By Christina Mersereau

This week is video shooting week! Thanks to donors Ted and Debbie Green we had great lighting (they donated the equipment), and thanks to Kim Fairley for purchasing the cameras. The other equipment needed–a nice microphone and camera tripods–I had to bring myself, as HNV does not own them yet. If you wish to donate any unwanted items, we could really use a tripod and a decent microphone!

The shoot went well. I got to work at 7:00am to set up all the lights, chairs, stands, cameras, computers and various other things needed, and we got going with interviews around 10:00. First up was Dave Kuhn, a long-time employee and HNV supporter. He did an excellent job, talking about his experience in recovery and in life, while being interviewed by Sara Szczoetka. Sara did a great job too, and got more comfortable in all the lights and cameras as the shoot went on.

My second interview victim was Glynis Anderson, CEO and Founder of Home of New Vision. Sara interviewed her as well, and did a great job again. Glynis talked about Home of New Vision and also her own recovery.

I had only one mishap during the shoot, and that is that my primary camera went stupid and I could not get it to work for the second interview. So I used the side camera and turned it into the up-front camera. It was more challenging to shoot the interview because with only one camera, I had a lot less leeway to make mistakes, since there was no safety shot to go to during editing.

I later reviewed the footage. The lighting looked great, and all of my subjects looked good, though I am certain they will say they did not (always happens). The footage is pretty good. I regret that I did not do more “coaching” during the shoot. Here are some things to remember whenever you are a subject on camera:

• Don’t fidget
• Don’t say “um” or “ah” every other word.
• Never have gum in your mouth!
• Find a comfortable position at the start and stick to it

Thanks again to the Greens and Kim Fairley for your generosity!