Jen G’s Blog

Well I’m not sure how it is already February but time flies once classes start.

To go back to the end of break.  I was able to do two interviews before I had to head back to school.  I interviewed Pamela Sackett who has done a lot with the Friends group that was associated with Brentsville and Rob Orrison who is the current site manager at the Brentsville Historic site. I did both interviews in one day as well as stop by Ben Lomond to get some general outside shots.  It was quite a busy day and I wish it had been a bit warmer but over all I think it went alright.

I had checked out all of the equipment the night before and gotten batteries for everything but for some reason when I was interviewing Mrs. Sackett the lapel mic seemed unually loud through my head phones.  I did not have any problems with it when I interviewed Mr. Born out at Ben Lomond.  I was much closer and in a smaller space so this may have accounted for the difference. I finally ended up putting the mic on a chair in front of her instead of having her wear it. The sound quality seemed to be better than using just the on camera mic but I hope it turns out ok when I upload the film. 

I had the lighting kit with me and I am getting much better and faster about setting it up by myself.  There were plenty of outlets and it was an office so the light was relatively easy to control.  She had a very large American flag hanging in her office so that served for a great backdrop. She also had some pictures of soldiers that I had not discovered in my personal research so I was able to get some shots of those as well.

After that I went to Ben Lomond to get some shots outside of the building itself.  This was slightly difficult because it was winter there was little vegetation to shield the development and modern buildings. There is also a recent addition to the house with holds the gift shop/bookstore for the site but it visibly does not match the period of house so I tried to exclude that from shots as well.

My final stop for the day was Brentsville where I set up the interview with Rob Orrison in the Courthouse.  I debated about whether to do it actually in the main room of the Courthouse or one of the smaller upstairs room or in a different building entirely such as Mr. Orrison’s office.  I decided on the main court room because I hope to film a small reenactment in there and I think seeing the space used in different ways would be interesting for the viewer.  I also think it is a bit more of a non traditional space for an interview and I know I personally get bored with the same bookshelf backdrop in documentaries.  All in all the space was a little bit difficult to work with.  The courtroom has very large windows and only a few outlets but I decided to film Rob with his back to the main courtroom (so the magistrates’ bench was on the far wall) and in the section where the ceiling was lower so I could control the light better. Once we started I had the same problem of the lapel mic being too loud even after I tried to adjust it so I again set the mic in front of him but out of the frame. 

During both interviews I was excited when I could picture how things they were saying would fit with images I already have or how I could cross cut the two interviews.

I am still grappling with what is feasible to accomplish in one semester.  I would rather do one thing well than do two only decently.  I will see how the next few weeks go but I may end up concentrating on just doing a documentary on Brentsville this semester and hopefully include the work and research I have already done on Ben Lomond in a future project.  

As far as my current plan of action I will be in the library this weekend loading the footage I took during break and possibly doing some storyboarding to see where the still images I have can line up with the interviews or what I want to use for voice-overs.  More long term goals are to try to get in contact with some professors at the Law School to talk to them about copyright issues, ask around or poster flyers to get some voice actors to read narration and be persistent with the reenacting groups as I would like to set up a couple of things to film during Spring Break.