Production Log: Cinematography Preparation

Production Log, Part Four: Cinematography Preparation

Go to the interview site a day or two before your scheduled shoot in order to do some scouting. Write an entry considering the following: the setting and precise framing of the shot; the establishing shots; potential cut-away and cut-in shots. Why are you doing the interview there and how are you setting up the shot? What is revealed about the interviewee by the choice of setting and framing? How will the establishing shots, CASs, and CISs provide context for the interview and tie it into the rest of the documentary? Finally, how can you link your interview visually to the rest of the documentary? Do you refer to any of our collective visual motifs? Is there another motif that we should bring into the whole documentary?

The filming will go as follows:

Establishing shot of the band room, pan to the marching field where we practice, pan back to the band room.

Student Interviews: Inside the band room. If it is too noisy for good-quality sound for the interview, there will be another establishing shot of the band room and the people practicing in it. The interview will then be conducted within either of the sound-proofed practice rooms (the Tuba Room and the Percussion Room) or outside on the patio. However, the interview will take place in the main band room if at all possible. When I am interviewing only one person, I will use medium close-up framing. If I am interviewing two people, or a person holding their instrument, I will use mid-shot framing or wide-shot framing, depending on the size of the instrument. The setting of the band room serves several purposes: it is convenient for those being interviewed, it shows non-band students what the band room looks like, and it sets the proper atmosphere for a series of interviews about band.

Interview with the Director and Drum Major(s) : Inside the Band Directors’ sound-proof office. There will be an establishing shot of the entire office before the interview. I will use mid-shot framing to include both people and a bit of the office. The office will be used for the interview because it is convenient for the interviewees, it is soundproof, and it shows the Directors’ working place.

Cut-in shots:
I’m not sure that I will be using cut-in shots. It seems a bit odd to suddenly move from an interviewee’s face to their hands with no explanation, and such a tactic may throw them off-guard or prompt them to ask what we are doing, which would interrupt the flow of the interview. Also, I don’t see that cut-in shots will add much to these interviews. As I stated above, students holding instruments will have mid-shot or possibly even wide-shot framing (depending on the instrument’s size), to allow the audience to see the instrument, how it is held, how its owner treats it, and so on. Cut-in shots don’t really seem necessary.

Cut-away shots:
Unlike cut-in shots, I think that cut-away shots could add great value to the interviews. Instead of simply watching people talk, we could insert footage of the band’s morning practices, or a halftime performance. I would especially like to get a shot of the Dancer cadence (also known as the ‘jumping-up-and-down-song’) at a football game, because it really shows the effect the band has on the crowd, along with the allowing the opportunity for a close up of the band ‘in action.’ Another possibility for cut-aways would be to include shots of the interviewees practicing their respective instruments. These shots could be inserted into each respective interviewee’s allotted time, so that as we heard a person talking, we also saw them practicing their instrument. Another nice cut-away would be to simply set up the camera in a corner of the band room and just show people socializing, practicing, coming in and out, and so on. This would show the normal after-school atmosphere of the band room, which—while nothing new to band students—could be interesting (or disappointing, depending on previous expectations) to non-band people.

Linking it to the rest of the documentary:
I plan to obtain footage of the band’s performances at football games. A possible way to link the band section to the rest of the documentary would be to move the focus of both the camera and the documentary from the band’s performance at games to the football team itself, or to the cheerleaders or fans.

Production Log: Interview Preparation

Production Log, Part Three: Interview Preparation

Redefine your essential questions, target audience and desired response based on your research and follow-up. Then draw up specific goals for the interview you’ve decided to conduct and reflect on the following questions: How do you see this interview fitting into the documentary as a whole? What angle are you going to use to get what you want out of the interview? (What’s your plan of attack, so to speak?) Next, sketch out the questions—both baseline (contextualizing / informational) and complicating—that you need to accomplish your goals. Finally (and most importantly), rethink your approach. Try to anticipate some of the ways in which your interview might turn out differently than expected. What assumptions have you made in composing your questions ? (There’ll probably be a lot of them!)

Though our documentary as a whole is about all the stereotypes at Punahou, I am covering only those that have to do with band. The series of interviews I will be making will fit easily in the documentary, because band is one of the major groups that is stereotyped very often. Because of this, everyone I will be interviewing will be associated with the band in some way. The target audience for this particular segment will be those in band, those who stereotype band students, and those interested in band. Hopefully my interviews will give non-band students information to form different, more accurate opinions on band students. More specifically, I want the interviews to show varying personalities, age groups, and opinions throughout the band. Some interviews will provide information, and others will be more for entertainment value. Others will be both—amusing even as they provide insights.

Questions~
(Required questions are in bold print)

Who are you?
-What grade are you in?
-What instrument do you play?
-What role do you play in the band (i.e. membership, section leader, etc.)
What social groupings do you see around you at Punahou?
Which do you associate yourself with?
Can we follow you?
How do you feel about the stereotypes associated with your social group?
Do you think there are ethnic stereotypes at Punahou? Do you think ethnicity affects who hangs out with who?
Have you ever been stereotyped or trash-talked because of your involvement with the band?
What do you think the stereotypical ‘band geek’ is, and what do you think of that stereotype?
What stereotypes about the band do you think are the most insulting or inaccurate? Which do you think are the most accurate?
What frustrates you most about band stereotypes?
What are some facts about band that you think would surprise those not in it? What are some facts about band that you wish people outside of it knew?
What are some stereotypes within the band? How are they used (i.e. as jokes, or in an insulting way)? Are they wide-spread? How accurate are they, if at all?
How involved are you in the band? How do you feel about the band (i.e. do you enjoy it, do you particularly like it, or is it just another class)?

Obviously, few (if any) of these interviews will go exactly as planned. I have made several assumptions when choosing my questions, one of the biggest being that the people I am interviewing actually care about band and are aware of the stereotypes surrounding it and within it. However, I know everyone that I am interviewing, and I know that all of them are involved enough and care enough about the band to be aware of all of these things. However, not everyone will necessarily be willing to open up and discuss stereotypes freely. If that is the case, the interview will not get very far, and will probably have to be cut. Other than that, I don’t see any big potential problems other than technical ones having to do with the equipment.

Essential Question Response: Thinking Positive!!!! :D

What will make me happy?

I have decided to make a list of all the reasons I am happy now, and a list for the future of why I should be happy, with a reason for every day of the week.

Why I am Happy Now:

• When we listened to the judges' commentary on our performance at Parade of Bands, neither of them said anything bad about my solo.
• When I was practicing French Horn after school, one of the band directors came out of his office and told me that I've improved tons and sound really good.
• Tomorrow I have tons of breaks.
• All my homework is done.
• I got a good grade on the last math test.
• I hung out with friends after practicing, and laughed a lot.
• This is a pretty picture:
  

Reasons to be Happy Every Day of the Week:
Monday-- I get to see friends at school, I get to go to the band room, MuggleNet updates the Caption Contest, and MuggleCast comes out with a new PodCast episode
Tuesday-- 'Shrub Monkeys' (an internet comic strip) is updated, it is no longer Monday, and I have French Horn lessons
Wednesday-- Halfway through the week, Lost is on, and this week it's my friend's birthday and we have a band concert
Thursday-- 'Tales From Band Camp' is updated, Television Without Pity comes out with a new Lost review / parody / summary, and it's almost Friday
Friday-- Anime Club, traditional family buffet / movie night, and it's FRIDAY (also, during the marching season there's either a football game today or tomorrow)
Saturday-- It's the weekend (also, during the marching season there's either a football game today or there was one yesterday, which means that in addition to marching band fun, I'm at a sleepover or about to be)
Sunday-- It's the weekend, my homework and chores are done, I am free, and tomorrow I get to see my school friends again

Strangely, I am now less happy than when I started writing this. Probably because I mentioned marching band a few times and am now suffering (again) from Marching Band Withdrawal Syndrome. *sigh* 3 months and four days until the first day of band camp...

Essential Question Response: Ka Wai Ola

What will make me happy?

Before I begin my real post, I want to follow up on a previous blog entry about the band concert. On Friday, we played in the Parade of Bands, which is a music festival where bands play and are judged. We haven't gotten our scores yet, but I do know that I did not slaughter my solo as I expected to. Hopefully I can put a recording of the concert up soon.

Now on to the real post.

My friend Chelsea and I recently signed up to be on the staff of Ka Wai Ola, which is a small book of short stories, art, and poems written by students. There are two books made every school year-- a winter edition and and spring edition. Chelsea and I read the winter edition and really enjoyed it, so we are now helping to put together the spring edition.

I really enjoy reading different submissions and discussing them, and it's going to be a great feeling when everything is assembled and I can hold the final product in my hand, and know that I was a part of the process that made it possible. It's a really fun thing to be involved in, and I look forward to signing up again next year.

Essential Question Response: Solo!

What will make me happy?

First of all-- I had to put this in here-- one thing in the recent past has made me very, very happy. My class has, at last, finished 'The Woman Warrior', and while there is still a final paper to be written, I nonetheless greatly enjoyed the feeling of slamming that [expletive deleted] book shut.

Now on to the real post.

At 4:30 on April 27th, a bit more than a week from now, I will be sitting in an auditorium, preparing for my first band performance of 2007. Normally this would be a happy-- maybe a bit stressful-- occasion, but fun. Nothing to worry too much about-- after all, if you know the music, what could go wrong? Sadly, if you are first chair and have a solo, the answer is 'everything.'

Don't get me wrong-- I absolutely love band, love playing French Horn, and was thrilled to find that my favorite song of the concert (Into the Raging River by Steven Reineke) contained two solos for me to play. But as the performance approaches, I am getting more than a bit nervous. While I can play the music, and normally don't get nervous attacks at concerts, solo is obviously very different. Playing forte while everyone else is playing piano (or not playing at all) is fine. But doing so in front of a large crowd of people-- some of whom are judges-- is not.

I am not a stranger to panic attacks--I've had them during auditions, before performances, when a Certain Someone is in the vicinity-- and they are not pleasant. All I can say is that sweaty hands and a high heart rate are not going to help my musicality.

But now to cut off the rant of stress and panic. I am doing my best to view these solos as an opportunity. I have a chance to perform and show my love of music to people outside of my school, a chance for me, and me alone, to convey that love of music to everyone listening. If I focus on that, instead of imagining bloodthirsty judges with pencils poised to record every mistake (too late!), I know that I'll be able to overcome the panic and play for the reason I am in band: because I love music. And music makes me very, very happy. And by thinking of that, by getting lost in the music instead of the stage-lights, I can play well. Which will also make me very happy.

Introduction / the Purpose of Blogging

I believe that when you write, you should show a character's personality through stories and actions, instead of simply telling. I'm going to do the same as I describe myself-- I'm going to tell stories.

I'm the kind of person who, on a four-day weekend off from school, will spend my day home alone listening to World War Two radio broadcast recordings on my dad's record machine.

I'm the kind of person who plasters my room walls with posters of people like Gandalf, Dumbledore, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, and the Beatles. In fact, I only have one poster in my room that would be socially acceptable by the standards of non-geeks, and it's of Jack Sparrow.

I'm the kind of person who will spend as little time as possible on Algebra homework, but only so that I can hurry on to English and History.

I'm the kind of person who would rather die than dance in public... unless I'm with my friends and we're listening to 'Popular'-- for irony's sake-- on someone's iPod speakers, and we all get up to sign along and do what we call the foot-dance.

I'm the kind of person who believes-- and has acted on the belief-- that it is better to have a friend who hates you but is alive than to have a dead friend.

I'm the kind of person who will laugh until I cry on the bus because I'm reading something funny, and not care about the weird looks I get.

I'm the kind of person who, during the fall, lives for football games-- but only because football season is Marching Band season.

I'm the kind of person who gets high off Root Beer, roller coasters, and fun.

I'm the kind of person who might commit murder if I hear the phrase "This one time, at band camp..."

I'm the kind of person who will never judge a friend but is a bit too quick to judge someone who judges.

I'm the kind of person who write incomprehensible sentences that use the same word too many times.

And most importantly to me, I'm the kind of person who will never let a friend down, who will never drink and drive, who will never willingly hurt someone, and who will always try to help the people I love.

Being who I am (a geek stuck in the past, to be blunt) I don't particularly want a MySpace or a FaceBook. But for a while I have wanted a blog, and now, with this English assignment, I have the excuse to get one. Blogging means being able to share your views with the entire world without the distractions of 'friends' or reviewers or stalkers. Blogging gives you a chance to really take advantage of the Internet: you can link to your favorite websites, play music, show videos, post pictures... anything the Internet has to offer, you can somehow incorporate into a blog. And there isn't so much distraction that you forget the lovely old days of just reading and listening. You can have recordings of old radio broadcasts, quote books, or even just write your heart out without any fancy technological additions. Have a blog also means that as soon as you have finished writing something, it can be out in the world in seconds. It is a wonderful feeling to know that after I post this-- sitting in my home in Hawaii-- someone in England or Australia or South Africa can find out about me, get to know me, and talk to me-- all within an hour. So despite being stuck in the past when it comes to music and history, I love the Internet, and already I love blogging. Blogging means communication, potential, entertainment, and above all, freedom.