Documentary Journal

Tim Runge
Documentary
Journal 1

I felt a definite progression in my abilities as a filmmaker this month. For Digital Cinematography we got tossed into a trial by fire scenario that made us think on our feet and try to make the most out (essentially) a bad situation. Through the various trials and speed bumps many of us found a foothold or at least a comfortable place from which to stand in order to serve various projects in the future. DC class notwithstanding I think that our documentary “Admit One” is going to be what I will look back on fondly as my first real foray into the world of film.
Our film essentially showcases The Enzian, which is a local movie theater that shows indie films, foreign films, and films that you won’t see in the big chain theaters. They also serve amazing food as well as having their own bar. It’s a place that many people in our group held very dear and those that didn’t, quickly learned to.

Day 1:
I have a small background in camerawork and felt that running the camera would be the best way for me to facilitate myself for the group, but I did feel trepidation because of the passion that was involved. I had been to The Enzian twice before and I loved it, but our co-directors and our DP were virtual regulars as well as some of my best friends, so I had to live up to a standard of greatness that I knew I couldn’t achieve on my own but would reach for none-the-less. (Only time will tell how it turned out.)
Our first day of filming was nerve wracking. We would be talking to the president of the company. We were already nervous because we wanted to do well across the board for our film and for each other, and the first interview that they could supply us with was the big man himself.
We got everything set up for his shot, lights were perfect, I had managed to get the camera in a respectable spot. All we had left to do was get the sound calibrated. Robert was our sound guy and he had set everything up properly and his levels were good. The camera on the other hand was showing everything blown out so I stepped down the gain on the back of the camera to adjust properly and plugged in my headphones.
I found that the levels were at a tolerable level but everything sounded a bit tinny to me. I asked Robert if he thought it was a concern, he mentioned that everything sounded fine to him, I brought also brought it up to the rest of the crew and we all collectively decided it must have been a flub with the headphones. Our biggest downfall for the project rested in our not checking into the issue further.
The interview was amazing. He was a very engaging speaker and seemed to almost intrinsically know where the frame of the camera was as he rarely leaned out of it. I noticed that I was going to have to work on my headroom but overall I was proud of how it looked and, after an informative half hour, we thanked him for his time and tore down the interview to prep for B-Roll. As we put our equipment away our editor Libby moved the footage on to her computer and discovered our sound discrepancy, and it was a doozy. Everything I had heard in my headphones was committed to the picture. We were devastated. Luckily Robert had brought a backup camera that managed to record all of the sound and helped us to overcome a potential disaster. We managed to hit our biggest speed bump right out of the gate unscathed. We managed to get the sound adjusted inside the camera and any hesitation we had felt at the beginning was replaced by a cautious confidence. We shot some exterior B-Roll without issue. We didn’t really have a lot of shots to get on location based on what the president had talked about but we got some good stuff at any rate.

Day 2:
Our group quickly got accustomed to what we called in the military “hurry up and wait”. We had various interviews laid out for the rest our shooting schedule so we would collectively meet an hour or so before hand, make sure everything was set up properly then continually check our color and light while sitting around waiting for our subject to arrive.
On this day we were interviewing a manager and we set everything up properly and waited. And waited. And waited. We started to get antsy, checking our sound to make sure we didn’t run into the same issues, making sure we were white balanced, checking the sun to make sure she would actually show up on camera. We all understood that she had duties to perform and an actual “job” to do so we weren’t frustrated, we just felt… unproductive.
When she finally made her way over to us we did a final check of everything with her in frame and got about 15 minutes or so of her answering Yorgo’s questions. The sound recorded fine and everything went smoothly. The only hiccup from my point of view was that it didn’t seem that she had anything different to say from the president of the company. I trusted Eric and Yorgo though and pushed through my hesitation.
After her interview we broke for a good chunk of the day. Eric wanted to return at dusk to get some time-lapse photography on the marquee on the outside of the building. So again we all meet and get the camera set up. Robert had a family situation that needed attending and of course we let him go home to take care of his wife. He wasn’t going to be needed for the rest of the day. We proceeded to sit for about four hours while the time-lapse photography did it’s thing. We all managed to sit through this time talking about nothing and learning of various uncomfortable awkward silences. We got about 4 minutes of footage.

Day 3
This was the day where any nervousness we had about filming went away. We had an interview with a gentleman who worked in the projection booth. We arrived early as usual, got everything set up properly and waited a fairly small amount of time. His interview went smoothly and he gave us a ton of new information. He was also more engaging than the manager had been and, since he was so close in age to us, knew how to communicate in a way that captivated our attention as a group.
We had gotten another 20 minutes or so out of our interview with him and Eric and Yorgo had us tear down the interview and re-arrange everything to make it better than it was before. The same man we had just interviewed would be down in an hour or so to take some of us up to the projection room to get some footage of “Caddyshack” being loaded onto the reel as it was going to be played the next day (as well as serve as the centerpiece of our film).
He came and got us and we recorded some B-Roll inside with Eric’s camera. I flubbed on the sound but it turned out alright because it would have been too loud and nonsensical to use anyway.

Day 4:
This was our big day. They were showing Caddyshack and we had one more staff interview to lock down. We arrived early as always and got our interview set up. We would be interviewing Liz who not only worked at The Enzian, but was related to the people who had actually had it built. She talked for quite a while about the history of the place, the celebrities that came through and just added that extra layer that our project needed to lend it some validity. She spoke for about 45 minutes and we broke for an extended lunch. We would return that night before the Caddyshack crowd and get the finishing touches
We arrived an hour or two before the crowds and got some amazing shots of the foliage and the mural on the wall by the bar. We got some crowd shots of people purchasing tickets and mingling. They let me and Robert into the kitchen to shoot the cooks doing their thing. Most of all it was another game of hurry up and wait.
About 30 minutes before the show they let Eric, Robert and myself in to set up a camera. Before each film at The Enzian, someone comes out and gives some general trivia about the movie as well as updates on what’s happening at The Enzian itself. We got some good footage of the speaker and exited the theater quietly.
Once outside all we really had to do was get some shots of the streetside sign at night and grab some interviews with patrons. At the end of the evening Eric told us that we were pretty much wrapped.


Wrap up:
I’m proud of our work on this film. We put in a lot of time, effort, and stress into this project and I think that passion will shine through. I’m sure there will be flubs and mistakes. There will be things that make us smack our heads and question why we did what we did, but we’re students. Still learning. Overall I think we knocked it out of the park as a group and I think that our work will stand out on it’s own.

quick update

Hi interwebs! (and mom)

So I've been busy what with shooting our first "film" (I prefer to call it a "learning experience") and editing it. Then going into working my butt off with the finest group of future filmmakers anyone could have the privilege to work with in my documentary class.

We've been shooting a documentary on a local theater called The Enzian (www.enzian.org) and it's been wonderfully exhausting. They show indie movies, foreign films, cult classics, you name it. (And it seems as though all of the females that work there are required to be hot -not a complaint-)

aaaannnnyyyyway the hard part for me is over. I was a cameraman on the shoot so when it's eventually posted online you will all (both of you) get to see my handiwork! Hooray!

Right after this post I will be posting our mandatory "journal" chronicling our experience making our film (entitled Admit One). It's and excellent example of tedium and mediocrity!

So I'm off. Hopefully I'll be back in dour spirits soon and go off on another rant. Until then I suppose I'll just have to be chipper.






oh wait! It's 1am and my neighbors are listening to the TV uber loud! Oh hi headache!

Lesson Over