Milestone Deliverables

For my pitch, our class made videos to present the initial idea for our capstone projects. The video can be found attached to the side. To view the video in high quality, please press the settings tab within the box, and change it from automatic to the 1080p version. Please note, there is no separate video for my classroom proposal, for it simply was a presentation of this video.

For my prototype, I unfortunately was unable to hear back from any filmmakers for an interview. However, I was able to reach out to Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy's ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi teacher, Kumu Roy. With him, I created a demo vignette as a practice with the intent to receive feedback in order to ensure future videos are as polished as possible. Please note that the questions and footage used are NOT what will be used for the real interviews, but was rather utilized to have practice and have questions related to Kumu Roy's subject area. 

For my semester one presentation, I gave an oral presentation along with a slideshow, as well as a video presentation. While there will be no recording of the oral presentation, a text copy of the planned introduction is provided. These were both presented during Finals week, in the morning of December 12th, 2022. 

"(Slide 1) Hello everyone, my name is Alek Kaune, and today I will be sharing with you my capstone project so far, titled “Hollywood’s Hallucinated Hawaiʻi”. Hollywood's Hallucinated Hawaiʻi is a project that focuses on the island nation's depiction and representation within the film industry. (Slide 2) This will be accomplished by producing a series of vignettes, short videos, interviewing filmmakers who have projects that focus on Hawaiʻi. I will be interviewing them about how they have helped better the island nation's representation, and what others can do to continue to improve. (Slide 3) Hollywood has always struggled with representation, whether it be through portraying indigenous Americans as savages of the Wild West, Italian Americans as ruthless mobsters running the streets of New York City, or treating African Americans as second class citizens. Even though I have only lived on the Big Island for four years, it has been incredibly clear and hurtful to see how Hawaiʻi is portrayed through film, a medium through which many globally stem their beliefs and perspectives of the islands. (Slide 4) My goal with this project is to highlight the films that I believe help better represent the island nation as a whole, and do not continue harmful stereotypes that are continuously portrayed on the silver screen. I hope to bring awareness of these films to the community, and have local filmmakers guidance on how we can support and better our own representation in modern media. (Slide 5) In addition, I hope to bring some of this knowledge with me as I plan to enter the film industry myself within the next few years. With that in mind, I have created a video to further explain my capstone, what I have completed so far, and my plans for the future. Thank you!"