both Al Jazeera and the United States' Central Command. After weeks waiting for approval in Al Jazeera's guard office, the filmmakers finally received an audience with Al Jazeera's General Manager, Mohammad Jassem through Abdallah Schleifer, one of Salama's professors from the American University in Cairo. Noujaim was initially only given permission to film for three days. After the three days were up, however, Noujaim notes that she begged to continue shooting, and she was allowed to stay longer. Although unable to provide much support, personally, Jassem suggested that Noujaim and Salama search Al Jazeera's cafeteria for anyone that they might want to follow. There, Noujaim and Salama discovered both Samir Khader and Hassan Ibrahim, not only central characters to the film but also crucial to gaining the crew access into Al Jazeera. Noujaim explains, "We also met Hassan in the cafeteria over many cups of coffee and many cigarettes, and he was really the person that was responsible for getting us such amazing access to Al Jazeera. I think he was the first person that believed in what we were doing. And he went to the General Manager and said 'Look, I'll take of them. They won't get into the way. They'll just be following me around'" (Noujaim, Audio Commentary). Noujaim and Salama often recorded footage simultaneously, capturing multiple angles or locations for the same moment using the Sony DCR-VX2000 and Sony DSR-PD150 miniDV cameras. Despite having a small production, the lack of lighting or formal setup, granted extra flexibility, allowing Noujaim to follow the pace of the Al Jazeera newsroom and focus more on her subjects. Noujaim explains, "Sometimes it's a good thing to walk around with a broomstick as a boom and your camera half broken. Y'know, look like a very low budget, non-threatening production, and be small" (Noujaim, Audio Commentary). Production Control Room was originally to be funded by the BBC, but Noujaim's plan of documenting Al-Jazeera covering the war was passed along to BBC director Ben Anthony, who later produced Al Jazeera Exclusive. One of the reasons Noujaim's film is titled Control Room is that Anthony got exclusive access to the newsroom, which left her to shoot elsewhere, including the control room. Noujaim says she wanted to be at the center of news creation and make a film on the broader perceptions of the war, a reason why she headed to [Al Jazeera]'s headquarters in Doha,