International Museum of Art and Science - Madison Hernandez, Week 2

    Hello everyone! Today completes my second week at the IMAS. It has been so lovely to be able to get to know all the members of the staff so far, and I hope to continue gaining a deeper connection with the museum throughout the editing process. This week has wrapped up the majority of the filmed interviews, with only three remaining on Monday.

    The week started off slow, with only a single filmed interview scheduled in the afternoon. Still, I took that time to finalize any scheduling conflicts with the staff, as well as catch up with the executive director, who had taken the role of my supervisor whilst the director of education is out. I also went through all of the notes I had taken throughout the informal interviews in order to pinpoint what I wanted to be repeated in the film. I’ll admit, the first filmed interview was a bit of a mess! The camera had died midway, and in the middle of reshooting, I forgot to reattach the mic! Luckily my interviewee was very patient, and I definitely had a smoother process with the others that came after. 

    On Tuesday, I was scheduled for four different interviews. By the completion of the second one, I had found a filming system that would ensure the most natural responses from the staff as well as efficiently communicate what they were expected to say. The four I had recorded were the director of marketing and development, donor and stewardship manager, visitor services manager, and educational reservationist. They each had different responses to being recorded, but I was able to work alongside each to ensure their message was getting across.

    My Story Time event took place on Wednesday, so I spent my day off preparing for the reading. I went through the book, marked the pages I wanted to stop at, and rehearsed my debrief questions with my mom. Arriving to the library, my assigned YAP Alumni, Armando, and I set up the area and went over the event timeline. Overall, we had a very good turnout, as the Palmview Library had other events occurring simultaneously. While I was a bit hesitant with my Spanish, the story time allowed me to practice it a bit more in a comfortable setting.

    I had the most filmed interviews scheduled on Thursday, resulting in some being pressed for time. Nonetheless, I managed to get all of them. This day, I filmed the curator, exhibits coordinator, marketing coordinator, executive assistant, and the entire facility management department. It was extremely fun getting to organize and direct every interview, as well as being able to explore the museum to find the perfect spot to shoot in correspondence to their position. 

    Filming wrapped up on Friday, where I focused mainly on the educators, executive director, and any other department I had missed throughout the week. I prepared the final notes for the last interviews next Monday, and sifted through the film in order to weed out any bloopers before uploading the card. All in all it has been a blast this week, and while the editing process might be a bit less exciting, I am still glad that this major step has been completed.