Journal - May 13, 2006

MAY 13 2006

Home. It’s raining like crazy and I’ve been emailing like crazy. I’m been pretty stressed actually as I feel like there are so many balls up in the air and I’m afraid that I’ll forget to catch at least one of them when they come down. The video camera was definitely stressing me out, probably because I’ve never used it before and if any error could ruin the plan it would be a video related error. Anyway, A got me totally hooked up, all profesh-like with mini clip mics and everything. Granted that didn’t make it any less daunting. I was expecting something that looked more like my digital camera than a news team monstrosity, with zoom lenses and a big mic on the front. But I tried it all out last night and then again this morning and it’s pretty simple. Actually it’s ridiculously simple and totally manageable and perfect and excellent. I have my first interview in a couple of hours and am trying to figure out how the question process should go. I admit that at first I wanted to make this whole flow chart, listing every question I may want to ask, taking into consideration that a positive answer to one question would then alter the following questions. Obviously, this is not a practical idea but an – I don’t know – controlling one. An obsessive one that certainly wouldn’t help the interview much. Anyway, that’s super obvious.

I will be interviewing a couple who eloped, which should be a pretty interesting start to a project/conversation about wedding planning. I love it.


So, obviously, you’re married. (does the woman instinctually show me her engagement ring? newlyweds only?)
When did you get married? (season, how long ago)
How long before that did you get engaged? (long/short engagement determining nature or lack of wedding?)
And, I know you eloped, so had you originally planned to have a wedding?
What did you do? Where did you go?
Did you ultimately have some sort of ceremony? Or was is a City Hall event?
Who accompanied you to City Hall? How did you pick that person?
Was there someone else you considered?
Was there someone else who was disappointed that they weren’t chosen to come?
So had either of you been previously married?
Did that effect your decision to elope?
How do you feel about weddings?

It’ll be interesting to see how much control I need to have over the conversation and how much just comes naturally. How much they will willingly offer up, and how much they mediate and navigate. It will also be interesting to see how long it takes. I have the camera, I need to pick up a tripod from S on my way over, I have the mini microphones and I was also thinking about using my voice recorder as some sort of – probably unnecessary – back-up and/or alternative. I figure: I have it and can always just tape over the interview. Perhaps they might rather the audio only as their memento. Probably not actually.

Speaking of which, I would like to figure out what kind of memento I can give as a meager thank you to people for helping out in such a major way. Originally I was thinking of giving a small booklet of my work but the more I think about that the more it seems hokey and perhaps self-congratulatory. I would like to place the work in a context though so that they can have a sense of where I’m coming from and how this project might fit in my own larger body of work. I want them to realize that it is as much about me as it is about them, I guess so that there is a certain equality of subject. I am studying myself as much as I am studying them and I think this is important. I’m also not interested at all in the power separation between interviewer and interviewee.

Although J hasn’t yet seen it, she was noting that there might be some interesting similarities between this and Sherman’s March, which I have always loved. I think that’s interesting and it is undoubtedly because I see myself in that film that I love it. While the process of my work and perhaps of this project might be similar, I don’t think that the product will have much in common at all. I’m not interested in talking about me, for once. I’m not interested in telling a story. I’m not interested in showing exploration or the unearthing of my own personal exploration, even though that may be exactly what happens in the process. The process and the product don’t necessarily have to reveal each other and I think that’s fun and interesting and wonderfully controlling in a way I am interested in. You can have this deep personal exploration and then present your work as though it is a deep exploration of other people. I like that aloofness and think other people do as well. Or maybe I just like viewing work like that; I don’t feel like I’m being told to FEEL. I may go there but I’m might be more likely to feel that I’m going there on my own terms.

Anyway, I should stop this and begin thinking about more practical issues. I have tape, batteries, mics, an umbrella, a tripod (soon), headphones to sound check.