Video Interviews with New Orleanians
Interview with: Candice Quates
Length: 6 minutes
Summary: Candice talks about riding out Katrina on the north shore. The strange aftermath: hot weather, lots of tree debris, sneaking back into New Orleans, salvaging stuff.
Notes: This interview gets cut short because I ran out of tape. D’oh! I keep over-exposing. I want the face to be visible without dark shadows. My one-chip video camera doesn’t have much range. Still, I know I can do better.
Interview with: Sam
Length: 13 minutes, 37 seconds
Summary: Sam talks about weathering the storm in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dissertation defense at Tulane after the storm. He knows some property and business owners getting lots of insurance money even though they didn’t have much damage. Unfair compaired to average folks who are working hard yet struggling.
Notes: I went back to the tripod/static shot format for this interview since we met at Sam’s office where there wasn’t much to see. Now that there are 15 videos, I think I’ll make a DVD so people who lack the patience or bandwidth to download these videos can just buy a DVD.
Interview with: David Martin
Length: 15 minutes, 45 seconds
Summary: David Martin tells the story of his trips back to New Orleans right after Katrina. He has photos from those trips online here: Sept. 3, 2005 & Sept. 13, 2005. From that second set, here’s one the illustrates the front porch around the corner that he talks about.
Notes: My interviews are getting progressively longer. I’ll make more of an effort to keep them around the 5-10 minute range. This one just needed 15 minutes.
Interview with: Zeke
Length: 11 minutes, 8 seconds
Summary: Zeke talks about living in Thibodaux after the storm. The different New Orleans. Toys lost in the flood, new toys to replace them.
Notes: I broke my no editing rule. I edited out the sound when Zeke says his teacher’s name. I know, I know. Concession made. Compromised principles, etc., etc. But, I figured it was better than not showing the video at all. Besides, rules are made to be broken.
Interview with: DJ
Length: 11 minutes, 29 seconds
Summary: DJ talks about his Gentilly neighborhood. Gives a tour of the lower level of his house which he’s rebuilding. Talks about getting all his family together and evacuating.
Notes: I thought I had a good sense of ten minutes without using a stopwatch, but I guess I got caught up in this one. DJ is a great talker.
Interview with: Marilyn
Length: 6 minutes, 19 seconds
Summary: Marilyn talks about her post-storm experiences while gutting her house with the help of some friends on a Sunday.
Notes: I love all the moving around in this interview. It shows so much stuff. I think I’m going to avoid setting up the tri-pod from now on. I need to encourage people to walk around and show me stuff like Marilyn did by pointing out how close the London Ave canal is. I just need to get better at quickly changing the exposure.
Interview with: Vivian Torres
Length: 4 minutes, 27 seconds
Summary: Vivian talks about opening Freret Hardware soon after the storm and selling supplies from the parking lot while cleaning up the store from flooding and looting.
Notes: Mike Hahn told me about Freret Hardware opening soon after the storm which lead to this interview. I’ve learned to ask each interviewee to recommend other people with interesting stories.
Interview with: Claudia P. Santoyo
Length: 8 minutes, 18 seconds
Summary: Claudia Santoyo talks about her destroyed house in Arabi. All houses on her block except one will be bull-dozed.
Notes: Claudia’s directions to her house included this: “After you pass the third house in the street…”
Interview with: Maitri V-R
Length: 9 minutes, 48 seconds
Summary: Maitri V-R talks about her neighborhood, the Lower Garden District. Evacuating to Houston from Katrina. Makes a comparison to evacuating to India from Kuwait because of the Iraqi invasion. Talks about the question: what is home? Compares Madison, Wisconsin with New Orleans.
Notes: I hope it’s not distracting to point this out, but there’s a cat on the neighbor’s porch lounging about in the lower-right corner of the frame. I love that.
Interview with: Ernest Svenson
Length: 9 minutes, 27 seconds
Summary: Ernie talks about living uptown, staying in New Orleans during Katrina, change to the city, focus on the positive. The positive effects of blogging. Meeting Dave Winer. Check out Ernie’s first post-katrina blog entry and the Katrina Entries section of his blog.
Notes: A little under 10 minutes seems to be a natural length for these interviews so far. Maybe I’ll aim for 5-10 minutes from now on. Anyone think 10 minutes is too long?
