Friday's interview went really well. Though Dr. B gave us a short amount of time to work with I think we got a lot done. Unfortunately Mrs. Dorris was feeling under the weather so we did not get to follow her around the house for b-roll or get a lot of pictures of them and their family. We did manage to film a few things around the house and the round table but we are filming again next friday so we may be able to get that if Mrs. Dorris is feeling any better. We already have a good amount of b-roll but I would like to get a little more, especially since the first time we went to their home Mrs. Dorris was so excited about showing us around. So i guess until friday we will just be working on the pproduction binder.

we met in the library this morning and went over everything we need to get this weekend. travis went to Duke last weekend and shot some b-roll of the clock tower and some other things and yesterday he went with Dr. B to Wake Forrest where Dr. B has another group he meets with weekly. Travis got some footage of Dr. B, the meeting and some b-roll also. Tomorrow Travis and Matt will meet at McDaniel's for some more b-roll and MMM footage and afterward I will meet them both at Dr. B's house where we will conduct another interview. We went over the questions we would like to ask and made a list for Dr. B to look over. We hope to get a little more specific with this set of questions as this interview will be just with Dr. B and not Mrs. Dorris. We have asked that Mrs. Dorris gather some photos together for us of them when they were younger as well as their sons and anything else she would like to show us for us to use as b-roll. Also, since all three of us will be there this time two of us will work on the interview while the other takes the tour around the house with Mrs. Dorris for some more b-roll. all in all I think we are coming along nicely. We are going to start working on the production binder individually this week and we will meet next thursday morning to get everything in order. that's all we've got for now.

Travis and I finally got to interview Dr Bennett this past weekend. We were able to visit him and his wife and they were both very nice and helpful. Mrs. Dorothea is having some health issues, which will be a major part of our dovumentary, though she did make it through a good hour of the interview. I think it was the Arri light kit that really bothered her as they put off so much heat. We sat them next to each other and they both opened up to us with great ease. They actually gave us more than we had expected, answering questions we didn;t even think off asking and sparking ideas for future interviews. There was a load of B-roll footage all over the house that Mrs. Dorothea was very anxious to show us though we ran out of time. We will have a chance to go back again to take the tour and get footage of family pictures, Dr. B's library and anything else we can. There seemed to be loads and loads of B-roll in their house. The joint interview was great but we wtill have to get footage of Dr. B on his own and a more specific interview, which he also actually told us he wanted to do. He mentioned some questions he would like to answer and a few things he would like to show us like the "round table" upstairs where the group actually started years back. I also think class this week was very helpful. Beyond the festival information, discussing our project with Shannon did us a lot of good. We made some really big changes/decisions last night which is going to help us zero in on the more important issues for our doc. I don't know if we are going to be able to line anything up for this weekend because everyone is busy with Easter but we have plenty to keep us busy over the weekend. Happy Easter.

alright, friday was good for us. we all met at 5am and got some b-roll footage at mcdaniel farms and also set up for a few interviews for next week. The weather was great and there seemed to be a pretty good turnout which was good for our shot of all the cars showing up adn filling the parking lot. Thad has been sick and his voice is all raspy so we decided to hold off on his interview and Dr Bennett is also very busy this week so we will be fitting him in next week as well. luckily we have not had any real trouble with checking out equipment so far which is very good considering what i keep hearing from other people running into problems. we have already got a few shoots lined up for next week and the equipment is already requested so now all we have to do is hope everyone remains healthy enthusiastic. travis has been busting his butt lately and with all of these interviews coming up i hope to be more help to him than i feel like i have been. he has kept contact with a lot of people and has been quick on his feet when problems present themselves and is doing a wonderful job of keeping the entire project on track, which is amazing to me considering all the other things he has going on outside of this project. luckily all of our schedules are still holding up though it is pretty hard to get together at just the right time and work around other people's schedules as well. beyond this i think we just need to concentrate on the interviews and getting some time with Dr Bennett. i feel like we are on the right track and this coming week should be both busy and very helpful to us.

As far as the B-Roll reading goes I did pick up on a few things that seem pretty elementary though I didn’t really think about. One tip was to “Never leave a talking head without hand shots.” We did talk about this in class but it really is a great help to the editing proccess. I also think that Lexi’s group’s interview looked really good and the fact that we could see the subject’s hands lent a lot to it.

The BBC Pre-Interview technique is also not a bad idea. Even though the video we are shooting is nowhere near as expensive as 16mm, the idea of concentrating on sound seams very helpful. Though we most likely would have video to accompany the audio we would still have good audio if the footage was badly lit, shaky or any other possible problem arose. In this case, we could still use the audio with reenactments or other footage. This kind of eases my mind when thinking about messing up a shot. The stock footage could be very helpful as well and I will definitely keep this in mind when we begin to shoot the interviews.

The interviews are something we are currently working on. As we found in class on Wednesday a lot of people that Travis approached tended to answer the questions in a similar, very vague fashion. I think it was very helpful to actually sit down and watch this with the class because it certainly pointed out several areas which we need to concentrate on including sound, interview setting/background and especially encouraging/leading the interviewee to answer questions with more detailed and personal responses. I know a lot of this will have to do with our initial questions but I also think we will need to develop an ear for these “safe answers” and figure out a way to get the responses we need.

Our group met thursday morning as usual and discussed some of the questions that we were asked by Lexi's group the night before. We are beginning to realise that our project is going to focus considerably more on Dr. Bennett than mentoring itself. This is actually good because I think i was getting a little to involved in explaining the history and process of mentoring when in actuallity there is no reason to do this. We also discussed the Proposal/Treatment assignment and split the Proposal amongst ourselves. We then met again this morning (Monday), pieced together our Proposal and discussed the Treatment and List of Possible Sequences. The Proposal came together nicely and we feel a little more comfortable about the Treatment now having discussed it further. We are currently trying to pinpoint our points of drama and come up with a solid structure for the film.
As far as my position in the group goes I think I am able to look at our project more from the outside as I am not an active church-goer nor do I necessarily consider myself Christian. While Matt and Travis have helped tremendously in building a story, making multiple contacts and keeping us on track I have found myself serving as a counter to any unintentional spiritual bias. We have proven to be a well rounded team and I am glad we are all able to bring such diverse ideas into the project. I think this is the right project for me as I hope to both promote all forms of mentoring as well as become more familiar with something that my predominantly Christian family can relate to. I think the level of importance our project reaches will be determined on how successful we are at showing the power and importance of mentoring relationships both globally as well as on a local scale (MMM).

Reach for the Stars: Mentors Make Futures Bright- Lisa S. Stamps

Defines mentoring and discusses history of mentoring from Bible to the character of Mentor in the Odyssey. Discusses steps of the mentoring process and its potential to help youth development.

Mentoring Youth: Trend and Tradition- Christine Bennetts

Defines the differences of formal (organised by a third party) and traditional (happen naturally) mentoring relationships. Also the article contains a few interviews on how mentoring relationships started and how they were helpful to the mentee. "Young people obviously appreciate being appreciated. It is most important for them to hae relationships in which they feel they are taken seriously and that people have confidence in them."

Core Virtues for the Practice of Mentoring- Peter F. Wilson

Proposes three central virtues (integrity, courage and care) in significance to the mentor character. Discusses the benefits of mentoring for proteges and especially minority group members. Touches on character in psychology, management and spritual direction literature. "Spiritual direction is clearly distinct from mentoring, in that the primary objective of the relationship i sto develop the directee's spiritual resources with an intent to prepare him or her for Christian ministry."

The Power of Positive Relationships: Mentoring Programs in the School and Community- Eleanor Guetzloe

Discusses history of mentoring in America from providing middle-class role models for poor children to the formation of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. Also gives a few examples of mentoring programs that have developed aiming to meet the needs of disadvantaged youth. Defines a few types of mentoring (traditional, long term, short term, team mentoring) and discusses how programs vary due to goals, target populations, locations, sponsors and depth and length of relationships. "No ideal model exists; programs must grow out of their local contexts, be based on local needs and resources, and be developed collaborativelly be representative participants."

Improving the Mentoring Process- Kathy E. Kram

Questions the effectiveness of mentoring programs to implement change in jobs and schools.