So...my first project will commence this weekend when I begin filming for the Druid College. It is a wonderful and eclectic group of people and I look forward to seeing where this goes.
As I have mentioned, it is not a "Documentary" in the literal sense. Realistically, this is what you might call a "puff piece", something that will give the founders of the Druid College a video they can put out for folks who may have questions regarding what it is all about and the same thing applies to the other two short pieces I'll be doing over the course of April and early May. So, the next month and a half are going to be very busy indeed and then there is editing. I am hoping to have a rough cut of the Druid College piece done by Early June so that I can screen it for my fellow students but it will be important to me not to present something that is rushed either.
All in all, I do need to make sure that all of these smaller projects are well and truly completed by the time I begin filming "Wheel" in late October because I will need to concentrate on that. In essence, my present plan of attack will be to edit each piece, each interview and each event as soon as possible into a rough cut that I can then easily splice together once the Year is complete. I may even do "exit interviews", testimonials about the previous year and the experiences of different people in interacting with the community, etc. that I will then tack on to the end to wrap it all up. Ideally though, I do not want filming to occur outside the dates I have set for myself and it seems to me that the month of October leading up to Samhain, 2015 will be a good time for me to be on the road doing that.
Once I have a rough cut of all the material, I can then look at trimming things back, adding a soundtrack, overlaying footage and really developing the narrative element. I am already getting a lot of folks who seem interested in contributing and I am excited about that.
When you stop and consider everything, most of the "strangeness" and "concern" over Paganism in general is the byproduct of more mainstream religions and spiritual paths. I have not observed anything in my community that does not have a direct correlation in any of the other faith systems I have observed personally or otherwise. I am doing this project because I feel that it can be of legitimate value to my community. Perhaps though, just perhaps, this will allow people who don't understand what our spirituality means to us a bit of comprehension...I can hope!
So, the batteries are charged, the cameras are ready, the equipment is organized and the notebooks gleam with fresh, virgin paper. There have been a few instances lately where I seem to scrape through the excitement a little and realize what a huge undertaking this is and my heart rate quickens a bit and I get a little sweaty. I am an awful procrastinator at times but I feel I have been fairly organized thus far and I realize too that this will take on a life of it's own if it's going to be any good...which is part of what excites me about it!
