Re: Documentary

tgallows <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Thu, 23 Oct 2003 21:28:37 -0000

--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, afgmedallion <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> A friend of mine told me about this post, and thought I should 
> reply. 
> 
> My brother and his crew tried to make a professional documentary a 
> couple of years ago.  While most were very welcoming and 
> cooperative, a small but important faction would not cooperate.  
> They originally wanted to document the national competition for one 
> of the major formats, but were rebuffed.  Failing that, they were 
> welcomed with open arms by Charlie Steinhice and UTC to film a 
> tournament there.  Unfortunately, two members of the group that did 
> not want to be filmed were the only two people who would not agree 
> to participate.  Since those two people made the finals, my 
> brother's crew could not film the championship--so they could not 
> get enough for a complete documentary.  I think it's a shame, 
> because it would make a great documentary, and from the footage I've 
> seen, they did a wonderful job in filming.
> 

     I think this was at Moon Pie 2002.  It was kind of an odd
tournament, with several 1-man teams and a 4-way tie for 2nd seed that
was resolvable by head-to-head, so I wonder how the documentary would
have turned out.  Exciting final between Kentucky A (sans Kelly) and
Illinois A, though I don't remember who won.
     I only played one match with the camera crew present, but it
didn't seem like a distraction to anyone in the room.  The only
difference was that we had to put on little microphones before the
match -- otherwise things were pretty normal, or at least as normal as
a match against Hairboy can be.  I thought it was pretty cool having
the cameras there.  Adam Brosius and I (the FAU team) took particular
joy in having the victory on tape, with Adam getting the clinching
tossup.  Anyway, my point was that (in my experience) the cameras were
not obtrusive and did not seem to slow down the tournament appreciably
... maybe that'll be helpful if you're running a tournament and get a
similar request from would-be documentarians, and you're concerned
about the logistical hassles of the camera crew.  I can't recall if
Charlie did this or not, but you could also e-mail the teams ahead of
time to find out whether anyone objects to the cameras.

--Raj Dhuwalia

P.S. Good suggestion by Stan J. about TDs giving some kind of cell
phone # for teams to call if needed.