More on Ithaca Festival

This past week, I wasn't able to have a mentor meeting. I was out on the senior trip on Tuesday and Mr. Cass was away for the rest of the week. I think I've kept him updated on what I need to accomplish and any roadblocks I've faced recently. I'll see him this coming week.

As for the Ithaca festival, despite the few items that occurred in my last post, overall, I think it went very well. The festival really reminded me why I chose to do this project and why I changed the view of it. After all, it's a project with two separate aims I've incorporated. There's the physical documentary making, including capturing footage, editing, etc. But the whole other aspect plays in a lot with what goes on in asking the questions, gathering responses and everything that goes on behind the camera and when I'm not filming. There have been many people who I've talked to without interviewing, including those who didn't feel comfortable being on camera or just simple interactions around town that have encouraged me that Why Ithaca is so much more than just the physical film itself.

There was one man who I interviewed at the festival who is the ideal Ithacan. He moved here in the 70s, went to see the Grateful Dead in Ithaca in the 80s, was wearing an Ithaca is Gorges shirt that said  something other than the typical saying, and had even informed me that he was trying to coin his own term about this area (based on the saying "ten square miles surrounded by reality") called "Ithacality." It's people like him that give Ithaca such a sense of unique culture. As I was filming his responses I couldn't stop smiling, because it was so stereotypically Ithacan and was just what I was looking for. There were some cars going by at the time, so I really hope that they don't affect the sound, but we'll see!

Here's a picture of some of my friends at a tent for a local radio station:

I-fest and complications

I had a great time downtown for five hours on Saturday. Of course some of it was spent doing some personal shopping and sightseeing, but I had my camera at the ready the whole time. I got caught in a massive downpour at one point right before I was going to interview some college aged girls, but after the downpour, they weren't as focused. The forecast for Sunday is even rainier than Saturday's, so it's not looking good for filming.

I also faced a few problems while filming. I took a different, lighter weight tripod and one of the legs is stuck, so the camera work I did is a bit shaky. I think it won't really take away from the film, because I want the first person feel. I'm okay with imperfections as long as I can get my storytelling in. Another problem I faced was all of the noise and other people that might interfere with some of my interviews and other footage.

The other major problem I faced was the microphone falling apart. I think a screw fell out somewhere in the first half hour I was there and it took a lot of creative thinking to make the best of the situation. I took a hair tie from my wrist and pulled it around the two pieces to keep them together and used it like that for the rest of the day. Honestly, I'm pretty impressed and I hope the sound comes out ok. This whole project has required me to think on my feet, but I'm happy I've been able to.

Most of what I got at the festival itself was video, so here's a picture of a dog from the parade. The dog is named kale. If that doesn't say something about the people from here, I don't know what does:

Filling In

Earlier this week, I asked Mr. Cass about having an editing party for myself. I'm very excited to get what I presume will be the last pieces of footage for my documentary. The Ithaca Festival will be the culminating event I'm filming, which really, truly shows Ithacan culture. 

I went around yesterday and continued to film. I got some shots of local places that people have talked about in their documentaries. I also interviewed a few more people. These were people I didn't know and the interviews ended up being a bit awkward, but I'm still happy I went out and got them. There was a couple walking their dog and I don't know if I can really use much of what they said, but I feel like I've grown more comfortable with interjecting into people's lives for a few minutes to ask them to reflect on this town. 

Here's a mural that has a bit of an alternative feel near Cinemopolis:

A Sense of Place

I got some more interview material yesterday. It was hot but beautiful outside and I captured some more footage. It's the first of the interviews I'm doing of people from in the high school. It was pretty exciting. I almost didn't realize my microphone was dead right before I started shooting, but luckily went through the checklist I've been very cautious about since the unfortunate interview I had a few weeks back (check out my post titled Debbie Downer for more on this). 

I've also scheduled another interview for later this week with my government class teacher. I think she'll offer some perspectives on topics that other people I've interviewed haven't discussed. Right now, we're learning about the development of the city of Ithaca and what gives it a sense of place (including zoning, development, and layout). I'm very excited about this, because our discussions relate to what I'm trying to get at through my film. We read an article, which I will link below. It touches on a lot of points of the quirks of the people who live here.

Here's the article from the Ithaca Times and the photo from the article: http://bit.ly/1EYd1uR 

How to Present

My presentation is a month from today!  I feel that I'll be fairly comfortable during my presentation, because this is a topic I know a lot about and I am pretty excited for the culmination.

In Wise class today, we discussed ways that we're presenting. We are supposed to separate the journal, presentation, and narrative differently. The holes in the narrative and the journal should be addressed in the presentation. I feel that the hands on work and research should be something I stress, because I know how easy it is for me to reflect.

Ms. Lord suggested splitting our presentations into shorter segments. This could involved five segments of six minutes on different topics, three segments on ten minutes per topic, etc. I hope to incorporate a preview clip of my project while explaining how my project has changed and why I chose to discover Ithaca the way that I did. Instead, I may choose to use little clips throughout the presentation of different aspects of filming I got. I might choose to show the impact of b-roll and show how I learned, but I'll have to see how smoothly I can do this.

It's been pretty muggy this past week and it shows in the weather:

Saturday School

I came in to school today for a few hours. I actually forgot my external hard drive, so I'm very lucky I have two versions saved (one on the hard drive and one saved on the desktop I've been working on in the digital media lab). I edited for a while but eventually got inspired to do some voiceover work. 

Mr. Class had to teach me how to use the program. It's called Adobe Audition. I got to use really nice headphones and a big standing microphone. The sound quality is very good and I think I caught on pretty fast to how the program works.

The only problem I'm seeing is how to mesh what I say with the video and audio clips of other people. I also need some more b-roll of different areas I'm talking about. It's so hard to get all around Ithaca when the lighting and weather are right, not during school, when I have all my equipment with me. I know everything will be all right and I just need to keep pushing through. 

 

Mentor Meeting

I met with Mr. Cass and we went over the mid-marking period checkin. I think I'm exactly on track right now. I scheduled my presentation date and I'm pretty happy with it. I hope I'll have enough time between Ithaca Festival and the date materials are due, to finish editing. Maybe I can use a school laptop with Adobe Premiere Pro to bring home and edit during non-school hours.

During my mentor meeting, I also found out that other students are having an editing party at the school this weekend. Mr. Cass said I could join and I think it would be a great opportunity to work on my own project and get come insight on what some of the other Wise students have been doing with their projects. I don't typically enjoy waking up early on the weekend, but I actually am interested in stopping in to do some work.

I also plan on trying to get some interviews of students out in the quad sometime during my free periods Thursday or Friday (although I do have more studying and another AP test). Earlier this week, AP exams and the weather limited my ability to film during school. I can also hopefully use the time at the school with other students on the weekend to accomplish this. I would also like to interview some teachers at the high school to get their take on Why Ithaca? This includes my English teacher from last year who told me he's been reading my blog. MR. MILLER IF YOU'RE READING THIS, HERE'S A SHOUTOUT.

Check out the Ithaca is Gorges sign at the bottom of the photo:

Sunny Outside But I'm Inside Editing

In regard to the title, at least I'm not getting a sunburn.

First off, I have changed the way my editing process is working. I originally had just started cutting and putting together all of my clips. After a lot of work in this process, I realized how much this is going to hinder my overall project. Because of the limited time, I'm editing while still in the process of filming and coming up with with my voiceover. Because of this, it'll be easier if I keep the music, the b-roll footage, and the interviews all separate. I can still work on cutting them in to the pieces I want, but I want to wait until after I get my filming completely done to put everything together. Overall, I think it'll be more cohesive and be easier to find the right place for everything. I talked to Mr. Cass about my decision and he agrees that it should provide some ease.

Additionally, I have talked to April who is also filming for her project, but hers is a brief TV series that is a spoof on Disney Channel shows. When I first heard that she's aiming for approximately two hours worth of episodes for her finished project, I felt a bit inadequate. Mine is looking to be about 20-30 minutes right now. But I've come to some realizations about the differences in our Wise projects (and everyone's for that matter). The nature of her project is different from mine. She has a scripted project with a cast of characters. I have the unreliability of the willingness and content of what my interviewees say. She has a whole film crew and will have an editing team as she directs. For mine, it's just me doing the filming, questions, and editing for my film. There's nothing wrong with either way and I'm sure she's run into problems while relying on other people.

The way I'm approaching this whole experience has changed from thinking about this. I have to rely on myself and can't blame anyone else for the inadequacies of the sound or footage or anything else. I am interviewing people and working with technology that started out in a zone that's way out of my comfort level. I'm starting to realize that however this project comes out, I'm proud of the work I've done and the new light that I've seen my hometown through. I have a month left and I can't wait to see where it takes me.

Here's a picture of April editing on a computer: 

Improving the Journal

I think that my eight hours of work per week is pretty transparent throughout my journal. I make sure to very explicitly state what happens and my ideas about each weekly mentor meeting. I spend a lot of time journaling and I also have been continuing to research and find new pieces to inspire my work. This has been exemplified by my continued communication of videos I've been watching and information about how the technology I'm working with works.

Additionally, I usually post about the times I go out and film. I could probably be a bit more explicit with what happens when I edit, because the labeling and cutting and editing and sound work I'm doing takes a lot of time. Sometimes I'll spend two or three class periods in one day if I'm feeling particularly motivated. I can try to be more specific in future posts of what I'm doing while I'm editing, but it's pretty mundane and time consuming process. I'd rather blog about other things, but I also want my readers to know all the work I've been putting in.

Here are some spring blossoms on a tree in my backyard:

Another Example Documentary

I was informed today that Cornell University put out an 18 minute documentary in honor of the 150th anniversary of the charter founding the school. I was so excited to watch it and I definitely was not disappointed by it. Not only does it make me so incredibly excited to be a student there next year, but it was a great resource to see while I'm in the mix of filming and editing. Obviously, it's a professional film, so it is going to be very well done, but I consider the work completely outstanding. The shots and lighting are breathtaking and gorgeous. I love the mix of the town and nature around the campus and throughout the Ithaca landscape. I urge everyone to go watch it.

http://150.cornell.edu/glorioustoview/

In addition I like the way they did their interviews. Of course, these are much more formal and professional than mine, but I think I can use bits of the film as a potential inspiration for the format of my editing. It's interesting how they put the interviewees in black and white. It gives a mature look to the documentary and creates contrast.

Lastly, in honor of Mother's Day and with the Cornell post, I'm putting a picture of a cute mug I found in the Cornell store and almost bought for my mom (I got her one with the mascot instead):

Out of the Rut and Partner Read

I was pretty busy last week and still am this week with AP exams and in class finals, so I haven't had much of a chance to post. Luckily after this coming week, my schedule should quiet down and I will be able to focus more of my time on my project.

Four ways my project plans have changed thus far:

1. The amount of time that my documentary is going to run for--I have so much footage, but to keep it interesting and to use the best and most usable pieces, I've cut down so much. 

2. The view of the project--I've narrowed down the lens of the film to be more personal.
3. In going with a more personal perspective, I've decided to do more narration and voiceover than I originally had planned about my own experience and perspectives. 

4. The way I'm interviewing people--I was originally going to have formal, sit down interviews with "important" people around Ithaca, but now I've decided I'd rather get Ithacans in their natural habitat. 

Partner Read
For the partner read, I looked through Dylan's blog. She has a great blogging style and is very focused on her project in all her posts. It's mainly in paragraph form with a few lists mixed in. She writes very objectively about all the portions of her project that she is in the process of accomplishing, but there's less of a bigger picture view of how everything is coming together/relates to each other. Her project about starting a small business looks like it's coming together really well, but I would suggest to her to take a step back and write a post about the broader view of how everything is working out. I also enjoyed seeing the picture of her menu. I wonder if she's interested in pursuing a career or hobby of working her own restaurant.

Here's a picture I took at Stewart Park last week:

Mentor Meeting

I met with Mr. Cass today, because I had an AP Psychology exam yesterday during the time we normally meet. We talked about using the equipment and how I've been more careful about making sure that everything is working (like the microphone) while I'm filming. I got the chance to try out filming with a fancier camera that can go into a rest on the shoulder. I think I still like using the dslr better. It's easier when it's just me filming and interviewing to have the camera on a tripod. However, it was interesting to try out other options for technology to use.

Also, I have been continuing to work on editing during my free periods. In addition, I went to Streets Alive this weekend. It was great to see people around and I got some great interviews as well as great b-roll footage. The weather has been so perfect and the people I interviewed said some things that will fit in so well. 

My one worry continues to be getting college students to interview. I have to make up for the interviews I messed up before but I know students are leaving soon. I will try to go on campus and talk to students, or else I might have to get creative.

Here's a picture of a ladybug that landed on me (maybe it's good luck):

Debbie Downer

I'm a little worried about timing for my project. I have so much left to do and summer events and scenes I really want to get in parks, by the lakes and gorges, and during Ithaca Festival. Finding time to film and edit this cuts close to the deadline for my project to be completed. However, time crunches can work to my advantage. I tend to get more done and be more efficient when I'm feeling a bit rushed.

As for music, at the moment, I've been using free, legal downloads from a website called audioblocks, but I hope somehow I can still use some of the songs I had picked out before, if I'm not publically publishing or profiting from it.

And lastly, I'm actually quite upset about the time I took to interview all of the Ithaca college students. I feel like I took two steps forward and three steps back, because somehow something didn't work right with the microphone and there is no audio to anything that they said. It's very possible that this was 100% an error made on my part. I'm hugely disappointed in myself because not only am I missing work that I took the effort to do, but I also loved what they said. It's possible I can still incorporate some of what they said by paraphrasing it in my voiceover. Anyways, what I've learned from this experience is to ALWAYS TRIPLE CHECK THAT EVERYTHING IS WORKING. 

Now I'm just going to move forward and continue to film. I'm hoping to get to Streets Alive this weekend.

Here's a picture from Cornell campus: