Interviewing Strtegies

I am really glad that I had a chance to watch this week's segments before trying to conduct my interview. When it comes to a lot of things, I am more prone to try to 'wing it' rather than to develop a detailed plan. I will of course have a basic outline planned in my head, however rarely do I work with a written outline. That's just always been the way I have worked. But after watching the filmlab videos, I now realize the importance of having my questions written out and a clear direction for the interview. I had a vision of how the interview might have gone had I gone in like I had planned with just a general idea of what I wanted to know and it was a scary one, filled with me awkwardly scrambling for something relevant to ask, and the interviewee becoming increasingly annoyed. Anyways I now have a plan and am glad for it.

For the professional video I will be interviewing Toni Montes of F451 Arquitectura. In my experience in architecture school, he is the individual from whom I feel I have learned the

most. For the interview I plan to conduct it in our studio. In the storyboard sketch I have done, I have models, sketches, and projects that we have produced here this semester in the background of the shot. I am still working on the types of questions that I am going to ask him, and the direction that I want the interview to take. A second interview that I will be using in my films will be with Clemson alum and former Barcelona architecture student Sarah Moore, who is now living here in Catalunya. I will be asking her about her experience with the people of the region and their sense of independence and how they feel about the region's relationship with the Spanish government. Many of the people here do not feel that the Spanish Parliament nor monarchy have any right to governance of the region and wish to become completely independent. As Sarah is living here and learning the language, I am interested to learn what she has experienced her, as well as to catch up with an old friend. For the setting of this interview I am planning something informal and typical for the region, most likely a small cafe on one of the back streets that I've found. I'm hoping to hammer out these questions this week and get to interviewing by the weekend!

Switzerland Video

Just took a trip to do some hiking in the Alps. Didn't plan as having as much snow, but was great anyway! Hopefully you can get a good understanding of how the trip went based on only the video, but i'll update a bit later with some reflections. Also, kind of played around with a few of the effects, although i've never been a huge fan of mixing more than two or three in the same video.... But I got familiar with extracting audio from videos and then using that audio overlayed with other clips. Hope you guys enjoy!

Project Ideas

I am pretty excited to start working on my projects. I've been doing a basic "story-baord" so to speak in my head as I've been experiencing Barcelona. Here are a few basic ideas for how I am starting to approach each of the videos.

Personal: I really want to portray my experience of living in an urban environment, especially one so vibrant as Barcelona. I'd like to show back and forth between the fast pace movement of the city contrasted to a few "respites" from city life that I have found. I feel like I can make a lot of use of using audio clips along with the video and pictures to portray this. By switching back and forth from these busy experiences, for example right outside my window, to the more peaceful ones of say Montjuic Park, I can also portray the cadence of the life that I have led here in the city.

Professional: I am really looking forward to doing this video. Our architecture studio is located directly adjacent to the offices and studio of EMBT, a world renowned firm founded by the late Enriq Miralles. We were able to tour their studio earlier in the year, and I believe that I will be able to interview one of their personnel to discuss architecture and it's role in Barcelona, as well as who Catalunyan architecture and the works of EMBT have made an impression on the architecture community as a whole. I also would like to get an opinion on this subject from my studio professor who himself is a renowned architect in the region.

Public Issues: For this video I would like to look at the Catalunyan sense of independence from Spain. Although they are recognized as an "autonomous" state, they still feel as if the Spanish Monarchy and parliament are alien to them and do not have the right to claim the region as part of their rule. I would like to interview a friend of mine and Clsemson University alum, Sarah Moore who is currently working as an au pair for a Catalunyan family. This family speaks little Spanish and so Sarah has had to learn much of the language. I would like to compare her experience with this idea of independence, from what I have learned since being over here.

I'm looking forward to putting these videos together to share my experiences here.