You know what dead end "ands" are? One night stands- those are usually headed no where fast, hence the name. And then there are one man bands. This is the TV term for reporters who shoot and report their own stories without the advantage of a professional photographer- or videographer as people outside of the TV business are quick to point out. We call them photogs even though they shoot video.Anyhoo, I spent much of my so-called vacation in the homeland working. Every day I was off to get interviews and footage for a documentary I'm producing on my own. A lofty task but even more ambitious when you decide that you're going to shoot everything on your own. Usually, I shell out for a local crew but this time I opted to go the more expensive route of purchasing my own camera and equipment so I could pose as a tourist as I covered a controversial story on media censorship.
I've been back for about three weeks and even though I was pitching the documentary, I wasn't making any headway in terms of the creative process. A part of me wondered why I was reluctant to start logging the video and transcribing the interviews. Now I know why. I'm not a cameraman! There's a time/date stamp on half my footage which would be great if it were the correct time and date. It's off by 12 hours- at least. But even worse than that is the journalist who gave an incredible interview only to have it taped over by yours truly. When I ejected the tape and realized the irreversible error, I wanted to throw myself into oncoming traffic. In the homeland, that's almost certain and instant death. If only...
I'm probably being too harsh but I really sense that I've gone out on a limb and there's some apprehension about whether it will all pay off. If it does, more people will be aware of the challenges faced by reporters in an emerging democracy. If not, well, if not, then this blog entry about one man bands being a dead end will have been accurate. And you thought I didn't know how to look for the silver lining?
