I began creating my capstone documentary by reading. I was already familiar with many concepts regarding Deaf culture, but I was not prepared to speak extensively on the subject. I began my research at the end of 2019 and read many scholarly articles and several books detailing the history of Deaf America (these sources are cited in the credits of the documentary). I also worked closely with my American Sign Language tutor, Rebecca Rainone, to ensure that everything I put in my script about Deaf people came off in the right way and was factually correct to the Deaf experience. Once the script was created, I filmed! And then I edited... a lot. Next, I conducted my interviews over the course of a month.

Editing those interviews was definitely the task I was least comfortable with in creating my capstone, since I was piecing together clips from a language that I am still a student of. It took a lot of slowing down the video and re-watching certain portions over and over in order to understand exactly what each person was signing so that I could put it together in the film. Following the intense editing process, I had to add subtitles to the entire project. It wasn't terribly difficult, but it was time-consuming.

Overall, I hope that the energy I put into this documentary will be something many can enjoy and learn from!

Looking back, my initial idea for this project is a distant remnant of what it became. I had aimed to make a quick ten-minute long feature that was more based on questions that hearing people had for those in the Deaf population. I quickly found, however, that asking these questions with no context of the culture and history of Deaf Americans wouldn't end up holding any educational value, and so I wrote and re-wrote my script until it felt like a proper and very BRIEF introduction into the incredibly rich and vast world that is Deaf culture. It was heartbreaking to not be able to stage the film and make it more cinematic due to the restraints COVID-19 posed in terms of interviewing, but I wouldn't change the final product for the world.

To any juniors who are just setting out on their endeavors to produce their own capstones, first of all, good luck! But to offer more concrete advice, find an expert in whatever your topic is. My sign language tutor was an invaluable asset to me and helped me immensely to shape my documentary. No matter the subject matter- history, art, dance, writing, science, math- finding someone to give you a helping hand along the way will be life-changing! On a similar note, ask your advisor for opinions on everything! Critique can be tough, but it makes for a better final product!