photos...

For this assignment I set out to the baseball diamond in search of photo opportunities. My team had a double header over the weekend so I figured it would be a good opportunity to test out what some of my interview subjects would look like when photographed as well as to get some action shots. It was an interesting experience trying to be a photographer as well as participant in the games. I tried to get a range of different types of photographs and messed around with some different black and white shots. In the end, I came away with way more photographs than
I expected and had quite a task of sorting through all of them.

The photos I selected are of women in action playing baseball. I plan to use the photos I took in the film, however I feel that they may be more constructive in eliciting commentary from individuals who are not familiar with the idea that women do play baseball.

Bring the past forward...

For our assignment with photo elicitation, I hope to use photographs that will bring feelings from the past to the surface. For example, my subjects are two people that never grew up with a father in their life - therefore, I plan to take a picture of a Dad holding his sons hand or playing with his son. In essence, an aspect of life that neither one of my subjects ever experienced. Another idea would be photos of the things that Dad's normally teach their kids - ride a bike, throw a baseball around, work on a car, or tie a tie. With these photos, I hope that Dave and Kyle will be able to free the emotions they have suppressed when I ask questions regarding what they feel missed out on. And it may be possible that they don't feel like they missed out on anything... they may feel like it was better without a father figure.

Another aspect of the film is the connection of lost brothers. The photos used for this aspect of the film will show what Dave and Kyle did growing up separately. To see what your brother did growing up when you had no idea he was around, would make anyone feel something. I believe if this "something" emotion will make the viewer feel what the interviewee is feeling as they speak.

I also would like to use photos of Dave's mom with their father and the same for Kyle. To see the person who raised you with the person who you never knew (who also helped bring you into this world) is very evoking. There are feelings of loss, of anger, of confusion and one feels as though their identity is missing a link. It's a very compelling emotion that can bring memories to the surface which tell a story better than our everyday, conscious knowledge.

This assignment will be something I plan to use in my actual film making process. I'd like to use this method to help open my interviewees up about their story. I believe it will be beneficial to all involved - me as the film maker, the subjects of the film and the audience who views it.

Raini S.

This is One Noisy Campus

Well I thought the interview process went pretty good after we were able to find a "quieter" location on campus. It's amazing how much noise you actually block out during your day to day, but when you've got headphones hooked up to the mic you hear everything. We ran into generator noise, construction noise, air conditioners and of course the almost ever present planes. As Raini said, once we got set up and ready to roll we realized that we were in the midst of hurricane conditions and needed to seek shelter at once. Eventually we were able to set up with buildings protecting us from the wind but there wasn't anything we could do about the planes or the killer squirrel. All in all I think the interview was good and I am now certain that my film interviews will be entirely indoors.

Chase

Noise!

Ok so this assignment was more difficult than I expected it to be for exactly the reason Raini described, the noise!!! Let me tell you about our adventure…To start off, Stacey and I walked around campus in search of what we thought would be a good place to set up as well as a good place to encounter freshman. Having several friends who are freshman that live in the dorms we wandered in that direction in hopes that one of my friends would introduce us to another freshman who might be willing to participate…It worked!! That was the easy part. Once we identified our subject for the interview we found what we thought would be a nice background outside the dorms and began the set up process. Mistake number one: The dorms- ridiculous amount of noise you can’t control…people laughing, doors slamming, cars driving by honking horns, people walking behind where you are shooting, crunching of leaves on the ground, kids screaming, parks nearby ,etc.

So after what seemed like forever of our interview subject sitting there waiting for us to be ready and having to explain to her that all the surrounding noise was overpowering when you have the headphones on, we were able to achieve what we considered as close to silence as we were going to get and finally got the interview underway. Yay smooth sailing from here right…no!

It seemed as if the very moment we got the camera rolling everyone decided to come out of their dorm, walk right behind where were we filming, laugh as loud as they could, smash all the leaves on the ground, and then to top it off, a never ending string of planes decided to fly over. Just as we thought the one plane was gone, although out of sight, another one could be heard far off in the distance. Frustrating to say the least.

In the end we finally got our interview completed…a bit shorter than we would have liked. I think our interviewee was tired of having to re-answer all of our questions several times. Anyway hope it works. See ya tomorrow.

Sarah

Oh the lovely CSULB airspace...

For our first assignment in the art of interviewing we were asked to find a freshman and interview outside at CSULB. For this task I thought the biggest challenge was going to be finding the person. However, this was not the challenge at all. Our interviewee was easy to find... all I did was ask a freshman I knew to get someone he knew to do it for us. Easy! So now onto the actual challenge of the interview... you ready for it, drum roll please... .... .... sound! Oh sound, what a painful process.

If you didn't know... which I know you do know, CSULB is right along the final descent of Long Beach airport and let me tell you, when you have the headphones on listening to the sound quality you can hear an airplane coming from a mile away. And the sound that you're hearing from a mile away shows up on your film. It's incredible but also very painful and tedious waiting and waiting and waiting for that dumb plane to disappear. Not to mention that on a campus people are walking around talking on cell phones, scuffing their feet, and tapping their hands. Mind you, we did the interview on a Sunday afternoon but there are still plenty of disturbances around; i.e. squirrels attacking our young freshman... it was intense but we all survived.

The other more controllable challenge with sound was the wind. When everything was set up for our interview and we were ready to say, "Action"... we put on the headphones and noticed that a hurricane was occurring in our ears. The wind quadruples in force when the microphone picks it up and records it. Insanity... but even still, all we did was move to a more secluded location. Within the more secluded location the lighting wasn't as beautiful, the background was less appealing but at least we could hear our interviewee speaking without El Nino blaring in the background.

Overall, once the location was found and the questions were being asked the interview was a success... minus the moments of pausing while we stared into the sky watching the metal bird fly overhead, praying it would pick up speed and get the heck outta of the air quick!

Ciao for now!
Raini S.

What a Shell of a Guy and a Shell of a Time!

It's been long, but it's been good... at least from my side of the screen.
This class has been an enjoyable and educational experience. I'm very glad that I had a chance to experiment with cinematography. I would love to explore my artistic side more in this way. Like others mentioned in class today, I may consider taking a cinematography or editing class at a junior college in the future to learn some more of the fundamentals. Somehow I would like to incorporate cinematography into my future work... whatever that might be :)

As for the film festival, it was really fun! Everyone seemed to love our film. The consistent feedback was that it was really good. As others have mentioned, it was exciting to see our work up on the big screen. Personally, I was very proud when I saw the things I filmed on the big screen, as well as the things Donia filmed. But to be like "oh I filmed that!" made me happy. The way Jessica edited was like magic. She really is the strand the brought this all together :)

The other great part about this whole experience has been our wonderful "star" Louis Sheldon. He was so willing and patient as we filmed and interviewed him. I'm so glad that he likes the final product (not that we ever doubted that). He plans to show the film to the Pacific Choncological Society in November. Steven wants to attend that meeting and maybe I will too. I would be very interested to hear the reactions of the other shell club members.

Our whole group wants to enter our film into festivals and see where it might go. The first might be the Feel Good Film Festival this summer as well as some environmental film festivals. We'll see what happens. It has been a great learning experience for all of us! We are so very thankful for all the help we have received!

And remember... be kind to your shell covered friends... for they might be someone's mother...... or someone's dinner ;-)

(PS they actually taste pretty good :P)

Afterthoughts...two

Ok, well I just wrote a huge blog about my thoughts about the class and my thoughts about the festival, and it got erased. So, I'll keep it short.

It was a huge time consuming headache.

It was difficult going from no film, to a film we didn't like, to a film we were more or less happy with.

We got a lot of good feedback from the film, and even we asked to show the film in a Literature and Medicine class.

The class was tough and stressful, but it was a good experience. For a while I was considering not doing film after this, but after completing everything and having a finished product I think that I will continue and make more films.

I'll stop before this gets as long as the last one. Thanks to you all for your assistance, ideas, and critiques. It was a pleasure working with all of you!

Cheers,

r

Other anthropology departments must be GREEN with envy...

Okay so the above title is my one attempt at some sort of pun/title with word play. I apologize. But really, I think we all did an amazing jobs on our films! I know everyone put in a lot (A LOT) of hard work and effort and it all paid off because there was not a single unhappy person in the theater on Saturday. Everyone seemed pleased (surprised?) with the films we all produced. I know I can't speak for everyone, but it was amazing seeing the films on such a big screen. Like Steven had said, there really is nothing like it.

For me, the best part of the evening was really seeing the smiles on the faces of our participants, knowing that they not only approved of what we had created, but had enjoyed being a part of our film from start to finish. I know my group and I all really did have a lot of fun making this film, and like Steven said on the first day of class, that by the end of all of this our group would feel like a family. It's a little sad that we won't be making another Lauren, Mike, & Nikki Observational Production. Or will we?

The time has come...

We're at the finish line. Tin is making some final changes to the end of the film to show in class today, and I'll hopefully be in the lab learning how to use DVD Studio and making a menu. We're still trying to get the energy of the film to stay a little more upbeat and consistent post surgery. Tin wants to show me in class so I'll have fresh eyes. So, I'll be seeing it with you guys for the first time. Its kinda crazy that this whole project is coming to an end!! Now its just a lot of finishing touches and the project will be complete. Well, except for closed captioning, dvd case design, and other things that I can't think of but I know will have to be done.

See you all in the lab!!!

Facebook Event Invite

I created an event invitation on Facebook for our screening. The post needs more photos and more guests invited. If you are on facebook use this link and add photos, videos, and "invite people to come" via facebook so we can get the word out.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=83461435613&ref=nf

Do a general "share" function to post the event to your profile so that all your stalkers will know where to find you that night. ;)

-Jessica