Artist Statement
Final Project Film 150
I must say, going in to this class I had no idea what to expect. However, now that it is has come to an end I can definitely say that I have learned a lot. The combination of service learning and the construction of our group media project allowed me to open up and meet people I may have otherwise never had the chance to. Though it has been difficult, I feel as though I have achieved something: a broader perspective of the city and its inhabitants, the neighborhoods and the people who work to preserve them.
I have come to realize that a community can only be as strong as it decides to be. The Johnsons Park Neighborhood has seen its share of hardships and misfortune, crime and neglect. But, the fact that residents have come together to improve their environment shows how determined and strong this community really is. For my final project I had decided to interview long term residents of the community in an attempt to make a document of the neighborhood’s past, present, and future. I found this to be much more difficult than I had expected.
The easiest and best part of this project, for me, was the interviewing. The women that I interviewed were both very thoughtful and accommodating to my partners and myself and made for very enjoyable experiences. I was nervous to enter the home of a stranger to ask them about their neighborhood, but was pleasantly surprised to be welcomed so warmly and treated to some great stories.
The interviewees were both very talkative and informational. Mrs. Otis shared with us her pride in the progress of the neighborhood and reflected on the changes she has seen during her life there. She seemed positive and hopeful, reminding us that you have to work to make a neighborhood your home, and to do what you can to protect and preserve it.
Mrs. Evans, while upbeat and friendly, seemed less conscious of the changes going on around the neighborhood. Her granddaughter, a UWM student, told us that the first she had heard of the Johnsons Park Neighborhood Association was through UWM’s Institute for Service Learning, and had not been aware of it before her involvement with ISL. They were both hopeful and happy about changes being made; yet they feel that the neighborhood still needs much work. It was nice to hear honest opinions from residents who have genuine concerns for their community.
The most difficult part of this project has been the group aspect. Even as I am writing this I am worried about the final cut of our group video. For the four of us it was extremely difficult to find times when we could all meet. Between our jobs, school, and the fact that we all live very far away from each other, we were allowed very little time together to work. I feel that this greatly affected the overall quality of the video. However, the absolute hardest part of making this video was the editing process. Each member of the group edited a different interview to try and capture the best footage for the final project. That meant each of us trying to find the best two minutes of footage from forty-five minutes of footage per interview. Not to mention the countless problems we encountered trying to upload our footage to various computers and programs, then trying to send it back and forth to each other. The biggest hang-up being that some people were using different types of editing software at home that kept us from sharing with each other the work we had done on our own.
My original intent was to create a document that captured the past, present, and future of the neighborhood, and I think I stayed pretty true to that. Though the video may not have turned out as well as I had hoped, I feel that it conveys what we set out to accomplish. We wanted to offer the viewer an insider’s perspective of the neighborhood. We wanted to show that inner city neighborhoods are rich with culture and community, and that a strong committed group of residents can change their neighborhood for the better.
I found the Johnsons Park Neighborhood to be friendly and inviting on my visits there. While most people may be intimidated by the locale, I enjoyed seeing beautiful homes and meeting some wonderful people. Though I would say that my personal experience has been largely positive, I will share one last item that has bothered me. On my last trip to film in the neighborhood I was driving with a friend to Johnsons Park. We were excited to be spending a beautiful spring afternoon filming in the park. However, as we turned down a one-way street we encountered a police barricade and we were forced to reroute. It appeared as if there had been a crime in the neighborhood. Yellow caution tape and armed officers lined the sidewalks as neighbors looked on, we turned and kept driving not getting a clear view of what happened. It is sad to see such a positive experience punctuated by crime. Though it does not change how I view the neighborhood, I can see that they still have a lot of work ahead of them. I am excited to see what new things are in store for Johnsons Park and its residents, and I know that they will continue to grow and achieve as they work toward building a better, stronger community.
