Production Memo-The Polish Community on Long Island

It's been a long and arduous journey, but finally my JRNL80A multimedia project is complete: "The Polish Community on Long Island"

Inspiration for the subject came from a very personal source, my great-grandmother. Now passed away, she used to live in Hempstead and I remember visiting her as a kid. At one time Hempstead had a large Polish community, and though the demographics of the town had changed drastically since then, many cultural landmarks remain, and these places serve as focal points for the Long Island Polish community as a whole.

I began by stopping at Barbara's Polish Deli, a store hidden amidst miles of strip malls lined with fast food franchises and bargain outlets. I admit to compromising my journalistic neutrality by purchasing some of my favorite Polish chocolates. Barbara was also a member of the Polish National Club, a building nearby that housed many cultural events.

It was here that I met the members of Hejnal, a group of young dancers who have traveled across the country performing traditional Polish dances. I awkwardly tried a few steps, filmed a practice or two, and got some great interviews from the Muzia brothers, enthusiastic long term members of the group.

The next group that I profiled was the Oginski Male Choir. This award winning group had personally sung to Pope John Paul II. What struck me was the openness of this group. I was repeatedly asked to sing throughout the recording, but luckily you will not hear my bass in the project.

The Polish American Congress was one of my best sources. This organization represents a massive cross section of the Polish community on Long Island. They were enthusiastic to participate and get exposure for their organization and community. I was invited to attend the first full meeting of the Long Island chapter of this organization, where I interviewed the vice president and other important members.

Before starting on the video I transcribed all the interviews with time codes so I could easily find whatever sound bytes I wanted. I quickly wrote a script which I thought would paint a good picture of what I had seen and experienced.

I wasn't sure I could fit all the content in the script into two minutes. This is why I decided to obsessively trim everything in my piece from the beginning. I concluded that if I cut out too much and was left with extra time, I could easily add something on the end. This was a good alternative to fixing something in the middle of the movie!

It starts with a stand-up that I had recorded several days earlier. Everything was done with a Flipcam, but for the stand-up I was able to use a tripod. I recorded at the Polish National Club on a nice sunny day, but it still wasn't the easiest shoot for someone who had never done broadcast. I did as many takes as possible, often being interrupted by noisy traffic, ambulances, and people passing by. Finally I had what I thought would be the best recording, and the beginning of my video was set.

The video was divided into three parts based on my three sources. The Oginski Male Choir introduces the piece as I thought they best represent the original spirit of the community. It was after all originally founded in 1945 by workers from a German forced labor camp. They came to America seeking to escape tyranny in Europe, and Long Island became a new home were they could continue to sing proudly.

Barbara's Deli became the "meat" of the piece, if you will, because it concentrates on the current state of the community. Polish-Americans commute from all over the Island to celebrate their heritage, even if its by purchasing some fresh kielbasa.

Finally the piece ended with a look at the future of the community through the eyes of Hejnal. This group expressed both the spirit of youthful interest in cultural heritage and a realistic look at the conditions facing the community. The practice footage I had also worked great as a visual aid to voice-overs.

I learned many things while editing this video. Luckily an earlier video I did on the New York Auto Show lessened the learning curve. Don't get me wrong, Windows Media Player is a pretty simple tool to use, but there are things you have to keep in mind or you could lose many hours of work and sleep.

Firstly it is very important to perfect and edit your video as you create it. Do not leave anything untouched or save something for the end, because going back to add a transition or fix some audio can change the entire timeline and lead to a lot of confusion. Of course you may notice some things afterwards and try to fix them, but it's always easiest to edit as you go.

I made 40 millisecond transitions between "sections" and smaller 20 or 30 millisecond transitions between related scenes. It was fade all the way. I also made liberal use of fade in and fade out for the audio. To be honest I may have spent just as much time editing the audio as the video. There were often multiple tracks, especially for voice-overs. Its amazing how many small sounds and weird quirks occur while editing! A perfectly silent clip will suddenly have a strange noise after adding a fade out. Small bits of outside conversations or noises become very noticeable when you start cutting up interviews. Many parts of the audio would only work after much manipulation and the perfect combination of timing, audio tracks, and fading.

As for the reporting, its always good to start early and get as many sources as possible. I was lucky because the members of the community were eager to work with me. Even so, some methods always work better than others. Pretty much none of my emails were answered, some phone calls were answered but some where not, while going directly to a source, even without an appointment, offered the best bet for an interview or further information. Basically what I learned is that with almost every method you need luck, except going directly to a source, which only fails if you have bad luck.

Overall this was an enjoyable project that gave me a closer look at a community that few people have seen.