Journal #2

October 5, 2014 Today we met with Kyle to discuss in depth the documentary topic and what we are hoping to accomplish. 11:30a.m. We began filming primary shots of Kyle Chattam. We spoke about American culture to break the ice. I then asked him some questions about his look and why/when he began growing his hair. Briefly, he got into how natural hair became a movement as of late and how blacks are challenging stereotypes. He spoke about his part time job at a law firm. I thought this was particularly important to the documentary and ACT II – how others view him. He mentioned that his cowrkers (mostly white) do not judge him for the way that he looks but instead judge him by his work ethic. I think this SOT will come in handy. When we meet again I want to ask him about this more in depth and we have plans to set up a shoot at his workplace pending approval by his boss. We ended with a shot of Kyle walking back to his car which would have been great for the ending credits but after reviewing the shot it was much too light. I would like to reshoot this. October 9 I spoke with Dr. M via text and she confirmed that any day during her office hours is okay to shoot as well as weekends. October 12 We did not meet today as previously planned because of capstone preparation. October 13 The class checked out cameras but we already had ours. October 19 11:30 am We met with Kyle at a location he often works from – All Saints Café. I contacted the manager beforehand to get a greenlight for shooting. It was approved as long as we did not disturb customers. Kyle came in wearing an Africa emblem so I decided to start the interview by asking him the significance of the piece so that I could get a better feel for his afrocentrism. When probed he spoke openly about the social constructs of race and what being black means to him and how it defines who he is. 5pm We finally met with Chris for the first time. He was clean-shaven, neat and well mannered. I like the choice we made even though it appears as if he may not be reliable. We shot the interview in his dorm room, which is covered in posters mostly of black figures that he admired or thought contributed to the black cause: WEB DuBois, Malcolm X. He also had pictures of MLK who he said he actually didn’t want on the wall. We got good SOTs of him talking about the black struggle and these men as well as the idea of the Talented Tenth and how society is programmed to make black men feel less than adequate and how social status is debilitating to the back community. He spoke mainly about social inequality. October 23 2:15pm I spoke with Dr. M via text and she informed me that she would be speaking at a symposium tomorrow around 10:45 a.m. I have already scheduled an appointment with Prof. Jones for this time and I think Jehan is in class. 8:30pm We had a meeting scheduled with Chris today but instead of filming we discussed shooting him at a friends house so that we could get him in a setting with his peers. He told us that he is a barber and I suggested he set up appointments for that date to give it a barbershop atmosphere, a place where black men speak freely. We planned to meet Sunday around 11am. October 25 Kyle told me that he will be doing a photo shoot tomorrow so Jehan and I will be there to shoot B-Roll of him in his element and hopefully get our slow pan shot of his appearance that I want for the opening credits. Later that night Kyle informed me that the shoot would be in the morning. October 26 11am Jehan called Chris numerous times; he never answered. I personally saw him at Governor’s Square Mall that evening and he said he stayed up all night and forgot about the shoot. Jehan and I discussed finding another interviewee but honestly I like what he has to say. Maybe only shooting him during weekday evenings works best. 11:40am I arrived at the location of Kyle’s shoot and helped him with the shoot and had to wait on Jehan even though we agreed on 11:30 initially. 12:30pm Jehan finally arrived and began shooting BRoll. We got the slow pan shot we needed. I left early as I had arrived early and she stayed behind to get any other shots she needed. October 27 We have yet to get any SOTs or BRoll from Dr. M. My plate is very full and I have to find a way to fit it into my schedule. I am planning to attend her Thursday office hours to begin shooting. October 28 We meet briefly with Professor Jones to show him the footage we have gotten so far. Our main goal now is Broll. We need to get shots of different kinds of people- people with tattoos, people with short hair, people with long hair, etc.