Meeting & Research/Filming & Editing

Had meeting Tuesday and all went well, came up with some general questions and outlined jobs for Thursday. Managed to look at some websites for the camps that Anita was at and had a look for music and newsreel footage. Unfortunately, SoundSnap now charge a membership fee although you can download five free music clips per month. Pathe do provide a free film clip, however it is of low quality and has a Pathe copyright symbol over it, higher resolutions are available but cost from £25-£500 plus vat (!), there was even a charge for stills (!!). However, filming went fairly smoothly on Thursday, although we did have a little trouble setting up the studio so that there was nothing distracting in the background/people positioned correctly etc but nothing too serious. Anita went first as opposed to Alec; Alec went in a side room with three of the students, David, myself and a person from Act for change (Jane I think?) and talked about what he was going to discuss - which was good. He was a little slower in his delivery than Anita but still an amazing story of survival. Managed to get a camera and a Mac and started downloading early so that we were finished earlier - also helped to take some notes later on. The past three days have just been taken up with editing all this material down really and getting the films to a stage where we are happy with them. We still ended up with too much film, we have had to split Anita and Alec up so that we now have three films (including the one about the students). As I left today, we were almost completely finished on Anita's, required some photos for Alec's (largely complete) and the others were concentrating on completing the student one as I left. I had to depart this morning as I was seeing my daughter this afternoon (the only time I've been absent really). Hopefully should be nearly finished and be able to show Mimi what we've got Tuesday morning (will pick up the photo's Tuesday morning just to finish Alec's off). So far it is looking fairly good and we should be finished prior to Easter.

Research & Meeting

Have managed to read a little more about Alec's concentration camps (quite harrowing) but not Anita's - although did find an article about her in the Telegraph. Also found a bit on the 'Boys' who were evacuated from Poland when they were liberated, although Alec is not mentioned very often but still a bit of background info. Have sent the links round for the concentration camps on an email and the Boys article (PDF) and copied Anita's article into word as it didn't come out very well as a PDF. Anita's camps (Auschwitz & Belsen) are probably more well known - however will try and do a bit of research before the filming on Thursday(!). At the meeting last week we roughly sorted out a time table and who was doing what - I'm currently a member without office (general dogs body!) although I will be working on the final version of the proposal/write up as it may change. We did come up with some questions for the teenagers and it was also suggested that we come back with some questions for the interviewee's next week - so hopefully the research I sent round was helpful. I also booked the Mac's/camera's out when I went up to borrow one to refresh myself on the clip editing software. The filming has also been changed to De Havilland rather than College Lane studio - and that's about it, apart from the fact that I now have a cold, so I may be banished from the studio, especially if I'm coughing/sneezing/or blowing my nose at the wrong moment! Did think of a job I could be doing any way - could start loading film up on the Mac's as the interviews finish. Would save time later - will suggest at next meeting.

Meetings and layout of Project

The film with the audio problems looks to be a total loss, spoke to Chris Smith and he thinks it may be a problem with the compression/transfer to Mac. Will get back to me if an original file is found without the distortion on it. Have had a couple of meetings now, and also a tutorial last week with Mimi. The lady (Lea) from Act for Change has also requested that some teenagers be present who have done the course. Had to type up a rough project proposal last weekend which was difficult to do as we don't know exactly what we're going to be filming until the day. Obviously had a rough idea from biog's, the Act for Change mission statement and Mimi got back to me about numbers of films (2),etc. The plan at the moment is to make two films, one from the teenagers point of view e.g. what they got from the course and a more promotional film about the charity, using the experiences the Holocaust survivors themselves. The date that filming will take place (26th March) has pushed back all the plans for editing and so on. Hopefully should go well as the group planning is kicking in, the weekend after the filming looks to be a very busy one! We should also be meeting up again next Tuesday, although have still yet to do some in depth research; did do a little last week before tutorial but not really enough!

Act for Change Group

Have been playing around with some of the audio (which was corrupted) on one of the files given to us by Mimi but unfortunately not with much success. I think the errors in the sound recording are so embedded that only a close analysis might make them better. Have not heard anything back from Jo-Anne as yet but did reply a bit late due to a film essay being due in next week and I didn't check my messages as often as I would have normally. Hope I've not missed a meeting...?! Will catch up with them at some point - also emailed Mimi with more specific questions about the project, re; length of files required (time), numbers (one or more) and whether we could have a look at the studio before the interview date (now confirmed as 26th March). Had better start doing some research (!) but will have to check with rest of group first?