Lesson plan- Week 11- First task- Black Gold & Core Concepts in Multimedia
COMMUNICATION CORE CONCEPT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
1. Who do you think are the documentarians' audience? Who do you think they wanted to hear the message from the film? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: The documentarians' main audience were the consumers buying coffee and who consume coffee on a daily basis and they wanted to hear the message from the person who knew the living conditions of the coffee farmers in Ethiopia.
In a scene, where TADESSE MESKELA, manager of Oromia Coffee farmers co-operative union visits a supermarket in London and asks one of the staff members there to show him Ethiopian coffee to which the staff member acts surprised as he did not where exactly the Ethiopian coffee was kept in the coffee aisle there. So TADESSE tries to search for that coffee himself and after a lot of searching he finally finds a Ethiopian coffee- Mocha Sidamo which was hidden in one of the shelf and had no exposure to the customers. So TADESSE makes an honest appeal in this scene to the coffee consumers to participate in fare trade policy and demand for coffee which is fairly priced both for the consumers and the coffee farmers. So this scene tells us that the documentarians' audience was indeed the coffee consumers.
2. Review the storytelling techniques and identify which one most likely represents the one used in the documentary. Why do you think they used this method to tell their story? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: The storytelling technique used in this documentary was that of Host and the host being TADESSE MESKELA, manager of Oromia Coffee farmers co-operative. The film maker used this type of storytelling to create an impact on the people watching the documentary and make people aware of the living conditions of the coffee farmers in Ethiopia.
This type of storytelling technique was effective because TADESSE was working with the farmers day in and day out and knows their condition very well. He is constantly fighting to get them a fair price on their coffee trade, so it only makes sense that the story was conveyed by a host who is aware of the things happening around him with regards to the farmers. One specific example I could recollect from the movie is when TADESSE visits the farmers to tell them about the coffee prices outside Ethiopia and the reason behind farmers not making much money on their coffee produce. He asks them to stop selling their coffee to the middle man and sell their coffee to the co-operative directly in order to receive maximum profits on their coffee produce.
3. Why do you think the documentarians' made this film? What was their purpose? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: To show how flawed the fair trade policy is in the US and other European countries is when it comes to coffee. The scene where they show the world trade organization meeting held in Cancun, Mexico explains it all. This meeting is held over a period of Five days and 148 countries participate in this meeting. In the last meeting which was held two years ago, the U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick passes the decision to not remove the subsidiaries for the farmers in the US and Europe which effects other low income countries.
4. If this movie had a thesis, what would it be? What are two supporting points that that the movie makes to support its thesis? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: The thesis of this movie is how major corporations depend on the produce of coffee farmers from low income countries like Ethiopia and Africa, yet fail to acknowledge their living conditions and help them with a fair price on their produce so they could sustain and fulfill their basic needs.
This thesis has been supported throughout the movie, but two major scenes where they reinforce this is the scene of the Starbucks where they show the employees of starbucks being really proud of the company and the coffee it serves to its customers and then the transition scene of SIDAMA, the region supplying Starbucks Ethiopian coffee hit with a severe Famine for the first time as the farmers were not making any money on their coffee produce due to which they were not able to feed themselves and their family members.
--------------------------------------x The End x-------------------------------------
1. Who do you think are the documentarians' audience? Who do you think they wanted to hear the message from the film? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: The documentarians' main audience were the consumers buying coffee and who consume coffee on a daily basis and they wanted to hear the message from the person who knew the living conditions of the coffee farmers in Ethiopia.
In a scene, where TADESSE MESKELA, manager of Oromia Coffee farmers co-operative union visits a supermarket in London and asks one of the staff members there to show him Ethiopian coffee to which the staff member acts surprised as he did not where exactly the Ethiopian coffee was kept in the coffee aisle there. So TADESSE tries to search for that coffee himself and after a lot of searching he finally finds a Ethiopian coffee- Mocha Sidamo which was hidden in one of the shelf and had no exposure to the customers. So TADESSE makes an honest appeal in this scene to the coffee consumers to participate in fare trade policy and demand for coffee which is fairly priced both for the consumers and the coffee farmers. So this scene tells us that the documentarians' audience was indeed the coffee consumers.
2. Review the storytelling techniques and identify which one most likely represents the one used in the documentary. Why do you think they used this method to tell their story? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: The storytelling technique used in this documentary was that of Host and the host being TADESSE MESKELA, manager of Oromia Coffee farmers co-operative. The film maker used this type of storytelling to create an impact on the people watching the documentary and make people aware of the living conditions of the coffee farmers in Ethiopia.
This type of storytelling technique was effective because TADESSE was working with the farmers day in and day out and knows their condition very well. He is constantly fighting to get them a fair price on their coffee trade, so it only makes sense that the story was conveyed by a host who is aware of the things happening around him with regards to the farmers. One specific example I could recollect from the movie is when TADESSE visits the farmers to tell them about the coffee prices outside Ethiopia and the reason behind farmers not making much money on their coffee produce. He asks them to stop selling their coffee to the middle man and sell their coffee to the co-operative directly in order to receive maximum profits on their coffee produce.
3. Why do you think the documentarians' made this film? What was their purpose? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: To show how flawed the fair trade policy is in the US and other European countries is when it comes to coffee. The scene where they show the world trade organization meeting held in Cancun, Mexico explains it all. This meeting is held over a period of Five days and 148 countries participate in this meeting. In the last meeting which was held two years ago, the U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick passes the decision to not remove the subsidiaries for the farmers in the US and Europe which effects other low income countries.
4. If this movie had a thesis, what would it be? What are two supporting points that that the movie makes to support its thesis? Support your answer with a specific example (scenes, quotes, information) from the movie.
Answer: The thesis of this movie is how major corporations depend on the produce of coffee farmers from low income countries like Ethiopia and Africa, yet fail to acknowledge their living conditions and help them with a fair price on their produce so they could sustain and fulfill their basic needs.
This thesis has been supported throughout the movie, but two major scenes where they reinforce this is the scene of the Starbucks where they show the employees of starbucks being really proud of the company and the coffee it serves to its customers and then the transition scene of SIDAMA, the region supplying Starbucks Ethiopian coffee hit with a severe Famine for the first time as the farmers were not making any money on their coffee produce due to which they were not able to feed themselves and their family members.
--------------------------------------x The End x-------------------------------------
Comments
Post a Comment