Video Progress Going Well!

Hey everyone, 

I wanted to check in and write an update about how the video is going. 

So far, I've conducted one interview, and I must say it was a success. Lots of very good insights, and I feel very lucky that this person was willing to speak with me and share as much as they did. The other interview was postponed, but it's currently scheduled for next week, and I plan to conduct one of two more before it's all said and done. 

For the past two videos, I've been using this software to clean up the interview audio. It's been great at taking a low-quality Skype interview from a webcam mic, and making it sound as good as my narration (in my opinion). Although, I was unhappy to see that Adobe has updated this software since my last video, and have made it... worse. The voice almost takes on a quavering effect. But through trial and error, I've managed to get it sounding good again. The trick, for anyone interested, is to run it through once at 25% intensity, then again at 15%. Basically no distortion with this method, and the voice is clear and articulate. Still a very small amount of ambient hum present, but given the circumstances, it's entirely acceptable, and once music is in it shouldn't be too noticeable. 

As I mentioned in a previous update, the editing choices in this video are quite a bit different from nearly all of my recent videos. Due to the time period the story takes place, there are very few videos and audio clips to cut to--and most of the drama takes place in written correspondence between the characters. But these letters are amazing! We can clearly see into all the motivations and driving forces of events. There's an emotional depth here that I haven't really had access to in past stories, and I aim to rely heavily on these letters. 

For this video, I've been dealing a lot with historical archives, which are typically housed in University collections. I've had good and bad luck on this front. One archive has been fantastic, and sent me everything I requested within a few days. Another, not so much. Since COVID, many of these places are under-staffed and under-resourced, and can take months to respond to a request, and that's if I get a response at all. It's frustrating to know that key documents I need exist, but are out of reach. But I'm not blaming the staff, I know they're stretched thin. And I ran into this same issue with the Dolphin House video and still managed to scrounge up everything I needed, so I'm not letting it slow me down; I just wanted to rant about it. 

The current release date is still the end of the year. Progress is currently going well, and I see no reason to postpone yet, and hopefully will not have to. I'll write another update in a couple weeks after I've conducted another interview and progressed a little more. 

Thank you all for everything. 

'til next time,

AG