Stop! In the Name of... Editing

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I apologize for my slowness in updating all of you lovely folks regarding the movie - I recently acquired employment! Hooray! As what, you ask? A crossing guard for the Portland Public Schools, of course (basically my dream job). The job has brought on new changes in my life, such as getting out of bed before 10am, which is not something I've done for at least a couple of months. But I'm adjusting! Slowly. And so, unfortunately, I've fallen a bit behind as I acclimate to a new schedule.

So! Updates! I have completed the filming. Hooray! Last week I interviewed another Rabbi, and two community members who are congregants from local temples/synagogues and who are involved in the Jewish community in different manners.

My friend Patrick was a big help, as he filmed the interviews. I'm looking forward to having him by my side as a part of the editing process.

Editing. Ugh. I mean, the interviews were super interesting because I was able to learn many things about different people's experiences and perspectives regarding Judaism in Maine. I was able to talk to neat folks from the area! But... editing. During editing, I'll just be watching the same clips over and over and trying to figure out where they belong so as to make the most sense. Right?

Maybe not. I was speaking with one of the other crossing guards last week (his name is Mike), and he suggested otherwise. Mike happens to be a retired musician (of sixteen years!) who has experienced positive things during the editing process of his musical recordings. He mentioned that it is during this section of creation that one's uniqueness is able to stand out - the piece becomes a collection put together by individuals, instead of simply a conglomeration of bits and pieces. It becomes reflective of the people who are creating the narrative of the piece.

I think that Mike is on to something. Or at least, it'll be worth my while to keep an open mind about what the editing process is going to be like. Plus! I will have a friend wandering through the process with me. I'll keep all of you updated to let you know how it goes!

I hope that everyone has a pleasant Thanksgiving! Eat turkey. Or tofurkey, if you're vegetarian. Or neither of those, if you're vegetarian and also sensitive to soy. 

Two Rabbis Down!

I am going to be honest here, and just say that Rabbis, and spiritual leaders of all kinds, intimidate me in a way that few other things can.

Now, I don't want to delve into the deep-seated psychological reasoning behind this, but instead just say that it's been totally awesome to be interviewing local Rabbis as of late, despite that they nearly frighten me.

In school I studied Jewish Studies, so I am familiar with the differences in denomination, but what I learned was just set up in a fact-in-a-book-kind-of-way. So aside from these interviews with spiritual leaders being super applicable for the film I'm making, it's also been interesting to just be in a situation where individuality can be lent to the facts I learned previously.

So - two Rabbis down, one to go! And by that, I mean that I have interviewed local Rabbis representing two of the three majorly identified Jewish denominations from the Portland area, and hope very much to secure an interview with the third (if not even more Rabbis! You can never have too many Rabbis, right?).

Other news! I've recently switched to a new camera-person - my friend Patrick is taking over the filming for Zach, who is working on other really neat projects (like puppet shows!). Patrick has also kindly offered to help with the editing process, for which I am very grateful. It's so helpful to have another person's input and viewpoints while creating a narrative from clips of film. The editing process begins mid-November! And so I will continue to scramble to complete the interviews before the end of next week (hopefully).

I hope that everyone survived the bit of snow we had yesterday, and that November has started out well.

Cat! Click here.

Kids and Cats!

The interviewing has been going smoothly! On Friday afternoon I was able to meet up with a bunch of really great students from Levey Day School in Portland. Not only were the kids wicked cute, but they also had a lot of insightful and interesting things to share about being Jewish, living in Maine, and attending Levey.

Here are some production stills from the Levey students I interviewed (there were eleven in total, and I would love to show you pictures of them all, but you'll just have to wait until March to see all the kids in the final product):

This is Dora.

This is Nathan.

And this is Milo.

In addition to speaking with the Levey students last week, I was also able to interview a member of the Portland community, Lauren. She had many interesting experiences to share about growing up Jewish in New York, and then moving to Portland, and, while still identifying as Jewish, not necessarily participating in the same manner with which she was raised.

 Lauren during the interview.

Lauren's lovely cat (whose name I unfortunately forget)!

This upcoming week seems a busy one for folks. My birthday is on Wednesday (also, Halloween!) and the impending storm has discouraged me from scheduling any interviews for that time period. So this week will be a nice chance for me to write thank-you notes to my interviewee participants thus far, to look through some of the footage, and to set up the final interviews for the film. I would say that I'm at least halfway done with filming! I'm hoping to interview Rabbis in the community and a couple more community members by the second week of November, so that the remainder of the month can be set aside for editing. 

I hope that everyone stays safe during the storm! Here's hoping the sump pump at my house continues to function through hurricane Sandy.

More Production Stills! Audio is the Worst.

I have begun interviewing! So far it has been mostly successful, except for a couple problems with less-than-preferably-audible-audio, and then when I accidentally deleted some of the audio I recorded separately. Oops.

But check out these awesome production stills! I've been gathering a bunch of really great footage of really great folks, who have been so willing to share their stories with me.

Anne looking at some photographs

Karen holding up a photograph

Rachel, during the interview

Some of Stephanie's books

Cat Segment?

Re-watching the footage of myself in preparation for interviews this weekend. Conversation goes as follows:

Voice off-camera: who are you looking to interview for this film?
Rebecca: I'm hoping to interview as many individuals (looks off camera, pauses). Can that cat be in the shot?

Here's hoping my interviewees have few cats, because cats are one of few things I cannot resist (or, maybe I could just have a "cat segment" in my documentary).

Interviews Soon!

I have been sick! Oh no. For the past couple of days I have been doing things like
sleeping,
sitting under blankets next to purring cats,
& waking up every so often and feeling confused about which day/month/year it is.

I'm beginning to feel better, though! Which is great timing, because at the end of this week I have quite a few interviews lined up with some lovely folks from around the Portland area.

Next week I have a couple more interviews, and I am especially excited to interview some of the students who attend Levey Day School in Portland. I have heard that Levey is a school that gathers students of a variety of Jewish backgrounds and identities, and allows them to further solidify their individual ideas of what it means to be Jewish. Which, besides sounding great in general-identity-terms, will be super applicable to my specific search of finding out what exactly it means to be Jewish in Maine.

Additionally, it seems fit to mention here that the Maine Jewish Film Festival provides opportunities for young folks to be involved - when I attended Hebrew school, I participated in the MJFF Free Youth Program (and it was kind of great. Granted, I was infatuated with it because I probably was able to skip a class or two to attend the film, but as an adult I'll look back and say that it was, in actuality, a very valuable experience).

Anyway, I hope that all of you in internet-land are feeling well and enjoying the loveliness of October thus far (Autumn is so wonderful in my mind. Maybe this song is about winter but it's still kind of great). There will be many updates soon, post-interviews!

Interactive Displays

Earlier today I attended an interactive art installation in Winthrop, ME, beautifully constructed by Amy Stacey Curtis (information about the installation found here, her general website here).

As my friend and I drove the hour + back to Portland, with Marina & the Diamonds serenading us all the way, I spent some time thinking about how special the installation had been. It is not often that I have the opportunity to interact with art in any unique way. I have been to the Portland Art Museum many times, and have wandered through the Old Port during First Friday Art Walk. However enjoyable these experiences are, they do include an awful lot of standing and looking and pondering, and maybe some discussion with the person standing nearby.

What is lacking, however, and what was so plentifully available in Amy Stacey Curtis' exhibit, is physical interaction.

Throughout her installation there was movement, sound, touch, picking up of pieces (with hands covered in white cotton gloves provided). There was a need to comprehend the instructions presented, and friendly folks available to answer any clarifying questions.

I found myself reacting with surprise and enjoyment as the nine sections of the installment drew me into experiences in unique and interactive ways.

You may be wondering what this has to do with my entry for the MJFF. This is it:

On her website, Amy Stacey Curtis writes that "without participants my work is incomplete". While traveling home from Winthrop, I thought much about how the unique set-up of this particular installation allowed for me to experience another person's ideas in a different way. By walking through, and physically touching things, my perspective shifted and I became more enveloped in the artwork than I would have been otherwise. No, if you're wondering, I will not be bombarding my interviewees with hugs and other such physically interactive displays.

However, I believe that it will be important to keep in mind that I am making something; a film, a collection of other people's ideas, concepts, and stories. How it is really the experiences of these individuals, all reacting in unique ways to the same list of questions, that will make the collective experience more remarkable. How it would be so neat if I were able to gather these folks' stories in a way that allowed for deeper interaction than simply gazing at them as they are interviewed.

I will do my best to stay true to these folks' experiences, to depict them as they express themselves. Because, just like Amy Stacey Curtis suggested, my work would definitely be incomplete without participants. This film may be in part a way for me to discover deeper meaning in my own Jewish identity, but I consider it an additional goal to portray my interviewees as the unique individuals that they are. Because all together, these individuals create an interactive community displaying the variety of Jewish identity in Maine.