Entry_03: The End

Entry_03: The End

So as we all know – All good things must come to the end. Including my short for wgbh’s election inspired shorts collection.

In the end – I decided to change the title of my piece from “Faith and Circumstance” to “Tell me to Believe.”. I have two big reasons for changing it. 1. To make a statement – a strong statement – encouraging people to watch and listen to the piece while offering insight about my P.O.V on the media’s influence over people 2. I don’t want to scare people away with the direct mention of faith/religion in the title. I found that the mention of faith/religion immediately turned people off from watching.

The hardest part of final finishing was tweaking audio. I really need an audio professional to go though and make all of those kinds of adjustments but, I did what I could do.

The most important thing to remember at the end of each project is taking the time and energy to recognize and thank each and every great person who made my project possible. THANKS ALL!

I hope you all enjoy …… There is bound to be more exciting projects from me – beckyb – coming soon.

http://www.beckybeamer.com > for more information about this project and more.

Entry_02: Researching Stock Footage

Entry_02: Researching Stock Footage

The best and most challenging aspect of producing my short is the large amount stock footage that I need.

I am finding some cheap (royalty free) and free (public domain or creative commons) footage. I learned a lot about “CC” licensing for this project. It is really a neat idea. I suggest checking out this website for more info: http://creativecommons.org/.

I also find myself doing a little bit of pleading as well.

I spent one full day to visit the National Archive in College Park, Maryland to see what kind of Public Domain Footage I could dig up. Let me tell you – it is a gold mine. BUT you need to plan in advance – I would say six weeks in advance (which I didn’t do). Plus – there are strict guides to follow. A video camera is allowed once it is registered but you must also make sure to bring RCA cables with a BNC adapter if you plan to dub anything directly.

Don’t even get me started on Material License agreements!

Stay tuned for info on free music/sound fx…….

http://www.beckybeamer.com

Entry 01_Interviews_Take #1

I just completed my first production day – went pretty well. On a scale of 1-10 I give the day a 7. I took a couple of hours out of my Sunday afternoon to shoot some interviews and a little b-roll around the White House.

For this shoot – I really needed an extra hand. I simply can’t shoot, handle the paperwork (releases) and interview at the same time. But, I also had to find a person that was willing to help out for a credit and a little food. Being that it was Memorial Day weekend – I had trouble locating my “usual suspects”. Fortunately for me – my twin sister was available and willing to step in and help out. I only had to buy her lunch!

The great thing about Washington D.C. is all of the people just hanging around the monuments. So – I thought that finding interviewees would be a snap. Unfortunately, I didn’t factor in the international tourist into the mix. Since my short is about the election this year I found myself having to ask each person “Are you eligible to vote in the US?” as a way to weed out any non-Americans.

In the end, I did find a few very nice people willing to be interviewed on camera. My goal of 10 good interview was not reached and I only ended up with 3. All 3 are very usable and unique but, I need to add at least one more shoot day to the schedule to capture more interview material.
My next task is stock footage research. What can I get for free or super cheap?

– becky

http://www.beckybeamer.com

Photo Credit: Allison Wolff