?

What part do you see yourself playing in helping to create and cultivate this community?

What challenges have you faced in building this community? How did you deal with them? What about other communities you’ve been a part of? Or are still a part of?

(Kensington Parish Community. How do you think Kensington and St. Brendans can be linked?)

What problems may rise that will destroy a community?

What does this community mean to you?

Has there been any particular/defining event in your life that has either aided or destroyed a community?

An italian mass is conducted here too. Can a community be separated into different segments? Does language play a huge factor?

Interviewee 2 – Carol (Parish Worker)

Some background on yourself, e.g. How long have you been working here?

What are some of the duties that you have around the parish?

What does the word community mean to you? Does it only mean united in religion? Does geography make a difference? Can someone live an hour away but still be part of this community? What about Language, race, ethnicity?

How is this church a community? What elements form this community?

What steps does the church take to encourage community?

How do your duties contribute to the cultivation of this community?

What part do you play in helping to create and cultivate this community?

Do you reach out to the community for help? Do they ask you for help?

What challenges have you faced in building this community? How did you deal with them? What about other communities you’ve been a part of? Or are still a part of?

What problems may rise that will destroy a community?

What does this community mean to you?

Has there been any particular/defining event in your life that has either aided or destroyed a community?

DOCO BRIEF

02 x 04 MINUTE VIDEO

Will consist of interviews with the priest, staff, principal and children (IF POSSIBLE) exploring what they think the word community means.

Community is a group of people who interact with each other while sharing a geographical location which extends out of the premises of their household, the group may also share similar religious beliefs.

Community is different when compared to society as someone chooses to be a part of that community whereas it is more difficult to choose to be a part or apart from a society.

Community can easily be altered if you change your beliefs or geographical location or interests, however, to change your society, you will need a complete change of geographical location as you will need to be ruled over by a different political authority and also adopt different cultural practices.

Get them to clarify what community means to them, which will solidify the definition of community.

EQUIPMENT LIST

• Sony Z7p camera kit
• Shotgun Mic
• Short XLR cable
• Tripod
• Mini DV tapes
• Editing suite (Post Production)
• Digital camera (My own, incase I have time to capture stills)

SHOTLIST

• CUs and MCUs of interviewee

• CUTAWAYS of church (ADD IN FOCUS PULLS)
• Pews
• Holy Water
• Tabernacle
• Ceiling
• Cross
• Tilt ups and tilt downs
• Panning shots of pews
• Church external
• XLS from balcony

• Shot of church proceedings on Sunday
• Main door, people heading in
• Father Max, giving homily.
• Communion
• Panning shot of people kneeling (FOCUS PULL)
• Father Max leaving church
• Main door, people heading out
• Father Max greeting people after church

The 5 Cs of Social Media and its effect on communication

These 5 Cs are obtained from an article written by Rich Maggiani

Conversation- No longer is the communication one-way, broadcast or somehow sent to a passive audience. Social media is at least a two-way conversation, and often a multidimensional conversation. Social media engages everyone involved.

I agree, broadcast is only one way. Journalists are now embracing the online society, keeping blogs alive to receive the comments of their readers. So even print is collapsing. Social media being a two way conversation, no one can be blindly told something anymore. It also opens the channel up to discussion. Which is what I will need for my doco. Two way communication hence getting others to participate in the study of community.

Contribution- Social media encourages contributions and reactions from anyone who is interested. ‘Encourage’ is the key here; social media solicits an interaction, positive and negative, by making it easy to contribute.

Yes, it is incredibly easy to contribute to Social Media, which is why in this day and age, we are accustomed to touch and go type actions. As participating in the Social Media is to swim in a huge sea where everyone else is also contributing. If everyone is contributing, who is consuming? Everything will just get washed away with the tide. It definitely is a great source of power in terms of getting a message out to the masses. But is it a great source of power that will really brand whatever information that is uploaded into the minds of the viewers? Must it be extremely compelling news? It’s hard to say.

Collaboration- Social media promotes an exchange of information between you and your audience, and among audience members, by inviting participation. Creating a quick and simple collaborative platform requires that information be organized and easily distributed.

Collaboration is definitely one of the many wonders of the Social Media. The ability to communicate far and wide while enjoying the comfort of your own home is truly appealing. I believe that in my doco, it will be important to get my message across to the viewers and get them to participate in it by going on their own way to explore the term community. They are of course more than welcome to create information of their own and participate in the circle of life that is Social Media. My doco being a video will not really encourage much collaboration, but in a way I suppose it invites others to participate in the search to what really is community and how it has changed over the years.

Connection- Accessing information on the Internet only takes a click. Social media thrives on connections, within its own Web vehicles and through links to other sites, resources, people, and automatic feeds. People can even create their own personalized site of connections.

Connection is, I suppose, one thing that the Social Media isn’t the best at. Yes, you might say that everyone is connected, but just because we are connected, does not mean we are tethered to one another. The connection is merely a digital line. There is nothing personal.

Community- The fundamental characteristic of social media is the creation of community: a fellowship and relationship with others who share common attitudes, interests, and goals (such as friendship, professionalism, politics, and photography). Communities form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities build goodwill from members to the hosting organization and among members. While these communities are only virtual, with members seldom meeting each other in person, they are no less robust than the physical communities in which we live, and in many ways more robust from the simple fact that barriers are removed.

Social Media is a community that gives birth to other communities everyday, for example, the ability on Facebook to create groups of people with similar interests and beliefs. It is definitely a creator of communities. Even those she says that the virtual communities are as robust as the physical communities which we live in and that it is more robust because barriers are removed, I feel that BECAUSE it is virtual and the people who are part of the community hardly even meet. The barrier is the Social Media site itself. It gives the group a form of communication, hence causing them to be unable (read unwilling) to have any physical contact time, therefore unable to produce and experience true human emotions.

Getting worried

The time has come for me to really start worrying.

I’ve tried contacting St. Brendan’s church in search for an interview about their religious community but have not heard a word from them. I will be heading down tomorrow to try and gain an audience and see if they will agree to me interviewing them about their community.

I’ve prepared my media releases both personal as well as location so I am all set on that. I have also prepared a number of questions, these are quite rough and I would like to get it more focused to gain more information. Anyway, here they are;

Some background on yourself, e.g. Priesthood, coming to this church?

What are your duties other than conducting mass?

What does the word community mean to you? Does it only mean united in religion? Does locality make a difference? Language, race, ethnicity?

How is this church a community? What elements form this community?

What steps does the church take to encourage community?

What part do you play in helping to create and cultivate this community?

What challenges have you faced in building this community? How did you deal with them? What about other communities you’ve been a part of? Or are still a part of?

What problems may rise that will destroy a community?

Have you ever faced anyone who has tried to affect the community negatively?

What does this community mean to you?

Since this church is so close to the newly opened church of scientology, what are your feelings towards this religion? Will this affect your community in any way? Why or why not?

I don’t think this is sufficient enough but I feel that once I start poking around, I will be able to get some good information and also a clearer direction as to where my documentary is heading.