knitted wonderland

Magda has been asked by the Blanton Art Museum, to knit 99 trees as a part of this Spring's Explore UT event. Because of the Blanton's limited funds, and her busy schedule, Magda thought it would be better to extend this project to the community. She put out a call for interested knitters and was blown away by the response. This is what they sent out:
"On March 5, The Blanton plaza will be turned into a knitted wonderland! All 99 trees between the Michener and Smith buildings will be yarn-bombed by internationally recognized textile artist Magda Sayeg, in celebration of Explore UT, the University's annual open house. To make this vision a reality, we need your help!" They thought they would get a 100 people, basically a person per tree and they got a little over double that.

Joe wanted to come help film this event in hopes that it will benefit the bumper. He also wanted to listen and make notes on what to shoot later. Plus he hadn't met Magda yet.

My friend, Evan Ho, came out to help Joe and I film the preliminary meeting at the Blanton. We had the Panasonic HVX, Canon 7D (Joe's) and the Canon 60D (John's). We kept the HVX static and ran the audio through it as well. We put Lavs on Magda and had a shotgun mic pointed at the speakers. Joe and I were on the sides, grabbing B Roll of the audience in the auditorium. I mostly cared about the audio because Magda explained the project. Joe and I share lenses and shot things here and there. The Blanton was really helpful and supportive of us filming. They even made a blanket release form that everyone who came signed. We got some good stuff.

I'm really excited to be following this project. The energy in the room was amazing. I think it will be more fun filming the knitters putting up their work and all the eager eyes watching.