Degree Name
Master of Science
Graduate Program
Mass Communication and Media Arts
Advisor
Aguayo, Angela
Abstract
As teenage pregnancy rates are slowly decreasing in the United States, rates in the Dominican Republic are double the world average. 105 out of 1,000 teen girls became pregnant in 2013 according to a study conducted by the United Nations Population Fund. This paper supplements the documentary “Lesson Unplanned” and elaborates on the process of the visual work as well as trends in use/misuse of contraceptives by teenagers, the reason pregnancy occurs in teenagers, and the social impact in the Dominican Republic. Information was collected by on-camera interviews with subjects during field work, both by verbal and visual reporting in written and multimedia formats, including still imagery, video, and audio recordings. This paper concludes with a reflection on the filmmaking process and a glimpse at my future plans for this project and as a filmmaker. Included Media: “Lesson Unplanned” (.mov file).