Tuesday 26 May 2009

First shoot

My first weekend with the Sony DCR-VX2100 and its coterie of accessories was an exhausting experience. It began on Thursday night as I schlepped all the gear home. With a huge camera case slung over my shoulder, my messenger bag strapped across me, and a tripod sitting in the crook of my elbow, I must have looked like a one-woman media gathering machine.

In fact, as I approached my apartment in the East Village a group of guys -who had clearly been enjoying a happy hour that ran a little long- approached me and said, "OH! Let me guess! Film student? Photographer?"

It took me a minute to register the correct response. Mainly because it was a little flattering to be considered either of those; but then it occurred to me that my career involves a little bit of both of those things and whole heck of a lot more. So, with a really satisfied smirk I declared, "I'm a journalist."

They responded with an impressed "Ooohhhhhh!" followed by some garbled chatter.

It was an encouraging scene, and it certainly gave me momentum for the challenge ahead of me.

The Park Slope Nacho Crawl
5 hours
4 restaurants
3 blocks
2 tapes
1 really tired journalist

I filmed the entire crawl and spent the whole time gathering B roll and interviews. I honestly don't know how I could have done it without the help of Miss Flora Fair who not only helped me drag the equipment from restaurant to restaurant, but held mics, took still photos, gave valuable input and kept morale high.

The crawl was fun and light-hearted. I also enjoyed getting to know a little about the neighborhood. There was plenty to shoot. In fact I pestered myself with the nagging thought that I wasn't shooting enough, but geez, I didn't want to overwhelm myself with footage to edit later. Baby steps.

At the end of it all, I was completely beat. I slouched over the equipment on the train ride home like a weary soldier returning from the trenches. Filming is hard work. Filming and doing the interviews and getting the story is a battle.

I kept thinking that as a writer, I could have spent the whole afternoon lounging with the Nacho club, getting interviews and chatting them up, making occasional notes about the ambience, food, and people. It would have been so easy. I could have written the article on the train ride home and moved on to the next story.

But no. Filming takes all kinds of work. Hard work. 5 hours of hard work, and the story isn't even told. Who knows how many more hours of editing lay ahead of me.

I'm sure it will get easier with time. I'm so glad I had a chance to do this before I go on my big shoot on the farms- it will definitely help my final project come mid-june.

1 comment:

  1. If my amateur experience is any indication, I'd say you have at the very least about 50 hours of editing ahead of you, but probably more like 200... all depending on how long the final edit will be. :-) Have fun!!!

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