ALERT **MAJOR MAJOR SETBACKS** ALERT

 Oh my god, today was a horrible horrible day. Everything that could have gone wrong, WENT WRONG. 

IPAD DISASTER

    First of all, my phone was acting kind of crazy today because every time I would turn it off, it would not want to turn on again. Then on the bus, I accidentally left my AirPods. THEN once I got home, I checked my iPad and it was completely broken. Expect the thing is that there were no visible cracks in it, and it was instead an internal problem. In the past, my iPad had a small crack in the screen protector, but that was easily fixed by replacing the screen protector. This is a much harder problem to fix though because it is internal. I am not sure what happened exactly, since it was fine in the 8th period. I think I might have dropped my bag too hard on the ground, which caused it to internally break.

[MY BROKEN IPAD :((]

    My dad said that he would bring it to a company to fix it. I asked him if the things on it would be saved, but then he scared me by saying that it might not be, since nothing on my iPad is connected to iCloud for some reason. I could lose all my notes, videos, photos, and more. Now you might be wondering why I am bringing this up in my AICE media blog, but it is mainly because there is a chance that I might lose the VIDEOS that I have been recording for the last two weeks. My dad ended up not bringing the iPad to the company because he is trying to back it up before he does. I am really hoping it works because I don't want any of the footage to be lost since I worked so hard to film all of it for the past two weeks. I would also not have an opportunity to film it again since there will not be another tech week for a show until the end of April. I am praying that once he takes it to the shop tomorrow, they will be able to fix it and all of my data will still be there. 

REHEARSAL

    Every Monday I go to the little kid's theater rehearsal because I am one of the stage managers and dance captains for the show. I wasn't going to record them at first since I wanted the documentary to focus on the technical aspect. However, just in case I don't get the footage backed up, I started filming them too, just so I have something to work off of for my documentary. The footage is okay, but I really hope that I get the old footage back, because that is the one that was really focused on the backstage elements. I also found out some pretty bad news at rehearsal. When I was talking to Andrea, she said that Johnny was now...

HOSPITALIZED!!

    Andrea said that while he was taking down the sets after the shows, he was using these big magnets that were helping stand them up. These magnets are very powerful, and if you let go of them too quickly, they can severely injure you. This is exactly what happened to johnny since one of the magnets cut into his skin pretty deeply. Some pieces of the magnet also got into the injury, meaning that it infected it more. Also, Andrea said that johnny refused to properly clean the injury since he wanted to seem "tough like a man" (Andrea's words, not mine!) However, all of this backfired, and now he is in the hospital for surgery. 

    Just in case you forgot, Johnny is the guy that builds the sets for the shows, and I was going to go film his warehouse and also interview him. Since he is in the hospital, I can't do it anytime soon. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, he is injured, which is a very very scary thing. Andrea said that he will be better soon, and I really hope that he has a good recovery, because I know that surgery can be a very scary thing. Hopefully, he is able to get back into the groove of things! I will also be praying for him today too! 

Praying to God

(disclaimer: I have never prayed in my life, I am Buddhist and don't believe in god 👀😅) I knew everything was running way too smoothly and perfectly. Something bad was bound to happen sooner or later, it was off-putting how perfectly things were going. Hopefully, all of this mess clears over quickly, since it is causing major setbacks in my project. 

Show day!

The day everyone has been waiting for...

SHOW DAY!!

    It's a little different than normal though because I am not in the show! Today was the first day that I have actually been available to watch an Inside Out Show! I can't believe that I have never done it before since I have been with the company for 10 years! It's because it's the first time I have not teched a show since this one was a little bit too demanding to tech since it required coming in every day for two weeks for rehearsal. I was able to get some record some of it, but not much, which I might be using for the documentary. I wanted to try and get an audience perspective of the show, but some of the footage is no good because there are heads blocking some of the main scenes. Hopefully, I'll be able to use a little of it though! It was so impressive to see the entire thing from an audience perspective, instead of a backstage perspective. It really shows that people don't see all the work that goes on behind the set and up on the balcony! It was an insanely good production, and I would recommend everyone to check the show out since it is so entertaining and funny. Okay enough bragging about the theater company and all my talented friends in the show

[One of my insanely talented friends in the show!]

    It was really interesting to watch the show after knowing how much hard work goes into a show, especially at this scale. I realized, however, that I had never actually been to an entire tech rehearsal for the show though, so there were some elements in the play "going wrong" that I didn't even know about, which was a nice surprise for me. For instance, there was a part of the show where all of the set pieces fall down at the end, which must have been a real struggle for them to practice. This could show the safety that goes into teching a show because in order for no one to get hurt, the actors had to be in a very specific place in order to not get hit.

[The set after the entire set fell apart!]

    Also, the actors had to be very quick thinking in case something did actually go wrong. For instance, one of the characters was having a mental breakdown in the scene, but the actor got so into it that they actually rolled off the stage! However, with quick thinking, she was just able to go with it and continue if nothing wrong happened. This really showed me how much quick thinking goes into not only being in a show but also teching it. In case something does go wrong, the crew needs to be on their toes and find another way to fix the problem.

Anecdote!

    The last show that I personally teched was beauty and the beast for something little kids. There were a lot of things that went wrong technically in the show, but the tech crew was able to quickly fix them by thinking quick on their feet. For instance, in the middle of the scene, there was a costume mishap, and belles dress started completely falling down. I was the closest to the stage at the time, so I walked in dressed as a villager and fixed it as soon as she stopped singing. Andrea up in the light booth was able to dim the lights in this area as I quickly fixed the dress, as soon as she saw me walk on stage. I asked my brother about it later, and he said that he didn't even notice the mistake! It really goes to show how much effort the tech crew puts in, order to make the show seem like it's running smoothly

    seeing how the tech crew reacts so fast to mistakes made me realize that one important question I should ask the interviewees is to tell me stories of tech mistakes that they have experienced, and what they did in order to fix them!

Audience Audience Audience

    Now you might be thinking that the audience is the people that are going to watch the play on stage tomorrow, but in this case, the audience is actually the people that will be watching my documentary.

[the cast and crew bowing to their "audience"]

    My audience is young and middle age people of all genders that are interested in theater or the arts in general. This means that I need to make my documentary engaging enough for people that are experienced in the art. Also based on my past research, I should try to add some funny elements in order for my documentary to be more engaging. This is especially important for the younger audience since their attention spans are much shorter than older people. 

Tips!

    I have done some research on how to make the audience engaged in a documentary, by Buffon media. It first starts off by saying that documentaries are becoming more popular, meaning it is harder to engage audiences in them.

    The first tip is to inform the audience without giving them too much information. If you overflow the audience with information, especially in the beginning, then it can be hard to consume all the information. One tip it says is to "give them bite-sized pieces of information that they can easily absorb." I might be able to accomplish this by putting breaks in between some of the speakings, so it is easier to digest the information. I should be able to cut out all unnecessary elements, and only focus on things that are clear and interesting, in order to keep the audience engaged.

    It also says that I should "keep it relatable." If people are able to relate to the documentary, then they are more able to understand it better. The overall message should be familiar and not consuming so that they are able to understand it better. Even if some details are not relatable, the entire concept should be relatable. 

    Using stunning visuals is another way to keep the audience engaged. This is easy for me to achieve, since the entire process of the backstage production of theater is very cinematic, especially with all the lighting enacted. It is all very interesting to look at, especially because it is something not everyone sees every day. 

    Lastly, I should create a lasting message. This way, the audience will remember people even after watching the documentary. I have decided that I want my lasting message to be for people to not underestimate the amount of effort that goes into putting up a show, specifically on the technical side. I want people to appreciate everything that goes on behind the scenes, even if it can't be seen from the audience's perspective. Nothing could be accomplished without the tech crew, and I want my documentary to really highlight everything that they do. Hopefully, my documentary promotes what they do, and makes people appreciate them more. 

Documentary Tips!

Backwards Approach

    I have already done most of the filming for the documentary because my process has been kind of backward because of my circumstances. Usually, the first week would be used for research and planning for the project, but I took the time to film my B-roll during the first week. The good thing is... now I finally get to get more research done!

    Today I will be focusing more on tips on how to make a documentary good, overall. In order to gain the tips, I've done some research online, and have found some articles that that been able to help me!

Ken Burns

    The first article that gave me a lot of tips on how to make a good documentary is entitled "Filmmaker Ken Burn's Top Tips for Documentary Cinematography" documentary. 

    There are 6 main types of documentary genres, each of which has different techniques that go with the. By identifying the genre, it is easier to follow the right techniques. My documentary would be considered either an expository or observational documentary. I am not sure what type it is yet don't because I don't really know what to focus my documentary on... I know what to do with the broad idea of theater tech, but I don't know specifically what I want to showcase. This is why I don't know what type it is going to be. It might be biased, like an expository documentary, or completely untouched, like an observation documentary observation. 

    The first tip is to use a visual style. This means that there needs to be a consistent style that is used throughout the piece. 

    The second tip is to engage the audience with the types of shots that are used. I have tried to get some close-ups to make the audience really feel close to the tech crew and aspects of theater tech. I have especially tried my best to do this definitely trying to capture the emotion of the tech crew, by getting close-ups of what they were doing. When I do a film from the workshop, I will definitely take this into more consideration, and try to keep the audience engaged with all the shots that I take. One way I will do this is by having handheld shots, to make them more point-of-view-esque, to make the audience really feel like they are in the workshop.

    The third tip is to use live cinematography instead of archival footage. This is something I will definitely be doing since I shot all the footage in the present time, and don't need to use any footage from the past. 

    The last tip is to light your interviews properly. When I do get to this part of the stage, I will definitely be achieving this by using my ring light. My best interviews for my last documentary were accomplished by using this light. I also learned that it is much better to film interviews inside rather than outside since the outside weather cannot effect the noise when you are inside!

[Ken Burns]

Michael Moore

    The second article that also gave a lot of handy tips was "Micheal Moore's 13 rules for making documentary films." 

    First, he starts out by saying "don't make a documentary- make a MOVIE." People do not want to watch documentaries in order to be lectured about something. They watch them to be entertained! This means that in order to make a good documentary, they must be entertaining! He says that laughter is the best way to get a message across. It helps to grasp hard issues better since they are able to laugh through the documentaries and keep being entertained. He says that rather than getting the message of a documentary across, filmmakers should focus on the art of cinema. And letting people enjoy watching the cinema. 

    The second tip is "Don't tell me shit I already know." He says haven't things documentaries that documentary should provide new information that is not already known. He wants documentarians to find a new perspective to the start people have not seen before, causing them to start thinking of things from a new perspective. In relation to the audience, "take them someplace they haven't things been. show them something they've never seen." When people see things that they've haven't already seen, they are numb to it. this is why I have to present something that they've never really seen before. 

    He also says that it's important to make a film personal. This doesn't always mean directly putting yourself in front of a camera though. People want to see a documentary with the sound of a personal voice. I need to find someone that truly loves teaching theater in order to have a genuine perspective on it

    He says that you should film people that disagree with you, when possible. I don't know if this is possible in this case since it might be found to find someone that disagrees that theater tech is important, but it would add an interesting outside perspective to the documentary. If anything, I could interview a random person about what they know about the backstage element of theater, to show that it is an underappreciated art. Maybe! I could even start out with this, to show how little people know about the behind-the-scenes of theater. Then I could transfer t what they actually do in order important to show how important it is. I know I wanted to include a little kid in my documentary. Maybe this is where they could be included!

[Michael Moore]

Hopefully, later on in the process, I will be able to check out some of the films made by ken burns and Michael Moore. I am especially interested in Michael Moore's style of making documentaries. and hope to check out one of his soon!

Using my own tips...

    Today I was able to film one more tech day before the show. I also put my blog post to use, and was able to film more things that I forgot about since I wrote them in the blog post!

Fixing Elements

    The first element I was able to capture a little bit of was the costumes. Since I can't get the actual filming of people putting on costumes, I instead captured them getting fitted into them. The little kids cast just happened to be doing this today, so I filmed Andrea measuring the kids. I was also able to capture Clara inputting these values into a document so that they can be used for costumes in the future. 

    One part that I forgot to record last time was up in the booth with Andrea. This time I was able to go up, and film a lot more footage of Andrea reacting to things, her writing down lighting cues, and just the actual buttons that are pressed for all the lighting. Up in the booth, I was also able to video the tech crew putting on their headsets. I wanted to get the cast to put on their mics, but they were not doing a mic day, so I was unable to record this. However, putting on the headsets can replace this part because I wanted to record!

    I also wanted to record the lighting and just the actual tech parts of the theater. I was able to capture a lot of good footage backstage of the wires and boxes on the wall, that is physically part of the theater. It was interesting to take a good look at them because although I have been performing in theater for 10 years, I've technical never actually looked at the technical aspects of the theater. 

    Lastly, I was able to get a lot of good footage of the stage managers in general. I was able to capture some good moments of them just hanging out, and also them working hard. I think having a good balance of both of these elements is important because it shows the closeness of the crew, but also shows how hard they work in order to put on a great show!

[Me and my sister filming!]

Super Scary Story...

    Okay so there is this really scary guy that works at the sunrise civics center that EVERYONE is afraid of (even my director). If we make the, smallest mistake in his theater, then he yells at us. Because of him, everyone is on their best behavior at all times. When I and my sister were recording, we wanted to get more footage of the warehouse area of the theater, cause I thought it would be good to include that part too. I especially wanted to get some footage of the actual desk that the scary guy works at. My sister thought it would be a bad idea because if the guy caught up looking at his stuff, we thought he would yell at us. However, I really wanted to get the footage, so I captured it very very quickly. In the process of doing so though, I heard noises coming from nearby, so we "fled the crime scene!" Turns out it was just our imaginations though because we found him far away from the desk.

    Later, I felt bad for secretly recording his desk though, so I gathered enough courage to actually ask him if I could use the footage in my documentary. He said yes! This just goes to show that some people just seem scary on the outside, until you actually start talking to them!

[The desk!!]

The most important part...

Main Interviewees!

Nicole

Nicole is someone that I am very close friends with, so it will be easy to interview her. I already asked her months ago to be in my other documentary, but I, unfortunately, had to cut her since the audio of her interview was pretty bad. Plus, there were way too many interviewees in my other doc. However this time, I asked her if she wanted to be in this documentary, and she agreed! She is a good person to interview since she has been teaching shows as a stage manager for a little bit now, so she has experience with it!

[cutie pie Nicole!]

Andrea

Andrea is another one of the stage managers who I'm really close with. It would also be easy to interview her, since she lives in Weston, and is actually neighbors with Nicole! I was asking if I could record both of them on the same day at the same time since they live so close to each other. This is exactly what I did with two of my interviewees for my last doc because I brought them both to the same house at the same time, so I could utilize my time wisely because. It worked out so well, so hopefully, I'll be able to do that this time too!

[me and Andrea!]

Johnny

    I have spoken about Johnny before, and how he invited me to come to his warehouse to film him actually making sets by hand. Hopefully, I will find an opportunity to go there to not only film B-roll but also interview him. It would be great to have such a different perspective on the technical parts of the theater, coming from him. I already spoke to my dad about it, and he said that he's willing to drive me there, the only problem is that I will be busy every weekend for the next 4 weeks. Hopefully, I can travel there on a Friday? Who knows, but I really hope I'll be able to make it happen!

Andrea #2

Andrea #2 is different than the first Andrea. She is the person that is in charge of all projections and music while the show goes on. She is also the director's right-hand man in everything. During the rehearsals for the little kids, I am always next to her. I always observe her doing so much for the shows, But I never truly know what she is doing. I have seen her make costume lists and prop lists for the show, so I know that is one thing that she does. She is someone really important that I need to interview since she is such a big part of the technical part of our theater company. Hopefully, I'll learn more about it when I interview her! The only issue is that I'm not sure where she lives. I have a feeling that it might be pretty far away, which is my only obstacle so far in interviewing her </3

Backups

    These are people that I am not really close with or people that I don't think are necessary to be included. However, I want to have them as choices in case something happens with my main 4 interviewees listed above. 

Clara or Mari

Both Clara and Mari are in charge of costumes. However, all they do is alter the costumes. And they are not very experienced in it, it is just something that they do in their free time. This is why they are not in the main 4, but they are still important to the process since they help everyone fix their costumes

Audrey

Audrey is Clara's sister. She is in middle school, so she is significantly younger than the rest of the tech crew. She wasn't an official tech crew member, but she did help out a lot for the last little kids' show, even though she was the same age as them. It might be interesting to get a perspective from a person of a different age, instead of doing both Andrea and Nicole, since they will probably have the same perspective since they are the same age. Adding Audrey relates to me adding the 8-year-old to my other documentary since it gave a whole other perspective to the entire thing. the only problem is that I am not close to her, so it might be hard to get in contact with her. It was easy with the other younger interviewee since she is my neighbor. I will try to make it happen though!

[me with 4 of my potential interviewees: Audrey, Clara, and Andrea #2!]

Martina

Martina is the president of the junior board. She plays an important part in the behind-the-scenes of the actual company, and not the shows. I am also a part of the junior board, as I am the event coordinator. The junior board is in a change of promoting the shows and making events for the company. The reason why she is not in the main 4 is that she doesn't really help with the actual backstage of putting up a production. It is more company work, which strays away from the main project. However, she is still an important part of theater, which is why I am including her here. 

[me and Martina! (as mersisters <3)]

murphy

Murphy is in charge of all the sound at the theater that we go to. I don't really understand how sound and music work, but interviewing her could add another perspective to it. The only problem is that I am also not close with her, and she lives far away, so it could be hard to contact her to get the interviewee. 

Time for something different

 Research!

    This is much different than my last two blog posts, which were about filming. Even though filming is an important part of the process, what's even more important is the research that goes behind it! Based on the research I conducted, people describe putting up production as "baking a cake." People usually just enjoy the end product of the cake, but they don't realize how much effort it takes to bake the cake, just like what it's like to put up a show. People in the audience don't realize how much time it takes to rehearse for the show. What's even more, they don't realize all the technical aspects that make up the show, which is what my documentary focuses on this time. 
    According to one of my articles, it says "With tasks like building sets, learning to design lighting and sound for a show, creating and sewing costumes, or serving as stage manager, students who are majoring in theater learn an array of behind-the-scenes jobs." These show the many aspects of putting up a show. 

"Building sets"

    So far, I need to record the building of the sets aspect, which I will hopefully be able to do once I go to Johnny's workshop to film him working. So far, I do have some shots of the toolboxes that he uses. I also have shots of him working on the set by fixing small elements of it. I also even have a time-lapse of them putting on the entire set! It looks very cool, and I will definitely include a little bit of it in my documentary

[The really nice set with really nice lighting!]

"Learning to design lighting and sound for a show"

    I have barely any footage of how the lighting and sound work. The next time I go and film next week, I will definitely focus on getting footage from the booth, which is where all of that takes place. There are so many aspects to the tech booth, and I only got to film one video last time. I will also ask Andrea, the person in charge of it, to show me the different parts of the booth so I can capture everything that goes into the lighting and sound. I will also try to get footage of the actors putting on the mics since that is an important part of the show too. I might also try to get footage of the cast doing a mic check; from both the cast's perspective and the tech crew's perspectives. I wish I could get close-ups of the lights, but they are unfortunately very high up on the ceiling. I will try to capture a ceiling shot though so that the overall lighting arrangement can be seen!

[super duper cool lighting controls!]

"creating and sewing costumes"

    As of now, I don't know where all the costumes for the shows. What I do know is that they are not custom-made, instead get they are from a big warehouse. I have never seen the collection of costumes, but hopefully, I can get in contact with whoever is in charge of costumes. This might be hard to do though, so I might just have to resort to filming the costumes that we already have for the show. Next time I go to film, I will try to capture moments where people are helping pin and alter the clothes to fit them right. 

"Serving as stage manager"

     This is something that I have a lot of footage of, such as when they have to bring set pieces off stage. However, something that I also need to capture is just moments between the stage crew that are wholesome. meaning, not only when they are working, but also when they are just engaging with each other. Something important that I want to show is not only how a show is put up, but also how it can bring people closer together!

[My favorite people (the tech crew!) are hard at work]

Credits

https://www.gvsu.edu/gvmagazine/backstage-pass.htm

You guessed it... more filming!

A New Setting     

    I was able to go for another day this week to film! I decided not to go on the 15th, because I would be getting the same type of footage from the 14th since they were still testing out all the set pieces. Since its a pretty far drive to the theater, my parents said that I could only go a maximum of 2 days a week, since I have other homework to do </3 So I decided to pick today since I knew that they would be doing lighting and costumes! This would make the footage much different than the footage I already got. In just these two days of filming, I have 300 videos of B-roll, but most of them are very short. I always think it's better to have an excess of something, than too little! You can never be safe. I also liked the variety of B-rolls that I was able to capture today! I also think it looks so much cooler since the lights make everything look so so pretty.

Different Aspects

    Not only did the setting of the space look different, but I was also able to capture a lot of new aspects as well. For instance, I was able to get the tech crew actually do their jobs backstage, instead of them just test-running the sets. I was also able to go up to the booth and see what they were doing there, which is so much different than what goes up on the actual stage. It was so cool to see all the different buttons. One of the people that I definitely want to interview is Andrea, who is in charge of all the fancy buttons that control all the lights and music! I was also able to capture how the TikToks for the company was made. This is run by the president of the junior board, and I was able to film her actually making the TikTok with the cast. So not only was I able to film the behind-the-scenes of the show, but I was also able to film the "behind-the-scenes" of  the TikToks, which is also an important aspect of theater (promoting the show on social media!)

[A selfie I took while I was behind the set! My friend is one of the tech people that I was filming]

Fancy Camera...

    I had a really good opportunity today to use a nice camera! One of my friends was filming the trailer to promote the show on social media, and he let me use his camera! He is in broadcast at American heritage, and has been involved in film since he was in elementary school, so he owns a pretty nice camera! He said that I could use it in order to get good close-ups. Based on what I was seeing when I was filming, it looked really nice. I really hope that he will be able to send me that footage so that I can use it for my documentary! If not, I can always use the footage that I filmed on my phone, since I have so much of it. I didn't want to rely on the footage I took on the nice camera, in case there would be a problem with him sending it to me. The entirety of my first doc was filmed on my phone, so I'm not too worried if I can't receive the footage. But it would be really nice if I could! (By the way, I had to delete about 4000 photos and videos from my phone in order to have enough storage for filming. As you can tell, I love documenting my life! Which is why I'm putting so many pictures of the process of creating this doc!)

[My friend posing with his fancy camera!]

Super Ahead…

Filming  

    I know that we just started projects this week, but I have already started filming! As my last blog post said, the tech rehearsals for the show I need to film happen this week and next week. That means I only have 8 days to get most of the footage I need. I went today to the film, and it was so much fun. It brings back memories of the beginning of the year when we did the documentary project. The reason why I loved doing it so much is that I genuinely love theater and the whole process of it. I'm so glad I could dive deep into it when doing the first documentary. It meant so much to me to interview my director; what she said was so emotionally moving, especially coming out of her mouth, since she has been such a big part of my life since I was 8 years old. It was so rewarding to film today because I got to focus more on the backstage part of the theater process. Even though I have teched multiple shows and have worked as a stage manager for many years, filming today made me realize that I've never truly understood the scope of what goes into putting up a production, and how hard it can be. 

    Today I was able to focus on filming how the set worked for the show. This show has a lot of technical aspects to it, specifically relating to how it "falls apart" without actually breaking the set. It was so interesting to see how all the different buttons worked, and how the set has elements to make it seem like it was breaking apart, but in reality, was actually fine. I was able to get so much footage today, which I am so glad about!! It was such a fun experience. 

Differences

    One thing that I definitely wanted to do differently than the last documentary, was to get more close-ups. I was really focused this time on filming the details, whether that be of the actual set or the people that were teching the show.  Also, I tried to get a variety of angles. In my last doc, I mainly used long shots, which was pretty boring. This time I tried to also take shots from high angles so it would be a good difference between the shots, to make it more interesting. 

    In the past few months, I have been even closer to my director and technical director. This meant that now it is much easier for me to talk to them about shots that I want to get. The reason why I couldn't get closeups before, was because I didn't have the courage to ask whether I could take shots that close to the actors. However, this time, I have much more confidence in asking, which is helping me get the shots that I really want! Also, honestly, since I don't really know many of the people in the show, it's much less embarrassing to film them! They actually think it's pretty cool that I'm making a documentary!!

    Also, one thing that I wanted to improve, was having more footage overall. Even though I had a lot of footage last time, I realized that I didn't have that much for the people that were actually being interviewed. This time I tried to focus on the candidates that I have chosen to be interviewed so that I would have enough B-roll for when they were specifically talking.

    

In the process

[me posing with the set!]

[me filming the set maker!]

[the play that goes WRONG! Two actors as they fall from the set :0]

Exciting News!

    As I was filming, I told the person that makes our sets, Johnny, that I was making a documentary about the technical aspects of theater. He is super nice, and told me that it was a really good and interesting idea! While I was filming, he was explaining how everything worked, and how he made the sets. It was super interesting to listen to this, especially coming from someone who is so experienced with it. He told me that he graduated in 1979, and has been in the business since then! That takes a lot of dedication! And then... he told me that I could come to his shop to film him making sets!! He also gave me his number, so that I could contact him if I needed to. I really hope I get a chance to go and visit him because getting a variety of B-rolls is very important to me. Plus, it would be a different more personal perspective on the backstage of a theater, which would be so cool to capture. the only downside is that he lives pretty far away :( If I do get the chance to visit him, I really hope that I can interview him too! He is so well-spoken, and knows so much about his craft; he would be the perfect person to interview. 

The most important part: staying organized!

 I'm going to be making a schedule of things that I need to accomplish every week so that I will be on task and not be stressed at the very end!

week 1

- figure out what type of project I want to do

- research topics to focus on

- post blog

week 2

- start filming B-roll at sunrise civics (start of tech week)

- research topics to focus on (the technical aspect of the theater) 

- post blog

week 3

- continue filming B-roll (end of tech week)

- post blog

week 4

- interview both Andreas and Nicole 

- research other documentaries

- research social media for documentaries 

- post blog

 week 5

- start working on the magazine component

- post to social media

- post blog

week 6

- interview the set designer of the theater

- go to his workshop and take more B-roll shots

- post to social media

- post blog

week 7

- start clearing out which B-roll is good to use

- continue working on the magazine component

- post blog

week 8

-  edit interviews and fill in with B-roll

- finish magazine

- post blog

week 9

- finish editing documentary

- write a critical reflection

- film critical reflection

- post blog

week 10

- post critical reflection

- create project reflection

- post blog

The Start of a New Beginning

     I can not believe that we are already starting the portfolio project! It felt like just yesterday that I was doing my first blog for the AS project. So much has happened since then, and I feel like a completely new person. I hope to make my project much better than my last portfolio project. Last year I worked hard on my project, but I didn't really like how it turned out. I realized that I was very bad at making dialogue. Watching my video again made me cringe a little since the dialogue was so poorly written 😓 This time I want to take the opportunity to make a documentary! (this time I do not have to make the fictional story and write my own dialogue for it) 

    One of the best things I have ever created was the first documentary that I made for the A-level class. I still watch it now and admire all the work that I put into it. Not only did I do most of the filming of the B roll and interviews, but I also edited the entire thing. It took too many hours and multiple days, but I created something that I really enjoyed. In the end, I showed the final result to my director, stage managers, and cast, and they all thoroughly enjoyed it. I was so proud of creating something so pleasing to watch, unlike my portfolio project from last year.

    Now you might be saying, "Nethumi! Don't be so hard on yourself!" And you are right, I shouldn't be so hard on my past self. I did try my best, and it was my first time working on such a long-term project. I am proud of myself for actually keeping up with my schedule and having enough time to finish everything by the due date without being stressed. I was also able to do this with the documentary project, and I perfectly timed everything so I would only have to work on it a little bit a day so that I wouldn't be stressed at the end. Even though I did have some uploading problems at the end, it went pretty smoothly! I hope to replicate this for this project

    Even before this year started, I knew that I wanted to create a documentary about theater. Not only was I able to do this one time at the beginning of the year, but I am also now given another chance to make a new better one! This time, taking Ms. Stoklosa's advice, I will be focusing on the technical aspects of theater this time. For the first documentary, I started getting B roll footage early on, because I knew there wouldn't be a lot of normal rehearsals to get footage from. Then a good surprise came when our tech week fell exactly on the same days we started the project, and right after it was due. And now this time, the tech week of another show starts perfectly tomorrow. I will be getting footage from this show early on, but I always think it's better to be prepared early than wait until the last minute. It is the perfect show to make a documentary about teching since it is called "the Play That Goes Wrong," a show mainly about the set around them falling apart. Usually tech weeks only last one week, but since this is such a tech-heavy show, it is going to last two weeks. This is amazing for me because it gives me more chances to go and film them!