Little Switzerland

Greetings From Wallowa!

Shawna — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:58:05 +0000

So far so good! After a practice run that Zoe and I did out S. Fork Thursday, I must admit I was really nervous about how this audio would work out on the trail. However, yesterday was smooth running, leaving me excited to hit the trail today. We’ve done the reenactment and I am so impressed with how well it went that it will be hard to pick what shots to use because they’re all great. Lilly, who played “little Dotty” was not only patient with us, but learned quickly and rode better than most adults I know. Following the reenactment, we went out to Barry’s (owner of Del Sol Wilderness Adventures) and did an interview that seemed to just fill in the blank spots I had come across the last few days. With everything going so well, I can’t wait to see what the next few days hold!

Today is the day that we pack in from Rock Springs and will head to Red’s Minam Ranch, which is a great place to start out the trip. Although I have been there, I have never been there with an HD camera, a boom mic, etc. which I assume is a completely different experience. Between visiting Terminal Gravity, going to the Chief Joseph Days rodeo and swimming at the lake, it’s been easy to forget that we are here on business. Now reality is sinkng in here this morning; taking in the scenery on the trails has always come easily, but capturing it is somewhat intimidating. I’ve been working on holding the mindset of “what we get is what we get”. I can direct to my best ability, but it all comes down to what is actually captured in the end.

Once we finish at the cabin, it’s off to North Minam Meadows followed by Lapover where we will meet with members of the Hawkins/Schaeffer family, which is what I am most excited about! So for the rest of the morning, we’ll be crossing off our lists…batteries? Check. Mini-1/4″ adapter? Check. Bug spray? Check.

Here’s to Little Switzerland!

Dear Bloggary:

Brady — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:45:51 +0000

Ah, summer. Your temperate grace leaks through the cracks of my doors and windows and with it brings the harsh reminder of my inability to afford an air conditioner. Um, as of late, I have been up to no good. In fact, I’ve started making trouble in my neighborhood. Haven’t gotten in one little fight though, so my Mom’s not scared. Let me go back. It’s not that I’ve been “up” to “no” good, per se. Day to day I find that I’m doing “some” good, but that’s never enough. This heat is, however, promoting my productivity level. I’m oft tempted by the temperatures in the air-conditioned edit lab on campus (precisely the hub of stuff that needs doing in the land of Lil’ Switz.) The gentle whir of an AC machine is all the siren song I need: I’m sold (and cold).

I’ve been really, really not busy (for more than a few reasons) and I hate it more than the stresses a thousand tasks could ever bring. I’ve been trying to remain diligent in all my projects. For DiamHitPro (potential nickname?), I’ve been pouring over media for this project and transcribing interviews this past week. Next week, the ladies leave for Wallowa, and I hope to be able to send Zoe and Shawna with a complete set of transcriptions. While they’re gone, I will probably stir around my apartment and work, milling about in this and/or dabbling a bit in that. I will not be (a) sweating my butt off on the trails, (b) biting my nails down to nothing over p2 media, (c) delegating many pounds of weight on either side of a horse’s back, (d) constantly swatting at mosquitoes while lacking the energy to from zero coffee intake, nor (e) having my breath stolen by gorgeous horizon lines and epic vastness alike. I just hope that when Zoe and Shawna are all hot and sweaty while filming on the rocky, mountainous terrain that no doubt lies ahead of them, they’ll think back and remember my short anecdote about air conditioning and it’s persuasiveness.

Once they do get back (fingers crossed, if…i reckon it’s dangerous out there), Shawna and myself will start the arduous journey of cutting the interviews together in a potentially cohesive manner and hash out a narrative in what will undoubtedly be titled “rough_cut_1“. I think.

Three weeks from now, look out August! Legit new vlog, full of spectacular new Wallowa footage coming your way! Wooo!

Anyways, bloggary. I totally hope Billy likes me. That would be sooooo totes gr8
Also, pleez make Wendy Peffercorn stop being bossy.

Until next time, bloggary.

Love,

Brady

Hello July

Shawna — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:03:32 +0000

We have now entered the month that holds the dates of our packing trip and this outline on a piece of paper is well on it’s way to coming to life. There have been days where I can do nothing but hone in on aspects of generating this documentary and become completely immersed in the project and all it’s worth, but truth be told, there are also days when I find myself doing anything but grasping inspiration to maintain steady progress. It’s cyclical really; stage one: become sidetracked by minute things; i.e., unnecessary chicken coop repairs, mastering the art of soup making, browsing the free listings on craigslist. Stage two: glance at a clock or a calendar and subconsciously take on a frantic mindset, only to enter a feeling of guilt for slacking. Stage three: spend days with minimal sleep, making lists (with little spaces for check marks so that I will gain a sense of gratification in checking them off) and becoming so engrossed with what needs to be done that I have to find ways to remind myself to put away a meal or two each day. Stage four: inevitably return to stage one after suffering from sleep deprivation and fatigue. Someone didn’t play their cards right in making a director/producer out of an easily distracted, left-handed, OCD, Libra…constantly seeking balance and perfection, all the while preoccupied by miniscule tasks. Ha! Such is life.
As Zoe declared in her latest blog, the filming of the vlog was much more trying than any one of us would have ever imagined. Unlike the day of the shoot, today I am feeling optimistic and consider it a valuable experience, in that we need to become more familiar with troubleshooting. Once we are out there, it’s on us to find out what is going wrong (not if, but) when “it” does and furthermore fix it or find an alternative, all the while keeping our cool. If I were to imagine the worse case scenario, we would be sweaty, exhausted, sick of one another and have shots that are out of synch or worse, out of battery juice. This type of situation is one of many that I want to be mentally prepared for when the time comes…it’s like a fire drill, if you will; I am planning my escape route in case of an emergency! But who knows, maybe we’ll get better shots than planned and spend our spare time frolicking through meadows with flowers in our hair. Fingers crossed. Pass it on.

HVXasperated

Zoe — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:12:51 +0000

So last week:

Brady, Shawna and I dilligently set to work on gathering new footage for the “day-in-the-life: edit lab” edition of our next vlog. It took the majority of the morning, true, but we were excited about it and with no homework assignments hanging over our recently morter-boarded heads, we gave it our all. And then we ran into technical difficulties.

Brady touched on this in his last blog, so I shall let you refresh your memory on what exactly went wrong that ill-fated day. Read it? Okay. So a few days later…

Brady, Shawna and I dilligently set to work on gathering new footage for our “day-in-the-life: edit lab” edition of our next vlog. It took the majority of the morning, true, and we were less excited about it because we had already spoken on the hot topics of the month and felt annoyed we had to repeat ourselves. And then we ran into technical difficulties.

So it turns out one of the two HVX200 cameras that we use at the school is completely worthless (an exaggeration…maybe). At the moment in which we realized that our second attempt to film was thwarted by the same audio complications as we’d previously encountered, the three of us soon learned one another’s hissy fit style. And a few hours later…

Brady, Shawna and I reluctantly set to work on gathering new footage for our “day-in-the-life: edit lab” edition of our next vlog. Tired and now thoroughly annoyed with our own answers (not to mention each others), I’d like to offer advanced apologies if our sentences are sloppy, our foreheads sweaty, and our answers a little less flowery then you may see in the past or the future. Forgive us fans, but at least now you have the inside scoop, and we know which HVX200 not to take with us…

To Blog or Not to Blahg?

Brady — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:58:33 +0000

Just to clarify, this is a blog. The word is entirely a contraction of the term “web log”. In this digital age, one has many outlets to express his/her thoughts via the internets. Not to be lowballed by the numerous tweets/twitter clients out there, Diamond Hitch Productions has collectively set it’s sights on the horizon.

Again, to clarify, this is a blog. This is not a vlog (a video log, if you will). Yesterday, DHP had their first meeting since Graduation on Friday (go us!). Pedals were met with metal, and immediately we fell back into the swing of things. Preparing for our monthly vlog, we interview each other on a myriad of topics ranging from worries pertaining to the impending July Wallowa trip, things to accomplish this week, and how in God’s good name one of our dear three is going to manage to make it though this trip without a steady supply of aromatic, heavenly-roasted caffeine-in-a-cup…

Once again, this is a blog. To further clarify, this is not a vlog. You’re reading this, not watching this. As much as I’d like you to be watching this, It was not written in the stars for you to be able to at this time. Bear with me if I start to geek-out on you a bit here. We shoot on Panasonic HVX200 Digital Video Cameras, on a storage format called P2 Media cards. After filling up a total of two 8 gigabyte and two 4 gb cards (with very vloggable footage), the next necessary step is to capture media to a hard drive for editing. Upon recalling the footage this morning to begin to transcribe our interviews, I noticed a fatal audio-syncing problem that was not present as we had captured it. Actually, all of our audio was dropped out entirely after 10 seconds into each clip, which was eerily methodical as it was prevalent in each clip.

This raises two foreseeable questions for us to conquer: (a) what the *hitch* happened?, and (b) how do we make sure this doesn’t happen again, especially when it’s footage grabbed in the field?

Stay tuned for answers, laughs, and the swift retribution of our fallen vlog.

*EDIT: Thank you for staying tuned for the swift retribution of our fallen vlog (viewable here.)

06/16/09

Shawna — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:24:04 +0000

So here we find ourselves….graduated. I must say that I have never felt so driven and aimless at the same moment! I want to go! go! go! but all of this simply takes a lot of time. Today we filmed a bit for our July video and it felt good to SEE something; some days it feels like it takes a lot of work to make a little progress. I am excited to see some of Brady’s work under the subject. This will be his first solo short under Diamond Hitch Producitons…so c’mon Brady…I’ve heard a lot of talk, now lets see what you can do!

From the Directing and Producing end, there has been a lot of work. As Zoe mentioned in her last blog, I’ve taken matters into my own hands this last month because well, that’s my job! Nora and I have planned our trip scheduled toward the end of July; this offered much relief. So much has changed in the last month that we basically ended up starting from scratch. Since our last “planning session” we’ve lost a few people and gained a few, so it’s been bittersweet. Our well-qualified and helpful-all-around graphic design teacher, Chris Meir will be joining us, offering her dutch oven cooking skills and then some. We will also have another “new comer” Nikki to help Zoe keep up on her well-organized files. One aspect still floating around our air is audio. Do I solely focus on directing and producing and hire someone for audio or do it all? Of course my inclination is to do it all, but for the sake of the quality of the project, I may bring in one of my fellow radio graduates, Roger. I guess you’ll find out the conclusion in that matter in the August video! So now it’s onto the solar powered battery charger, multi-track recorder and grocery expenses…those three aspects make my eyes roll with only a simple mention! Wish me luck!

6/15/09

Zoe — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:21:58 +0000

With the hectic close of the school year (not to mention graduation from our two-year program, hoorah!) I find myself mostly at a loss for poignant nuggets of insider-info to impart on the masses regarding our dearest Little Switzerland.

I’ll start with a shout-out to Shawna who not only held this project together in the last month, but didn’t lose it when her two Video counterparts weren’t available to offer a lending hand much at all. Working with Shawna has given me an up-close idea of what it must be like to produce a project like this, and let me be the first to say: hats off! She has made this project her life for the time being, and I admire her dedication.

As far as updates: we’ve got the trip scheduled for the end of July, so I guess now would be a good time to start working on my mountain-climbing-with-expensive-video-gear skills. Also Shawna and I need to figure out exactly what we’re doing as far as audio is concerned. I’ve managed to wrangle another video grad (Nikki Marsh) into managing the media for me on this trip (phew!) and I’m altogether feeling optimistic at the moment (quick, catch it before it’s gone!).

I guess that’s all for now… until next week!

Brady’s First Blog

Brady — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:49:08 +0000

In the event that something could go wrong, something will go wrong…and that’s where I come in. I’m the outsourced final cutter. The guardian of the footage. I’m the glue when the knots come untied, and if not, well, then I’ll just fix it in post.

My name’s Brady, and I’m the resident editor ’round these parts- at least I will be once my two female cohorts bring me some more sweet footage to cut.

I became a part of this ambitious crew through an open roster on the team, my own earnestness towards editing and a need for a third brain in on things. After all, a tripod is literally the foundation to any film.

With finals nearing completion, I’m eager to get my hands dirty in this project. Now, although my hands won’t ever get quite as dirty as Zoe and Shawna’s, I hope to one day be able to visit the Wallowa mountains without it being from behind my laptop…and who knows, if we’ve done our job right, maybe you will too.

Zoe’s First Blog

Zoe — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:14:48 +0000

My name is Zoe Roes and I’m officially the Director of Photography for Lil Switz. I know that title sounds pretty fancy, but really I’m just a camera operator with a self-proclaimed artistic eye.

I haven’t packed out into the Wallowas just yet, but from the photos I’ve seen, it shouldn’t be too hard to capture the beauty out there.

I became involved in this project not knowing anything about outfitting. It has been through Shawna and her excellent tour-guides-manship out in Wallowa that I’ve become rather well-versed in the subject as of late.

I’ve been out to Wallowa twice now and I have to say, I’m becoming quite fond of the folks we’re working with. Shawna has been taken with these people since the day she met them (a decade ago?), and I can see why. Merel is as sardonic as they come. His daughter Nora is well-educated, laid back and just as witty. Arnold has a wonderfully natural way of relating to just about anyone and everyone and Dotty, his sister has some of the greatest stories about her early days packing.

It’s been both fun and funny going to Wallowa with Shawna and our resident photographer Steven Lenhart: I’m still figuring out how I fit in to all of this madness. It’s been both a struggle and a pleasure filming so far, and it looks like we’ve just begun…

Shawna’s First Blog

Shawna — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:09:07 +0000

I’ve been reading one book (A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming and Editing Documentaries of Real Events-recommended by my instructor) only for the last two weeks, over and over and over. This is a first for me. A first what, you ask? A first time starting a business, a first time making a documentary, a first time reading only one book at a time.

Recently, I’ve been having a lot of “firsts” and frankly, I am loving it! When I first decided to do this project, all I had in mind was the end product, when little did I know, there are many trials and tribulations that hold hands with most endeavors, especially when it comes to media. Now, further into the project, I’ve found myself in a whirlwind of treatments, shot lists, scripts, mock-ups, you name it. And yet, each time I accomplish one small task, even if I’m in “on-to-the-next” mode, I’m on top of the world for a moment; very few things in life have lead to a feeling of such fulfillment. I’m taking this one and running with it!

So far, I couldn’t have asked for a better crew and furthermore, a better cast. Taking Zoe and Steven (our gifted photographer) to Wallowa County has been a blast. At times I’ve had a hard time telling if we’re going for business or pleasure. We all love what we’re doing so much that the both have become a blend. What’s been challenging is spending a good hour on setting up lights and microphones and then expecting our cast to sit down and act natural. That’s a lot to ask and I am amazed at how well they have pulled it off. Something tells me that everyone will continue to impress me up until the day of the premier!