Today was quite an interesting day. After a lovely 5th MEAL at Denny’s, we departed for Long Beach where we spent the day with the kids from the STAR program as well as the ladies from the AAPCA. At our pre-production meeting we discussed trying something different in our style of set up and it turned out to work very nicely. We started off with a Socratic Seminar about violence and date rape with the entire group. Then we branched off into three different groups that had discussions. Two large cameras went around the groups capturing bits of the discussions while the third, smaller camera caught some B-roll shots. The Socratic Seminar worked very well as an "ice breaker" and got our interviewees used to being on camera and having previous experience with the seminars, I was able to help Frank out in the role of "moderator." After the seminar I tried something new and volunteered to shoot the "B roll." I found the experience very interesting and it was a pretty cool feeling to capture a provocative shot. There was this kid named Kerry that was trying to hide from the camera, but with my small camera I was able to capture an incredible shot of his eyes, without him even knowing. I do love being on-camera and a part of the interview, but this has sparked an interest in the technical aspects. Just how I wonder when I’m on camera what will make the show, I find myself wondering if any of my B-roll will be used. Towards the end, when the "One on One" interviews were going on, I found myself at an interview that was Samantha was doing with a girl named Christina. She went on about her story and how she was sexually abused by her step-father and how she ran away with her friend into a drug scene, she realized it wasn’t for her and changed her life around. And as I was shooting the B-roll, I became really touched and I knew we had captured something incredible special. I had never been part of a "money" interview.. and even though I wasn’t on camera with her, I was a part of it, because I helped her tell her story. After the interview, I went up to her and had a conversation with her and it was a really wonderful experience, and I was able to relate to her about many things. After this girl, we interviewed a girl named Ariana and got another "money" interview.

Going into today, I wasn’t really excited about the interviews and I was starting to doubt how much of an impact our show really has, and if we’re doing this all for nothing. But the interview with that girl today made everything "click." On of our new members, Daniel said that those two interviews changed his life. Personally, I realized that even if we don’t affect one of our viewers (although I hope we affect many..), we affect the people we meet and also each other. We helped that girl today, and she was so touched that we were willing to listen and accept her.

So now when someone asks me why I’m in Peers, I finally know the answer. We do it for people like Christina.