BLOG ENTRY #1c

After all the anticipation, "D-Day," is finally here. That is what specialized reporting  seniors refer to documentary assignment day as. It really is the moment of truth. The day you get your story, who you will be working with, and what your role will be; all things that will determine how the next three months of our lives will go, not to mention our grade.

I am by no means a shy or nervous person, but when the pitches began, for some reason those childhood butterflies resurfaced. With each name he called before mine, my heart began to pound harder and harder. I looked over at my partner in crime, Marsha Buchanan, that didn't help. She said later that she was fine and I made her nervous because I'm usually the one to hold it all together. She said she could literally see my heart thumping from under my shirt. Oddly this was one of the scariest days of my college career, I couldn't wait to get it over with.

Just my luck, I was one of the last people to get their assignments. Though I was still nervous, I was excited for Marsha because she got the doc. she wanted.

"Brandon McCaskill," Prof. Jones says, and I nearly had a heart attack. "Reporter, videographer and the editor for........ Quicksand." So, there goes every organ in my body ready to flush through my digestive system, I couldn't believe it! All I could do was worship the lord and thank him for working this thing out. Though I have my work cut out for me ahead with taking on this project as a one man band, I was kind of relieved. I was semi-worried about getting a partner that was not as passionate as I was. I have heard tons of horror stories from the years before.

With all that being said, the moment of truth has come and it is time to get to work.

The first thing I did was call the guy I had already contacted to inform him that the story was a go. He is an ex-cast member of a popular reality T.V series that is currently enrolled at FAMU.

I am also trying to multitask next week when the royal court goes to Atlanta for the battle of the bands. I contacted a singer, that I met through networking in Atlanta last year, about possibly being apart of the project.  I also know that a popular childhood actor is currently enrolled at Georgia State. I reached out to my friends there to see if they can get his contact information. It would be so great if I could get him to participate in the project.

I have also been exploring the feel I want to give the documentary with graphics. I definitely want to play off of sand with either transitions, sound effects, and the logo for the project. I'm envisioning narration over video of the fast paced city life, b-roll of photo shoots, runway shows, lights, cameras, then sand falling from the top of the screen, then shaking and leaving the words Quicksand covered in sand. This concept is similar to when people cover glue with glitter in arts and crafts. I just need to figure out how I'm, going to bring it to life on screen.

Music is something that is going to play a major part in this documentary. With any project, music adds the mood element to productions. I am currently looking for the fast paced techno music to use for fashion reference, sunny hollywood sounding music for the actor portion and also some transition music. I need something that is sudden that will evoke that there is more to the story and I will go into the more serious instrumentals for the hard facts associated with the story.

BLOG ENTRY #1b

Today, Jan. 14, 2010, I pitched my three documentary ideas. What an amazing experience. Of course Quicksand was my preference, but I was content with any of the stories I pitched. I strategically pitched Quicksand second because I did not want my preference to be transparent. I wanted to give them all my best and pray for the best. Plus, I noticed that sometimes people are still winding down from talking, writing and applause from the previous presentation and I wanted Quicksand to have everyones undivided attention without them having to wait too long.

Surprisingly, my first pitch went awesome. It appeared to be under our allotted two minutes because Prof. Jones did not cut me off. My presentation even made me want to look further into the topic; the class gave me their undivided attention and seemed intrigued by it. That gave me the juice i needed for Quicksand.

I started my pitch for Quicksand by making the class relate to it by acknowledging that I knew many of them preferred entertainment over hardcore news. I went on to addressing some of the things people don't hear about it everyday and how this documentary would be helping people. Before I know it, Jones cut me off. I couldn't believe how fast time flew by. I wouldn't worry about it too much because I had one more to go.

The third pitch was exciting. I got the class involved by having them, stand for visual references and they seemed to enjoy it.  I remember looking out and locking eyes with my classmate, Letita Skippings, she was so attentive and appeared to really be enjoying my presentation. By the time I finished, I felt confident in my pitches but I felt my first and third pitches overshadowed Quicksand; maybe I was just being hard on myself for being cut off.

After class I went straight to my friend Marsha Buchanan to see what she thought and she said that pitch #3 was the strongest. We both went to Letitia, who said pitches #1 directly impacted one of the major life decisions she was about to make, but Quicksand was good too because she also wants to pursue entertainment.

At this point, It is in Gods hands. I put my all into all three stories and I honestly would not be disappointed if he didn't choose Quicksand; I would just take it as God's will. Next week is the moment of truth.

BLOG ENTRY #1a

Florida A&M University's School of Journalism & Graphic Communications hosts an annual Doc. Night, which is a night where the 5 best documentaries from the specialized reporting class are debuted for the public to see.

News, which is the foundation of the SJGC's journalism program, has been a great training ground all these years, but I often times felt restricted by the simplicity of it. After years of watching my predecessors present their documentaries at Doc. Night, my time has finally come. I am so excited because this is the moment i've been waiting for; the day I could finally release my creative wings in the SJGC, and show the world what has been balling up inside of me for so long.

Since the day I found out we had to do a documentary, my freshman year, I knew I wanted to do something about the entertainment industry; I have had aspirations of doing cartoon voiceovers, red carpet corresponding, acting and commercial modeling since my elementary days. The million dollar question was: where do I go from there? The entertainment industry is so broad and tons of documentaries have already been done on it.

During the Fall of 2009, I reminisced about my journey, how far I've come with my pursuits of in the entertainment industry. For the majority of my college career, my mindset was that college was just something to do because it has always been the expectation; thus I was a C, occasional B student. Schoolwork ranked last on my priority list; my radio show, photography and getting signed with a modeling agency was much more important.

In my mind, I was locked down in tallahassee for 19 week increments at a time. Therefore I had to make use of my christmas, spring and summer breaks by going to New York/L.A for modeling portfolio development or fashion shows; NYC is only four hours away from my home in Maryland.

During these trips, I would see things, experience things and learn things that I realized people would not know existed solely by dreaming from home; they had to see it for themselves. Chasing a dream of becoming a successful model, actor or anything in entertainment industry, "ain't no crystal stare," as Langston Hughes would say.

By my junior year of college, I began retract my thinking that college was holding me back from my dream; I was losing my youth behind these stupid books while all my friends that didn't go to college were already getting singing, acting and modeling deals. However, becoming a journalist opened my eyes to a different perspective of the world. After learning to research, organize my thoughts and how to tell a story, I came to the realization that my documentary idea was right before my eyes the entire time.

I took this documentary as an opportunity to speak to the people like the person I used to be. There are many people that long to be in an industry that is not for everyone.

If not careful,  It can lure you in with its flashy lights and get you in sticky situations you never imagined. Backing out is not always an option.

After praying on what to name this documentary, It seemed as if God spoke to my spirit and led me to look up the definition of Quicksand. This is what I found:

Quicksand: A place or situation into which entry can be swift and sudden but from which extrication can be difficult or impossible.

That was all I needed to hear. Today, January 7th, 2010, Professor Kenneth Jones assigned us our days to pitch. Though we will only be producing one documentary, we have to pitch three story ideas and draft up treatments for all of them. I pitch next Thursday, January 14th, wish me luck! (I sure hope he chooses this one :-/)