Friday, September 10, 2010

12:01 AM

OF GOING CRAZY AND FILMING DOCUs

The filming of a documentary is crazy. The merciless sun of global warming stung our eyes as we search for good-enough locations. It was almost as bad as squinting through beads of perspiration as we setup a believable background. The camera would go haywire and we would run out of tape. The interviewers are struggling to learn the art of asking questions properly. The staff suffers from bad neurons and lack of breakfast. There were questions on professionalism, productivity, milestones and a most significant point---how do we pull this off? (We of inconsistent college uniforms, ever-changing ID laces and brains who suffer from momentary information overload) .Even the brainstorming is a different story. It literally feels like we crack open our skull and a vein or two would snap as we discuss plans, setbacks and results.

They say ‘firsts’ mark the making of a history and so we started making history with our first subject “Lance”.  At face value, he seemed quite the thespian that he is---vibrant, expressive, unyielding and incredibly spontaneous. It was not long that he proved to be every interviewer’s dream.If not for the close-ended questions, the more-than-necessary dead air and blank spells amidst a lagoon of wayward grasses and infested with a kingdom of ants, it would have been great.


Our triumph? Well, we did finish the interview, didn’t we?

In contrast, Wyden King is our biggest case study yet. A former Motel mogul turned devout Christian, in our mind’s eye we see a man in crisp suit who would gaze under his bespectacled eyes surveying the nervous production staff that is us.  In reality, we shook hands with man whose casual garb mad us feel a little overdress, who would insist that we join a savory meal of chicken and rice before he starts answering questions, He would have no qualms saying’ sex’ or ‘mistress’ and his gaze is as intense as his smile, both were done sincerely. We walked into his office like lambs entering a lion’s den. We fidgeted on the gadgets, rearrange the already-orderly clipboard contents and haplessly crossed our fingers. In an hour, we went out like a bunch of ‘Buddhas’----the enlightened ones with the euphoria similar only to people to who saw Pacman throw a knock-out punch or watched Venus Raj make it to Top five.

The other interviews still leaves a lot to be desired. We knew there are more lessons we have to learn and that we would learn them the hard way. In this world of neurotic wifi connections and facebook cults…this same world does not offer booklets screaming bold titles like “10 Easy Steps on Creating a Helluva Documentary” or ‘How to Become Less of an Amateur Overnight”. We also knew the editing is a most crucial part, as important as getting diploma or making it to that midnight sale on the weekend. 

 So the filming of a documentary is crazy. The merciless sun is still merciless. There are still beads of perspiration and sometimes beads of raindrops. The camera would still go haywire although we are now armed with backup tapes. The interviewers are still learning the tricky art of asking questions and proudly claim there is progress. The staff still suffers from bad neurons and would sometimes eat breakfast now. The questions are still there and the brainstorming session still makes me us feel like we need brain transplants next semester.

So why go through this? Probably because we knew it will be worth it.                                      

Posted by Rowena