Moving On, Moving Forward

New week, new things to do - especially with the April 10th deadline coming up for this project!

    Honestly, despite me having to balance three different state/national competitions, make-up work, mock exams for my AP/AICE classes, making weekly videos for my schools' weekly show, planning and leading another state competition for my club, and so many other things (typing this out stressed me out a little I won't lie), I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of completing this project. I think so much of the process so far has been kind of terrifying - tackling such a complex topic, creating and entire set with a budget of $0, using professional equipment, completely destroying my living room to film... I have never really gone this extreme in order to make something like this happen, which makes things both surprising and a little validating to see that the team's heard work is paying off. I have learned so much about myself, my workflow and limits so far and I genuinely cannot wait to see what else I gain from this project.

    With filming now done, I went to BECON again today with my friend (and interviewee) Maya to drop off the equipment we both used to create our projects. We drove there together, pulled out my beloved blue beach cart (it has come in handy so many times and is wonderful for carrying equipment) and pulled pounds and pounds of equipment over to Jim's office. He seemed to be in a rush this time around so there wasn't much friendly conversation like last time, but it was still nice to pay him a visit. I will admit, saying goodbye to those a7iiis was quite painful, especially since I know I will only be filming on Canon T7is from now until (hopefully) my next project. I'm already having withdrawals...

    After liberating some room in my house (the equipment was taking up an entire corner of my house, as shown below), I had Kim double check with our advisor and confirm that we would be able to use "Monster #2," one of the three or so computers that were donated to our TV Production club. These laptops are no joke. We used one to export an entire episode of Aftershock for STN (Student Television Network, our biggest competition this year) and it took about two minutes to export. It was so beautiful I'm pretty sure it brought an actual tear to my eye.

    Thankfully he approved, so I decided to ask my friend Wade (one of the people that helped us film) to use a hard drive he had been using for STN-related stuff. Up until today, I had been thinking of just using my personal hard drive, but I realized that mine was formatted to Mac computers whereas the one Wade used is formatted for Windows, specifically Monster #2 (the computer Kim and I will be borrowing). Since he was no longer using it and it is technically CBTV property, he told me I could pick it up, which I did. I'm planning on moving all of the footage onto the hard drive tomorrow that way I can start editing as soon as possible. I also put all of the equipment from my club in my trunk to return tomorrow, which also liberated some room in my house. Very nice, very nice.

    Last thing - coming up with a name has been a STRUGGLE. Actually, "struggle" is an understatement. It's been close to impossible, or at least that's what its felt like... How do you encapsulate the complexity of the male gaze in a short yet memorable phrase that not only fits with the look of the piece but is also captivating enough to make you want to watch the actual piece?

    Kim and I have asked some of our peers and have sat down looking through the online thesaurus for hours, all to no avail. So far, this is what our classmates (from AICE Media) have suggested:

    - Eye Candy: Sounds cool I guess, but seems kind of superficial and does not really fit the feel of the piece.

    - Sex Oculus: This just sounds... strange.

    - Man in the Mirror: Cool concept (my friend explained that the "man" was the male gaze and that it affected how women perceived themselves especially when looking at themselves), but I don't think we should name a documentary about women's experiences after men, I think that defeats the purpose a little? I don't know.

    - Are You Still Watching?: Honestly, one of the better ones, especially since you see this phrase a lot in streaming services like Netflix when you've been consuming a lot of media and the program wants to ensure that you are still watching. I just think it's a little long and personally I'm not used to using questions as titles, but it has remained as a back-up just in case.

    - Panopticon, or "Man"-opticon: One of the interviewees mentioned this and once I looked it up, I was in genuine awe as to how perfectly it clicked with the concept of the documentary. Let me include what came up once I googled it:

    Once I saw this explanation, I immediately pictured TVs as the prisoner cells and the central observation tower as the male gaze. It's perfect. Other people seem to agree as well, saying that we should put a word before "panopticon" to make it more specific (like "____ panopticon") or even turning "panopticon" into "man-opticon." The only issue is that despite it having a really interesting concept behind the term, it just sounds like we're trying to make the name "cool," but in a pretentious way almost. I'm not sure how to describe it, really, but I don't know if we should include it in the title or not. If we were to include it, however, Kim and I were thinking of incorporating the definition somewhere in the project and maybe make a graphic to really tie things together, but again, considering how unnecessarily pretentious it sounds, I'm not sure if that is the best move. Kim and I are beyond stuck on a name. The documentary-series name, too....

    But honestly, I think (and pray) that we will come up with a name soon. I think we should stick to something that has relatively simple wording but does elicit some sort of mystery or interesting from the viewer, at least enough for them to want to check out the project. So far, it's been going well, so I'm hoping that continues to be the case. I will return some equipment tomorrow and update you guys later in the day! Write to you then.