Documentary Script

This is the documentary script I made for my group's documentary. It also has overall directions for on screen action, to clarify my view of how this documentary should be made.

Narration: Sudan is a country in Africa. Daily life in Sudan is hard. There is almost no water and people have to fight to survive. There are regular dust storms and the country is very poor. The poorest of all parts is Darfur. It is home to what is considered the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis. A militia called the Janjaweed are fighting local rebels. They are committing mass genocide against the black Christian Africans in Darfur.

Opening: Title: The Janjaweed (play music found by partner)

Narration on Janjaweed:

The name Janjaweed comes from Arabic. The most common translation in English is ‘Devils on Horseback’. The Janjaweed used to be nomadic tribes. In the past the Janjaweed used to be nomadic tribes. They weren’t aggressive, and were only involved in skirmishes with the non-nomadic population of Darfur. These skirmishes grew in number as the amount of water and rainfall dwindled and as there no longer was enough space to provide for both natural grazing grounds for the nomads and for farmland for the villagers. But even though these skirmishes grew a bit in number, they were nothing compared to what the Janjaweed are doing now.

Nowadays the Janjaweed are armed militiamen in Darfur. They consist primarily out of Arab tribes. They have become more and more aggressive and their small skirmishes have turned into mass killing. They started attacking after the 2003 revolution.

This revolution, started by the Sudan Liberation Movement (original name: Darfur Liberation Front) and the Justice and Equality Movement, has as goal to improve the living conditions for the non-Arabic and poor people of Sudan and primarily Darfur.

During the war against the rebels the Janjaweed have made a reputation of being brutal, cruel, and fearsome. During the war they have committed dozens of crimes and violations to the Human Rights. These include burning villages, raping woman and committing mass genocide against the non-Arabic people of Darfur, killing entire villages at a time.

Because of these atrocities, since the war started 2 million people have been forced to relocate inside Sudan  and thousands of villages have been destroyed or severely damaged. Burned and sometimes still smoking villages are a common sight in Darfur.  (Google Earth and video clip footage)

The war has even gone over the border into Chad. Currently there are over 250,000 Darfur refugees in UN refugee camps in Chad. The Janjaweed don’t stop at the border either. They regularly cross the border to attack to destroy refugee camps and villages in Chad, displacing over 170,000 Chadians.  The UN has stationed a small protection force on the border between Chad and Sudan, but this force is way too small to protect all camps.

The Janjaweed also recruit child soldiers. These kids usually come from Sudanese refugee camps. They are not the only ones. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the other rebel groups have also recruited child soldiers, however, the SPLA has acknowledged the fact and has made efforts to stop the recruitment/deployment of child soldiers.

That the Janjaweed commit mass genocide is one thing. The fact that they are ordered to do all this by the Sudanese government. The government provides the weapons, gives the orders and acts innocent. They support the Janjaweed, using them against the rebellion. They support the militia by providing weapons, safe training camps and other utilities. Their support sometimes goes as far as delivering direct air support for the militia. (show BBC interviews with the Janjaweed defector). After this fact came to light, the UN has put a trade embargo on Sudan. However, China is known to have broken this embargo, shipping weapons, ammunition and even jet fighters to Sudan. The UN and the Human Rights Watch have confirmed both of these facts.

(APC footage) The UN and the UN Security Council have made several attempts at getting the Sudanese government to stop supporting and start disarming the militia. These attempts have been to no avail. The Sudanese government is effectively frustrating the UN by not cooperating and counteracting the measurements taken. The government still denies any link to the militia, but continues to provide the UN forces with difficulties and excuses. The conflict has reached a stalemate, as in that the UN can't do anything and Sudan doesn't want to do anything. The UN has stationed a small peacekeeping force on the border with Chad, but the force is way too small to protect all camps. The fighting will continue with no end in sight. The Red Cross (flash to compound footage) and other humanitarian aid organizations try to help the victims of the violence, but this is made difficult, as danger risk is just too high.

Conclusion:

Sudan is a very troubled country, and one in need of a great deal of help as well. Humanitarian aid is being refused and millions are dying. The UN has tried a lot to help. Sadly, most of their attempts have failed and the Janjaweed will continue to kill people for as long as the government orders them to. 

Janjaweed

The documentary me and my partner will be making is about the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed, also known as the 'Devils on Horseback', are the cause for a very major part in the suffering of the people in Sudan. In this post I will write facts about the Janjaweed and will try to consider of how much value they are for the documentary. The latter decision might be ethical, so feel free to have your own opinion.

The Janjaweed

• The Janjaweed are militiamen. The name is originally Arabic and has various English translations. The most common is Devils on Horseback. 

This is basic knowledge and is 100% sure to be put in the documentary. It is likely to be at the beginning. It will either be communicated to the audience by narration or words onscreen.

• It is known the Janjaweed have committed dozens of war crimes, from burning villages to mass genocide. 

This fact is very important and will be introduced early in the documentary. The next few facts will be an elaboration on this fact. 

•  In 2003 the people in Darfur started a revolution to make their living conditions better. The Sudanese government responded by using the Janjaweed. They armed the militia and sent them to kill, burn and rape. 

This revolution is important for the documentary as it provides key information on how this all started. 

• All Janjaweed are being supported by the government.

The government arms and supports the militia. Of course not openly, but it is quite obvious that they are. The UN and the Human Rights Watch have confirmed this. This fact should probably be told near the end of the documentary. This for extra effect and emotion. If done in the right way, the audience should be shocked by this fact after all other things they have heard earlier on in the documentary.

• The Janjaweed have killed thousands of farmers and refugees. They don't only strike in Sudan, they also reach just over the border with Chad to destroy the refugee camps of the people whoms village they have destroyed earlier. By 2007, estimates were that the Janjaweed have killed 200,000-400,000 civilians. Rape and spreading fear are also among the weapons of the Janjaweed and are practised often. Seeing burned down villages, some with the ashes still smoking, is a common sight in Darfur. 

This fact should be presented after there is announced that the Janjaweed have commited many crimes, as a quick follow up. 

• The UN and the UN Security Council have made several attempts at getting the Sudanese government to stop supporting and start disarming the militia. These attempts have been to no avail. The Sudanese government is effectively frustrating the UN by not cooperating and counteracting the measurements taken. The government still denies any link to the militia, but continues to provide the UN forces with difficulties and excuses. The conflict has reached a stalemate, as in that the UN can't do anything and Sudan doesn't want to do anything. The UN has stationed a small peacekeeping force on the border with Chad, but the force is way too small to protect all camps. The fighting will continue with no end in sight.

This fact should also be at the end, maybe after the 'Militia supported by government' fact. These two facts are not put at the end because they are not important, but rather so they would create a bigger effect on the audience.

Documentary notes

As this is the second week in my documentary project, I had to find out what the main features of a documentary are. Using examples like the Inside Job trailer (Academy Award for Best Documentary 2011)  and a small group discussion, me and the three others that are making a documentary came up with these features for each example

1.Sudan short documentary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWY_HCysGNA)

·      Narration

·      Factual

·      Short clips relevant to narration

·      Slow narration, not much emotion

·      Background music fits with narration and seems to be traditional.

·      Sometimes atmospheric noise

·      Heartbeat, blackout

·      Who made it in the beginning

·      Start with basic knowledge, including geographical knowledge.

·      A lot of images of eyes and faces of people to add emotion and to make relating easier.

·      Cites sources and quotes sources (United Nations etc)

Sudan – The lost boys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e2JfHdOhLk&feature=related)

·      Narration by a native for extra effect

·      Multiple clips at a time, relevant to the narration

·      Start with background info

·      Start with questions

Best documentary 2011 – inside Job trailer ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOptNrmOaJg)

·      Multiple voices talking and multiple languages, then switch to a single person, sets mood by this and shows relevant footage

·      Multiple interviews

·      Quotes

·      Shows two worlds, the rich and huge houses and stuff of the banks, then the new narrator ‘Lehman brothers forced to declare bankrupt’

·      Debates and other official things

·      Music

·      Fast paced, but not too fast.

As you can see, all these documentaries have differences, but also have a lot in common. To make things easier, I will list the similarities of all three.

Narration. All documentaries are narrated by an unseen narrator.

Factual. Of course a documentary does not express your opinion (at least it shouldn't). The documentary also cites the sources of their facts.

Short clips. The documentaries exist out of short clips, relevant to the subject.

Start at the beginning. The documentaries always give brief, basic knowledge and facts at the beginning to get the viewer interested and introduced to the topic.

Message. The documentary ALWAYS tries to convey some kind of message. Different ways are used to convey this message, like facts and symbolism

Emotion. The documentary makers always want the viewer to have a special emotion relevant to the message they are trying to bring across. For example, when your documentary is about the earthquake in Japan you want your viewers to feel sad and maybe guilty so they want to help. But if you are trying to convey a whole different message, like 'banks saw the economical crisis of 2008 coming, you might want your viewer to be angry.

Music. All documentaries have fitting background music. The music fills in nicely the gaps where there isn't any spoken language or just plays in the background to add emotion and depth into the documentary.

All these features that characterise a certain genre are called genre conventions. As these are the conventions of a good documentary I will try and use many, if not all, of these features.

As me and my yeargroup have moved on from ICT to Media, we changed topics as well. The new topic is Sudan (Darfur in particular), and for homework I had to watch a few videos that gave information about Sudan and explain why I watched them.


 I watched this video because it gives a lot of information about the behind the scenes child recruition in Sudan and in Darfur in particular. It is quite shocking to hear what happened from the mouths of the victims, 5+ boys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeOT7wKZRTQ&feature=fvst

I watched this video because it gave a clear explanation about the possible causes of the horror in Darfur, while providing multiple facts. The talking is done by someone who has been working in Africa and Sudan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USLDoIiFzzg

I watched this video because it provides good information about the situation in the border areas between Sudan and Chad. As you would expect from BBC, it gives a clear narration and explanation of the tensions between Chad, Sudan and the UN.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcpwzCaoZCM

I watched this video because it gives a professional report by BBC on daily life in Sudan. Unlike the other videos, this one doesn't talk that much about the Janjaweed, but more about malutrition, another very common problem in Sudan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROQfwyW9u18

William's dialogue

As William is relatively new to this school so I will be posting his dialogue on my blog as he doesn't have a blog of his own.

William

Draft 1

Cliente: Hola.  asistente de compras: Hola. Buenos días. Como estas - Bien gracias. Me gustaría uno pantalones cortos, dos camisetas mangas cortas y uno vestidos y botas marrones de cuero por favor. - Un momento....... Uno pantalones cortos, dos camisetas de manga corta, dos vestido y botas de marrones de cuero. - No no no dos chaqueta azules por favor. - Un momento..... dos chaqueta azules. - No no no dos marrones de cuero. - Un momento...... DOS MARRONES DE CUERO. - No no no uno camiseta negra de manga corta. - UN MOMENTO….UNA CAMISETA NEGRA DE MANGA CORTA. -          Este pantalones es el más cómodo pero demasiado grande. -          Ok  -         ¿Cuánto cuesta ? -         Pantalones €200, dos camisetas mangas cortas €250, uno vestido €200 y uno botas marrones de cuero €150 - Demasiado caro. Adiós.

Spanish shopping dialogue

In Spanish class we had to make a dialogue that in one way or another involved shopping. There have been three drafts before this final version.

C: Hola

O: Buenos dias. ¿Como estas?

C: Bien, bien ¿y tu?

O: … bien...

C: ¿Adonde vamos a ir primero?

O: A ver…

C: ¿Vamos a España records?

O: Si, si. Quiero comprar un disco.

C: Tambien, de acuerdo.

O: ¿Cuál prefieres? ¿Enrique Iglesias o Alejandro Sanz ?

C: Me gustan los dos. ¿Por que no comprar Shakira?

O: ¡Ni en sueños! Odio Shakira.

C (canta suavemente): Waka waka eh eh....

O: ¡SILENCIO! Voy a comprar un disco de Enrique Iglesias. Pero... ellos no tienen un disco de Enrique Iglesias. ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Que debo comprar??????????’

C: Puedes pensar un poco. Mientras tanto, ¿vamos ir a Toys ‘r’ us? 

Dos minutos más tarde
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C: ¡Oscar! ¿Por qué dejar caer el dinero? 

O: Es paras los pobres. 

C: ¡Oscar! No eres inteligente. 

O: Es inteligente. 

C: No es. ¡Porqué estamos en un centró commercial muy caro!

O: No importa.

C (coge el dinero sin ver de Oscar): Es su dinero. Su su opción.

O: De acuerdo.

C (coge todo el dinero): Gracias por invitarme.

O: ¿Dondé hizo todo el dinero?

C: No sé. Los pobres son rapidos.

O: hmm, de acuerdo.

En Toys 'r' us

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O:Quiero comprar un videojuego. ¿Cuál prefieres: Halo:Reach o Assassins Creed?



C: Solo me gusta videojuegos de Mario y Link. No me gusta Assassins Creed nada.



O: ¡Qué herejia! ¡Herejia!



C: Puedes decidir lo.  Voy a comprar un batido, estare de vuelta en cinco minutos.



Cinco minutos más tarde
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C: Hola, ¿ya elegiste?



O: No puedo elegir.

C: Vale, esperaré

Dos horas más tarde

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C: O dios mio Oscar. ¡Decida!

O: …..No sé qué elegir.

C: ¿Por qué?

O: Estoy usando mis zapatos desafortunados. Traen mala suerte.

C: ¡Tengo una solución! ¡Vamos a ir a comprar zapatos nuevos!

O: De acuerdo. ¿Cuáles prefieres? ¿Las zapatillas de deporte ó los zapatos negros?

C: Prefieras las zapatillas de deporte. Son más prácticas, baratas, bonitas y cómodas.

O: No sé qué elegir.

C: Puedes saqar sus zapatos, y luego decida.

O: Elijo las zapatillas de deporte. ¿Cuántos cuestas?

C: Son 350 euros.

O: ¡Tan caras!

C: Pero los zapatos negros son 500 euros.

O: Puedo comprar las zapatillas de deporte.

C: ¡Tengo que ir me! ¡Tengo que ir a casa ahora! ¡Es más tarde! ¡Gracias por el dinero!

O: Adios

C: Hasta pronto.

O: ...Espera un segundo. ¡CASPEEERRRR!

How computers work

Computers have helped humanity since they were invented. From huge installations from the mid-20th century  they were gradually improved and developed into smaller and faster versions. When you think of a computer you may think of the laptop you are be carrying. You will also automatically think of technology. The truth is that everything around you, and not just your laptop, is technology.

This essay aims to give you more knowledge about your computer. To do so, a four layer model will be used. It divides the computer and its environment into four layers. These are: the hardware, software, network and people. The higher layers have a broader function, but each layer can't function without all the layers below it.

The Hardware

Computers consists of several components. These are the motherboard, central processing unit (CPU), hard disk drive (HDD), optical disc drive (ODD), the power supply, lots of wires and cables, memory (RAM) and the case.

The motherboard could be seen as, like the name suggests, the 'mother' of the whole computer. This is because every single thing in the case is in some way or another connected to the motherboard, directly by cables. 

Another very important part of the computer is the power supply.  It supplies the electrical power the computer needs to run. The voltage delivered by the power supply depends on the kind of computer you are using. The power supply in a desktop computer usually gets its power from wall sockets and converts the 230V from the socket into 5V and 12V, the voltages that the components in a PC use to run. The power supply in a laptop is a battery, mostly on 19V.

All other components have a very specific function and aren't as broad as the motherboard.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of the computer. It performs the instructions it gets from the software. 

The RAM (Random Access Memory) is one of the determinants of your computer's speed. The more RAM you have, the faster your computer will be able to process information, thus shortening waiting time. RAM is fast but volatile. During the shutdown process your computer sends all information that need to be stored from RAM back to the hard drive, where it will be saved for future use. The harddrive (HDD) has opposite properties to the RAM. It is relatively slow but is like the storage room of the computer as it stores all your software and information permanently. For everything it does, the CPU accesses the HDD and takes the information it needs, lets say Word. It then puts this information to the RAM, and then starts processing it, like editing your Word document. You can then do whatever the installed software allows you to do.

RAM  is organised in 'pages': certain blocks of memory. If all this memory is full and you open a new Word document, the computer will write the information of one of the pages back into the HDD. This takes some time, causing the slight delay that many, if not all, computer users are familiar with. When you then want to use that information it will again take some time before everything is back in RAM. The more information has to be send back or restored, the longer the delay will be. The process of throwing out information and restoring it is called swapping.

If you have more RAM, you will have more pages, enabling you to run more programs at a time and spreading the amount of information more, thus making your computer faster. The process of spreading the information out over several pages is called pagination.The less RAM you have, the more frequent information has to be swapped to the HDD, making your computer slower. Unfortunately, RAM is relatively expensive memory, so you can't have as much as you like. The motherboard and operating systems also pose limits to how much RAM they can handle.


The Software

The software is what enables you to actually do something on your computer. To download software on a newly made computer you have to insert a CD in the ODD containing the software. Usually, all software is stored in the HDD. There are different kinds of software. The main groups can be divided into the Operating System (OS) and the applications. There is also a third group called the drivers (which make the hardware work correctly), but some argue that these are part of the OS. The OS is what controls the operation of all the components and make sure your application will work regardless the hardware setup of your computer. The applications are the programs like Word, iTunes and Pages. You will spend most of your computer time looking at one application or the other. The applications are more visual and on-screen programs whereas the OS does all the backstage work.

Examples of different kinds of OS are Snow Leopard, Windows and Ubuntu. Unlike the other two named, Ubuntu is a completely free and Open Source operating system. Open Source software gives you access to all source codes (program lines).

The network


A network is a set of computers linked together so they can communicate with each other. The internet is a network of networks, as it consists out of a huge amount of networks to make one big worldwide network. A kind of ubernetwork. The internet was originally designed to be a nuclear attack proof way of communication for the American army. The army wanted to work around the fact that telephones needed a direct connection to a central exchange. They wanted a communication system that would not be destroyed by the first bomb on the central hub, but would stay intact. If you send something over the internet, it breaks up into packets. Each packet has a number and each has to find its own way to the receiver, hopping across networks. They would always try to find the fastest way to the receiving server. As the packets had thousands of alternative routes they could follow to the destination, it was (and still is) practically impossible to keep it from reaching its destination. The receiving computer would just put the packets back into order. The system that tries to ensure that data makes it from the source to the destination is called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The TCP brings the packets to the right Internet Protocol (IP). The IP is the system of addressing computers on the internet. Domains (parts of a network) resolve into IP addresses.


People


These are the people like you and me that use computers. We communicate by chatting, using applications like Skype, or by using social network applications like Facebook, work and entertain ourselves with computer games both off- and online.
But all these good things have a downside. Computers are great tools, but they also pollute the environment. And that doesn't stop when you stop using it and throw it away. When computers or other electronical devices like smartphones and iPods reach the landfill they slowly start polluting the groundwater of the area. Devices with big batteries like laptops are the main polluters. Their battery slowly starts dissolving and leaks acid in the ground. The wealthier parts of the world, like the USA and Europe dump their e-waste in the less wealthy parts of the world, like India, China and Africa. The situation in Gulyu in China is so bad that the groundwater has become undrinkable.
Luckily more and more countries have started to run waste separation and recycling programs, to which many companies are contributing including Apple, Philips Electronics and Dell.