Visit #2 to the broadcaster. She listens to my reasons for being in Samoa. At the end of it, she asks what it is that I want. I explain my project again, including my availability to mentor locals. She wasn't sure how to accept my offer - but once she discovers that I use Final Cut (editing software), it's obvious...she takes me into an edit suite (after offering to broadcast my finished project) where someone is working away. I'm introduced and we start looking at ways for me to help them. There are some pretty simple things I do to help her - including bookmarking usergroups for Final Cut, advising her on workflow options, DVD Studio Pro workflow and tips on using Compressor. An hour and a half goes a long way to helping them move forward.
My next stop is to visit Mats at his home. It's a gorgeous 2 storey fale with walls that open to a tall thatched roof. After a generous lunch (thank you Sia!) we head up to Mat's office. He's using imovie to make videos for the web. Purpose is to promote tourism. The project I'm helping with will document the positive re-development of the local resorts. We create a game plan to shoot a series of videos while I'm here (up to seven or eight) that are shot at the devastated resorts, showing where things are at now, what efforts are being made to rebuild and then their five year plan. I am shooting the current installments and will cut them before heading back to Canada. I am training Mats on the production and then these videos, plus the follow-ups will get posted to the web, over time. My time with Mats goes quickly and I head back to SUNGO for another meeting.
Today is hard for me. It's the second day in a row that I haven't been shooting. Meetings are essential to planning the success of the rest of my trip, but I just HURTS to be here and not roll the camera for what seems an eternity.
The SUNGO meeting consists mostly of scheduling further work days. I want to make sure I allocate enough time to shoot the rest of the footage necessary for their video, plus laeve enough time for the edit - again, to be completed before leaving Samoa. They have generously offered the use of a UPS (battery back-up for my computer and camera - necessary for places where power is prone to outages), but they don't have the correct power cables for it, so I jump into a cab and start hitting up electronics stores on the way back to my hotel, but am not successful. Stores closing now. Nothing is simple or straightforward here. As a vacationer, it's paradise...but the honest truth is that when I WAS vacationing here, all I wanted to do was work. Samoa is an inspiration to me.
The folks at SUNGO invited me to a fundraiser - to support an end to violence against women. It's at the local cinema. I try to get some interviews before it starts, but everyone arrives at the last minute (including myself) and we are rushed into the cinema. I bump into Helen, my lead contact at NZAID and we sit together. It's been several days since I saw her, but so much has happened since then - I think she is happy to know that I haven't needed to bang on her door again. I want to shoot an interview - will schedule it soon. The film shown is called, The Stepfather. It's a pretty violent Hollywood thriller. After the lights go up everyone looks around in wonder - why such a film for this event? Unfortunately there wasn't the chance fo the organizers to view it ahead of time - can't win 'em all.
No comments:
Post a Comment