Now that our interviews are well underway for our oral history project on the de- & re-listing of Sex Reassignment Surgery (funding) in Ontario, our team is becoming more experienced and continuing to develop our videography and interviewing skills. This past week we conducted training at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, giving us all a chance to become more proficient in the use of our video and lighting equipment, and preparing new team members to act as the film crew during interviews.

The training, led by Nick Matte, covered essentials about our equipment such as differences between (and functions of) lavalier microphones versus the internal camera microphone, as well as the option of working with a shotgun microphone (which we’ve decided not to use for these interviews). Everyone got a “hands-on” chance to put together the lighting equipment, practice testing and balancing the incoming audio feeds, and other similar tasks. We also discussed and practiced determining good lighting and subject placement, and went over the logistics of how interviewing in someone’s home or office differs from interviewing in a location where we have time to set-up before meeting with our interviewee. We also learned how to wrap cables so that they don’t become twisted and degrade, and we confirmed that the fluorescent spiral bulbs are indeed very fragile, in case there was any doubt!

Next week our newest Collaboratory work-study student will be blogging about her introduction to working with the project and will share more about what she’s been working on, so stay tuned for that!