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NEWS

Pre-Production

Making a good film is no walk in the park, there are a lot of various things you need to do, to make a good quality film.  Such as finding a good director, having good ideas, making sure you have all the equipment, and most important, being aware of your time-frame.  For our pre-production, we had to get into our groups first, find a director, get our actors together, and then finally have a talk about the film.  At first, Cindy was the director and Lakin and I were the editors and cinematographers of the group.  Then we had as actors, Sarah, Giselle, Ella, and Take.  We came up with a few ideas and one of them was to have a few pairs of teachers as parents and have each exchange student in the group to be a student looking for a home.  Although we liked this idea a lot, we decided as a group to have it be a more serious commercial and have the exchange students and Sarah talk about why they like host families.  Next, I was switched to the director for some reason, but I stepped up, gave an OK pitch.  Next I had to put a storyboard together and then make sure everyone understood the plan and the roles they would be playing.  So we then had to put the film into production.

Production

During production, our group worked fluently and productively, we had a few hiccup, but we moved past them and got the work done.  First I had to h=gather all of the equipment because I was the director, I came in early and got the: lights, camera (DSLR), batteries, light stand, camera stand, and camera shoe.  We filmed in each of the exchange students' favorite place around the BBA Campus, we filmed in the library, ceramics room, and the senior steps.  Take, Ella, and Giselle, we filmed fine and we could hear the sound perfectly overall.  Unfortunately, we may have forgotten sound or the sound was just too low on Sarah's interview, so after editing and trying to make use of what we had, we had to go back and film her.  We took a few different takes and made sure the sound was working, then when we were satisfied, we went back down and edited the new pieces into the film.  Overall it was an OK film, but there were a few bits and pieces I think we could have fixed if we had more time to do it.  

Post-Production

For Post-Production, we had to edit the film to make it as great as possible.  WE had the idea of having each of our actors say their names first so it would go, "I'm Sarah, I'm Ella, I'm Giselle, I'm Take" so it would have it sound like it was a better film overall.  During editing, we had to make sure there were no pats where an actor slipped up or said um or like, it was our job to pick and choose their best piece from when we filmed.  I didn't really like the overall piece because we didn't have enough time for an ending, we don't even say at all that it is called BBA Host Familes, and it was not the greatest film overall.  Hopefully if we do another film like this, we can make it better quality, a better timeline, and make good use of our time better than we did during the editing piece of this film.

NEW IDEAS 2019

 

1.  vfw:  interview veterans who fought in previous wars.

2.  Interview police about drug problems in Manchester.

Pre-Production

For Pre-production, I had to call the Manchester police station and setup an interview with the police chief.  I had to set up a day that worked for both him and myself and I found that day over the winter break.  Before going, I had to practice setting up the interview by myself including lights, camera, and sound.  I had to make sure I had extra batteries, a battery charger for both lights and camera.  I also had to make sure I had a working light stand and camera stand so that everything would work perfectly.  Once I had mastered setting up everything and practicing how to talk to the person I would be interviewing, I practiced a few more times just to make sure.  My sound I wanted to use a tazcam for, but I ended up using a rode mic instead because it was personally just easier to use.  I know how to use a tazcam effectively, but I didn't want to mess something up with a simple mistake so I just used the rode mic.  Another thing I had to accomplish was broadening my interviewing maybe to Bennington VFW and other places possibly farther.

production

Being my first solo interview with such an important role in the Manchester police force, I would say I did a pretty good job overall.  I did best at interviewing I think because I asked calm, cold yet inviting, and clear most of all.  I usually trip-up on words, but interviewing I was calm and clear, making my words roll off my tongue.  For a few questions, I kept asking questions once he had answered the last one, he had a lot of information to share.  The interview was almost an hour and 15 minutes because I was very intrigued in what he had to say.  By asking a question about a response to get some kind of further answer, I learned that sticking to the script isn't always the best play.  In addition, if I was to just only ask my own questions instead of asking him to elaborate or talk more about a topic, I would only have a half of what I got.  Had I known there was no camera or sound, this would be a great film, but, the world had other plans.  Overall, the interview was a success, I learned what I was able to do and although there is no picture or sound, I know I am capable of doing it.  

post-production

Looking back on the interview, I think it is another learning point, to learn from this mistake so that I don't have to repeat this episode ever again. in addition, I am happy I had him dressed up in his uniform.  Not to mention, I know I used the rule of thirds in my interview, making sure there was an opening, but also having the chief be the prominent focus in the interview.  I will hopefully get the chance sometime in the near future to re-interview Chief Hall, maybe even learn some new facts.  I would rather have a video now so I can showcase my good and strong work, but I know now so I will not repeat this mistake again.  Thinking about the interview now, I think I did a good job besides not pressing the record button, my lighting was good for the most part, the light did tint off of his medals a little.  All in all, I will remember this incident as an accident that will never be forgotten, but never repeated.

PSA IDEAS:

STRESS

  • Adults

-With kids

-With a full time job

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-Interview them on their everyday lives.

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Get to know the Rowlands and see how they have impacted the community

Life of a Freshman/senior at BBA

Looking at teachers and their own lives

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