There’s a lot to be said for the simple art of saying yes. We got a lesson about that this weekend.
Saturday morning, we woke up groaning. This was the weekend we were set to volunteer on Pickathon’s film crew all day Saturday and Sunday. After an intense week of filming, editing, and critiquing our documentaries, getting in the car and driving to Happy Valley, OR in 100 degree weather was the last thing any of us wanted to do. On top of that, our main connection to the festival – our director for the weekend- would no longer be there, and we were nervous about getting thrown into filming musicians with very little experience.
“Could we all get food poisoning at once?” No, after some debate, we decided that we would likely burn some bridges that way. I’m not sure how long or even if we actually entertained that as an excuse, but eventually we were on the way to Pickathon Music Festival.
At this point, something that came up in our lunch with Bitch Media kept popping into my head: Andi Zeisler and Sarah Mirk both agreed that often men will agree to something they are not qualified for, and women will have more reservations. As our director Ellery was handing us the Robo Cam remote controllers and strapping Becca and Hannah into their handheld camera gear, my mind was screaming WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE DOING. HELP. FIRE US. But – fortunately – at this point, we were already locked in as the only film crew at the Lucky Barn. There was no escape; we would just have to wing it.
Oh man, it was fun. We got more and more comfortable with the cameras and were shooting confidently by the end of the first set. What was first terrifying soon became fun and easy; we were already looking forward to the next day. Ellery insisted on telling us that we were the best crew he had ever had – he might of been being nice, but by the fifteenth time he said it we were ready to believe it. Tim, our original director who taught us camera skills at PCM, told us he notices that women work better together on teams, and after this weekend, I’m sold.
This was hands down one of the best experiences of the summer. All we had to do was to say yes, to put ourselves out there, and we got to do something seriously cool.
-Savannah