Listening

These two readings were really insightful. I appreciated the Creating Powerful Radio piece for how it can actually be applied to the work we will do in this class and hopefully further into the future. I have done a few documentary projects for classes over the years and this short article would have helped my interviewing process so much. Especially when dealing with nervous interviewees and subjects that aren't very clear in their answers. But one thing I especially took away from this article is the idea of letting the conversation of the interview flow naturally. More often than not I have conducted interviews with a list of questions in front of me and after each answer I would just move on. It wouldn't be until later in post that I would hear an answer and realize I had more questions based on that response. Listening is clearly the most powerful tool an interviewer possesses and I hope to remember that in future projects.

The second reading Listening is an Act of Love actually inspired what I believe will be my focus for this classes projects. The story of LeAlan interviewing his grandma left a powerful impression with me and I kept thinking about how little I know of my grandparents, and especially my grandpa. Over the last year I have been "digitizing" my grandpa's old 8mm films. Not in the fancy expensive ways, but I have merely been videoing them off a screen while projecting. A good number of his reels are just family videos with my mom and two aunts growing up over the years, but the majority of his 8mms are travel reels. He traveled all over the world. Early in his life he served in the military and traveled while in service but even after that he traveled every chance he could get. He has reels from Alaska, Peru, Prague Russia, and many more. But even though I have viewed these films I have never had a one-on-one conversation with my grandfather. I have loads of questions about his experiences abroad and why traveling intrigued him so much. My grandpa was the smartest man I knew and he had something to say about every topic of conversation one could think of, but a few years ago he had a stroke, and at 78 years old I fear he might not be with us much longer. I feel this class will be a great opportunity to capture his voice and his stories forever; in the same vein of StoryCorps. I will still submit three project 1 ideas but I am pretty sure this will be my focus for the rest of the class projects if that is possible.