New Equipment

I started using my new editing software and audio recording / mixing equipment this week.  The mic works pretty well.  It filters out a lot of the ambient noise which is captured on the camera mic.  The 4 Track is awesome, but hard to figure out at first. I still need the manual to do almost anything on it.

The software is amazing, but I am learning it much like I learned Excel.  Self taught and slowly at best.  One problem I am having is that I am saving the files, and my computer is loosing them.  I don't think that is a software issue, I think it is a hardware issue.  So far I have been able to retrieve them, but it is scary.  I have spent about 6 hours editing and mixing a total of 3 minutes worth of possible finished material.

I think I have the end of the film set.  I won't give anything away other than to say that the film doesn't have a "happy" ending, but it does have a "hopeful" one.  That is the idea I have had from the start.

Mixing video to audio is hard.  There is probably some easier way to do it, but I have been trying to sync it up using vocal and visual cue's.  So far I have managed to do it, but it is taking a long time.  You don't want a delay between the mouth moving and the words being spoken.

So far the camera work has been pretty still.  I would like to experiment with some camera movement.  I need to get a dolly cart.  I am thinking that I can make one at my "real" job.  My wonderful girlfriend has also loaned me an external hard drive that I am using to store all this video and audio.  It is working out great.

Attached are two stills from the interviews I did Monday.  I am going to try to do a better job of getting still photos to add to this blog.

The Waiting Game

I completed my 2nd day of shooting.  We went to Greg Park and did video interviews of people in the LAM program as well as a couple of them that have graduated.  I was hoping for a better turn out, but we made the best of what we had.

I was a little disappointed that none of the board members wanted to be interviewed.  There were at least 2 of them at the cookout and both declined to discuss their relationship to LAM.  I was also hoping for more activity so that I could shoot some B reel stuff, but other than a couple of guys throwing a football around most of the time everyone was just standing around talking.

The interviews sort of went off track also.  The first guy I spoke with spent most of the time talking about his religion and how God is helping him through his addiction and rehab.  He also rambled on about his job and a bunch of other stuff that wasn't pertinent to the documentary.  The second person I spoke with was better.  I was able to capture a few moments from our conversation to use in clip segments in the film.  However, his methods of recovery didn't exactly go hand-in-hand with the LAM practices.  So I am sure that the LAM board will not want most of what he had to say in the film.  That is a shame, because he was passionate about what he was saying.

The third interviewee agreed to talk to me, but with a lot of reservations.  He ended up though being the most interesting guy of the group.  I think he was the most honest and he spoke without thought.  It was pure emotion and instinct.  I started to ask a follow up question about his mother and his face went stiff.  I was afraid that he was about to come out of his seat and whip my ass for talking smack about his mama.  I was also able to get a few usable quotes from him. 

The final interview was a waste of time.  This guy was so arrogant and foolish that I almost signaled the camera man to shut the camera off so we didn't waste any battery.  I feel that he truly didn't learn anything from his time in jail and with the LAM program.  While the 3 person had relapsed (and continued to do so) he felt shame and self pitty.  Number four was almost bragging about his continued substance abuse.  While I still wish him the best, I would wager that he will be in and out of jail quite a few more times before he learns his lesson.  If he ever does.

Another thing of note is that this is the first shoot with my new audio equipment.  I will blog more about that later.  Peter came over after the cookout and I played some of the music I picked out and he liked it, so I purchased 1 song and got the rights to use two others.  Using my new editing software I will start to mix and put all this together this week.

At this point we don't have any more shooting dates worked out.  Peter is supposed to be setting that up and letting us know when and where that will take place.  I hope it is soon.  I am really getting into this project.  Wish me luck.