Roots Workshop blog

Hey Intertubes. I’m back.

Yeah, I know it’s late again. Which means I’m prone to bouts of delirium and nonsensical ramblings… so forgive the verbosity and oblivian with which I might be writing these days. There’s just too much good stuff going on to waste my time sleeping.

Day two started with a wonderful breakfast from J, rockstar that he is. Then the edumacation started. The morning was filled with conversations, lectures, shooting exercises… all aimed at establishing a baseline to work from and feel out where everybody is in their craft. Monday morning is always one of my favorite parts of the workshop – it’s like a pat on the back, swift kick to the ass, and powershot of caffeine all rolled into one. Officially Cape Awesome up here.

Mark and Tyler [not really pictured] talked about working a scene and how to approach all of the students’ assignments while preserving the integrity of the moment. To be honest, their jokes were only so-so. I’m thinking about a B for jokes. Expecting better this week :]

next came the first shooting exercise of the day – these are aimed at helping the instructors see where the students strengths and weaknesses are and aid in giving the assignments that will push them to grow in those areas that may benefit from a little extra attention. It sounds all formal and academic, doesn’t it? Well, in typical Roots fashion, it’s pretty crazy. And hilarious. And high energy. And LOUD!

the next step in the process is to head back to the edit rooms and look through the images, break ‘em down, and talk about why people made the decisions to shoot like they did.

the next shooting assignment brought everyone out the the local fair to add a little more visual chaos to the mix. Groups split up and the mentors traveled around with students watching the shoot, offering suggestions, and even providing the occasional brilliant insight :]

so this guy. er… a little odd. not a Roots participant but definitely a big big big big big fan.

so after a looong day shooting we returned back and it was assignment time! The staff takes a lot of time deliberating and choosing all sorts of great stories for folks to tell… you’ll hear some specifics as the week progresses…

ps. there’s awesome bugs here.

lots of love,

eric