After 16 years I finally hit Maracas Beach

Ok..today started off with me meeting Simone in Port of Spain for 8:30, feeling pretty good as I was early and got there at 8:20am. We headed to Maracas to meet the other members of the crew and promptly started the shoot. Firstly ofcourse getting our individual properties in gear.

Todays shoot was to obtain vox pops from the beach goers as to find out why they preferred Maracas (which is one of TnT's most popular beach) beach or if they were aware of others unpopular beaches in the twin island. At times it was a bit challenging to get folks who were willing appear on camera, aswell as due the heavy activity in today's Maracas Open Swim Day events, also caused some difficulty in getting many participants. However when we did, we received sufficient feed back that would be great for the research. Some admitted it(Maracas Beach) was good for the adventurous types with a preference of the rough waters. Some stated mainly because of its popularity and some just came due to the beach being a regular venue. In all it was a productive day.

 From my position as Sound Operator....recording was great! I would feel comfortable hearing or viewing the clip just to feel at ease. I am not sure if I may be going deaf with my constant usage at work with loud headphones that may be impairing on my judgment for this project. There were struggles with the natural sounds from the ocean, to the huge crowds and to the complimenting breeze. 

My secondary role today which I enjoyed was the Interviewer, with the assistance of Simone helping me with the photos which we showed the interviewees as I directed questions to them.

Oh and the sun was HOT today...great weather for the beach goers, but horrible for us the production crew...

We wrapped up the shoot at just after ten after the Director called it a day. We cancelled Las Cuevas due to time, however, we will continue to get interviews at other beaches. Good day with the team.

Next trip some popular beaches in the western parts of the island.

J

Anywhere I could of gotten the response I took it.

Well today I had fun distributing more of the questionnaires. Passing them out any where I could whilst I conducted my daily activities. Each que I stood in I roped in at least 2 persons; from the Cable payment line, the mobile payment line, the one in the bank and even on the taxis I commuted in. Finally for today I harassed my hairdresser. Persons were so wiling I loved it. So hopefully by Monday I should have all 25 completed.

What was next on my project agenda for today...well in a line at mobile bill payment line, I saw one of my old lecturers who was willing to offer me a twenty minute fresher course on the audio element of recording. This is vital as I would love to be on point for that day when I am required to set up the studio to do my narration. That was so nice of her to agree. Hence that takes care of part of my Role as Researcher.

Tonight I am spending another night perusing the musical beds for the final piece!

I am really tired...but I have some reading to do. So until...night night

Today I was the Sideliner...Not a good day

The group met with our Lecturer today...but honestly though, I was not verbally involved today. At this point no one knows nor understands but the show must go on. Out meeting with Ms Sampson started at 5 pm. As we disclosed to our lecturer; due to the past two demanding weeks(working on other school assignments) not much was done since our last meeting, except prepare for the next shoot. My imperative act for this coming Sunday's shoot is to gain firstly a decent pair of headphones as, as mentioned from the last shoot -the schools headphones were impossible to work with. Attached below you can see the current Production Schedule for upcoming shoots. The shoots include another trip to Tobago, a visit to Mayoro  and even Macqueripe to obtain some primary data (other than the questionnaires distributed). Again details can be seen below.

The Producer quickly mentioned to the Lecturer the current position with our meeting with the representatives of T.D.C (Tourism Development Company) and the Institute of Marine Affairs! Hopefully once both our timing work wonderfully together I will conduct the interview on those dates(still to be announced).

So tonight issues raised, were the changes made on the questionnaire which has already been distributed. Ms Sampson firstly put the question out there asking if there were anything we required a quick tutoring on. The Director agreed to having a quick lesson on using the JIB. That is carded for the 19th October 2010. It has now come to mind that I would require a quick run through of the audio recording process for when I have to do the narration for the Documentary. So right after this I will book a date with Ms to do that. The Director also required run through as well for her part of the group project. 

For next meeting with our lecturer we are required to bring footage and email individual footage to her for perusal. 

At the end of it all a impromptu meeting was held after our meeting just to clarify Sunday shoot. It seems fine for now.  

Tentative Production Schedule 26^th Sept 2010 – 8^th November 2010

 

Date	Time	Location	Subject
Sunday 26th Sept 2010	8am – 1pm	Las Cuevas / Maracas	Obtain vox pops of beach goers / Interview with a lifeguard or two Get questionnaires completed
Sunday 3rd Oct. 2010	ESSAY / PORTFOLIO WEEKEND BREAK
Tuesday 5th Oct. 2010	5:30-6pm	Project Workshop with Ms. Sampson
Sunday 10th Oct 2010	9am–12pm	Chagauramas / Macqueripe	Obtain vox pops of beach goers / Interview with a lifeguard or two Get questionnaires completed
Sunday 17th Oct. 2010	ESSAY / PORTFOLIO WEEKEND BREAK
Tuesday 19th Oct 2010	5:30-6pm	Project Workshop with Ms. Sampson
Sunday 24th Oct. 2010	7am–12pm	Mayaro	Obtain vox pops of beach goers / Interview with a lifeguard or two Get questionnaires completed
Friday 29th - Sunday 31st Oct. 2010	All weekend	Tobago	Vox pops / close hermitage / intro to documentary / questionnaires
Monday 1st / Wednesday 3rd / Thursday 4th Nov. 2010	4:30 –6pm	Trixie / sherece / Jill – collate research Trixie and Jill – write narration Simone – editing
Tuesday 2nd Nov 2010	5:30-6pm	Project Workshop with Ms. Sampson
6th Nov / 8th Nov 2010	3:30pm – 5:30pm	SBCS Audio room	Record narration

 

Dates for interviews with TDC / IMA to be announced.

 

 

KEY
	Production shoots etc.
	Break for assignments
	Tobago trip
	Workshop with lecturer

 

 

Getting prepared for the next step

After receiving sample questions from the Producer with suggestions again the producer and I came together to create the new questions to be posed to the representative at The Institute of Marine Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago. A sample of five to seven tentative questions were finalized for this interiew(still to be dated) . Both Trixie and I agreed that I should conduct the interview as I already had some experience in Radio, doing on air interviews. However in the small interview held on Monday with group members that idea maybe pushed aside as it sounds like Simone already made plans to conduct the interview. I will however email the Director tonight offering my services for the on camera interview after that it will be her decision to make.

READINGS: Tonight I perused the Marine affair available at http://www.ima.gov.tt/home/ , website which provided a broad scope of the areas in which they conduct research in the marine and environmental field – from chemistry, geology, ecology, fisheries and aquaculture to marine and environmental law and policy. The site offers visitors information from whats new on the organizations agenda, areas in  Trinidad and Tobago being affected by environmental change (as seen in the picture above). This was indeed one of the environmental change the group saw for ourselves. The organizations website also provides a listing of Journal Articles, Books and Reports done on various beaches, bays or even wetlands in the twin island from Potentials, Legal issues, as well as guides to Beaches and Bays of Trinidad and Tobago Problems.

In the meeting on Monday the director ran through the latest shooting schedule for gathering some more primary research in the form of Vox pops and also to wrap up certain shoots. Some of which I unfortunately will not be able to attend due to work commitments. We will just see how it goes..

I know it is a bit late but the site over the past few days has peaked my interest so back to it....and in about an hour or so I will gather just incase it is needed some more sound effects or local music that the Editor may need to complement this documentary.

Night night for now!

Another Meeting with Lecturer

Nothing to heavy today as we(the members of the group) presented our individual blogs to our lecturer as requested as one of the things on our agenda for todays meeting. 

Also we gained some information as to her understanding of our questionnaires. Some suggestions were made, therfore a bit of tweaking was involved and onto the next step we go.

We have not set another date, for the next shoot as attention for this week is focused on another paper...so by Monday we should have discussions on our next journey. 

I also requested today from Trixie some of the pictures from the shoots to place here on the blog to compliment it and create a visual display.

Jillian