06-22-2016, 06:49 AM
The interview with Elvira hit the rocks pretty much on the first question. One of themes for the picture is how the Hungarian Sabre fencers escaped the oppression of the communist rule. I wrote up a bunch of questions to get to the heart of why people left.
Well, Elvira immediately told us her great grandparents left Hungary in 1902 long before there was even a hint of communism. Sure, there was oppression, just not the kind that will help with the film. Elvira did concede she took one lesson from Piller when she was nine but couldn't remember a thing about it. She wasn't really cognizant about the club until about a decade after Piller's death. Her main coach was another Hungarian, Ferenc Marki, but we really didn't get into stories about him.
So, yeah, not a lot. We got a little background on the Pannonia club, which helps, but I'm still waiting for the elusive Piller nugget.
And the whole interview started off on a bad note when one of the microphones wouldn't do it's only job of being a microphone. I ran around checking cables like a mad man for ten minutes trouble shooting the problem before I realized the recording unit had in it's inimitable fashion decided not to supply the power to the microphone like it is supposed to.
I brought two prong extension cords so I could plug everything in to all the two prong outlets. We are getting better at bringing all the gear from the car. Still took us about 45 minutes to get set up.
Elvira's house is in a great spot on the top of the mountain in El Cerrito, just north of Berkeley. There was a little bit of fog sitting on the bay buy you could see everything from Redwood City all the way to the heart of Marin up. I could of spent the whole day just sitting on the porch looking at ships transit the bay.
Another plan for the day was to try and interview Mama Orley, but that was a complete no go. She is 98 and is dealing with Alzheimers. She seemed to be very agitated by our presence. Elvira had placed her near where we were doing the interview so she could can an eye on her. At one point, I looked over and Mama Orly had disconnected her oxygen tubes and was very calmly rolling them up. I stopped the interview so Elvira could help her mother get back on the oxygen.
Not a great day, but good practice. I do have to warn Haggis again that we don't really need his stories. At one point, he launched into a story about his father being invited to a nuclear bomb test when we heard mention that Elvira's father worked on the Manhattan project.
On Wednesday, we were going to interview Dan Magay but his bathroom is under repair and we would have to do our interview surrounded by carpenters and plumbers. We have pushed his interview back to Monday. Haggis wants to meet near Dan's place since he thinks it will be hard for me to find.
Elvira once again put forward the notion that we really need to interview Dan's first wife, which I agree with. The first Mrs. Magay actually knew Piller and took lessons from him. While we were at Elvira's, she called the first Mrs. Magay and told her about the project. When Elvira told Haggis that the first Mrs. Magay had a lot of pictures, Haggis came around to the idea of interviewing the first Mrs. Magay. Haggis will talk to Dan about it today to make sure it doesn't alienate him and then we will start trying to set up that interview between now and when we go to Oregon next week.
Today, I'm going to process pictures, transfer media, and see if I can get one of my cameras to stop shutting off during shooting.
Tomorrow, we meet with the money man back in Berkeley. I am getting sick of that drive already. We also might interview Joe Shamash. Joe was the last man running Pannonia. I am hesitant for this interview because I don't know if we need a lot of stories about the club at that point.
Well, Elvira immediately told us her great grandparents left Hungary in 1902 long before there was even a hint of communism. Sure, there was oppression, just not the kind that will help with the film. Elvira did concede she took one lesson from Piller when she was nine but couldn't remember a thing about it. She wasn't really cognizant about the club until about a decade after Piller's death. Her main coach was another Hungarian, Ferenc Marki, but we really didn't get into stories about him.
So, yeah, not a lot. We got a little background on the Pannonia club, which helps, but I'm still waiting for the elusive Piller nugget.
And the whole interview started off on a bad note when one of the microphones wouldn't do it's only job of being a microphone. I ran around checking cables like a mad man for ten minutes trouble shooting the problem before I realized the recording unit had in it's inimitable fashion decided not to supply the power to the microphone like it is supposed to.
I brought two prong extension cords so I could plug everything in to all the two prong outlets. We are getting better at bringing all the gear from the car. Still took us about 45 minutes to get set up.
Elvira's house is in a great spot on the top of the mountain in El Cerrito, just north of Berkeley. There was a little bit of fog sitting on the bay buy you could see everything from Redwood City all the way to the heart of Marin up. I could of spent the whole day just sitting on the porch looking at ships transit the bay.
Another plan for the day was to try and interview Mama Orley, but that was a complete no go. She is 98 and is dealing with Alzheimers. She seemed to be very agitated by our presence. Elvira had placed her near where we were doing the interview so she could can an eye on her. At one point, I looked over and Mama Orly had disconnected her oxygen tubes and was very calmly rolling them up. I stopped the interview so Elvira could help her mother get back on the oxygen.
Not a great day, but good practice. I do have to warn Haggis again that we don't really need his stories. At one point, he launched into a story about his father being invited to a nuclear bomb test when we heard mention that Elvira's father worked on the Manhattan project.
On Wednesday, we were going to interview Dan Magay but his bathroom is under repair and we would have to do our interview surrounded by carpenters and plumbers. We have pushed his interview back to Monday. Haggis wants to meet near Dan's place since he thinks it will be hard for me to find.
Elvira once again put forward the notion that we really need to interview Dan's first wife, which I agree with. The first Mrs. Magay actually knew Piller and took lessons from him. While we were at Elvira's, she called the first Mrs. Magay and told her about the project. When Elvira told Haggis that the first Mrs. Magay had a lot of pictures, Haggis came around to the idea of interviewing the first Mrs. Magay. Haggis will talk to Dan about it today to make sure it doesn't alienate him and then we will start trying to set up that interview between now and when we go to Oregon next week.
Today, I'm going to process pictures, transfer media, and see if I can get one of my cameras to stop shutting off during shooting.
Tomorrow, we meet with the money man back in Berkeley. I am getting sick of that drive already. We also might interview Joe Shamash. Joe was the last man running Pannonia. I am hesitant for this interview because I don't know if we need a lot of stories about the club at that point.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm