Week 4 Progress Report

I spent this week continuing my research and getting b-roll footage at and around the Dam. I'm still awaiting interviews from the A-LP Project Manager, Brad Clark, and spent time revising my proposal, in order to make it presentable to different sources.I also spent time watching a documentaries and taking notes.

I spent three hours filming and taking stills at the site of Ridges Basin Dam. I was able to get up close to the dam and i think i got some good shots. While there, I discovered several signs indicating that the site is used as a Uranium tailings repository. Two of these signs stated that the amount of radioactivity is 1,400 curies. I thought this was very interesting, and somewhat worrisome, so upon returning home I spent two hours researching The sites use as a Uranium repository. I found that the site had been used for this purpose before the construction of the dam and the dam was placed over this site for the purpose of further containing the hazardous materials beneath.

I took an hour to revise and shorten my proposal and make it more presentable to a variety of sources. Once finished I sent it to the Project Manager at the A-LP and am awaiting a response. I also spent about an hour and a half researching the Animas. I was particullarly interested in its origin and end.

I spent about two and a half hours watching two documentaries. The first was Dark days, directed by Marc Singer. I really liked how the filmmaker got close to his subjects and was able to get some extremely personal moments caught on tape while maintaining a level of objectivity which i think was necessary to effectivley tell the story. the second doc i watched was Out of Balance, directed by Tom Jackson. This is a doc about Exxon Mobil and the effects of fossil fuels on climate change. This was a pretty basic documentary in terms of style and subject but it was helpful to see how another filmmaker presented an issue somewhat similar to mine.