Interview with: Fran Ledger
Length: 5 minutes, 25 seconds
Summary: Fran talks about how VIA LINK, her previous employer, received many emergency phone calls after Katrina. The trials of landlords and apartment/house searches. And a bit of happiness: falling in love. Yay!
Notes: I’m going to avoid shooting interviews indoors because my camera doesn’t do so well in that light. I could set up my own lights, but that’s pretty darn intrusive, so I’d rather not go that route. I need to get better at following up with questions based on what was just said. Like I wish I would have followed up on the 211 stuff more. I gotta get better at that. Plus, I need more questions at my fingertips. It turned out to be 5 minutes so I guess it was okay to end it when I did.
Interview with: Michael Hahn
Length: 8 minutes, 10 seconds
Summary: For perspective, Mike explains the tiers of damage to lives and neighborhoods, putting his neighborhood in the 5-6 feet of water tier. Tells a neighbors FEMA trailer story. Talks about neighbors. Comradery among neighbors. He took some photos of his flooded downstairs in October and put them online here. His flooded books that he talks about are pictured here.
Notes: This interview was so easy because Mike just kept talking. The less I talk, the better. If I can find people who are “talkers” it’ll make my job easier, I think.
Interview with: Editor B
Length: 8 minutes, 45 seconds
Summary: Bought house in mid-city three years ago between two hurricanes on the one-day-window when it was possible to get house insurance. (When a hurricane is in the gulf of Mexico, insurers won’t sell insurance.) Silver lining, was able to fix termite damage because of flood insurance money. Compulsively taking photos (and putting them online) of the amazing things one sees these days in this city. For example, he saw some houses in Gert Town the other day that apparently caught on fire during the flood and burned about halfway down — the flames stopped when they hit the waterline. Link to photos.
Notes: With a static-shot where the light doesn’t change, turn off auto-exposure so iris doens’t change unnessasarily (like when a white t-shirt moves to another part of the frame).
Interview with: Joshua Barone
Length: 7 minutes, 06 seconds
Summary: House flooded, living in a FEMA trailer in River Ridge. Wedding soon after the storm in November. Stayed during the storm. Got to his office downtown with work very soon after the storm. Looking to leave the New Orleans area eventually.
Notes: Cars driving by are loud, try to find quieter locations in future. Set up tripod more right in front of me so it looks like people are looking into the camera when they’re looking at me. I kind of like the hand-held camera better. Still debating it though…
Interview with: Tim Best
Length: 9 minutes, 19 seconds
Summary: River Ridge and what’s happening in the neighborhood. Damage to Tim’s house from a tree blowing down. Support from people around the country wanting to help. Slow pace of recovery.
Notes: Maybe the hand-held camera is a little distracting. It’s handy when I can pan to things Tim talks about, but mostly, it’s just Tim talking so maybe a tripod is better. Hand-held also results in a larger video file size. Remember stopwatch. Try not to say “um”. Have more questions ready. Don’t pretend the focus isn’t Katrina stuff. It just is. Talk about other stuff later.
Interview with: Simon Dorfman
Length: 3 minutes, 19 seconds
Notes: Here I am, sitting on my front porch chair-swing, interviewing myself. I talk about what inspired peopleofneworleans.com and why I’m doing it. Loud music, courtesy of my neighbor. Wind noise, courtesy of the wind. I was tempted to re-record this, but I stuck with my one-take, no editing philosophy.
