Adventures in filming

Kecia and I braved the halls of Burris on Friday when we filmed the photo shoot for fall sports teams. Before that began, we actually wandered the halls for a little while with the camera. That was an interesting experience. Put a camera on a bunch of 10-14 yr. olds, and they will have one of two reactions: Frantically wave their arms and stick their faces in front of the camera, or cower in a corner, hoping the camera won't catch them. And theorize this - it was mostly boys who hammed it up, and girls who hid. Whoever is logging this footage should be alternately entertained and annoyed as shots are spoiled. Or, we might find that people's behavior in front of the camera tells a story worth pursing in itself. This is, after all, why we filmed the photo shoot.

It's hard to say how much of the footage we'll actually use for our documentary, but we captured the team lining up and looking serious for the team photo, then figuring out how best to pose for individual shots. It's fascinating to film people being filmed - you notice all of the things that people do to make themselves look their best (or however they want to come across). We're dealing with that same issue in our documentary - trying for authenticity, when the very act of filming can change people. But at the same time, the story about how people want to be perceived says something interesting about them as well. I imagine much of filming and editing will be about trying to capture, well, "the true meaning of pictures." And much of the struggle will be to figure out what that is.

Inside and Out of Interviewing

For week 3 at the VBC we focused on Interviewing, with a workshop from Professor Laura O'Hara. I enjoyed her lectures for she is a very dynamic individual with a lot of experience on the art and science of communication.

Our assignment was to interview a peer on camera and be interviewed in return. This was beneficial in three ways: 1) We got to practice the art of writing questions, and believe me it is an art. 2) We got to see what it's like to be in "the seat," and what sort of uncomfortableness can occur. 3) While watching we realized some technical aspects to be aware of (auto focus is bad, outside in front of a street is bad, air conditioning is bad).

Other than the pain to watch your face for eight minutes on a screen (why hasn't anyone ever told me to get Botox to my eyebrows so they'll stay still?) I enjoyed it. I can't wait to start getting interviews from the community and then finding a story for our documentary.

I also want to comment on the film we watched in class, The True Meaning of Pictures. The whole class had an amazing discussion, and these events are what makes me greatful to be apart of this seminar with these people. It was a provoking film, and to watch it as current documentarians, it opened our eyes to certain topics such as honesty, exploitation, having choices that might loose some of the audience, and the relationship between your "subject" and you. I'm glad we watched it; an intense film that showed us some of the challenges of documenting and being an artist.