Feb. 23 2007
Day 8: Shooting Day 1
A great day of shooting. Thanks to the enthusiasm of each woman and their kids. We started with A.'s shoot. Which took place on a green grassy intersection with these strange stone mounds. A. was wearing a very long dress with clothespins and and a laundry basket on her head as she walked down the street. We got a lot of stares.Most of the shoots went well technically. We do want the women to be creating themselves more so that this is not a piece on them but more so from them. It is difficult instilling creativity. We ended up having to direct the other women very specifically to some sorts of shots that might represent them. We had F. dancing to music and feeding apples to her son. We had P. shoot each object in her room and then spent 10 minutes shooting her and her daughter going through their photo album.
* note: lighting makes a big difference, remember to interview the women when this is done.
Shooting schedule:
15.30-18h C. has the Sony HDV to film herself with the kids. When we arrived she was not feeling well and in bed with her baby son who was also sick. We checked in on her around 5 and she was up and about so we gave her the camera. She took the kids outside and filmed them playing.
15.30-16.h A.'s shoot outside on the street with the Panasonic 3ccd. The weather is getting pretty rainy so we had a small window to shoot. She had to get something nice for her son A. to drink and also had to get changed and ready with her props so we were a little bit delayed. As for her shoot, she was a natural in front of the camera and took direction very well. We interviewed her informally afterward where she talked about how she was at first hesitant to join the workshop, but has been really enjoying herself with the opportunity to be creative. I was having trouble shooting with the Panasonic - the menus and buttons were really confusing and I had the fader set for some reason and had to deal with annoying fade ins and outs. Everyone in the cars by the road were gaping at our shoot as A. was actually really scrubbing her laundry on the rock, some guy yelled out in Dutch, "It gets cleaner with a washing machine." (not sure who's translation that was, Pooja's or A.'s)
* remeber to get used to new cameras before doing a crucial shoot!!!
16-17h F. shoot in her room with light setup, tripod and Sony HDV. Was more difficult directing F. because of the language barrier. P. and I are getting better
communicating with F. and R. but still not as clear as
we can be. In her room, we filmed her getting ready, playing and eating with R. and then going through his toyshelf. Also by herself - looking through pictures, looking into and to the side of the camera.
17-18h P. shoot in her room with light setup, tripod and Sony HDV. P. expressed more interest in learning how to shoot, so we had her behind the camera shooting the objects in her room and with her daughter N.
