Session Report 16/03/02 Today's shoot began filming Samuel with the older group at Cregagh; we had quite a productive morning, despite the intermittent showers. I still haven't seen any rushes yet, so I hope I'm not wrong but the group seemed very satisfied with what they were getting. It would be great to have had a monitor for the tracking shots, as it was virtually impossible to use the LCD on the camera. We broke for lunch and then headed to Cherryvale playing fields to film Sam watching the football match. Again, they worked really hard and seemed pleased with their shots. The wind noise which the mic was picking up might be a problem here though, it seemed pretty bad to me, and we had wanted to get a sense of the cheering and shouting, so I'm just hoping some will be usable. Unfortunately time was against us in the end, the group had to be back by 4pm. I didn't want to rush Samuel's interview as his input is quite central to the film, and he was worried about being late for work, so we will have to rearrange it for him. The younger group were carrying on with designing the party set in the afternoon session with Louanne, I was glad to hear that Marianne had made it to the session. Thanks again to everyone for all their commitment and hard work. Angela Session Report 23/03/02 Today, we were filming the final scene from our film, the crane was booked to be standing by from 5:00pm, with the group recording Shpresa's interview at 4:00pm. The group recording the interview were a bit late getting back but we managed to get the crane shots before the light had gone, Nicolas was fantastic, calmly delivering his question to the audience in a chaotic environment, receiving directions via a third party's mobile phone. Namrata proved herself a very confident and very able cameraperson. By the time we completed the crane shots, the party people were getting a bit bored, so it was a bit frantic getting the party underway and getting 3 cameras up and running before the energy and food disappeared. The group were spectacular, and incredibly focused and professional. Kevin had done a great job with the group, who had produced a great party set, dressing the outside of the building with some wonderful banners after we had to compromise on the crane's view of the building. They then had to quickly derig the banners and redress them into the party set while the shoot was at its most frantic. Deepika and Nitika put on a wonderful dance performance and Nicolas a surprise rendition of Shpresa's favourite pop artist, Enrique Inglesias. Nicolas unfortunately became upset and broke down to tears when he felt his performance wasn't up to his usual perfectionist standard, everyone was concerned that he was being so hard on himself. Nicolas is so immensely talented and has made so much progress in the past weeks dramatically building his confidence, I would be devastated if I thought this might have set him back in any way, having become so fond of him and proud of his development. I hope this experience was down to the fatigue of a demanding day and I hope he will feel encouraged to feel proud of his achievements and contribution over the coming weeks. All in all, the group were really tested today and their commitment was unflinching, I am really grateful to them and proud of them all. Angela