???

equipment....

2006-11-20T10:59:00.001-08:00

So I am really sick of ordering equipment and not getting it. And its not that I don’t just get what I requested but when I ask why or question anything Tony acts like I am out of my mind. Adam and I placed an order for the kino flo kit and over the period of time that we would have had it I was in and out of the equipment room and the kit never mover once. It's just so frustrating to me because we are really trying and one would think that the professor in charge of equipment check out would be proud to help students filmmakers but instead he acts like its an inconvenience when we take advantage of that outlet. Not to mention that when we do get equipment we are hounded about where the equipment s and when is it coming back. Is it not on the sheet we signed when checking it out? Because I am confident that that information is there.

equipment....

2006-11-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

been a while...

2006-11-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

So I have been really bad about blogging but I'm back.

Adam and I have been busting our butts to get the best footage possible. We shot at the light house beer festival two weeks ago and got some really good footage, not to mention it was a blast. However after going back and watching all the footage we decided that the subjects from that particular shoot where coming off as raging alcoholics; it was a beer festival. Anyway, we decided to go get some B-roll of them in their actual day to day routines, just to have it. We also got two more interviews with two 27 year olds that are completely different but are best friends (nice contrast). One was a graphic designer and the other is unemployed. Both live the exact same lifestyle minus the careers.

I am really excited about the footage we have gotten so far. I think all of it looks, visually, well done. I am also pleased with the content of the interviews.

Progress...

2006-10-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was very productive for our group. We met in the library, hammered out some of the details we were previously having trouble with and then later went and met with our oldest group just to get acquainted and comfortable. After a few beers we got to talking about our film and they seem very willing but I feel like we didn’t give the film a true representation of our goals for this particular group. We are ultimately going to make them look like bums who drink to much and never grew up, but then I was thinking that we aren’t going to make them look like that, we are just showing what we film. But this group of 27-30 year olds could also be represented as free spirits who refused to conform to society’s social clock. It’s all in the wording and I feel bad about how we are about to portray this awesome group of 'drinkers'.

I was also thinking that it might be an idea to go film an AA meeting or if we can not get into an AA meeting (which we probably won’t be able to), maybe we could just interview a few people in AA… ask them how they got to where they are. It might not be prevalent to our film but it’s possible that we could get some good footage out of the whole thing.

just in case adam didn't get it... its easier than e-mail...

2006-10-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

To-Camera Interview: we feel that the only thing a two camera interview is good for, in reference to our film, is for back-up coverage. We hope to find other more interesting techniques to show the interviewing process. One we have already come up with is to film the interview in a long shot as it is being with the traditional two camera set up in frame. It would be nice if we could get those shots using 8mm for effect, however we only have five minutes to work with so something tells me that that might not work. This will establish our location, add texture, and remind the viewers that they are watching a film. Instead of just sticking a camera on a tripod and hit roll, we thought it might add some depth to the footage if there were to be some camera movement. We realize that it has potential of being very distracting, so, in order to not disturb the interview, maybe some footage could be taken after the interview then edited in.

Tone: Attempting to not sound too redundant… because the purpose of Through the Tap is not to condemn nor promote the drinking scene, we have decided to take a light hearted feel while still standing by the importance of our message. The footage and interviews are going to relay this significance with little manipulation on our parts. The film could easily become an anti-drinking film, so our attention will be towards not allowing that to happen.

some thoughts for adam:

2006-10-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

Interviews… get the two talking heads to cover our buts but because of the privileged locations, long shots and close ups of the interviews might make for better footage? (not sure about close ups but defiantly need the long shot… it shouldn’t affect audio because the interviewees will be mic’ed)

Slik and Reds

Rum Runners

Where else?

Need a beach bar…

rox? or is that too 'pop'... its just nice because theres the upstairs martini lounge thats 21 and up only but then theres the massive down stairs thats only 18 and up?

Liquid room? down stairs and upstairs completely diff. so good for multiple representation.

Should we not focus on specific bars and let our “subjects” decide where they want to go? But we have to get permission so not sure how its all going to work itself out…

The Wilmington drinking team goes to fibbers and 22 north a lot so maybe we should just plan on using those 2 bars as our beach bars. I know the owners of both so we should be able to get the release signed.

MOTIVATION:

2006-10-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

We are motivated to make this film because it is something that, as bartenders, cycles around us and unfortunately from that perspective, we note the downward fall of too many of our patrons. Although this decent doesn’t affect everyone who drinks there is a definite cycle that needs to be documented. It is prevalent to our generation and we would not be doing our jobs as film maker to leave the topic untapped from an impartial standpoint. We are not trying to turn people off of the bar scene because drinkers pay our bills however we would like to show the true panorama.

SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE:

2006-10-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

This is just in case Adam couldn’t open my e-mail:

The proposed film is currently prevalent, and will remain prevalent to society for many years to come. Acting as an honest glimpse into now and could be used in the future for archival purposes, this film affects us all. No matter what age is screening this film, the alcohol scene if worthy of our attention and we owe it to ourselves to be educated on the topic. Too often people get sucked in to the hype. We feel that a foretaste of possible outcomes of habitual drinking will help people think twice thus making them a more responsible alcohol consumer. Even if one is not a drinker personally they will find this film informative. Our candid take on the drinking scene will leave room for personal interpretation forcing our viewers to reflect on their own personal lives.

Reality TV at its Finest...

2006-09-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have been under the weather the past couple of days so needless to say I have spending a lot of time in bed watching television. I was watching a show on the discovery channel called Meerkat Manor. It’s a fascinating idea for a TV show. There is research being done at Columbia University about the Meerkat, and more specifically, one Meerkat family. They have been tracking this family for the past ten years. The head of the family, Flower, wears a sensor so they can always locate the family and there are numerous cameras set up around the areas that this particular family spends most of their time. Basically, the researchers are making a documentary about this family and it is amazing how much the Meerkat lifestyle parallels our lifestyle.

This show has gone to great lengths to bring us all the drama. They have put cameras in the Meerkat burrows so we can see inside their home, missing no action. I found myself so immersed in Meerkat Manor that, similarly to when I watch other reality TV shows, I had to force myself to take a break. There is about 15 Meerkats in a family and they have all been named by the researchers. Not only do they have names but, like the "Real World", they also have been labeled: the boss, the mischievous one, the sympathetic one, ECT...

This is so sad. I just looked back over the topics that I tend to write about and for the most part they all revolve around the media. I should really pick up a book.

PS... It took some time but i got the picture thing down!

Recently I Read an Article in Details Magazine.....

2006-09-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

Recently I read an article in Details magizine illustrating the authors dislike of Oprah Winfrey's publisized weight battle. The title of the article was Bring Back the Fat Oprah. In the article, the author explained that Oprah's obsessive weight loss antics was sending Americans through a tailspin, implying that Oprah was making Americans more upset about being fat than trying to help them through their own weight loss. The author slandered Oprah by saying she was more interesting when she would talk of her daily intake of moon pies, rather than shows about well being and nutrition. Even though there is a point to the article, Details exemplifies slender, well groomed folks. If not for Details magazine, I would not know about John Galliano or Saks Fifth Avenue, and the advertisements in the magazine put skinny people on a silver platter. My confusion is: why would such a publication contradict itself by complaining of a weight obsessed media icon, when her before picture was the only over weight person in the whole issue?

I want my MTV...

2006-09-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to a rerun of Laguna Beach. How many times can they play the same episode? Geee! As terrible as the show is, I must admit that I do watch it. But why? Adam and I met yesterday to go over our ideas for our documentary, and we know for the most part what we are going to do but after we figured it all out we started talking about the media and more specifically MTV. MTV is supposed to be a music channel however it only airs music 3 hrs. a day, if even that. For the other 21 hours it is showing terrible reality TV. I understand why; the shows are cheap to film and just about everyone watches them. Not only do people watch these shows but they believe that they are real. Adam made the point that, in the show next or date my mom, they get coverage which means that they have to shoot every scene at least twice. It is impossible for these shows to be real. I watch the shows because they are an escape, even if its only for 30 min. it gives me a chance to just sit and watch, without having to think.

MTV sucks! What happened to the original MTV? Bring back the days when MTV introduced underground music. Now shows like the OC give us more insight into the underground music world than MTV. I see a huge problem with this.

Katrina

2006-09-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching Spike Lee's new documentary about hurricane Katrina. Wow! It’s hard to imagine what the survivors actually went through. I went on a month long cross country camping trip with my brother this summer and saw the devastation that still remains a year later. I had to fight the tears. There were miles and miles of destroyed neighborhoods; flattened. After seeing Lee's film I realized how many people went out of their ways to help, while our government, of the people by the people and for the people did hardly anything. That’s the tragedy. While I really enjoyed the documentary, I would like to know more. Lee shows the surface story. His film acts as the introduction but there’s more that needs to be explored.

Its on HBO demand.

behind the bar

2006-09-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

Adam and I are partners for the final project and I have been running through the list of things we have in common and grant it I don’t know everything about him, but I do know the he works in a bar and I have worked in a bar for the past 4 years. Using the bar as a back drop, since we both have knowledge and access, what would make for a good documentary. It has to be something that we can both really get into; otherwise it would be a waste of time. Being a bartender gives someone the unique opportunity to meet a lot of different kinds of people with very different stories to tell. It allows you to observe these different people from a exclusive point of view. While I think documenting the life of a bartender would be interesting, it defiantly has a smaller audience. How to make it more interesting?

I am very interesting in the idea of “the dumbing down of America”, and the proof is behind the bar.

I was talking politics with a friends the other day and she brought up the point the most in our generation could probably not locate Iraq on a blank map if their lives depended on it. I would be willing to put money on the fact that the ‘old guy that it’s at the end of the bar drinking wild turkey on the rocks’, probably could.

I am not sure if the two concepts could work in conjunction with each other but it is something that I want to look at deeper.

sorry to bring it up again

2006-09-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

Not to seem too morbid a week after the neighborhood suicide, but chaos and panic still reins supreme. I feel a bit strange suggesting this because it’s playing up some body’s tragedy but I was thinking that it might make for an interesting documentary to show the aftermath of a suicide on a close nit neighborhood. If executed properly it could make for really good cinema. Hopefully people would be able to relate to at least one person in the film. It would be an educations documentary pointing out the effects on everyone around you in attempt to sway the depressed to get psychological help and to not take the matters into there own hands.

What?

2006-09-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

This is driving me to insanity. I the past week I have heard about more death than anyone person should be exposed to in my opinion. Steve Erwin, really? How ironic is it that the national geographic’s man himself tragically dies at the stinger of a giant sting ray while shooting “Killers of the Sea”, or something like that. Then my roommate just had two friends blown up in Iraq, which is obviously hitting her really hard. On top of that my friends sister committed suicide sometime last week (I didn’t ask for details), and I just got off the phone with my mom who informed me that our neighbor in Greensboro, who has lived three houses down for nineteen plus years was just found dead, by his wife, in his bed, with a bullet in his head and a gun in his hand.
I was at the beach when my mom called to relay any updates and I stated thinking about good old Kevin Bacon and the six degrees of separation. How everything affects everything else. I am sitting at my computer in Wilmington, NC thinking about a man whom I hardly knew but saw daily for 18 years. No one really knew him. We saw him driving to and from work but other than that, nothing. This man who played such a small role in the life of our neighborhood has impacted everyone in more ways than one. Sorry to say it, but hat a selfish move to leave the world saying bye to no one and to force you wife, the woman who has stood by you through out it all, to clean up your mess, literally. I just don’t gt it. I understand pain and I am aware that life can suck pretty bad but come on. At least do it in a clean fashion so your loved ones don’t have to see you blood in the back of their minds for the rest of their lives. Its just a selfish move and I am angry for her and for everyone else who has suffered because of a unnecessary suicide.

This is my first blog ever!

2006-09-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

I had an idea for a documentary but I would have to shoot it in the next 10 days and I don’t think I am ready to shoot a doc. with the amount of knowledge I have obtained thus far. The idea itself could use a little work but I though it would make for an interesting documentary: the fifth anniversary of 9/11. What has taken place between now and then to help America move forward? Is the general public pleased with the amount of progress that we've made or do people feel let down and require more? I know how I feel but do I share other peoples feeling or am I alone? Have people forgotten the devastation of that day? I realize that I wouldn’t have access to much of the material I would need to factually prove a point but maybe with the right prompt it cold be good. Do people even know what’s been going on for the past five years? I watched this show on PBS last night about the dumbing down of America and, yes, they did a good job with their film but they left a lot of room for more film s based on the same topic to be made. I’ll have to look into that a little deeper.