Friday, February 7th

Last Thursday, the team got together to work on the treatment for our film with Maynard. I think we came up with some pretty solid ideas. We thought it would be a good plan to structure our film in the tripartite style of the actual piece Maynard created for Cornett. We would divide the film into three sections; the first would be about Maynard as an artist, and would reflect the right-hand side of the piece, which represents Indigenous people; the second section would be about residential schools and the disastrous impact that they have had on Indigenous peoples and communities, and would reflect the left-hand side of the piece, which represents the Church and the Canadian government; and the third section would represent Maynard's role as an educator, and his ability to reach out and connect people with his artwork, and this would reflect the center portion of the piece, which represents coming together, solving these issues collectively, and working towards a positive future. We thought that the overall theme of the piece should be education and outreach; he teaches students about his artwork in classroom settings, we met Maynard in a classroom, Maynard's piece will be displayed in the school, and it is ultimately about sharing the knowledge of residential schools with audiences and trying to create a better future for both Indigenous people and Canadians. So the education theme just naturally seemed to fit!

We also started planning for our first meeting with Maynard, which will hopefully happen next week, during reading break. We will ask him about shooting the interview in his home, because he doesn't have a studio. We'll also run our ideas by him in regards to the structure and content of the film, and hopefully he approves. This film will be a reflection of Maynard and his work, so obviously we are giving him the final say for anything and everything that we do. We also began to brainstorm some of the interview questions we will pose during our filming session. Maynard is a very enthusiastic and competent speaker, so we are pretty excited to get him on camera talking about his work!

In class yesterday, we had a lecture on the Human Research Ethics Board application, which we don't need to fill out for this project (Andrea has a class-based approval for us), but it is useful to know these things for any future projects we may do. We also were taught the various types of shots that we can utilize in our film with some handy videos that Andrea played for us. These shots include:

• full shot:
• encompasses entire figure
• use for establishing shot (entire story)
• something significant about the entire body
• medium full shot:
• cutting out a bit more of the distracting elements, focusing in more on the character
• still showing almost as much as the full shot
• cowboy shot:
• closer still; very tops of legs and up (like an old-timey cowboy standoff!)
• medium shot:
• at eye level, looking at torso and up
• remember to be mindful of headroom (not too much; just a little above the head)
• also, remembering to keep eyes in third of frame
• close up (CU):
• cutting off the top of head
• getting into "emotions" and facial features of the character
• much more intimate and focused
• where the action takes place; story is being told
• extreme close up (ECU):
• extremely focused in; completely consumed with one spot

We will begin shooting our practice footage on Tuesday and playing around with the different shots. We'll figure out the different positions that each of us will fill as well (camera person, interviewer, organizer, and director). The distribution of labor should go pretty smoothly; everyone in our group is hardworking and dedicated! Our first film session is sure to be tones of fun!