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Eavesdropping

Women and Video Production

I adopted a baby. Well, not a baby that screams and cries, but a baby of a project. One that speaks to people without boundaries, people who love to hear about other people’s lives, and people who love to share a good story. Jessica Jones passed this particular baby to me and then my friend Adrienne (and producer) and I spent a day running around getting video and are prepping for days two through 200.

In all of this I realized that it’s time for me to get some of my own video and to step it up to a real camcorder that can actually handle low light settings but still fit in my purse. I told Adrienne that I’d be picking one up and our text messages went exactly like this. I’m a blogger, bloggers never exaggerate:

ME: I’m going to go on over to Best Buy and pick up a camcorder, what should I look for?

AB: You should get a ___ with these features ___ ____ ____ [the blanks represent forgotten details that have passed through my sieve like brain]

ME: Okay, here’s hoping that the guy who works in cameras isn’t a douche.

AB: How do you know it’s a guy?

ME: I know….

And then something remarkable happened. I went to Best Buy and was helped by a lovely young lady. Did I mention she was young? She was very concerned that I not spend too much on a camera (red flag anyone?). I purchased the camcorder that she suggested and brought it home. In keeping with my general ass-backward approach to life I checked the online reviews and found that the camera performed miserably in low light and had a 25 minute battery life.

I thought that couldn’t possibly be true so I did my own testing. 25 minutes later the battery was dead and I was packing up my discount camcorder to return it to Best Buy. I wanted that dumb cheap camera to work. I wanted a young woman working in a job we’d all assumed would belong to a young man to be very good at what she did. I felt like it was a blow to the sisterhood that she led me astray in the cheap camera hunt.

I called my local camera shops and none of them carry the midrange camcorder that I was in search of. They leave that to the big box stores. It was sort of like asking for cream cheese at a French Restaurant…. le deli is down the avenue madame….

So I wound up trying Decide.com and I bought a midrange camcorder from J&R that’s due to arrive today and the folks at Decide have assured me that if there’s a price drop in the next 14 days they’ll refund me the difference up to $300. I’m skeptical but I’m hoping that there’s a price drop because I want the money and I also want to see it happen.

With all that aside I’m crazy excited to have a camera that I can whip outta my purse on a moment’s notice (think drawing a gun). I don’t want to be the crazy video lady that invades everyone’s personal space… but I do. This chapter is going to be so much fun.