Model Citizen Fashion Show

Last week I did a story on Model Citizen Fashion Show at Holiday Inn Select hotel in Columbia. This is the third year that they this and it still hasn't lost the thrill. The room was filled with guests and I have never seen that many pretty people in Columbia. I interviewed one of the models, who's a Stephens College student, one of the designers named Janna Merciel, and the Thompson Center's senior information specialist.

The event is held to fundraise money for MU Thompson Center of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Entertainment Tonight's Jann Carl and KOMU 8's Megan Murphy were the emcees.

I asked for a media permission to cover the event few days earlier and that's how I got in touch with the senior information specialist a.k.a the PR person. He didn't let me to go backstage because he thought it was such a tight space and there would be no room for me to set my camera. I actually didn't know if it was a good decision for me to ask him in advance on the phone before the event rather than at the event itself where I was carrying my equipments and where my facial expression could probably show persistence even more rather than my voice over the phone.

But anyways, I found one of the designers on Facebook. There's a Facebook event for it and I just randomly messaged about 30 people and asked if any of them is a model or a designer who's going to be willing to be interviewed and be followed by me throughout the whole fashion show process. Out of almost 30 messages that I found, about 2 replied saying they're not either of them, and one said she's a designer. That's how I met Janna Merciel.

With an understandable reluctance of talking to a stranger, Janna replied to my Facebook message a little slow. And there I was, checking the website every 5 minutes for her reply. A few hours before the fashion show began, I sent her another message leaving my phone number. Then 15 minutes later, she texted me.
We made an arrangement and she agreed to take me backstage. Yes, social networking websites can be useful for journalists too.

Since I'm not that great of a photog, I found it hard to get a wide shot of the models coming out to the runway and zoom in real fast when they get to the end of the runway and pose. I had a few in my B-roll, but some of them are a little shaky and just not the way I wanted them to be. Also, the stage was pretty high and I was all the way in the back, stretching my tripod high to the max. Meaning that I had to look up all the time, looking at the LCD screen. My neck wasn't so happy about that.

This piece is very lighthearted and I was excited the whole time when I was filming the fashion show. Even I think that showed in my interviews and I'm pretty sure my interviewees could see the enthusiasm in me. It seemed like everyone was happy to be there and therefore they're really friendly to every other person as well. I had a good time doing the reporting and when I was doing the editing too. It's such a fun experience.