Journal Entry Week 11

Tuesday the 19^th March

Today I had arranged with the sports office to film a women’s soccer cup final at the Drom. The Drom is located on the top of a hill in Rahoon (it was freezing). I had learnt from the rugby that when I am at the same level of the pitch there is only a certain amount I can capture and so I situated myself at the goal of the opposition so that I would at least capture Galway’s goals. I had also learnt from the basketball that I had to pay attention all the time and keep the camera on the action, because of this I managed to capture every goal (there were six in total). The women’s soccer coach had asked me several times if I was able to make it to the game to film, as had the head of the sports department. This for me brought up the issue of representation. Even if covering the game was not specific to the documentary I am making it is still the case that individuals or teams feel the need for representation. The scope of filming and then broadcasting (even if it is only to the web) goes beyond mere promotion, giving the people represented a voice and their activities a wider audience.

Wednesday the 20^th of March

This evening I arranged to film the athletics club partially because the elite coach, who works in the sports office is the coach but mainly because aesthetically it would look very different to the rest of the footage I had shot thus far. I didn’t stay long at all to film but I got what I needed. I think this is due to having developed an idea of what I require not only because I know what footage I have already but also because I have become more adept at framing and filming. Even though I spent the least amount of time filming athletics it was some of the best footage in the assemblage in terms of color, framing and focus. It helped that the obstacles that the athletes were doing drills over were angular and were easily framed, but I have experienced enough of both the filming and the viewing to know better what works and what doesn’t. In short I have become more efficient in my work that will help me in the run into the end of the semester.

Week 11

I spent a lot of this week editing the sports documentary while in the sports office, this gave me a taste of what working there would be like. It was in effect like a week of work experience as for the week I was the sports office Media Officer. It was a very busy week at the sports office because of the sports award ceremony and the sports ball. The assemblage of footage I had created was broadcast onto the wall at the reception for the sports awards and then onto two giant screens during the sports ball in the Galway Bay Hotel. I had some representation for nearly all the clubs present and since the film was on a loop (and it looped several times) people would have seen almost all of the film. The seating arrangement at the sports ball had different sports clubs at different tables, so when a section came up in the film that contained each table’s sport they began cheering and banging on the tables. We decided after about half an hour of it looping that we should pause it (it was getting out of hand) and once we did people returned to conversing with each other. It felt strange to have so many people viewing my work but it was nice to watch people watching it, even if I did feel bad for the clubs that I missed. Representing some clubs but not others created an imbalance. Allowing the sports unit to use the footage in this way has had several benefits not least access (for me). For example I have confirmed an interview with Gerry Hussy who is the sports psychologist for the Irish boxing team. Depending on what kind on interview I get from him it may be the only one I use but this may be a little optimistic. The final edited format of the sports documentary will be determined by the content of the interview(s) that I record.