Main interviews begin

As I posted to the production blog, the interviews for the main part of the documentary began yesterday. Before getting those interviews underway, I set up a Google Group for the crew to facilitate communication and provide a central place for asking questions, working out problems, etc. It is also a way for the crew members to introduce themselves to each other. I'm actually not sure if I'll ever have everyone together on one shoot. Fortunately, one of the advantages of digital technology is its relative simplicity. On Friday, I was able to get the two crew members I was working with, Tanya and Danny, set up for sound and monitoring without any real difficulty. As I've mentioned before, I'm essentially acting as my own DP on this project, but as time goes by, I hope to have at least one other person that I can trust to set up shots and work the camera. In addition to using Google Groups for the production, I've also set up a tape log in a Google Docs spreadsheet, which should make it easier for everyone to complete those assignments and have the documented updated in real time instead of having to track so many different versions of it (I was a little surprised to see that Google Groups and Google Docs are not seamlessly integrated with each other, which means that I can't share documents directly with the group via the group page). Other than all of the driving to Portland this stage of the production will entail, I'm looking forward to the remaining interviews, and to getting more of the crew working together.