Week 7 Reflection

This week we were all pretty booked with some of us going out of town and we were unable to find a time to get together or schedule an interview. In addition, we had issues finding a time to pickup and return equipment. We did get some new b-roll though and met up to do a cut with all of the footage we do have so far.

Since most of the people we wish to interview live in Alex's hometown, over spring break he will be getting in touch with all of them that way we can spend one weekend after spring break getting multiple interviews from those contacts while we are in Cumberland County. We also have plans to set up vox pops because we think it could add an interesting element to our film depending on what kinds of answers we get.

Week 6 Reflection

For the past few weeks we have all had separate people we were attempting to contact to get a second interview with but were unable to set one up in time for this week. Instead, after editing together the footage from our first tobacco farmer's interview, we decided to start looking into youtube and archive.org for old cigarette ads that could be used as extra B-Roll for our doc.

Alex set up a youtube playlist that we could all add to and I looked through archive.org and downloaded ones I liked and added them to the google drive. In the meantime, we are still trying to contact various people that were on our original list for possible interviewees and maybe our schedules will align easier in the coming weeks.

Week 5 Reflection

This week we did the first interview for our project, which we thought would be the main voice of our documentary. We went back to Cumberland County to the original tobacco farm that we filmed the majority of our B-Roll from last week to talk to the owner of the farm, Gary Matthews. However, the interview was pretty short and he didn't have much to say and, in typical interviewee fashion, had more to say when the camera was off. He was uncomfortable saying things that he wasn't completely positive were true and wanted to be fact checked before he said anything on film.

He did, however, give us the name of another tobacco farmer to contact that might be a better interview and we contacted him and hope to get that before class next week for the second interview. We still need to get additional B-Roll, which will be of the next interview setting depending on who we get. I also contacted a "healthcare professional" on campus to see if anyone was willing to be interviewed because I think that would be an important section of our documentary as well. We have interviewees set up in Raleigh but I was hoping to keep it closer if at all possible since we are already traveling so much for this documentary as it is.

Week 4 Reflection

This week we already had a time setup and a list of B-Roll shots we wanted and, due to the pre-production presentation, we were well-prepared with our Equipment Request. On Sunday, we drove out to Cumberland County and had free range of the tobacco farm owned by Gary Matthews (one of our main interviewees). We spent a few hours setting up shots and getting the feel of our doc established. We also got location permit forms taken care of while we were there and set up another time to come back next week for an interview. In addition, we got a second equipment request sent in for the interview taking place next weekend.

While driving there, we discussed other pressing interviews we want to get done and decided that in addition to the tobacco farmer, a healthcare professional would be the next interview we need to get done. We have some lined up that I have contacts with in Raleigh but I'm spending time contacting closer professionals in Wilmington that might be interested. We then met up at our regularly scheduled time on Monday to edit the B-Roll, color correct and sound mix it.