JRN521 Final Project Proposal

Working Hypothesis and Interpretation
Through my final project I want my audience to see what it’s like to go through the process of having a child. Last year at this time, I produced a four chaptered multimedia piece on an alternative birthing process called an at home lotus birth. However, with this project I want to focus on the hospital setting, I want this project to look at birth from a more common way of birth. I want this to be the opposite of my previous piece on birth. In general, I want to photograph a family who is about to have a baby, take a look at birth from the perspective of a newborn, get a sense of the emotions siblings and extended family have from the new baby, and look at birth from the perspective of a doctor.

Topic
I will be photographing birth from several perspectives with the intention of combining all these perspectives by a common thread of birth. I want to explore the emotions and contributions the baby, parents, sibling, extended family, and doctors all have during the birth process. My inspiration for this project is The Leaning Channel’s (TLC) birth documentation shows, “Birth Day” and “A Baby Story.” These two shows are basically the format I want to accomplish, following a family and doctor through the birth process.

Action
There are five groups of people I would like to address with this project; the newborn baby, the parents, the siblings, the extended family, and the doctor.

A. The Newborn Baby
1. Look at life from the perspective of a newborn.
a. What are the first moments of life like?
b. What type of challenges, if any are there for this child?
c. Look for specific first- introduction to mother and father,
Footprints, etc.
2. With this section I want to pay special attention to sensory responses.
a. I want to capture the sounds of the delivery room, pay
close attention to light (is it bright or low light),
b. I really want portray the initial environment the baby is
brought into.
c. I want to explore touch and smell though, expressions and sounds the baby makes- examples like the touch of the
mother, or the softness of the newborn skin.
d. If possible incorporate ultrasound images and the sound of the sound of the ultrasound
e. If the newborn has medical issues that require time in the
NICU, explore what the baby goes through there.
f. Another possible avenue would be to follow the baby through
life for the next three months (approximately).
3. I feel as if this is going to be very subjective and stylistic.

B. The Parents
1. Look at birth from the perspective of the mother
a. Life before the birth
-expectation for the birth
-how she is preparing for the birth, getting the home
ready, prenatal care, birthing classes
b. During the birth
-state of emotions
-state of physical body
-relationship with father and delivery staff
c. After the birth
-Interview on how the birth went
-How her and the baby are dealing with the transition
to home life
-What their daily schedule and life are like.
-their bond together
-how her life has changed
2. Look at birth from the perspective of the father.
a. Life before the birth
-same as the mother
b. During the birth-
-same as the mother
-how he supports his wife
-what his role is.
c. After the birth
-same as the mother
-his relationship with his wife
-how his life has changed

C. The Siblings (if any)
a. Life before the birth
-expectations for what is to come
-feelings about the arrival
-how they are preparing for the arrival
b. During the birth (if possible)
-same as parents
c. After the birth
-introduction to the new baby
-how they feel about the arrival now
-how their relationship is with the baby
-how they help
-how their relationship is with their parents
-concerns/ happy points

D. The Extended Family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) (if present)
This will be the same structure as the other family memebers

E. The Doctor
1.Relationship with the mother and father.
2. Relationship with the baby
3. Time Management
-what 24 hours is like at a hospital
-how flexible they must be to meet the needs of their patients

Main Subjects (have leads, but still to be determined)
Baby
Parents
Siblings
Extended Family
Doctors/ Staff

Types of media
Still Photography (want to be the bulk of the project)
Video (face to face interviews, possibly the birth)
Audio

Logistics (Time Management)
This really depends on the time frame and schedule we come up with as a team.
It also depends on how quickly I can find a family and a doctor.

Resolution
I want this to be a documentary much like the above mentioned TLC shows, want to dig deep into the emotional aspects of birth, the entire process from all angles and points of views.