Saturday, February 5, 2011

It's Not the Lighting!

I was chosen this week to be filmed at work.   We were graced with a film crew filming various spots to use for online classes that are being developed.  I was chosen to speak about health care accreditation.  While I hate being in front of the camera, I do have a reputation for being a team player and if it wasn't me, some other sap would need to do it.  I was given some ideas for speaking points, a very tiny microphone and a seat in the hot spot. 

The first item was to find a good angle.  The Filmer had my chair pointing off to the left as they looked through the camera.  "hmmmmm - move your chair to face front"....I obliged.   They looked through the lens, looked at each other and quickly said  "Well...that won't work....move back".  They started fidgeting with the lighting....looking through the lens....looking at each other and then fidgeting some more.  If you have ever seen the movie A League of Their Own, you will understand my next comment.  The phrase..."that Marla Hooch....what a hitter!"  came to mind.   I was reminded of my single days when a friend tried to encourage me with -"Sheri, I see all these guys want to date the beautiful girls and I keep telling them - What about Sheri Gomez? (my previous last name)  She has such a great heart!"  Dude....stop helping!  Another friend and I walked around for years saying.....That Sheri Gomez....what...a...heart!

I finally told the crew - "Sorry guys....it's not the lighting....THIS IS JUST HOW I LOOK!"  I thought that we would be looking at voice over at about that time but no.....they plunged on ahead, I'm sure determined to do some soft focus or play with  photo shop. 

I learned very quickly that I can speak in front of thousands of live people but become a babbling idiot in front of the camera.  When asked what a student could be asked during a health facility accreditation visit, I responded with what seemed to be an intelligent response - "they should know emergency procedures - such as the acronym R.A.C.E.....which stands for Rescue.....hmmm......and hmmmmmm.......and three other things!" 

Now, I could recite R.A.C.E. backwards and forwards once I was away from the camera - Rescue, Alarm, Contain and Extinguish....I've taught it about a billion times.  As the one eyed monster stared at me, however, I embodied Marla Hooch and could not put two words together in any intelligent format.  O.K. - that may be a slight exaggeration.  Overall, I did fine and did come off somewhat intelligent (other than for that whole RACE thing!) - which I'm very thankful for since as I've always believed, if you're in harsh lighting, you better impress them with something!

I've decided to be like Johnny Depp and not see the final cut.  I'll wait for the feedback from my students if they view the video.  If I see them snickering and pointing in the hallways, I'll know where its coming from.  And who cares, anyway... Marla was one of the best players on the team....we can't all be Mae! 

Love to you all!