Senior Seminar: Documentary

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2007-01-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

My camera and speakers came in today. Definitely digging on it. Camera works great. Speakers sound nice. I am pleased.

I went and checked out some equipment from school today. We're going to shoot 2 interviews this weekend and I we want to get a good bit more B-Roll. I'm planning on shooting Natosha tomorrow. She is 28, just got married, just got pregnant, bartender/real estate agent. She just quit bartending because of her pregnancy. Really cool girl. She worked at Slick & Red's. After we got our footage captured, we decided that, for one, we needed to even out our girl:guy ratio, and secondly, we felt like we needed a fairly accomplished, motived older woman. (Not that 28 is old..) I think she will do the trick.

Elaine is trying to set up an interview with a girl she knows for this weekend as well. She's around 23, recently graduated, good job, still parties pretty hard....I believe that's the jist of her. I've never met her, so we'll see.

We're meeting with Dave for the first time next week. We're going to give him the DVDs we showed in class as a representation of our footage...just so he has an idea of what we're working with. We basically have a gameplan for the edit. Even while we were putting the DVDs together for class, the clips were fairly easy to flow together. We've never put all our media together at once, so I think that will definitely change the pace a little bit...inserting in B-Roll during interviews, etc. We've been brainstorming on what we can do to tie all the clips together. I want to have re-occuring themes and motifs and the like through-out the film. For instance, with the "My Generation" idea, it could re-appear at different points during the film and act as segways through the different sequences. I don't know that we will go with that, in particular, but I want something like it.

I just keep thinking over things that I know how to do in editing to really bring it to life. I have experience with found footage, shooting super 8, stop-motion animation, 16 mm film manipulation, as well as the ability to go shoot whatever I need to on DV. I just haven't thought of anything really good yet. However, I'm sure that when we actually start putting things together in the timeline, ideas will start popping out.

updates and exciting news

2007-01-14T23:06:00.000-05:00

Lots of good news to report on...

The semester has started and my classes seem to be going alright. I have a lifeguarding class that may prove to be a bit much, but I just need to pass it. I hate it when one-hour courses seem like six-hour courses. Besides that, though, all should be good. I have two 3-hour Theatre classes. One will basically involve a lot of note-taking during lectures and a research paper. The other is very dependent on building play sets. Should be cool. Nothing too crazy. Besides those three classes, I have my FST DIS to edit this doc and a 3-hour THR DIS, in which I will be working on sound design for a couple of plays this semester. 13 hours till graduation. Very do-able.

Our edit has made some progress. Well, I shouldn't say edit, because we really haven't edited anything, but the footage is nearly captured. 12 tapes. It's taken a while, but I figure we're well ahead of schedule considering where I was supposed to be at with my footage last semester for Advanced Editing. All the software has been working fine. Nothing too terrible to speak of. I'm so glad to be out of the editing lab. Jesus Christ, that place is horrible. Elaine told me that there will be a new computer lab for Fall 07. Thank God. I was wondering how long it would take before it got a (much needed) over-haul. But, yeah, it's really nice being able to work from my house. I can sit around and watch playoff football and have a beer and when I get bored (or it's half-time), I can go get some work done. I think that having a workstation at my home will allow me to be a lot less stressed out about the project. I don't have to schedule lab times. I don't have to work around a class-lab schedule. I don't have to worry about people using a computer I need. I don't have to worry about the equipment crapping out on me. It's a really nice thing.

While I'm on topic of my little work-at-home studio I'm building...I'm taking major steps in getting organized and becoming professional. I got a hand 3-compartment storage tower thing for all my cds, manuals, wires, electronics, etc. That little thing keeps my work station from looking crazy and out of control. Gives me a peace of mind. Haha. My equipment list is also coming into it's own. In the last week I have made some major upgrades. I got my graphics card.

I installed FCP + the other programs that came with Final Cut Studio. I purchased an Shure SM-57 Studio mic.

I bought some new speakers (albeit not the best quality...they're better than what I have...)

and....and.....and....AND.....I bought a camera! I am so pumped. I had been stalking cameras on eBay for the last month or so and I finally commited and got me one. It was some-what of a bitter-sweet purchase, though. I had been watching this auction that had the Canon XL-1 camera, but it also included a bunch of extras (wireless mic setup, studio mic, 3-point light kit w/ stands, a tripod, XLR adapters...the works), but I forgot to bid on it before it ended and it slipped through my fingers. It pissed me off because it went for a lot lower than I thought it would. After that, I was pretty set on finding a camera and buying it. Tired of waiting. So I found one at a reasonable price and bought that sucka.

It's a Canon XL-1 and it comes with the XLR adapter, a nice bag, shoulder strap, and 3 batteries. Pretty basic and I still need more stuff (like the wireless mic setup, boom mic, light kit, tripod, etc.), but I am quite pleased that I have this piece of the puzzle.

So now to the edit...I think Elaine and I are going to meet up tomorrow and really do some thinking about the direction we want this thing to go. We have a lot of footage, but I think we both agree that some supplemental B-Roll and possibly other stylistically pertinent footage needs to be shot. I don't intend to shoot 12 more tapes of footage, but I'm pretty sure some supplemental media is going to be required to achieve the desired final product. I'm very optimistic about how it will all shake-out. We have a ton of good footage. We just have to figure out how we want to piece it together.

We've been kicking around the idea of motifs and themes. That's what we really need to figure out, I guess. What do we really want to say with this film and how is it going to be structured. After we are able to determine that, it's just a matter of putting the pieces into place.

lets get crackin!

2007-01-07T14:42:00.000-05:00

It's finally starting to come together. I got my new graphics card in the mail yesterday and subsequently installed it and Final Cut Pro Studio (which includes Final Cut Pro, Motion 2, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro). All the programs work and look really cool. I'm super anxious to get started. Elaine is going to bring over our tapes tomorrow and we're gonna get cracking on logging and capturing (AGAIN!).

With the addition of the other programs that came with FCP Studio, we should be able to add some really cool stuff into the edit. Motion looks really awesome. I've never worked with it before, but I am definitely eager to get my feet wet. I have plenty of manuals and tutorials to go through... It should add a new visual dimension to our film...effects and so on. Soundtrack Pro will be plenty helpful as well. With that program, we'll be able to do a pretty decent sound mix without using ProTools. I've already seen some of the neat stuff it can do. For example, it automatically finds pops and impurities in audio tracks and removes them without messing up the other audio. Hells yes. DVD Studio Pro, while not necessarily pertinent to this project, looks really excellent as well. Loads more options than iDVD, for sure.

Anyhow...I'm really pumped to get started. The DIS finally went through. The equipment is here. I talked to Dave and that is all gravy. Woot!

On a different note, Lexi and Aaron came by the bar last night to check it out for the microcinema thang, but I ended up not even talking to them. D'oh! I was enthralled in a Dallas playoff game that was pretty intense and in my intensity, I completely forgot about them. Very shitty on my part. Hopefully, we can talk about it another time, though....when my emotions aren't running so high (and I haven't been drinking). At least they got to see the bar, though....so they have at least an idea of what the possibilities are.

the new year brings promise

2007-01-01T18:35:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! Hooray! Hoorah! I didn't go too hard on New Year's Eve, as I caught some kind of bug that put a damper on my spirits. I think I celebrated enough Friday night, though...Long-story short: Went to Raleigh to see the Hurricanes game...got fucked up...got robbed to the tune of $170...bleh. Good time, but had some bad stuff go on too. That's all over and done with, though, and I'm looking forward to a brand new year full of exciting possibilites and new directions in my life.

I just purchased the graphics card I need to run Final Cut Pro. I got it off of Ebay and it should be here within the next week. God-willing, that will all be up and running when classes start, so our editing can flow smoothly. My schedule for next semester is kind of eratic. I have two 3-hour theatre course (stagecraft, and western theatre history), a 1-hour lifeguarding course, and two 3-hour DIS courses; one for the editing of this project, and one to finish out my theatre major. Neither of those DIS courses have come up on my schedule yet, which has me kind of worried, but I did all the paperwork and turned everything in, so it should all come through...again, God-willing. Anyhow, the point is, I should have a good bit of free time to work on the edit (and also some re-shooting).

Equipment Update: I got a 250 gb hard-drive for Christmas to go with the 160 gbs on my computer already, so I should be all set with space. Elaine also got a 250 gb hard-drive, so I believe that should be well taken care of. Word. As I stated earlier, I just purchased my graphics card needed to run FCP (ATI Radeon 9800 Pro). My next purchase is a camera. I've set my sights on a Canon XL-1. I've scowered Ebay and found that the going rate is about $1,500 for just the camera. However, I have seen a lot of auctions for the camera + extra accessories (microphones, tripods, lenses, filters, etc.). It would be pretty dope to pick up some of the stuff that I'm going to want anyways when I get the camera. I can also get a better deal by combining stuff like that. Anyhow, that purchase will be forth-coming within the next month. I also need to get Microsoft Office for Mac. As cool as Macs are, I still need the universal applications of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. Whateva. It's all coming together. I'll be set soon enough.

christmas aspirations

2006-12-23T03:43:00.000-05:00

So I decided tonight while driving home from work that I want to continue with this blog on into post-production. It has proved useful during pre-production and through production...helping me come up with ideas and just, I guess, expanding on thoughts and documenting them. I figure the same will stay the case during the post-production process. Besides, I had to keep a journal for advanced editing and that was helpful...It makes sense.

(Side-note: I'm experiencing crazy technology overload right now. I've got my mp3 player going, IMs are buzzing around, and I'm trying to think and write....it's weird. Technology is the deal, but it gets to be a little much sometimes.)

I was thinking really ambitiously on the way home about the edit. Elaine and I had briefly talked about using The Who song, "My Generation" in the film. I brought up copyright infringement...but I think it could be done if the song was covered or sang by someone else...like if a local band did a cover of it. I think that we could get away with it, then. Anyways...assuming we could do that....you could have that song be a reoccuring thing in the movie. You could shoot the band doing the song (possibly a chance to shoot a music video!) and then use pieces here and there as a motif through-out the film. I think that would add a little fun to it, because, while I think our movie is serious and pertinent and soonandsoforth, I don't want the tone to become overly...serious.

As it turns out, I was listening to The Who on my way home from work. "My Generation" came on and all this stuff popped in my head. I was just visualizing how cool it might be if the film started out with a band in a front yard (ala Pete and Pete) playing this song and then it cuts to B-Roll of a really cool shot of one our participants doing some sort of B-Roll with the voice over of their introduction or whatever playing under it. I think you could really stylize it and make it pretty...cool. Haha.

I was also having thoughts about catching up with our participants after a little time has passed. It's not a lot of time and I don't think you would have to do this with all the participants, but I think it might cool (in certain cases) to see where things are at in their lives. For example, Jeff will be that much closer to finishing school. He has his grades from last semester. His relationship is turning into long-term. Etc. They might prove to be intresting juxtapositions. Another example: Jeremy stated in his first interview that he was not selling drugs. How powerful would it be if we could cut from that to Jeremy, 2 months later, selling drugs. Eh? Eh?

Of course, that takes more effort in post. Re-interviewing. More B-Roll. More shooting. It might be a little ambitious to have it finished by the end of Spring semester. However, I feel like if we dive right in and get going and keep going, we can get 'r done.

Equipment Update: Gen bought me a 250 gb external hard-drive for Christmas. That means I have 347 gb of hard-drive space, total. That should be enough. I think I'll be getting some more film stuff for Christmas too. At least, I'm hoping. I asked for all grades of shit: mics, headphones, xlr cables, boom pole, accessories, etc. If I don't get that stuff, I hope I just get money and I'll spend it on equipment. I've got to get a graphics card. I have my eye on the Radeon 9800 pro. $150+ on eBay. Bleh. I have to have that to run Final Cut on my computer. There is also the issue of a deck. My handycam will connect to the computer and that should be fine, but I would rest a lot easier if it was a little more secure. Decks are mad expensive. No room in the budget right now for that.

Anyhow, I'm excited to get back in action with the project. I'm optimistic about how everything will end up. It's late. 4:06 am. I have to take Gen to the airport at 5:30. There is no point for me to sleep. And so I won't. But I'm done typing.

closing up shop

2006-12-02T11:49:00.000-05:00

So I suppose the semester is coming to an end. We are officially done shooting (at least for this class' purposes). I'm actually in the editing lab right now capturing footage to put onto tapes. By trimming a lot of the fluff out of our footage (meaning the times where nothing is going on, adjustments are being made, etc.), I think we will be able to fit a bunch of good stuff onto six tapes. We'll see. I'm working on all the B-Roll stuff and Elaine is doing the interviews. God bless hard-drives. I'll tell you what...If we didn't have a hard-drive, we would be up Shit Creek. There is hardly any space left on these computers at all. I know Stephanie and Ashli had to go buy a hard-drive just to get their stuff on a computer. Bollocks!

Anyhow, yeah. We're coming towards the finish line. Getting our little package together...which is actually turning into quite a big package. Whoever gets this in advanced editing next year should be pretty set.

stufffff

2006-11-21T14:34:00.000-05:00

After my latest rant about equipment, I was pleasantly surprised today when I checked my email and found the Tony had OK'd my checking out of equipment over Thanksgiving. I was even more pleased when I went to pick everything up and discovered that I would be able to get a camera, as well. (I didn't request one because I thought it might help my chances of getting the other stuff.) That means I don't have to borrow one from my friend. Hooray! With that being said, I've done some scheduling for Thanksgiving break. I'm going to do one more interview with this guy named Jeremy. He should be a very different perspective. Not in college. Never went. Lives in a trailer. Cleans carpet. Pretty much lives to get drunk and high. He's a good guy and I know he has goals, but it will still be a different perspective than our other interviews. So, I have him Wednesday. I am also going to film open mic night at Slick & Red's Wednesday night. Jeff runs that and I can get some good stuff of him playing and interacting on-stage. I can also get footage of Kurt bartending (for real). I have a B-Roll session for Talia and Casey set up for Saturday afternoon, as well. Not sure what they'll be doing...I'll have to think about that one a little more. I'd also like to get some stuff of Jeff with his girlfriend Saturday during the day. Maybe holding hands and walking downtown or in the park....something that does not involve drinking. Also planned for Saturday is the weekly beer pong tournament at Slick & Red's. This event will afford us B-Roll of Kurt, Jeff, Jeremy, Drew, and Noodle, as well as some shots of Natosha bartending....whom I also might be getting an interview with. So, yeah, production rolls on.

As well as getting more footage this week, I am going to be hitting the lab to start work on our next screening as well as getting stuff together for our final turned in tapes. So I guess everything is winding down. At least for the class. This project will keep moving forward till May, but as for now, it will come to a close for this chapter. Word.

equipment issues (again and again and again)

2006-11-20T13:25:00.000-05:00

I am so behind in these blogs. I keep thinking about it... I have this class and 6x1 which both require 5 blogs a week. Then, I have advanced editing, which require one journal a week. So I'm suppose to "journal" 11 times a week. 44 times a month. 176 times this semester. That's a bit much. And I am way behind. I mean, I like blogging and I think it is helpful. I just can't find the time or motivation (finding stuff to write about that means anything) to keep up that pace. Especially for 6x1. Anyhow.

Our project is still cruising on along. Since our last screening we have gotten 3 more interviews and B-Roll for three participants. Our main issue now is obtaining equipment. I think I'm about to just say fuck Tony and fuck trying to get stuff from UNCW. At the max, I can get equipment for 3 days. And then, basically, I can't get shit for at least a week, which really puts a kink into production. I get a full head of steam, but then I have to lay everything down and wait for when we can get equipment again. It's frustrating. I'm glad we've been working hard the whole semester and we already have a lot of footage. Everybody is trying to get equipment now that it's the end of the semester, so it's at an even higher premium these days. But fuck. This is my Senior project. It just seems like I should be able to get the shit I need when I need it. Like a KinoFlo kit....Last week, we made reservations to pick up equipment Tuesday (our standard package: camera, tripod, light kit, lapels, boom, stingers, sandbags, stands)....Tony sends me a very blunt email saying "You can't have the Kinos." That's the only explanation. We go in to pick up the equipment and there are two sets of Kinos sitting there. Instead, we get an Arri kit (which is just slightly more of a pain in the ass), but one of the lights didn't work in it and the key from the kit burned out during our first of three interviews scheduled. We return the equipment. The kinos are still sitting there, both of them, in the same exact spot. What the fuck?

Anyhow, long story short...I am going to try and borrow a friend of mine's camera. It's a pretty decent one. I like the XL1 and 2 that the school has, but I think he uses a Panasonic that is of the same calibur. I figure if I can get the camera, I should be able to get light kits and mics, since a lot of other film students tend to overlook lighting and sound. So, yeah, I hope that turns out. We'll see.

I'll try to blog more.

keep on keeping on

2006-11-04T10:57:00.000-05:00

This week has been another productive one in the Drunken Clam camp. We were able to get four new interviews (two 19-year olds and two 27-year olds) and B-Roll of four of our participants. The B-Roll wasn't much. We got the 27-year olds doing dishes, cooking, and straightening up their room (they are kind of home-bodies) and we got Jeff getting ready to go over to his girlfriend's house to study and sleep (because he can't do it at home, lest he get distracted). We also got his room-mate Perry drinking and watching football on the couch. We still need to interview him, though. So, all in all, we are at....9 interviews...I think. Something like that. I would love to end up with around 20. And we're getting some good stuff too. Lots of different personalities and types of people. I can't wait to get this into the editing and see what comes of it. I think it's going to turn out pretty nicely.

trick or treat?

2006-10-31T19:31:00.000-05:00

Good Lord. It seems like I get so far behind blogging so very fast. So I guess I'll just do some recapping. We weren't able to shoot last weekend, because we weren't able to get equipment. This is why our schedule isn't filled to the end of the semester. We could make up a schedule that stretched to the end of the semester, but there is no way we could stick to it. Inevitably, plans would falls through, people would bail, or we wouldn't be able to get equipment. Thus, we make weekly schedules...which has been working rather well for us. It's easier for us to manage a week at a time (and still look to the future), than to try and completely schedule out a month+ worth of shoots. Anyhow, the point is, we have scheduled some good stuff for this week.

We picked up equipment today. And we are planning on shooting 6 different interviews by Friday. It would be 7, but Tony said we have to have the equipment back on Friday by 10 am, instead of the 4:30 pm return time I wanted...negating the interview we had scheduled for 11 am.

All-in-all, our project is moving along pretty well. Our production value continues to improve and so does the concept of our documentary.

I keep hearing about all these problems other groups are having with their partners. Let me just say, for the record, that I couldn't have asked for a better partner. I feel like our partnership has really helped our project. We see eye to eye on lots of stuff and I think the relationship we have has greatly helped our film.

Anyhow. That's it for now. It's Halloween. I'm going trick or treating. Mostly tricking, though.

this weekend

2006-10-22T17:51:00.000-04:00

So this weekend has been pretty productive, as far as our project is concerned. We didn't get everything we had scheduled, but we did schedule a lot of stuff. All-in-all, we were able to get three pretty solid interviews and some great B-Roll from the Beer Festival. We were scheduled for four interviews, but one of our participants fell through. We had also scheduled an 8 mm shoot with my nieces, but I haven't been able to get up with my brother for 2 days. While both of these things are disappointing, we did get some solid stuff and I am happy with the progress we are continuing to make.

The production value of our footage keeps getting better and better. The images look good (for the most part), the interview set-ups are decent, the audio has been less of an issue....We're starting to get pretty effecient as a team.

I'm wondering how much footage we'll actually end up with. I think Shannon said we needed at least six tapes at semester's end. We have close to four already. However, I am planning on doing some editing to come up with "usable sequences" from these tapes, thus cutting down (drastically) the amount of footage we have. If we could end up with six tapes of "usable" footage, I would be very pleased. I'm thinking we'll probably have 15-20 tapes of raw footage.

I'm not sure exactly how many participants we'll end up having. The more footage we shoot, the more I feel like we should get as many different people as possible, there-by showing as many different situations/points of view/lifestyles as possible. I think everyone we've interviewed thus far, have all been great. They're all quite different in their particular situations and it should provide great contrast between all the different personalities.

production

2006-10-20T17:58:00.000-04:00

So pre-production is over. We have our topic and we are going after it. So far, we've conducted three interviews, and have about 7 minutes of B-roll stuff. I'm really glad to get going with the project. We're continuously being challenged, though. Which is a good thing. Technical limitations have forced us to be creative, and that is cool with me.

I'm really getting a lot out of this project already. For one, we're being forced to work with a LOT of different equipment. Light kits, microphones, film, dv, different cameras, filters, etc. etc. etc. I've worked with a lot of the equipment we've been using before, but never as extensivelly as we've already done with this project. ....

SOME CHALLENGES WE'VE ENCOUNTERED DURING OUR PROJECT SO FAR:

funky audio (boom mic levels weren't loud enough, mics not working for whatever reason)
participant absenses (people not showing up for interviews, people backing out of the project)
image quality (shooting outside, shooting in dark environments, shooting w/o a tripod)
completely changing the subject of our doc

Overall, I think we're doing pretty well. Each time we go out to shoot, we improve. Our set-up, breakdown times are getting more and more rapid. We are getting more comfortable with our equipment and learning from our mistakes.

We've got ourselves a pretty full schedule for the rest of the semester. We're really trying to stay ahead of the game and keep pushing ourselves. I think that will pay off with a quality project.

I'm excited about this weekend. Tomorrow, we will shoot an interview with a friend of mine, Jeff. Then, we will be attending the Lighthouse Beer Festival to get B-Roll stuff. A lot of our 21-24 year olds will be in attendance, so we should come away with some really good stuff. We're planning on shooting my nieces on Sunday morning in the park with a Super 8 camera. I've never used one of them, so (again) I'll be gaining exposure and practice with another medium.

Anyhow, things are going well. Progress is being made.

:)

switching gears

2006-10-16T13:47:00.000-04:00

I get behind on these blogs so fast. I've been out of town this past weekend and blogging was about as far from my mind as possible. We have made progress on our project, however. After our meeting last Wednesday night, we basically re-did our proposal and thesis. And while it still has its ties to alcohol, it is definitely a different project. Instead of focusing on what the effects of alcohol are on different individuals, we started thinking about how individuals are perceived by society. Societal opinions on an individual change every so often (with age, usually). The older a person gets, the more society expects of that person. We want to focus on the dynamic shift of societal expectances from pre-20s through late twenties. Our goal is to illuminate the fact that everyone is different and what may be "successful" or "happiness" to one person certainly isn't the same for everyone. Our message is basically, "don't judge a book by it's cover" because everyone has a lot going on beneath the surface.

For example, one individual might be 27 and have a great job, but also be divorced a couple times and utterly unhappy with where his life is. On the surface, society gives this person an A+. They are "successful". On the other side of that coin, we might observe an individual who is 29, living with three other people and who might drink a little too much. On the surface, society gives this person an F and labels them a loser. However, if you dig deeper, you might come to find that this person works with handicapped people and leads a very happy life. Success and happiness are measured by individuals.

We still have our groups in place. However, we will use the first two younger groups to set-up stereotypes, only to break them with the last group. By the time the audience sees our last set of participants, they will be quick to make immediate judgments based on what they've already seen from the other groups. We will then show the flip side of the older participants, hoping to generate an effect in the audience. Hopefully, people will second guess themselves and how they make snap judgments on people before they know the whole story.

lumbering through pre-production

2006-10-09T21:57:00.000-04:00

I worked some today on our...I can't think of what it's called...production package? I don't know. I did the budget and our equipment list. Lucky for us, most of our equipment is coming from the film department...else we'd be paying like three grand. I plan to not have that problem, though, in the future. By the time I graduate in May, I should have most of the equipment I'll need to do these kinda things without having to buy/rent too much.

Anywho, Elaine and I are meeting tomorrow to bang out some of the rest of the stuff in the package. We need to finalize the members of our groups and start getting our schedule in order. The first two groups are pretty much in check. The last one is proving difficult. Basically, we both have mixed feelings about presenting our friends as fuck ups. That's our biggest problem so far. I think it can be worked out. We really just need to get together and really think about how we want to go about this.

I'm still excited about it. I still think it's a good project. And I still think it's going to be fun. I'm ready to get all the pre-production stuff out of the way, so we can get to the preverbial meat.

groups

2006-10-05T18:15:00.000-04:00

Elaine and I got to meet with the group we're thinking about using for our 18-20 year old age range...well, some of them. The core people were there. Four girls, one of whom I know. They said they have guys who would be interested in participating as well. They seem like they're totally up for it. We explained the whole project to them and tried to comfort any fears or reservations they might have about being on camera. They go out fairly often and seemed like they'd be really flexible in their scheduling to fit our needs. I told them we could be their DDs for a couple nights as a trade off. Haha.

The 21-24 year old group hasn't been set, but it seems easy enough to locate people up for doing it. All of my friends I talk to about it want to be in it. I guess we just need to talk it out and figure out who will give us the best "performances".

The 25-30 group is really going to be a challenge. The people I had in mind...I'm not so sure of anymore. For one, they're my friends and I like all of them. A couple of them work with the mentally challenged people, which is an awesome cause. The more and more I think about, the less I want to do it on them, because even though they may go out too much, they're still all really good people. Hrmm. If we don't use them, we need to get cracking on people we could use for it.

I think our biggest goal for this next week is to hammer out our groups and get our schedule set up, so we can have something tangible to work with. We'll do really well for ourselves to stay super organized and on the ball. Hopefully, we can compensate enough by having our shit in order that it will allow ourselves some le-way (sp?) with some of the tougher things in this project. IE: finding our subjects for that older group.

I'm still quite optimistic, though. I'm ready to get some filming under our belts.

2006-10-02T15:15:00.000-04:00

I really wish I would have had a camera on myself yesterday, because everything I did would have served as a perfect piece for our documentary. I succame (sp?) to peer pressure by drinking with my friends at noon. We drank at their house, then went to Slick & Red's to play beer pong before the bar was even open. We then went to Rack'M to watch the first half of the Dallas Cowboys game and then it was Buffalo Wild Wings to finish off the game. Of course, beers were consumed at each of these locations. Consequently, I was fairly lit when I met with Elaine to discuss our proposal for the project...resulting in less than stellar input from me. I then went over to a friend's house to drink more beers. This was actually okay, though, because I brought Elaine with me so she could meet said friends - they are possible candidates for subjects in our project. After I was done at their house, I went back to Slick & Red's to recruit people to go to Fibber Magee's with me. I picked up my best friend and we were on our way. Fibber Magee's features half-price bottles of wine on Sundays, so that was a big go. I was double fisting bottles of wine for a good two hours there. Needless to say that in my twelth hour of drinking, I was in stellar condition. This is when the shit really started to hit the fan.

They have a club part of the bar in Fibber's where you can dance and such. In my inebriated state, I was really into getting my dance on. And so I did. That was all well and good for a while, until the incident. The details are a little blurry for me, but the general jist of it goes something like this: I was walking across the dance floor, when out of no-where, this girl turns around and slaps the shit out of me. Before I even had a chance to react, four guys pulled me into the kitchen and told me I had to go. Holy freaking cow. I tried to explain to them what happened, but I'm sure it all came out as meaningless drunken babble. They were insinuating that maybe I had grabbed her ass (which was a falsity). I told them I wasn't the kind of guy that walks around clubs grabbing random girl's asses. Perhaps someone else did and I was mistakingly punished for that person's classless-ness. Either way, I had to go. I didn't even want to go back in the club. I was embarrassed, ya know? So I was escorted out of the bar and sent on my way. From there I struggled to call my ex-girlfriend and get her to pick me up. I should've just gotten in a cab, but my reasoning was quite skewed at this point. Anywho...she eventually picks me up and takes me home.

On the way there, I was an emotional wreck. We just broke up about a week ago, and it is still very much an open wound. Needless to say, that ride was less than enjoyable.

I woke up today at one o'clock...an hour after I was supposed to meet again with Elaine to do more work on our proposal. I had no way of getting anywhere, because my car was at Slick & Red's. Basically, I was screwed until I could get someone to give me a ride.

So lets look at the negative consequences of my actions yesterday:

***I showed up half-drunk to a proposal meeting
***I got kicked out of a club
***I spent a decent bit of money
***I embarrassed myself in front of a lot of people
***I caused emotional havoc with my ex-girlfriend
***I missed a meeting, completely, today because I was hungover and had no car

Talk about cause and effect.

This blog is not merely to illustrate my actions from yesterday, but it is also a good example of the kind of thing I am hoping to get with our documentary. I want to show cause and effect situations. So many negative things happen because of alcohol, yet I keep gulping it down. WHY? The cycle is vicious...and dangerous. With this documentary, I want people to see how alcohol affects lives. This story is a small sample of how wrong things can go when you get your binge on. And there are countless other stories like this one that happen all the time.

action-consequence relationships in....action

2006-09-30T17:23:00.000-04:00

In reference to my last post about worrying about action happening while taping.....Last night I was bartending and action upon action upon action was happening. There was a fight. People lost their shoes. People vomiting...regretting getting drunk. People having bar tabs too high for them to pay because rent was due. It was a gold mine.

I have no doubts that we will get some awesome stuff that will really show an action-consequence relationship. For instance, because "Jim" went out and spent $75 at the bar Friday night, he is short on his rent the next day. Etc.

Alcohol causes so many different issues, it's just unbelievable. Having been a bartender for as long as I have now, it almost makes me want to give up drinking all together. It is very rare that anything good comes of it. So why do we continue to do it...night after night after night??? This project may lead to my sobriety. Hahaha.

action

2006-09-28T19:21:00.000-04:00

Elaine and I are planning to meet on Sunday to hammer out some of the details in our proposal. It is now that our project will start to take a definite shape. I'm definitely excited about getting started with production and I'm thrilled we'll have as long as we do to work on it.

When looking over the proposal organizer in the book, I got a little stuck on the action sequences part of it. I guess our action sequences will be of people going out and getting torn down. It will be pretty tough to get anything else besides that. I don't even know what else we could get. But, I mean, I think we'll have a lot to work with in regards to people partying. Stuff will happen. There will be drunken cell-phone fights, possibly physical fights, arrests, etc. Those are all negative things. I think positive things will happen too and that we'll have fun footage, but I think our most interesting moments will be when stuff goes wrong....and it always does.

I don't want to go out with the hopes of something happening. However, I can't exactly choreograph the action that will take place. Like I said, something always happens.

It's going to be interesting to say the least.

excitement

2006-09-26T14:19:00.000-04:00

After the meeting yesterday, Elaine and I are pumped about our doc. I really think it can be good. We are both excited and ready to go.

I really like the idea of taking clips from movies (IE: Anchorman, Kicking & Screaming, etc). I think that will make an excellent point about how the media influences society.

This project is going to be a challenge. And like Shannon said, "most of the good ones are", so hopefully we will put enough into it and we will get it back in the end.

I'm definitely interested in the DIS thing mentioned yesterday too. That would be a perfect opportunity to continue with the project into our last semester.

All in all: I'm pumped. I'm ready to get going!

2006-09-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

Blogging has proved itself useful. The other night I wrote this long blog about our project covering some of the things I thought might be useful. We had a meeting today and I suggesting we reference my blog. From there we were able to make considerable progress in narrowing down our subject. Success!

From sketch ideas paper: "We want to separate the drinking population into groups based on age allowing us to focus on the different mentalities of said groups. Our focus is not to condemn or condone the behaviors of the individuals (or groups) we will be looking at. Rather, we want to show the truth and let those who see the film take from it what they will. Our privelaged point of view has allowed us to develop our own opinions on our subject, but the point of this film is not to force our opinions on our audience, rather, we seek to show how the cycle can affect a person over a period of time, and the importance of taking responsibility for yourself and the choices you make, regardless of what those choices may be."

Basically, we want to look at a sample group from different age groups (18-20, 21-23, 24+) and see how alcohol effects their lives (and what it's previous role was). For instance, we might interview a 19 year-old who drinks 5 nights a week. Consequently, he might have failed a test because he was too hung over to get to class. Inversely, we very well might get a response from a 20 year old who also drinks 5 nights a week and makes straight A's. I think our point for this age group is that there can be negative effects from partying, but they aren't extremely severe. This will go on in the same manor for the other groups. What we are planning to uncover is that as one gets older (if he continues to party like he was 19) the consequences for his actions start to get more and more severe (dui, flunking out of school, family issues, alcoholism, career issues, etc.).

So now we are left with the question of how, exactly, we want to go about the production of this project (as well as completely focusing our topic, as it still needs tweaking). Progress is being made, though.

some specifics

2006-09-17T14:36:00.000-04:00

I need to start blogging more. I've been so busy so far this semester, that this seems to have gotten pushed to the backburner a little bit. Sadly, this blog will be to try and break new ground with the project, as I haven't really done so since our last class meeting. It's time to go to work...

Right now, our chief concern is that we don't want this documentary to turn into a short episode of The Real World or a guide to where to party at in Wilmington. I really like the idea of the drinking cycle and how it effects the different age groups. IE: When you are, say, 18-20, drinking is almost looked at like a sport. You are kind of in limbo with not having a lot of responsibility, you are on your own for the first time, you want to test the waters and experiment a little bit. You go out a lot with the only major consequence being falling behind on school-work (if you're in college). Before you're 21, drinking seems like more of an adventure. It's really fun to get drunk, especially since you're not (legally) supposed to yet.

After you turn, 21, I feel like you move into a different stage. Drinking is still some-what of a sport, but at this point, most people have been engaging in partying for a while and it is, I think, here that alcohol consumption (ironically) begins its downward descent. This often doesn't happen right away, obviously, as an individual is now 21 and more alcoholic doors are open to him. This is when the bar scene comes into play. And this, I think, is what can make or break a person (alcoholically-speaking) for the next few years. Some people really get into the drinking "scene" and start going out at a very frequent rate ('special' followers, you might say) and work their way into drinking circles (example: Wilmington Drinking Team). Others, however, see being 21 as more of a convenience than anything else. If they want to go out, the can, but they don't necessarily have to go out just because they can.

In the case of the first example of early-twenties drinkers, the clock has begun to tick in respects to what is socially responsible behavior. The older you get, the more society expects you to straighten up and come out of the "college phase" of your life. This, however, does not always happen and it is when an individual gets to 23 or 24, that he really has to evaluate what he's doing with his life. By societial standards, once you are that age, you are expected to be, as young adults, more-or-less done with partying. It is time to take a new step in your life: career, family, and so on... So what is it that makes individuals get 'stuck' in this lifestyle. Is it alcoholism? Is it peer pressure? Is it just out-of-habit? Is it a reluctancy to take the next step (something comparable to commitment fears in a relationship)?

I think those are some of the questions we should seek to answer in our documentary. By showing this cycle and talking with these different groups and observing their behaviors, I think we will find some of what we are looking for.

drinking it is!

2006-09-12T21:14:00.000-04:00

Elaine and I have met the last two days to talk about what we want to do our documentary on. We finished our two-idea short sketch thing tonight with the two ideas being A: documentary on drinking habits/cycles in Wilminton and B: the watering down of the entertainment industry and it's effect on society. While the second idea is interesting, we are definitely more interested in the drinking doc.

We talked at length yesterday about a lot of different aspects that we might choose to cover. Our biggest problem right now is narrowing down exactly what our focus should be and how, exactly, we want to go about it. We have a lot of ideas and I think the end product is going to turn out really well. We just need to shape our project and determine what we want to say/accomplish/etc. with it.

catching up.

2006-09-10T16:46:00.000-04:00

I've been out of the blog loop for a couple days. Partly because I've been having computer issues, as is always the case. I accidentily deleted my internet browser and then somehow my password got changed and I couldn't even get on my computer. Thanks to the helpful people at Applecare, though, I am back up and running...and blogging.

My partner (Elaine) and I need to get together and discuss some of our ideas. I checked out her blog and she related some of the things I was thinking out. We both have experience as bartenders and in the bar-industry. It's a pretty interesting job to have...to say the least. Crazy stuff is forever happening. There are always stories to be told...Either of events that happen in a bar or the stories told by patrons themselves.

...So I just talked to Elaine and we're going to meet up tomorrow afternoon and try to get some concrete ideas together. I'm excited about this partnership and I think if we put our combined knowledge and experiences together, we'll be able to come away with some good stuff.

hrm...

2006-09-05T23:27:00.000-04:00

More stuff about the drinking idea...

I just realized that the person I wanted to do the piece on just graduated last semester, which means that him not being knee-deep into his chosen profession isn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. I mean, my girlfriend just graduated last semester with honors and is on the path to a good career, but she isn't working in her chosen field yet either and I'm not making a documentary about her and how she needs to reach her potential. So I guess my topic wouldn't be as good as I had hoped it could be. There is still potential there, but it needs some more thought.

There are also other things popping into my head all the time and if I wasn't so tired, I might try to explore them a little more tonight. However, it is already past my bedtime and my freshly made bed and clean sheets are beckoning me.

Maybe class will spark some new ideas tomorrow..

possible subject

2006-09-03T17:39:00.000-04:00

To follow up my last post, I've tried to think more in specifics about the drinking project. In doing so, I have found a subject that might suit the bill. With that being said, I think that considering the subject I'm thinking about, the bill might have changed. This person is a very good friend of mine, whom I've known for about four years now. He is an ex-room-mate and a current (as well as former) co-worker. He has recently (last December) graduated from UNCW with a degree in Elementary Education. However, instead of starting his career as a teacher, he has continued to live the college lifestyle...He work as a bartender (and now paints on the side). He goes out a lot during the week to party. Basically, he has put off growing up. And although I believe he means to "grow up" eventually, right now he seems to be stuck in a place where he really doesn't know what he wants to do. He is very intelligent. He is the potential to be great in whatever he chooses to do. He is one of the best people, in general, that I know. This is why I think this would be a compelling piece. I think the dynamic of, well, basically fucking off versus moving on and realizing his potential would be a really interesting thing to look out.

Of course, this is a delicate subject, being that we are good friends. I can't just be like, "Hey, why are you being a screw up?" However, after doing some of the reading in the directing the documentary book, I feel like through careful and introspective interviewing, the message could be realized without obtrusive and hurtful objectiveness. I feel like there is the potential for him to realize and display his realization on camera and that, I think, would be emotionally moving.

This person is also one of the most charismatic and interesting people I've ever met as well. He would certainly be anything but a dull subject. Since we're close friends, I think that I would be able to get very genuine coverage as well. He will open up to me and the camera. He won't put up a guard. I've actually talked to him about the possibilities of doing this project and he was very receptive. I didn't discuss with him the more emotional elements of the piece I would be going for, but I think they would come out via the tactics I described previously.

I still want to get all the drunken party footage stuff, but I think that can be worked in as part of a different story rather than actually being THE story.

chronicles of crunk

2006-09-01T13:59:00.000-04:00

I have hatched another idea for a documentary. I was thinking it might be interesting to get a look inside the life of a college binge-partier. From my experience (as being a binger), there are definitely some interesting events and dynamics that would be readily caught on tape. You could do the whole party process. Hang out with the group (or one person) before a night of going out. Interview them with their high hopes and aspirations to go have a killer night out on the town. Then, follow them along for their crazy night on the town, in which you would get all the 'party footage'. This is where a lot of narrative elements would come into play. Getting drunk breeds conflict. Fights with random people, fights with boyfriends/girlfriends...it doesn't have to be fights...that's kind of the interesting thing about it... you never know where a night out is going to lead. You could end up jumping in a water fountain or going streaking through the quads. The thing that is assured (usually) is that something outlandish and worth documenting will happen. So you get all this footage from the night and then follow it up with the day after interviews. They might feel like shit. They might regret a lot of stuff they did. They might have had a wonderful time and want to do it again the next night. It's really un-predictable, but as far as getting a story out of a documentary, I don't really see how it could miss.

rant + film/video debate

2006-08-29T14:33:00.000-04:00

I will start this blog off with a rant. This is the second day in a row that I've gone to the editing lab in Bear Hall to work on my advanced editing project only to be thwarted by a class using the facilities. I guess it's my fault for not knowing the lab schedule, but it still gets to me. Luckily, I should have Final Cut Pro up and running in my house within the next week or so and I won't have to deal with having to do all my work at the unreliable station provided us by UNCW.

What does this have to do with my documentary project? Well, in itself, that rant had nothing to do with the project. However, it did get me thinking about the editing of my future doc and the format that it will be shot in.

I am taking Cinematography this semester and after our first class meeting last night, I learned that I will have access to a 16 mm camera to do with what I please. So I'm wondering if I should shoot DV or film? I've never worked with film before, but I'm quite curious. It would be more expensive, that's for sure.

Anyhow, it's just something else to think about. I suppose I should decide on a project, though, before I decide what format it will be shot in.

satire? music? sports?

2006-08-28T14:30:00.000-04:00

More thoughts on a possible doc:

The pieces on The Daily Show...they're satire, but at the same time, wouldn't they be considered documentary. Granted, I'm sure they manipulate their interviews to make their subject(s) say and do what they want them to, but they are making commentaries on things they are passionate about.

I went to the hammerheads site to see what their schedule looked like and that project might be a no-go. They just finished their season and it looks like they won't be playing again until around April 07. Ob-la-de-ob-la-da. I'm still interested in doing something involving sports.

And what about music? I have some pretty decent connections with local bands/venues that house bands that could prove useful. Maybe a documentary on the Wilmington music scene? I used to work with two of the guys in, arguably, the biggest rock band to come out of Wilmington, ASG. I could get plenty of live footage, as well as interviews with band members, club owners, fans, etc. I wouldn't want it to turn out like a music video or a commercial, though. Hmm...

Sunday afternoon thoughts

2006-08-27T14:12:00.000-04:00

So after have a beer pong tournament at the bar last night and reading some of the stuff in the book, I'm not sure if the beer pong documentary is the right way to go. I'm not ruling it out, but I'm not sure if that's what the professor is looking for or even if that's the kind of thing I should be going after.

The book made it seem like I should only be pursuing projects I was passionate about and it made it seem like it had to be serious and...what's the word...somber, maybe? So my question is can you be serious and passionate and all this stuff and still have something that is fun? I think my biggest talent or asset is my humor, so I naturally lean towards ideas in that vein.

With that being said, I have another idea that would be fun to work on it, but it could carry a more...(serious is not the word I'm looking for)...professional (?) tone: A documentary on the Wilmington Hammerheads soccer team. I'm quite passionate about soccer. I follow about 4 different leagues world-wide and am just addicted to it. In fact, I'm currently watching the U.S. women's national team play China. The book said to find things you're passionate about and that's one of the first things that popped in my mind. I also think you could focus a documentary of this sort into a particular subject. IE: One person on the team...maybe their struggle to get on the team, dreams of going pro, etc.

Anyhow, just some more thoughts...

just some stuff...

2006-08-23T21:36:00.000-04:00

I just got home from the first meeting of Senior Seminar. After watching some of the movies shown tonight, I've been thinking about what my perception of a documentary is and what it could be. I don't know...I guess I've kind of always thought about documentaries as the kind of thing you see on the discovery channel or maybe like a piece on a sports figure or a time-period piece. The films we looked at tonight have expanded what my definition of documentary film-making is. I'm looking forward to continuing my learning in this field and discovering for myself what the possibilities are for my own film-making in the documentary genre.

I discussed the class with my room-mate when I got home and we started kicking around some ideas for possibly documentary topics. One idea that stuck out to me is based around Beer Pong: a popular college drinking game. This spurted from my notion to do a documentary (in some form) about the bar I work at (which my father owns and I manage). We have beer pong tournaments every Saturday night and we get a pretty good crowd for it. It's always an interesting time. Something about alcohol and competition makes for some...interesting situations. Anyhow, my room-mate proposed that I do a documentary on beer-pong instead of the bar. This made some sense to me as there would be a wider range of subject matter to deal with and also that it could be a more fun project to work on. I'm not really sure how comedic documentary would work out, but I'd like to explore the idea a little more thoroughly. I don't know if it would border on mocumentary or not.

Anyhow, just some opening thoughts about things after the first class.