Northgate High School

Senior Project Mentor Verification Form

Name of Student ___Nico Albert_______________________ Period ___1____

Mentored Project _____Creating a short film__________________________________________________

As a Senior Project mentor, your final responsibility is to verify completion of your student’s work and to pass
his/her project. This is due by Tuesday May 8, 2018. Mentors may write additional comments on the back of this
sheet

1. Please check if you have seen the following documents:

__x___ Your student’s Letter of Intent -- explains plans for Senior Project.
__x___ A Mentor Agreement -- explains your responsibilities.
__x___ A copy of your student’s Senior Project Research paper.

Comments: __________________________________________________________________________________

2. Please list dates you have met with student:

3/3: In person, discussed research questions, project plan, & in depth discussion on history and issues
in Queer representation, history of queer representation in media, and some films/books to use for
research
3/10 : Email exchange re: Nico’s previous film, touching base on project progression
4/4/11-14: Email exchanges re: feedback on paper draft
4/18-24: Email exchange re:progress, research
5/2: Email exchange re: project progression

Comments:__I would have loved to be more available and involved, but had my own family emergency that
prevented me from being as available for feedback as we had hoped. .

3. How did the project stretch or challenge the student’s abilities? Please assess the quality of the project. Please
make additional comments on the back if necessary:

Very impressed by the amount of work Nico was able to accomplish with the paper and the film. The paper
approached the question of queer representation from a broad historical perspective, with a focus on the early history
of film and the ways filmmakers used subtext and stereotypes to skirt censorship laws. For the most part, the paper
was a good discussion of the moments that queer representation broke into the mainstream of Hollywood. I
encourage Nico to continue to explore the specifics of how LGBTQI communities have been represented - what are
the common stereotypes and tropes? Have the been different for gay men, lesbians, trans people? What are the
differences between queer self-representation and outside representations?
In the film, “Was That Ok?”, Nico has shown a wonderful array of talents in film- I thought the writing, directing,
filming , and editing were are extremely well executed. The representation of queer identity in their generation-
which includes folks of a variety of gender and sexualities as common place, but still includes the tension of making
a connection, avoiding assumptions, and “coming out”- is nuanced and important for continuing to widen queer
representation. Congrats!

4. Please verify that your student spent at least 20 hours on the project: Yes ___x__ No _____
Mentor Name (please print) _Susannah Smith____ Signature_____
Qualifications as mentor _BA: Video & Feminist Art_MA: Social Documentary, Currently making film about
queers in SF
Date _5/14/19__Telephone Number __510-219-8309__ Mentor’s Email __suzsmithqb@gmail.com_

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE!