99th Hour Woes! Jah Help Us!!!

Yesterday was another drama filled day with "Group Oresome," that stemmed around Leja. Unknowing to the other group members she did ten interviews. Naturally this will infuriate group members which was evidenced by the bandy between Timothy, Leja and Lleana. Ms Ajim was carbon copied on the unfriendly exchange of words and she herself was disappointed at the fact that the meeting held last Tues was a colossal waste of time; she asked to be excluded from the emails and said that we are on our own...TINGS BADD!!!!!

Timothy the camera man; a good one at that is concerned that the footage may not be of the good quality he is accustomed to producing.  Lleana thinks that Leja is going overboard with this pretensive victim role when clearly she is doing what the hell she wants. BTW, those so called questions that Leja claimed to have submitted to Ingle were as she puts it, "just her thoughts," of which nobody but Leja understood. I dare you to look at the questions and comment!!! I looked at it and was confused. Timothy tried to conduct a man on the street interview and was lost as to what to ask the interviewees because her questions were incoherent. 

 

In addition to the drama, Leja who said in an email that she will share the footage yesterday, didn't show up to school; she had some group members waiting. Llena said she called Leja at least 3 times. Timmy even tried to contact her, but there was no answer. Leja sent an email only this morning apologizing for her absence which was attributed to an emergency. She said that she will be in school today at 1 p.m. then she pushed back the time to one hour later. 

With just two days to go and no editing, narration and shot lists completed or started, I am in full panic mode.

So what is my take on this whole "Ego/Power Trippin" incident? Leja needs to STOP being solipsistic; it's not all about you Leja! It's a group effort. That is where the problem lies. Yes Ingle is aggressive and  dogmatic(I SAID THAT TO HER FACE FYI)  but she apologized and showed a willingness to work with all team members. However Leja, even after the meeting was blatantly obstinate and has self inflicted an intractable reputation among the 2011 cohorts. So you might ask, why don't I tell that to Leja? At this 99th hour, does it really matter now? NEVER ME AGAIN!!!!!!!JAH KNOWS!!!!!

 

Sly!

 

 

Wayne Chance Interview

"Wayne Chance is a radio personality on I95.5fm and a local businessman. He was also a former prison inmate who founded Vision on a Mission while he was incarcerated in 1995. Vision in a Mission is a NGO which provides rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement services to deportees, prisoners, ex-prisoners, delinquent youth and socially displaced persons. Mr. Chance has agreed to an interview on Thursday afternoon at Vision on a Mission Headquarters"(Ingle Watson 11/18/2013). 

The interview will be held at 3 pm today. The team is hoping to interview some of the patients of the rehab centre, to bring more of a realness to the documentary. Wish us luck!

Sly!

Good Interview

The interview with Marin Gonzales was excellent. He shared a plethora of Rastafarian principles in relation to the topic of our documentary- Marijuana Decriminalization. 

He made a bold statement that Marijuana is the answer to global warming and gave a convincing explanation. The selecting of soundbites might be a little difficult with so much information, but it is better to have more than less. 

Highly Critical of My Recording Duties

As for my skills as an audio operator, it needed some practice, in that we never used that digital recording device in Christopher Aaron's class so it was a new experience where by it required me to not just turn on the recorder, but to keep a steady hand and face the device in the direction of the interviewee; the device was sound sensitive.  While this seems simple, it was tiring after a while to keep the recorder in hands becasue some interviews lasted over an hour. 

In the interview with Israel Khan we used a less stressful plan, which was to rest the recorder on a stand and attach it to the camera tripod; that proved effective. Admittedly, I was only able to attend two interviews becasue of my work schedule and lack of transport( my vehicle was stolen on 25th November, 2013). I didn't feel that I had enough experience as an audio operator, nevertheless it was just a matter of inserting the battery and pressing record.
 

Sly!

Interview postponed.

An interview was scheduled to take place at ten this morning, but because the producer was spending family time yesterday and the director didn't share the interview questions with the rest of group members, no one was able to forward the questions to the interviewee in a timely manner and as a result, the meeting was postponed with 12 days to go. May I remind you that we have not done scripts, narration and have not selected the sound bites to be used.

Sly

12 Days To Go

With 12 days to go and just three interviews completed, I am not impressed! So much for Team Awesome

Sly

Group Drama, Mama!

So this is what Leja emailed to Ingle

Ingle,

As Producer and Director we must work together, I find your consistent efforts to disregard and disrespect me, disconcerting.

From inception, you have tried to eliminate me from the role of Director. 

As Producer, it is not your responsibility to:

Conduct interviews unbeknownst to me. (Yesterday - a slip of Timothy's tongue simultaneous with my arrival to Mr. Singh's interview)

Meet with prospective interviewees unbeknownst to me. (Last Week - a slip of Timothy's tongue in response to the lecturer asking)

Provide selective updates. (From inception)

Adjust the interview questions I've prepared. (Yesterday - during Mr. Singh's interview)

Please cease and desist your efforts.

Leja

P.S.

These are the things I need:

The TV6 footage.

The video and audio data compiled for this documentary thus far. 

Research and ideas from the group.

All updates henceforth disseminated to the group.

Your co-operation.

Ingle then forwarded this email to thew rest of group members along with the following message...

Good day all,
I am sending this email so you are all aware of the following email which was sent to myself, Ms. Ajim and Ms. Wickham unbeknownst to you.

The initial message was not copied to the group but I thought everybody should be made aware of what is going on.

Ingle.

I am going to give this message the "golden silence" and continue with my online Christmas shopping. Really fed- up with this power struggle bs! 

Sly!

First Documentary Interview

Things are looking up, in that yesterday marked the first official interview for our documentary. Shyam Sing of the Decriminalize Cannabis of Trinidad &Tobago was scheduled to be interviewed at 6 p.m. at the Symbolic tattoo shop, in St Augustine.  As the "audio specialist" I arrived at 5:30 p.m. It  was locked and bolted like a chastity fortress. I stayed for 35 mins, then left for SBCS for the SSI tutorial with Ms. Ajim.

I would have called but I don't have a working cellular phone at the moment. Ingle explained that the residents were there but the building was accessible at the posterior end. Something that could have been sorted out with a ph call but I refuse to purchase another smart phone at this time of year. After all it's Christmas!!!!

Sly!

"Ministry Run Around"

We are roughly 3 weeks away from the due date for Documentary Production Assignment. The progress? Non- existent! I am sure you are familiar with the expression in Trinidad, " Ministry Workers are the Worse!" Well it is true. To get an interview with the Chief Justice, medical professionals and the Acting Police Commissioner is proving to be a frustrating bureaucracy. The lights are on but nobody's home!

Hoping it gets better.

Sly!