Reflection

Initially our biggest problem was arranging a time to film with Mr Grocott as, we later found out, they were away at their house in Port Alfred which they frequently visit.  After calling repeatedly and asking at Grocott's we went directly to their house and there finally met up with them.Once we had begun our filming, we realised the extent of his humility, and almost shyness, which made interviewing him all the more of a challenge.  Mr and Mrs Grocott tended, too, to get tired quite quickly and this too meant that our filming could only occur in short bursts around their active church engagements and Mrs Grocott's hospital visits too.  I think that, given more time, we could have developed an even stronger piece though am very pleased with some of the personal anecdotes we managed to get from him.  By engaging with him throughout the day, finding out more about him and developing a more personal relationhip with him, on and off camera, he opened up considerably.
Another problem we faced was the difficult lighting in their house, which is quite old and dark though we tried to clever utilise spaces with more windows and maximise the amount of light we could get in the pitch.We also decided to include his wife Anne who was much more talkative and who he often deffered answers too, as she was able to offer Mr Grocott the credit he deserved and we felt made him a fuller protagonist.
A further challenge we faced was tracking down the archives Mr Grocotts donated, which proved not to be in the Cory Library as he thought, nor the Albany Museum, nor the history Museum, nor the National English Literature Museum.  We eventually, aftere many failed attempts managed to track down some of them at the Then and Now exhibit in the Eastern Star Gallery.
Whilst the Grocott's are such an important family to Grahamstown we found there wasn't much documentation on their personal histories, merely them in terms of the newspaper, which also proved a challenge for initial research, though after speaking to people at the newspaper, in the community and the Grocott's themselves we learnt a lot from them.

Some of the lessons we learnt were the value of choosing a stronger protagonist who would become comfortable with the camera faster and be more engaging when being interviewed.  Whilst Mr Grocott is a lovely man with a rich historical link to Grahamstown, his modest, humble nature makes interviewing him more of a challenge.
Another lesson we learnt was to tighten and check all the legs on the tripod before beginning a shoot, an apparently basic but very important one.  Obviously, too, you become more familiar with the camera every time but I think we also learnt the value of shooting important shots/sequences on two different ND filters in case of overexposure.
In terms of interviewing technique, we learnt the value of using both a lapel and directional microphone, as whilst the lapel might be clumsy to look at, the good sound can transform a piece.  We also learnt the importance of tactical positioning of the interviewer in terms of the interviewee for it's translation to film.

I don't think I would do too much differently.  Possibly being able to spend longer periods of time with Mr Grocott himself, for the richness of our piece and correctly 'silly' errors we now realise with our work, such as it's framing, the weak sound from the directional microphone, and incorrect interviewing technique.  I, personally, though am very happy with the piece that we have been able to produce.  I think we managed to get very nice sound bytes, which wasn't the easiest task, as well as captured him exactly as he is in his retirement using sequences such as their daily lunch, him performing his chores and working at his desk all of which make up his daily routine.  The filming itself was very enjoyable and I hope we do credit to a very deserving man.

Heather