Documentary part 2

First of all, SORRY! (times a million) to Derick for posting soo late.. I was too tired the past two weeks running around interviewing people with my groupmates.. Plus, i don't have a computer so it's kind of hard for me to go to the internet.. (yeah.. excuses excuses .. tsk2.) (#^.^)

Anyways, back to the post..

Last weekend my group and I went harrassing, i mean, interviewing some people for our documentary.

14the February, 2009

On the first day, we went to the ever-popular One Utama shopping mall to hunt for interviewees. Valentine's day! Love was in the air and couples were evrywhere..

Meheh. I must say it was awkward and scary at first, since none of us knew how to approach total strangers and ask them; "at what age would you like to get married sir/miss..?" ( and some other questions..)

So, we devised a seemingly FOOLPROOF strategy;

I will approach people and explain to them what we're doing and where we're from
Fairuz will be "Karam Singh Walia" and ask the questions ^^
Nadiah will take down the important notes
Anneh will be camerawoman extraordinaire
& Liyana will be the "professional" photographer

scouring....

We brought cameras, camcorders, permission letters, questionnaires ; the whole shebang. Boy, we really looked like journalists. We felt like journalists ..

And then we asked.. and we got rejected. And we asked again; ignored. And we asked again-- same thing.. Oh my.

Then, a YES.

Yes! Our first victim was a random guy we picked out of nowhere. We were rejected quite a few times before, so when this guy finally said YES, we didn't actually know what to do! Haha.

It was a bit of a rush and very awkward when we interviewed him. Plus, he gave such short and simple answers, it took some effort to persuade him to talk more. Most of the time, he said "entahlah, tak tahu.. " (Beats me, I don't know..).
Sheesh..
But we remained courteous (so don't worry Derick.)

Thus our first experience was a bit discouraging, but it was pretty much smooth sailing after that .
I got rid of my nerves and grew confident, so i just made my 10 cent face and started walking up to complete strangers asking them for an interview--with my whole group in tow.
Here's what i learned:

1) My utmost RESPECT! to journalists. Fuih~

2) Never ever ever judge a book by its cover. Some people may seem stoic and stern at first, but when you approach them, they become totally affable and warm..( same goes the other way around though. Dang.).

3) Never underestimate the power of persuasion.. Some people might not seem to keen to help us at first, but with a little smile here, and a little encouragement there.. most interviewees let their guards down. Remember to put on your "sweet" face! haha.. (but don't be too fake either.. That would just be annoying after some time..)

4) Be brave. Just go for it. No second thoughts-- simply go up and ask!

5) Don't take rejections seriously. It's true that a huge majority said no when we asked them for an interview, but we tried to not be sad about it. Move on, it's nothing personal; most of the time people just think you're a salesperson or they simply don't have the time. Never let rejections discourage you-- and always be courteous to those who do it.

6) Patience. It's a must, after getting rejected for such an uncountable number of times. T_T. Plus, standing there waiting for willing interviewees is so tiring..
But then you get that one interview that's great; you feel so satisfied and all accomplished inside. Then, you realise that all the effort is worthwhile..

So our first location taught us a lot.


15th February 2009

The second day was much, MUCH better. We were pros, if i do say so myself... (hhehe.)
Alright, i'll eat the humble pie and say that we were better and more relaxed on the second day.
Thus, off we went to "The Curve" and "Cineleisure" shopping mall; a very beautiful setting indeed..

We decided to buy a cheap microphone this time; since the first recording produced unclear sounds (crud..).
The salesperson asked us if we were journalists, but we resisted the strong urge to tell him "damn straight we are.." and told him we were merely college students. hehe.
See how humble we are?

I was so used to doing my part of the job; that i eventually memorised what i was going to say..
"Excuse me sir/miss/encik/akak.. Sorry for disturbing. But, can we interview you? It's just for 5 minutes. We're from KBU college and we'd just like to hear your opinions on a few things.." *smiles* (as innocently as possible.. :P)

She was a wonderful interviewee....

Fortunately, on the second day we managed to get some really good answers from the interviewees.
Worth mentioning is that we had will power! The urge to shop was valiantly ignored; thus we managed to dodge most boutiques and handbag shops in order to focus on the task at hand. To be honest it was NOT easy.. Fuh.
If you're a woman you'd know... ;)
In total, we managed to interview eleven people during the whole two days. *gleams with satisfaction*..

All in all, our excursions were wonderful experiences for me.They were scary and tiring and eye-opening all rolled into one. Most of all, they were something completely new to me and i like experiencing new things. It certainly forced me to take the plunge and just straight away dive in..

Plus, I love my group members. They all worked so hard they deserve an award for it, yes they do. It may sound contrived but it's true. I thank them for all their sacrifices and brilliant ideas put forth. We have our differences; but differences are what make relationships interesting..

No matter how bad or good this documentary comes out to be in the end, i'm glad to know that at least we gave it our best shot. Thank you again to Anneh, Fairuz, Ya, and Yeanna. It's a blast.
Sorry for having thoughts of pulling your hairs out-- I'm sure you've felt the same way about me.. Haha.

So now comes the editing..~~~
Hope it goes well..

PS-All the best to other groups also~