Pre Production

For the documentary project my Documentary Production class has been split into two groups. My groups topic is the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center at Mercyhurst. At first I was not very happy about being assigned to this particular team. The other team’s topic is on an Erie Immigrant Relocation Project. They get to talk with immigrants from all over the world, and help future immigrants by making a video that shows them what life is here in Erie, Pa. I have to make a video celebrating 15 years of the PAC. Even worse, when meeting with the Manager of the PAC they informed us that they would be showing this documentary to about 800 people as they unveil the upcoming 2010-2011 program list. A little bit of pressure there. Luckily the way my professor split the groups left my team super stacked in comparison to the other team.



Here is a shot of the PAC. It was not taken by me and if you are the photographer, and you would like me to remove it, please email me at lniecg72@mercyhurst.edu

When my group sat down together for our first class work day, it became very obvious that we each had something good to bring to the table. Me and another group member have had a lot of experience with non linear editing systems, so we are going to act as the chief editors. One girl on the team is a very organized person, so she is going to be documenting the meetings we have, and organizing our group timeline. One of the boys in the group has volunteered to shoot the most of the footage with a pretty sweet camera of his own, and I will help film when I can to add additional angles and perspectives. The last male group member actually does his work study at the Performing Arts Center, so he has volunteered to schedule all of our meetings with the staff of the PAC. Another girl is a graphic design major and she is going to handle all of our videos graphics, and any CG we need. Lastly, there are two other girls who do not necessarily have a specialty, so they have agreed to be extra hands whenever we need them.

It almost seems as though this group has been made with success in mind, and so far we seem to be working well together and I am very excited. Sometimes you think of guys in group work being lazy or just kind of sitting back and letting the girls do the most of the work, but the guys in the group have been awesome so far and I can tell they are really excited about the project.