Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, many Cal Poly students have found the time to become much more creative in their spare time. Skye Addicks’ company SKYmerRay was launched on September 1st, and my team and I thought it would be a great opportunity to explore how online school and the pandemic have affected her business. We also wanted to focus on her emphasis on sustainability and recycled clothing, a trend that has become popularized within the past few months.
Initially, we faced a few setbacks due to scheduling problems and our main subject being out of the country. Skye extended her stay in Puerto Vallarta twice, leading to our team having to push back the interview to two weeks later than we first intended, “It was a little frustrating because as a journalist, we always take deadlines very seriously. While we were very organized with our project from the start, there was not much we could film or photograph while she was out of town”, Lauren Kozicki said. The setback of our project also led to our group having to reschedule our KCPR interview, inconveniencing their team as well.
When Skye did return back to San Luis Obispo, we also faced a few problems due to the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantine measures. I personally could not attend the rescheduled interview because my roommate tested positive for coronavirus. Luckily Lauren was on R2 for this assignment, and I was able to Zoom in to the interview and ask interview questions safely. While we originally hoped to get B-Roll in Addick’s home to see the process of her creating her clothing, her roommates were also quarantining due to a housemate testing positive for coronavirus as well. Addicks was currently living at a friend’s home with all her supplies in her car, and we had to find another location to safely film.
Although we faced a few setbacks due to circumstances that were out of our control, our team was proud of our final product and the way it all came together. While we unfortunately had to push back our filming, it also gave us the chance to attend the Makeshift Maker’s Market where she was debuting her clothing. It was a great learning experience and forced us to constantly communicate with one another, our interview subject, and our professor to make sure everyone was on the same page throughout our project. It also prepared us for our second story of the quarter, where we will definitely make sure all of our interviews and filming schedules will be able to be met earlier, rather than later, so we have more time to spend editing our final project.