Homecoming Week

This was the hardest week of my journalism career.  I would've never imagined how much work it was to follow each event during Homecoming week.

If hard work pays off then I might be rich after the release of this documentary.

Also I had to change the name of the documentary.  The new name is The Show Will Go On, "The 125th Anniversary"

FAMU vs. SSU Footage

Finally the first two home games are completed and I have more than 10 gigs worth of footage for this documentary.

Yesterday I followed the Rickard's High School band and FAMU DRS band before the game to get some behind the scene footage.

The halftime performance was great and it proved that "The Show Must Go On."  And it did, Rickard's performed very well.

I also recorded the interviews of Coach Taylor, Terry Johnson and Padric Scott after the game about the support from the fans without the Marching 100 being present.

2012 FAMU Fan Day pictures

I went to Fan Day at FAMU yesterday to support the football team and shoot some more b-roll for this historical documentary.  I also shot some amazing photos... This photo shows wide receiver Lenworth Lennon and Cornerback Terry Johnson.







The Show Must Go On in this photo with starting quarterback Damien Fleming.  The sophomore says he will continue to strive to become a better leader on and off of the field.

Fleming led the FAMU Rattlers back from a 33-17 deficit to beat the Southern Jaguars 38-33 in the Atlanta Classic last year.





Head Coach Joe Taylor signs a couple of autographs while speaking to fans at FAMU Fan Day.

Taylor says the show must go on and it will go on.  He says he wants the team to focus on the game and not the fact that the band will not be present.





Senior running back Eddie "The Rocket" Rocker takes a minute to pose in a picture with a child at Fan Day Saturday.

Rocker says the senior leadership will be better this year and has high expectations for the Rattler offense.

Rocker believes he will be able to contribute more to the offense in 2012.





Sophomore quarterback Damien Fleming and senior running back Eddie "The Rocker" Rocker shake hands inside of the Al Lawson Center at FAMU Fan Day.

The offense will rely heavily on these two Rattlers  this year.

Pooh gets picked up by Robert Hartley, an offensive tackle for the FAMU Rattlers.

Pooh says the offensive lineman arms started to tremble while she was in the air.

2012 FAMU Fan Day!!!

2nd Trailer is done

I finished up the 2nd trailer for the doc yesterday and I already have 57 views on Facebook.  This documentary is very touching and sensitive.

Today I interviewed the FAMU football team and asked them about the upcoming season with out the Marching 100.  Some felt like they will be missed, some felt like the are the reason the fans come out.

I took multiple pictures and shot a lot of interviews and now the documentary seems to be taking flight in a way that I never imagined.  AKC and I realized that this documentary will be as good as we want it to be.  I realize that this will be the first time in the history of collegiate athletics that a documentary is being produced in less than a year of the incident.

Mrs. Pooh and I also took a trip to the patch and I found some interesting elements of the scenery that may make us conduct all our interviews there.  The field felt weird seeing and walking on it without seeing any members of the Marching 100.

Tomorrow we will continue conducting interviews.  Because the show must go on...

 

Talked To AKC

Talked to the CEO of Double Up Mr. AKC and he has found more people to interview.  These interviews will be in relation to the documentary subject of finding entertainment for halftime.

This weekend I will be in Jacksonville but I will continue interviewing the people that I'm in Jacksonville with.

Interviews logged

Yesterday I logged and captured my interviews from FAMU's School of Journalism and Graphic Communication.  The soundbites are pretty powerful, and have motivated me to interview students in other schools across the campus.

On Monday I will try to interview at least two more students and I will attempt to interview someone in the FAMU Athletic Department, preferably Mr. Horne.

Today I will plan out exactly how I want to layout my soundbites into this 15 minute documentary.  I think that this doc might be the one that may get me and my family out of the slums, and into Hollywood.

Interviews going well

Yesterday I interviewed five people for the doc.  Among those five was Mr. AKC's son and friend.  The rest were students inside of FAMU's School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. So yesterday was a good day.

I also talked to more students about the doc and they want me to interview them next week.  So I just need to log and capture the footage and I will start editing more soundbites.

Also I showed a class my trailer on YouTube and they liked it.  The funny part about that experience was when Bloodshot's "Clublife" was playing the girls in the class started to juke and dance.  That was hilarious!!

Trailer Done

Yesterday I interviewed Tuskee Barnes, a journalism student at FAMU about the topic of this documentary.  She did a great job and offered some interesting opinions about where FAMU should go in regards of entertainment. I also interviewed Mr. AKC, a local artist.  He also gave me a great soundbite.

These soundbites were so good they motivated me to start and finish a trailer for the documentary.  I am loading it up on YouTube right now.  After it loads up I will post it on Facebook to see what happens.

Interviewed students in SJGC

Yesterday I interviewed about four student in FAMU's SJGC about the issue of entertainment during half-time.  As I expected a lot of good sound bite that will make this documentary a winner.

Ms. Iverson is helping me find former Marching 100 members to interview.

Today I will log and capture the interviews.

Setting up interviews

A new week means a new opportunity to interview these FAMU students, and that's exactly what I plan on doing.  I talked to a classmate of mine last semester, Tuskee Barnes, and she said she doesn't mind talking about the situation regarding the next move for half-time entertainment.

My goal next week is to interview one student and one faculty member.

Soundbites alright

After looking over the soundbites from the other day I noticed that some of them are a lot darker than others.  The footages looks just alright.  I shot a lot of it the wrong way,  I probably won't use all the video.

In much brighter news, I liked what the couple said, so regardless I probably will use their voice under some type of band b-roll or some sort of edit.

I'm producing this documentary in the midst of the situation so I have to figure out how to make it all relevant to my goal, getting a opportunity for local artists.

Local artists can bring entertainment to the halftime show if it were orchestrated correctly.  The circumstances for the band surrounding the Robert Champion death is getting out of hand and most people think that the band will not be suspended during homecoming.  So this is my next focused question to ask all of the interviewees.  "How do you think Homecoming 2012 will be without the Marching 100?" "Will you be there to witness if the band is not present?"

1st interviews logged

I finished logging the interviews from Sherri and Royall for this new documentary yesterday.  The footage looks pretty solid, although there's some footage that I may get rid of just because of lighting conflicts.

With that said I plan to continue interviewing the FAMU community whether it's local artists, faculty, students, family, etc.. Tomorrow I plan on interviewing a couple of local artists about the possibility of performing at halftime..

We all know nothing can replace the Marching 100, but it would be nice to see if the local artists in Tallahassee can come together in an attempt to entertain the FAMU fans at halftime.

It's like kinda like when Michael Jordan left Chicago we knew know one would be able to replace him.  But the Bulls selecting Derrick Rose has put them back in the conversation for a championship.

That's a bad metaphor but you get what I'm trying to say!

First Soundbites Completed

Today I talked to some of the students at FAMU School of Journalism and Graphic Communication about the potential of the Marching 100 being suspended throughout the 2012 football season.

Some students have concerns and some think...well I  will tell you what they think when the documentary is done.

One thing that was consistent was every student thought the documentary will be a good idea.  All the students say they are willing to be interviewed and give their opinion on which direction the school should turn during halftime.

I went to Sherri and Royal's apartment to interview them.  They gave me a great 20 minute soundbite.  I  plan on interviewing at least 50 students in the documentary.

The style of the documentary will just be a lot of soundbites and plenty b-roll.  I have some footage of the band during the season when Robert Champion died.  

Tomorrow I will start editing some of the soundbites and try to figure out which were the best..

New Doc Idea, "The Show Must Go On!!"

Today marks the day of an idea that may make local artists in Tallahassee, the biggest difference in Tallahassee's history. Yesterday I talked to my cousin and he told me some news that made my mission of a journalists/entrepreneur that much more urgent.

I'm not going to get into all the details about my personal/family matters but it wouldn't be fair if I wasn't honest and told you what really pushed me to this idea of an documentary.

With the FAMU Marching 100 Band being suspended indefinitely alumni, residents, workers and students are concerned about what the next steps are for entertainment during half-time in Tallahassee.  No band means some type of entertainment must replace it.

The goal of this documentary is to find answers about what should be the next steps for entertainment if the Marching 100 is suspended throughout the entire year.  This documentary will capture the emotions and soundbites of people who are prominent citizens in Tallahassee.

The documentary will answer questions like, how do you feel about high-school marching bands performing at half-time?  How do you feel about a Show-Time at the Apollo type of entertainment from local artists in Tallahassee at half-time (With Joe Bullard as the host)?  What do you think some of the positives/negatives from having local talent perform at half-time?

Tomorrow I will begin interviewing students in FAMU's School of Journalism and Graphic Communication to get their perspective on what the next steps should be.