The Interview Shot and On To Editing

I have to admit, I’m mildly obsessed with creating a dynamic interview shot. Nothing drives me more crazy than watching a documentary with a poorly thought-out interview set-up. So, with Uncle Sam, I pretty much rearranged his living room to come up with the above shot. He had two large mirrors that I knew I wanted to experiment with. Thankfully, Uncle Sam and his wife were comfortable with me moving their framed artwork around and were patient while I arranged the lights. At first I thought this shot was awesome, but the more I look at it I wonder if it’s too much of an optical illusion and slightly distracting. Either way, I’m happy that I came up with something remotely interesting and unique.

The second part of the interview set-up that I tend to spend a lot of time on is the subjects’ line of site. I am obsessed with Errol Morris and after watching all of his films have come to love the notion of the subject looking directly into the camera. I realize this goes against the norm, but I think the audience is able to connect and engage with the characters in a deeper fashion. I do believe the viewing experience is enhanced and far more dramatic. For this interview, I chickened out a bit. I was going to have Uncle Sam look directly into the camera but I changed my mind based on his comfort level. I realized I was getting better answers from Uncle Sam by letting him make direct eye-contact with me rather than having him look into the camera. Maybe someday Errol Morris will let me borrow his interrotron.

I really should be editing at the moment, but took a detour and decided to blog instead. The rest of the week I’ll return to my fancy editing suite (um, my bedroom) and probably not come out until my rough-cut is complete. As much as I’d like to edit in chunks, it tends to be an all-consuming marathon process for me. I think it has to do with finding a rhythm and not wanting to lose it, so I just keep going and going and going …

Here’s another production photo for you to enjoy:

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“Uncle Sam” Production Begins

Yesterday I met Uncle Sam in person for the first time. No camera. Just a visit to scout his home for the interview that will happen later this week. Uncle Sam is a dream subject. Not only is he captivating, he’s one of the kindest souls around. He shared some behind the scenes stories about the Uncle Sam artwork that dons his walls and lead me to his den where he had all 5 Uncle Sam regalia (ps- “regalia” is the proper term here, not costume) laid out, top hats and all. To my surprise, Uncle Sam pulled out 3 letters that were from Jacqueline Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Queen of England. They were just a few of many who responded to his written request for their favorite recipes back in 1962. The recipes were later printed in a cookbook and sold for charity.

Today we spent the morning and greater part of the afternoon at The Patriot Ledger newspaper in Quincy, MA to choose the winner of the $500 Uncle Sam billboard contest. Uncle Sam maintains the 20×30 billboard in Quincy for $1500/month and promotes a different charity each month. For the first time, partnered with The Patriot Ledger, Uncle Sam opened up the slogan writing to the public. Entries were to be a maximum of seven words and capitalize on Quincy’s place in American history and evoke the cities connection with the Adam’s family. Uncle Sam and his wife, Jean Kenney, came up with the concept to coincide with the John Adams HBO series based on the David McCullough biography of Adams. You’ll have to wait for the finished video to find out who won. Shooting went smoothly and the only hiccup of the day was the $55 parking ticket I got when I ran into UPS to photocopy my release forms …. Grrrrr …On Thursday, we’re heading to Merrymount Elementary School to discuss the 2008 election with some political savvy 5^th graders.