Scripting and producing this story took a lot of patience, flexibility and perseverance on my part.
Originally, I planned to interview homeless people, call me ambitious, but it was my goal. I attempted – twice – to go out into Hempstead to find people to talk to. I saw plenty, don't get me wrong, but the interviews never took place. Some ignored me, others didn't have that welcoming eye and most just brushed me off.
I tried to talk to other people in Hempstead who didn't look homeless, but they wouldn't talk either. I went back a final time in the beginning of December in the freezing cold. I stood outside, with few breaks to my car to warm up, for two hours trying to find people. Some came close, but then found out they would make their camera debut.
I finally had to expand my area. I went to other shopping centers. I tried Roosevelt Field Mall, but the wind blew too strongly and no one would stop – and I can't blame them. I went to Carle Place, and found one woman to talk on camera, but knowing I needed at least one more, I hardly felt relieved.
I continued to drive, and decided to try another Stop 'n Shop, so I pulled into one that borders on Hicksville and Westbury on Old Country Road. There I found a younger man, 20, to talk on camera. Both interviewees had insightful quotes that I thought would mesh with my story well. I didn't meet racial diversity standards, but I meet gender and age diversity with my two sources.
With these interviews on camera, I decided to head home and get warm.
After struggling with Kaltura, a video uploading site, I switched to Jumpcut. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of time the videos would take to load, so I had to sit, with patience and time waning.
I finally uploaded all of the clips, and started to piece it together and tried to organize it. By the time I finished cutting out the parts of the interviews I didn't want, I had close to a 3:30 story. Like you would want to sit through that. So I had to cut it down.
I took out parts of my interviews, removed portions of my stand-up, and cut the story down to a bearable two minutes and 13 seconds.
In order to achieve this, however, I had to make one jump cut (no pun intended). I apologize for the absence of fluidity because of this edit, but in the interest of time, it had to go.
Sometimes the production doesn't come out smoothly and as dreamed, but with learning anything new, it takes time and practice to get it right. This is the first of what I bet will be many pieces I will make using the Internet as my only tool. I have time to learn.
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