Production Day 3: Laura Martin Interview
/Early start for us to head down to Atlanta, GA. Mark is a morning person and is therefore way ahead of Shawn and I. We arrive at Laura Martin's house at 11:00 AM. Laura's office is a little smaller than Joey's work-space, so after wrestling with the 50mm lens that we planned to use on all of the interview footage, we decided that it would be best to shoot with the 35mm. This definitely changed the coverage of the room, but so far I stand by it being the right call. We'll see what comes of it in post production.
Laura has three cats and they all wanted to be included in the film. Our first day of production, Joey's cat Eddie really got to Mark's allergies. This time we came prepared with allergy medicine and it did the trick.
This shoot went way smoother than the first day. I think we have learned a lot already and are working well together as a team. I discovered, while setting up, that I did not have my lapel mic. I have no idea where it is. Possibly, Joey Weiser is still wearing it. Thankfully, Mark had one in his bag.
Laura was wearing a t-shirt, which would normally be an issue, however I want to make sure the interviewee is comfortable and feeling like themselves, I adjusted my mic technique and worked with it. She was also wearing a necklace, which is a no-no, but it added character to the shot, so I kept it. There was a little rustling from the shirt and necklace, but I think I can work with it. Laura asked if she could continue to work while we filmed her and of course I said that that would be okay. She was also kind enough to let us cheat her desk and computer a few inches toward the wall. It took us about an hour to setup, and once I worked up the nerve to hit record, things went very smoothly.
I made a few adjustments to the Q and A format. Instead of cutting between each question, we only cut between each episode. Each episode took us about 20 minutes to get through. After episode 2, we took a quick lunch break to eat Subway foot-longs that Laura's husband, Randy, ran out to pick up for us. I know I chose very specific people for this project, but I am still very grateful for how accommodating everyone is being.
After interviewing for the next 3 episodes completed, we picked up some footage of Laura working on Walt Simonson's Ragnarok. Watching through other documentaries, I am noticing a need for b-roll coverage. I want to avoid having a talking heads documentary. I'll have to scrounge through the interview footage and make notes on possible coverage.
During shooting of b-roll, I reached out to a few other local artists to see if they were available to take 15 or so minutes to talk about Laura's work. It turns out that a 30 minute heads up that a film crew is coming to your house is not enough. However, they were interested in contributing, so I'll have to plan better for our second trip to Atlanta and get them scheduled.
While leaving Laura's house, I reached out to Van Jensen about dropping our equipment and a car off at his place, so we wouldn't have to lug it up to our hotel room for the night. He was okay with that, so we made our way to Van's. The journey took a little longer than it should have due to Atlanta traffic and an issue with the GPS. (I'll do a whole 'nother blog post one day about how I hate Atlanta roads.)
After we unloaded at Van's, we headed to The "original" Flying Biscuit Cafe for dinner. Deliciousness was had by all.
Our journey to our hotel, a little over 5 miles away, took us about 45 minutes. We checked in, and called it an early night for an early rise tomorrow.
