My remote shooter and I met in Cary today for an intense day of filming. The day began early at the Cloninger's house to film family interviews. Cassidy and Conor were off at a swim team bonding event, so we took the opportunity to talk to Mom and Dad on their own. Unfortunately, there were some unexpected delays that made the day harder than we thought. The biggest issue was some construction going on in the house - THAT was fun. Basically it meant pushing back our start time and limiting our options for where to shoot.
Once we chose a room to shoot in and experimented with lighting designs, we sat down with each parent for interviews, which lasted about 15-20 each. A whole lot of work for not a whole lot of talking. Anyway, it went well. They said interesting things and the images looked pretty good.
Afterwards, we ran off to lunch to meet up with Cassidy and Conor. It was a quick lunch because they didn't want to be late for the Annual Cary Christmas Parade. We managed to arrive just in time to see the first float pass by.
This was my first parade since Mardi Gras in New Orleans (I spent my undergraduate years at Loyola New Orleans) and I must say that local New Orleanians would have felt right at home at this parade. I say "local" because it wasn't like the Uptown parades, but rather like the family-oriented parades in Metairie, LA. There were high school bands, boy scouts, girl scouts, cops, firemen, dance troupes, martial arts studios, basically any and every group you could think of. Every one handing out candy and yelling "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays." The Cloningers seemed to have a great time, as did the other families in attendance, which by the way, seemed to be about every family in Cary!
The parade lasted about an hour, maybe an hour and a half and afterwards, Cassidy went home to get ready for the Deb party that evening.
