Week 6

For week 7 our group focused on accomplishing a few things. After shooting our interview and B-roll at Walton's distillery in Jacksonville we had a lot of footage to review and edit together for our B-roll and 3 minute interview footage due in class.  We all met in the editing lab and looked at the footage to organize the shots we liked and discard the ones we didn't.  I also went through the sound footage and organized the files according to what it was and if it was usable.  While we reviewed the footage we started to get more of a sense in what we want to do in editing our final cut.  So we now have more of an idea of what we want in our final cut. This past week we also thought about what other expert interviews we want to have. Hannah contacted the New Hanover county police department to see if we could interview someone about the consequences of illegal moonshining. Our expert interview, Don from Walton's Distillery, is also an attorney so he was able to give us some valuable information on the legality of moonshining but we still hope for more content on what can happen if underground moonshiners are caught.

Week 5

After last class we were able to get our shooting date at Walton's distillery finalized and had the confirmation to go. Since we got confirmation so last minute, I was not able to get my shift covered at work and didn't get to go shoot our interview in Jacksonville.  Instead I had the group keep me updated on everything that happened, worked on our sound design from home, and got the interview recordings from the group when they got back.  This last week I did more research on what music to use in my sound design to go with the culture of moonshining.  I focused on what regions produced the most moonshine and what kind of local music was being produced out of there to see if there was any relation.  I also listened and saved some of the more "classic" bluegrass hits that are listened to nationally.  It has been interesting to see how bluegrass has spread and grown a fan base with people who are not moonshining and that don't know anything about making it.  The interview seemed to go well according to what I heard on the sound recordings with Don. He's very knowledgeable and was eager to talk about the art of moonshine. I wish I could have been there to see it in person and buy some of his moonshine.

Week 4

This week we were able to accomplish a few more things to get our project on track. We have finalized shooting dates for interviewing experts and filming some B-roll.  On Friday we will be traveling to Walton's Distillery in Jacksonville to shoot B-roll and interview Don, the owner of the distillery.  He's going to be a great interview subject because he's not only the owner but also an attorney. So Don will be able to give us some good insight into the distillery work as well as the legal side of moonshine. I'm hoping he will give us new information on moonshining that we'll be able to look into further. This week I have also continued proposing shooting dates back and forth with Alex and his family.  We are keeping our fingers crossed for February 26th but do not have their confirmation on it yet.  Alex told me he will give me a final answer tomorrow. We were planning on shooting our B-roll on my Canon t5i but since we will have the opportunity to get an interview with Don, we went ahead and did a full equipment request. We got it approved and will be picking up our equipment tomorrow after class.

Class Presentation

This week in class we will be presenting our films to our classmates so this past week was in preparation of that.  We finalized a lot of our plans for the semester and have a clearer idea of what our production is going to be like. It's exciting seeing it come together! And as a person who is normally slaving away in the art department, it is a nice change being the sound mixer. I honestly wasn't too sure about it in the beginning but the more I'm learning about it, the more interesting it's becoming.  And in the grand scheme of things, our film would be silent if it weren't for me! This week I did some further research into the equipment I'll be using and tried to understand the benefits of them and how to use them. It'll be easier to understand once I get my hands on them. I've worked with the school's sound equipment only one other time about a year ago so I'll have to reteach myself but it should be easy to pick back up. Also, I created a sound design playlist on my Spotify that was inspired by my moonshine research. I was surprised to find that I enjoy Bluegrass.