Production Day

Because of all of the planning I did during pre-production, my production day went smoothly. My day began in Pomaria where I met Jay Hope and Ron Hope. Ron Knorr and I drove from Greenville. Once I arrived, I had to figure out where I wanted to shoot. I had to make sure the location I chose had enough light and there was not too much extraneous noise. Ron Knorr showed me the spot where he conducted his interviews when he was there previously, so I thought that it would be a good idea to shoot my footage in the same spot. The lighting was good because the room had multiple windows and some lights. I began to set everything up and my tripod broke, but Jay Hope had one that he let me use.
Since I had given everyone a packet that said what I needed to accomplish that day, we were all on the same page. First we decided to shoot the narration. I shot the narration because Dr. Holmevik thought that I might want to include some of it in the documentary, but I am just going to use the audio because the script is lengthy and would have taken a long time to memorize. I was very flexible while shooting the narration. Jay Hope had some recommendations for some parts of the script, which I agreed with, so he said a few things differently than what I had written. I made sure to shoot each section a couple of times so that I could get the best audio possible. I also did some tests and the Bluetooth microphone worked very well. Before Jay Hope left I asked him if he knew of any music that I could include because I have had trouble finding some. I told him what kind of music I was looking for and he said that he could find some.
After I shot the narration we took a break for a minute because the room was pretty hot. Next I decided to shoot Ron Hope’s interview. I had already prepared the questions I wanted to ask, so I proceeded to ask him the questions and got a lot of information from of him. After I was finished with this interview I had to charge the camera. Even though I charged it the night before so that it would be fully charged, but the narration and the interview with Ron Hope used a lot of the battery and I did not want to have it die during my interview with Ron Knorr.
While the camera was charging I decided to take the stills I needed to get. I walked around the grounds and took exterior pictures of the school and also of the church. When I first arrived I had taken some interior pictures to show the restoration that Ron has been doing.
After I took the stills I needed to take, I interviewed Ron Knorr. He also had a lot of valuable information to tell me. Lastly, I took a picture of all three men separately and together, along with one of the two Hopes together.
After Ron Knorr and I left Pomaria, we traveled to Newberry College, where James Haskell Hope received a Master’s. I took some pictures of a dorm that was the only building left on the campus when he was there. I also took some stills of the signs around the campus that talked about its historical significance.
When I got back to Clemson, I went to the MATRF and imported all of the footage from the camcorder because I had to return it. When I got home I looked at the footage in order to figure out what I needed to do to start laying out the film.

Post for April 28

I met with Dr. Holmevik on Friday, April 24 and we discussed my paper and the shooting I am going to do on Monday. He had made some comments on my paper that I needed to address. His comments were that I should add a title page, table of contents, and photos with a photo list. I had added appendices and I also needed to move them from before the works cited page to after it. Since I am still looking for some of the photos, so far I added a picture of Julius Rosenwald and a photo of The Hope School. He suggested that I add the blue prints of the school when I talk about it. Dr. Holmevik said that I should take pictures of Ron Hope, Jay Hope, and Ron Knorr while I am in Pomaria so I can add them to my paper. My appendices included my agreement letter and my project schedule. I added my script to the appendices as well. He also suggested that I change the purpose section to the executive summary and also change the problem statement section to the introduction.
After discussing my paper we talked about shooting on Monday. I went to the MATRF and got a microphone and a Sony Handycam with a blue tooth microphone. I was just going to get a microphone, but then I realized that I had no way of recording the sound and I could not hook the microphone to the camera. One of the MATRF staff helped me with the Sony Handycam and told me that it would be better sound quality and would not require trying to sync the sound with the footage. Dr. Holmevik reminded me that I should be prepared for anything to happen and have a plan B and maybe even C. I am also going to be taking my digital camera with me so that I can take some stills of the exterior of The Hope School and any other things I might want to get. Dr. Holmevik suggested that I take a lot of pictures so that I can choose the best ones from them in post production.
We also talked about the presentation that I will give when I defend. Dr. Holmevik said that he would like the presentation to be a “The Making of” film. Because of this suggestion he said that I should have someone take pictures of me while I am in Pomaria so that I can include them in the presentation. I am also going to have someone take pictures of me while I am working on the documentary. I can also add some of these pictures to my paper.

Post for April 24

This week I worked on my paper and prepared for my production day on Monday, 4/27. I thought of some questions to ask and talking points for the people I am going to interview. I have gathered all of my equipment and will pick up some sound equipment from the MATRF today.
I was not able to meet with Dr. Holmevik on our normal day, so I am meeting with him today. We will discuss my project paper and the final script. I am going to send the script to Jay Hope so that he can familiarize himself with it before I actually record him.
Last week Dr. Holmevik and I came up with a new schedule for the next couple of weeks. I am going to turn in a rough draft of my film and my paper by May 6 and I will turn in a final cut of my film by June 1, which leaves me three weeks to defend.

Post for April 16

Last week I revised my script and sent it back to Ron Knorr to see if he had anymore suggestions. I received my script back from him on Tuesday and began to make the final revisions he suggested. I sent a copy to Dr. Holmevik once I was finished and we will meet on Tuesday, April 21 to discuss it. Once I have completed my script I will send the final version to Jay Hope so that he can familiarize himself with it for when I do narration.
I am planning to do most of my production on Monday, April 27. I contacted Jay Hope to see what works best for him, and also Ron Knorr. I believe that Ron Knorr will accompany me to Pomaria that day. Jay Hope also gave me the phone numbers for Ron Hope and Tenetha Hall, who I will contact and see if they are available that day as well. I am hoping to be able to complete production by Wednesday, April 29 so that I can begin to make my first cut.
Dr. Holmevik said it would be okay for me to make the first cut in iMovie, which means that I can work on it at home. Since I will be going out of town in the beginning of May, he would like me to have my first cut finished and to my committee, Jay Hope, and Ron Knorr so that they can review it while I am away and when I return I can make any revisions necessary and put it into Final Cut Pro.
Since I am waiting on approval of my script, I will continue to work on my paper because Dr. Holmevik would also like me to have a draft to my committee before I go out of town. In the next week I will prepare for production by thinking of questions that I will ask those I will be interviewing and I will also continue my search for appropriate background music.

Post for April 9

At the beginning of this week Jay Hope let me know that he had received my script and requested that I let Ron Knorr look at it to make sure my facts are historically correct. Ron sent me some comments on the script, so I also worked on those changes. Ron suggested that I revise part of my introduction, which after reading his comments, I agree with. He suggested that I reference the paper he wrote as well in the section “Where the Idea Came From.” Ron said that Ron Hope may not be familiar with the details of the land, so I may want to ask Jay Hope, but since he is going to be doing some narration, I still want to talk to Ron Hope about who James Haskell Hope was. He suggested that I refer to the number of Rosenwald schools built and in what time frame in the section of my script entitled “The Hope Rosenwald School.” Lastly, Ron suggested that I also reference Tenetha Flemon Hall as well as the pastor of the church when I discuss the rebuilding. He also agreed to be interviewed and possibly read some of his paper and travel with me to Pomaria during my production week.
In the coming week I will continue to contact those who I would like to interview during my production week. I have sent a revised copy of my script to Ron Knorr and Dr. Holmevik. I will make revisions as needed and then send a final copy of my script to Jay Hope so he can look it over and read it before my production week when I will be shooting his narration. Jay Hope also offered to get in touch with someone who I may want to have narrate some parts of the documentary since he has a “James Earl Jones-esque” voice, which is what I wanted in the beginning.

Post for April 2

I found out last Thursday that I passed my Oral exam!!! Now I will be able to concentrate strictly on my project.
Dr. Holmevik’s class that I attended last week was an overview of iMovie, but was very helpful in seeing how various aspects of the software work. I feel confident about using Final Cut Pro.
This week I sent my script to Jay Hope for review. I sent it on Tuesday, March 31, so he should get it in a day or two. After he looks it over, I will make any revisions he requests and get it approved by Jay Hope and Dr. Holmevik. After these changes I will finish my script and begin getting ready for my production week, which is April 27. In order to get ready I will get in touch with everyone who I want to interview to set up a time and a place to meet for the interviews. Once I know what my schedule will be during production week, I will post it to my blog.
Also this week, Dr. Holmevik got the students who he is chairing together to give us some tips on how to prepare for our defense. He would like for me to provide each member of my committee with my project paper bound. He would also like for the bound paper to include a sleeve for my film, this way they can each have a nice copy of what I have been working on for all of these months. He told me that I should prepare a five minute presentation to present at the beginning of my defense and then I should discuss what I have done to address the concerns presented to me by my committee. He also told me to be confident and not to be defensive, but positive instead. These tips were very helpful and will prepare me for my defense in June.
Since I did not really have much of my script to work on this week, I decided to begin working on my project paper. I began with the theoretical context section of my paper. In this section I talked the different styles of documentary there are as defined by Bill Nichols in his article “The Voice of Documentary”. I also discussed the rhetorical situation as defined by Charles Kostelnick and David Roberts in their book Designing Visual Language: Strategies for Professional Communicators.
Next I worked on the Method section of my paper. In the method section, I have a subsection entitled research. In this section I discussed the different kinds of research I had to do before I even began making the documentary.
The next subsection of the method section is the process section. In the process section I discussed downloading ‘Celtx’ and using it to write my script. I also discussed the different sections of the script and what is included in each section. I also talked about how I used Kostelnick and Roberts’ rhetorical situation to decide what I needed to do in pre-production and put into my script. I also discussed the style of documentary I would use in creating my film that I learned about from reading Bill Nichols’ article.
The other sections of my paper that I have not done much work on yet include: Purpose, My Client, Problem Statement, and Historical Context. The Historical Context section in my paper will be very similar to the Historical Context section in my proposal. I will speak with Dr. Holmevik about other sections I should include.