Expert Interview

For our expert interview we interviewed Chancellor Miller of UNCW.  I was really excited about the interview.  I really did not expect him to do the interview to be honest.  When he accepted the interview I knew the hard work had just begun.  Prior to the interview when we formed 2 groups of 5 I asked my group to meet and we did a practice mock interview.  I think that helped a lot in that we knew what everyone was going to be doing.   The day before the interview I checked all the equipment to make sure everything was working.  About 10 mins before the interview the batteries in the boom mic and the sound mixer on the camera went dead.  In a frantic we had to run to the school book store and by batteries before Chancellor Miller came for his interview.  We got everything in the equipment and it was ready before the interview started.  The interview went really smooth.  Chancellor Miller had great answers and we were able to ask all 10 of our questions.  I feel that him being our expert interview really helped my 2 min video.  Next time I know to always have extra packs of batteries for everything.  Next time I will be prepared for everything that can go wrong to go wrong, just to be safe.

Vox Pops

Doing vox pops on UNCW was a very fun experience.  I was suprised how many people would say yes to answer a few questions, then see the camera and say something came up.  I thought people would love to be on camera like I do.  I learned that if you do not tell people to answer the question with the answer then most students will not.  More of the older students did it without being asked or said yeah of course.  I feel that this was a little problematic.  Of the 20 vox pops I feel we only got 5 good ones.  I also learned that the sound of bikes and crowds in the distance will be noticeable when you play back.  During our filming we did a vox pop and a large crowd off in the distance broke out in an uproar.  I did not think it would be a big deal.  When we played it back I could hear more of them in the distance then our subject that was 5 feet from the camera.  I feel this was a great learning experance.

Sounds

For my first sound observation I went and sat with my pet cockatiel Rocky on my deck.  I did this at around 6 am after I took my dogs out.  At first I did not notice anything different about sitting outside.  After the first 5 minutes I started to notice very small things like the wind and the sound of a car off in the distance.  After 10 minutes I started to be able to hear the sound of my cockatiel as she yawned.  I could also hear the distinct sound of her cleaning her feathers and cleaning her feet.  I thought it was very interesting.  I did not know that I could hear something as small a sound as that.

            That afternoon I took my dogs to the Empie Dog Park.  I was the only person at the dog park.  I sat down at the table and let my dogs run around.  After the first 5 minutes I did not notice anything really different.  After 10 minutes I could start to hear the sound of birds off in the distance.  I could also start to hear the sound of tennis balls bouncing off the courts in the distance.  As my dogs got closer I could start to hear the sound of the sand pushing back as they took off running chasing each other.

            These two events have started to remind me of when I worked on a set etiquette film for the flicker film society.  I had to get room noise after we filmed for 2 minutes.  During the filming with the headphones on I could hear the sound of the electricity running through the lights.  I could also hear he air conditioner in the room pushing air out.  This has made me realize the importance of the headphones during filming because the microphone will pick up more then your ears will.

Interviews

      For my teams interview plan we want to interview Chancellor Miller on Chancellors Walk.  We feel that doing a walking interview would be more symbolic.  I have sent an email already to Chancellor Miller asking for the interview.  If we are unable to get an interview with Chancellor Miller we will try to get in contact with someone in the history department for an interview on the walk.  We will try to do these interviews on 13^th or 14 of the coming week.  This will depend heavily on the expert interview.  For the expert interview we will try to keep the tone of the interview in a calm yet educational view.  We do not want to do lots of weird angles during the interview.   I will have the proper forms signed tomorrow for filming on campus as well as our equipment checklist ready tomorrow for checkout on Wednesday.   

         During our vox pops we would like to do it when chancellors walk is very busy.  We feel this will give us more opportunities to ask more people our questions.  By doing this on the 13th or 14^th it will give us a second chance if we need to reshot the vox pops.  Aiden will be doing the questions for our team since she is the director.  Some of the questions I would like to ask people in vox Pops are:

         “ Why do you use Chancellors walk?”

         “ How much time does using chancellors walk save you from having to walk around the campus to get to classes?”

         “What is your favorite thing to do or see on chancellors walk?”

         “Do you walk, skateboard, jog, bike on chancellors walk?” 

For our expert interview some of the questions I feel would be are as fallows:

         “ What are your feelings about Chancellors walk?”

         “Are there future plans for Chancellors walk?”

         “ How many times do you walk down Chancellors walk during the week?”

         “How do you feel Chancellors walk helps the campus?”

         “What is your favorite part while you walk down Chancellors walk?”

         “ How does it feel being Chancellor of UNCW and walking down Chancellor’s walk?”

Lighting Observations

One observation I am having is how different lighting can be when shooting outdoors.  When I had shot film outdoors before I had never thought of using a reflector to help even out the light.  I had worked with reflectors indoors but after reading Voice and Visions, I understand why I must use them outdoors as well.  This well help make the picture look crisper with a better appearing image.  The use of the reflectors would help us with our shooting of the photo documentary. 

While doing our photography documentary I have observed the impact the sun or natural lighting can have on your shots.  There were several instances when I would take a reading using my light meter and then go back to check a minute later and it changed.  I now know how a cloud can totally change the setting of your host for the f-stop scale as well.  Another observation I had while out shooting today was that it is not a good idea to try shooting around noon to two in the afternoon.  We were getting maxed out readings on our light meter.  We came back later that evening and the light started to get better.