Trigger Fight: Parkland, Florida

On Feburary 14, 2018, 17 people where killed in Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Florida, half an hour away from where I reside. This event lead me to create a documentary based on the debate of gun control that has surfaced.

On March 24, 2018 a national march took place, March for Our Lives. I got to attend the one in Parkland and conducted some interviews.

Let me just start off that in one of the previous post I said that I was going to challenge the handheld camera element, which I did in the interviews that I did at my school, but coming into Parkland, it was a hassle not just to carry, but we would of had to leave the line that we where in, in order to get into another line for people who had bags that were not clear. So my dad just took the bag back to the car (it was a long walk) and I just resulted in using my hands and record hand held like many documentarist do.

I got five interviews in from various individuals trying to get different perspectives. I was there for about two hours.

If you are wondering I got sunburned and I also was thrown out of a section that was meant for press. I didn't really see much press, but whatever. I got like 10-15 seconds of someone singing.

I met an individual while waiting in line to enter the park those kids live near Columbine a shool shooting that happened twenty years ago.

Out of the 5 interviews that I got one was really blurry and there were about two that were somewhat blurry. It wasn't as bad as that one in which my camera just decided to focus on the background and not the individual. So the only thing that I could focus on when watching the video is my mother in the background. So I will most likely not use that interview. We shall see.

I met another individual who claimed to have seen me before. I don't know from where and at that moment while interviewing him I was confused because I didn't know who he was until I rewatched the footage and made me realize that I have seen him before, I just don't know from where. He probably was at our high school because he said he was finishing school online. So that was every interesting.

All the interviews were very well spoken and they eleborated when they felt was necessary. When I was about the leave. I say Jackie who was seated on the grass, holding up a sign. She looked confident and powerful, so I went up to her to ask her some questions. She was nervous, I could tell, but I think she gave the best interviews of all. She would eleborate and create an atmosphere where she and I were just having a conversation and it felt nice and I got to understand her opinion on this issue. While interviewing Jackie, her mom in the back would agree with the things her daughter was saying and the questions that I had asked. They were wonderful and brilliant individuals and I was happy that I got to interview her.

In one of my previous post I had about 20 questions but before going to the march I added a couple.

1. How do you feel about teachers being armed?

2. In a recent article that I read, one of the individuals who spoke at Florida's State capitol said that "adults have failed " do you think this is true?

3. Some students in High School were given detention for walking out of school protesting against gun control. What do you think about this?

This is Jackie

This is Jackie and her mom

I do have to say that this march brought different people, from parents with very young chidlren, some in strollers and others running around to students my age, parents and grandparents. It was a time of coming together and fighting for what they believe. But I also got to encounter people who were against gun control, who I didn't have the chance the interview.

I realized that this issue is not just gun control in school but also gun control for minority communities who have suffered gun violence for many years.