4.10

Today was sort of a re-cap session on what we did last class (when I wasn't here) and also on the progress of our pre-production for the documentaries. We're going pretty smoothly, apart from the aspect of permission. We've gotten permission from one school, got declined by another school so now we're just waiting on one (or two) more. I was surprised that we got declined because I thought that schools would usually welcome opportunities to show their school working together with other schools. I guess they didn't think it was a good idea. But I think this is good, going through this whole process and experiencing the ups and downs because in the real world there aren't any guarantees.

Thing's aren't always go the way you planned and we just have to figure out ways to move around our setbacks, make new plans or revise old plans. I think the good thing was that we were prepared for any situation, although we are still new at this and there are a lot of things we still need to learn. I'm not panicking yet, so it's still okay!

Ms.Rosati set up the camera and the sound system for us to show us how to do an interview. This is different from last year in that last year when we used the microphones, we didn't put headphones on to check if the sound was good or okay or not working out. We didn't know that last year, but this year hopefully the sound will turn out better, especially because our unit focuses on sound. I learned that when filming an interview, the interviewee looks to the left or to the right or slightly off to the distance of the camera, never directly to the camera. They should always have a focal point to where they look at. For some weird reason I had this notion that the camera person was the one to give the questions. Perhaps that's because sometimes when you watch interviews, they don't show the interviewer, or you don't even hear the question, all you see is the interviewee

answering. Now I know that that's not the case :)

Another thing I learned (from the make-up session our group had because we missed last class) is that you should always angle the camera slightly above the person's head. Not too much higher, just a little bit. This is to create a more flattering image of the person. I think that it isn't good to position the camera level with the person because to me, it seems a little overwhelming and up in people's faces, especially with a close up.

"Love means never having to say you're sorry." - Love Story