The International Questions are a lot of fun. Not only behind the camera but also in front and with the microphone in my hands. I thought the whole time that I can just do things light camera, light and sound but as an interviewer you learn so much more. 

I helped the others with setting up camera and light and we checked each others work. We contacted 15 international students two days before and no one came to the appointed time. In the end we had to ask any international students in the library to have at least some to interview. We placed the camera in front of the window so have the daylight in my eyes for better light. With one light we created the key light and removed the shadows out of our faces. 

Olivia was on the camera and Paige took the responsibility for the sound. I stood just there with my mic and asked the question. Mr Muench told me to keep eyes contact and smile constantly. I tried my best. Next time I definitely have to move my hair to the other side and hold longer after I finished.

In post-production I cut my voice out and short some answers down. I added two different kinds of music. One song is during the interview and a more funny one while we see the bloopers and credits. I put the credits over the Bloopers to short the video. Overall, I really enjoyed the International Question and I am excited about the next one. I'm ready!

The film “Blackfish” is a documentary about SeaWorld and their big attraction: the killer whales (orca).

SeaWorld has orcas in their program since many years. You will see and learn everything about capturing and keeping those giants. During the show everything, the job as a trainer, working with those fascinating animals, looks just amazing. But not every show, not every practice ends in a positive way. This documentary reflects the accidents that happen to trainers. Some trainers get hurt by whales or even eaten and killed but all those mistakes of SeaWorld are kept in the darkness. Head trainers and higher persons lie to the judge and news. And the way how the killer whales come to SeaWorld is not better. Every mystery of SeaWorld will be discovered in 1h 30min in this documentary. 

Blackfish. The whole documentary starts with a Walkie-Talkie-Talk about a SeaWorld-Killer-Whale-Trainer killed and partly eaten by a orca. At the end of this talk between just two voices while you can see orcas in a pool, you see for the first time a jump of a killer whale with a trainer on its nose. From one to the other second the atmosphere changes completely. 

You can split the film in five different parts. First some trainers talk about how much fun and how wonderful this job is. You see recordings from shows. But then they talk about the first few secrets. They don’t tell us much detail but enough to understand that there is more. Next you watch the way of the killer whales getting to SeaWorld. After that they give us specific examples. One whale is Tilikum. His story is presented and last but not least the tons of accidents in detail. Most important information is said in the beginning and the details come later, but you already know enough bad things about SeaWorld to judge it after the first 20 minutes. Because they have like little teasers about what is coming later you really want to watch the whole find to get every information you can. 

This documentary is lead by interviews with more than ten people. All of them are either trainers or related to a secret of SeaWorld. Not all of them talk about the same topic but 3-4 tell the main story. The interviews fulfill the Rule of Thirds. Besides that every single interviewee has a key light in ther eye and no shadow on their faces. Also their names and descriptions are put in the lower third and on the site they’re looking to. The background is blurred so you are just focused on the person who is talking and either shot in a close-up are a medium close-up. 

For B-Roll they used a lot of recordings of SeaWorld’ cameras like underwater and TV broadcasts. Furthermore you can see some videos made by visitors and only some few pictures where they used Ken burns (or whatever it is called in the software they edited.) Instead of showing just a black screen, when they try the show us the trials, they made animations to have something visual. And also some “self made” shots are used. The transition between B-Roll and interview are tough cuts or changing the screen to black and than showing a new clip. 

A very important part of this film is the music. They didn’t use background music at all but always when it gets emotional or the interviewees started talking about a new and more thrilling secret. This effects a lot of different emotions combined in one film. From happiness and fun to sadness and shock. Often they just left the audio of the videos and maybe added some natural sounds during black screen but not more. 

With the knowledge we already know you can’t really focus on the story they try to tell us because you discover constantly things you learned in class. I could still watch the film and get emotional when they wanted me to but my ‘cinema eyes and ears” were awake.

News magazine - weekly/monthly and covers news that happened maybe a few weeks ago, documentaries about things that always has been there

International Question:

"Cut a package" - edit a package of clips

A-Roll - the interview (primary footage)

Anchor - the person who introduce others and tell us the most important facts/ information about them

B-Roll - clips put over the cuts to cover jumping persons (second footage)

Cold Open - no introduction; start with music and than go straight to the first topic

Copyright - sometimes video clips are protected with a copyright, which means you're not allowed to copy and use it

Credits - at the end of every film you see all names of the people who helped

Director of Photography (DP) - Cinematographer responsible for camera

Human Interest - the aspect of a story in the media that interests people because it describes the experiences or emotions of individuals

Lavalier Mic (Lav Mic) - Microphone used in interviewes

Lower Thirds - Name, Description are in the lower thirds of the picture

NAT Sound - Recording of a natural sound

Package - all the clips together

POV or Point-of-View Shot - a shot filmed out of a characters perspective. We see what the character is used to see.

PSA Public Service Announcement 

Sign Off, Sig, Sig Out - the anchor says his name and where he is from (at the end of a film)

Stagger-through - rehearsal

Stand-up - reporter/interviewer in front of the camera

Teaser - you see a short part of a film which has bo continued

Two-Shot - type of shot where to people are in one frame. One is in the background one in the foreground.

Videographer - Cinematographer without cinema effects :)

Voice-over - voice record put over original audio

XLR Cable - Cable to connect studio microphone with camera.