#19 Wk12 - Documentary and Interview

Another show recorded at Logan Airport, complete with guest ambient speakers. Any suggestions on how to eliminate them would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I did finally get to Vegas, about 1am local time. I got to my room and collapsed at 3:30. Maybe I'll fill you in on my exciting trip in another episode. I was very happy to stop.

So this episode covers Tuesday nights class. Howard Phillips, who taught a previous class on lighting, filled in for Franco who was out sick. We reviewed some video people shot the previous week using the camera handheld. As I mention in the podcast I appreciate having multiple teachers in a single class, although not at the expense of the health of anyone. Even if they recover information or techniques, I feel I can benefit from their differing experiences and perspectives.

Currently I'm attending seminars. I'll be posting episodes shortly. The trade show hasn't started yet. I'm really loving all the information. There are about 8 different tracks on video production, software and hardware and I can only choose one at a time. Come Monday I'll have to skip some classes altogether to see the booths on the floor. And it's a big floor.

Following right on the heels of this post is one about a screening I attended of a work in progress by Errol Morris, the guy who produced The Fog of War and other great documentaries. Coming right up.

#18 Wk11 - Documentary and Interview

You going to hear the cuts in this episode. I recorded this podcast from Logan Airport in Boston, waiting for my plane to Las Vegas. Lots of background noise. There just doesn't seem to be quiet rooms at this airport. I thought the Men's room would be a little obvious. I'm also editing in Adobe Audition instead of Soundtrack pro and Garageband, so the production values are going to suffer from my limited experience with that program. I think it's quite the capable piece of software, I'm just unfamiliar with it.

We watched the first 15 minutes of an excellent documentary called Children Underground, by Edet Belzberg about the lives of a group of children who live in the subways of Bucharest Roumania. From that we took a number of lessons about shooting cinema verite with a handheld camera.

The assignment for the class was to take multiple shots of an individual working at a computer. All different angles and perspectives, from above, over the shoulder, in front, close-ups of hands on keyboards and mouse, the monitor, the desk, etc. It was all about coverage, getting every shot you could need to demonstrate the detailed actions of someone working on a computer, probably with the intention of using it as B-roll for a voice-over, or over dubbed interview. Shooting handheld for even 15 minutes is very fatiguing.

We didn't get time to look at the video, but we did discuss our experiences while we were waiting for everyone to get back. In the next week we'll review them and take on another assignment.

In the meantime I'm still waiting for the plane. Heavy winds in Nevada they say.