It may be about themselves, or it may be about other people.
Sorry guys this one's about me.
I was intrigued about the invitation by The Hour for the audience to submit their
Celebrities have a lot of great stories to tell and they probably practice telling them so they will have something to amuse their fans with without having to think about it.
You and me on the other hand, may, or may not, be so practiced.
I work with a woman who has lead an amazing life and she always has great stories to tell.
So my idea was to film her telling one of her amazing stories and submit it to The Hour as her Best Story Ever. This way I could learn how it's done and what goes on in the process of creating the tape and submitting the tape. A simple plan.
The wonderful lady who was going to be my talented story teller, kept putting it off. She was not ready to go on camera. She still told amazing stories to everybody in the mean time.
God love her. But she is going through cancer treatments and may have been self conscious about being on camera. Or just not feeling up to it. Completely understandable. She never said no she would not do it, and I still hold out hope she will feel like it one day and call me over to film her. I was not going to push her into it.
I had to find a subject whom I know was willing to go on camera and tell their best story for me.
I volunteered reluctantly...
I really just wanted to experience the process.
I am not the talented story teller, or the great writer, but I do like operating the camera.
It's harder when your in front of it.
I have ever more respect for the on air talent that makes it look so easy.
I tried several takes over several days with my story. I tried taping with my cell phone, and my video camera. The video camera works best. I tried takes with a friend operating the camera, and tried takes on my own... I found these lesson on another blog (Deadthingsonsticks) that helped me with the rewrite of my story. It's a true story, but in writing it all down (me not being able to memorise lines) I read my own story in front of the camera.
It is what it is, an amateur production. But hey, no one is paying me.
I just wish I had a teleprompter... and a staff to help me.
I do have a staff that helped me. I was in contact with Paul McGrath the web producer of The Hour. I consulted him about everything in relation to doing this production. What kind of stories they had gotten so far, what are they looking for, what they can't air... Technical questions as well.
With my video camera I could not figure out how to upload the video to download it to the CBC. I could have just sent them the tape in the mail... Naaa. I wanted to see what they do with the tape. So I booked Paul (no not the stand-up comedian Paul, the website Paul). Thank you Paul, I know you are a busy guy.
When I got to CBC today I called Paul. He told me The Hour is running late and he will be busy because the show is still taping for the next half hour (this is at 5:30) . Perfect! I was granted special permission to go watch the rest of the taping while Paul is busy....
I came in for the second part of Terri's interview. I understand quite a bit about grief... I can relate to her.
It's funny I had messaged George yesterday telling him I was going to The Hour just to see Paul and I would catch him next time... George greeted me when he saw I had snuck in. You can't get anything by him...
After the show, and the audience was free to go, but didn't because George had them all enthralled. He's good at that. Sure part of me wanted to stay, but I went back down to my appointment with Paul.
Paul showed me around a bit. I got to see the new offices. In the meeting room where they decide what's on The Hour that day, is a part of the old set. It's a large section of that street picture... with the mammas pizza on it and all the personal friends and cats names incorporated within the picture
....this one from last season
That's George and me on the old set...good times
Where was I?
So... my tape got uploaded to the computer and I got to chat with Paul about the website, the blogs, the Hour's and this one. We also talked about Best Stories Ever in general... He likes the home made look of my tape... that's what they are looking for. :-)
Oh good 'cause that's all I was offering. ;-)
My story might make it on the Hour's website by Friday. I don't expect them to air it. If they do air it they better warn me...
I won't give you details of what my best story is at this point. You'll just have to check the website every once in awhile if you're interested.
Every CBC/Hour employee I talked to today loves our blog.
They thank us all for doing it, and I wanted the Stroumboulopouli to know that.
I'm Barbara W. and that is the making of my Best Story Ever
