Our public lands are at risk . This story will be told using Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as an example.
My project’s goal is to produce a documentary video that raises awareness about the risks to our Federal Lands because of new rules enacted by Congress. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-federal-lands-20170104-story.html The documentary will focus on The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The reason I chose The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is because the State Government of Utah has recently enacted legislation that asks the Federal Government to reconsider the Monument’s borders. http://fox13now.com/2017/02/17/governor-herbert-signs-resolution-to-shrink-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument/ The Monument will serve as a microcosm for the overall disregard for public lands by our current government.
I intend to spend about a month in and around the monument collecting both video and photographs. I wish to capture the stunning beauty of the monument on both a large and small scale. Hopefully I’ll be able to document enough animals and plants to give a strong sense of its ecosystem. I also wish to tell the human story by interviewing people who enjoy the monument’s recreational activities, and people whose livelihood is based on servicing the tourists. I’m also hoping to interview politicians who are against the law changes that have put our federal lands at risk. They will be able to give clear explanations of just why the changes are so detrimental to our lands. As soon as the project review process is completed I will begin contacting people to set up interviews.
This will be my first real documentary project. I have limited video editing skills. Mostly I’ve edited home movies and promo videos for my band. Fortunately my vision is not grand. My intent is to let the beauty of the monument, and whatever talents I have as a photographer, do most of the work. The sound quality of the project won’t be an issue. I have been a professional recording engineer / music producer for over 30 years. I also own my own recording studio that is going into its 17th year of business. I’ll be shooting with my iPhone and my Panasonic Lumix camera. I will invest in some higher quality gear if the project gets overfunded.
Speaking of money….Here’s where your support is going to be spent. Some of the money will go to paying myself enough money to enable me to spend a month away from the office. My studio is a “boutique style” one man operation. Needless to say It won’t be generating any revenue during my absence. The bulk of the money will be spent on travel expenses including- gas, 4-wheel drive shuttles, and camping permits. As I said in my promo I don’t plan on spending many nights in hotels. Another use of extra funding would be to hire guides to gain more local knowledge of the monument, air travel, and vehicle rental. The extra time spent in the monument because of the air travel would give me a better chance of capturing some of those special moments. An animal sighting, a flash flood, a rainbow, or the perfect light illuminating the landscape. Finally the funding will be used to fulfill the rewards portion of the project.
Upon returning to Cleveland I’ll shift to edit mode. With my limited experience, estimating the time to complete the project is difficult but I believe completion by October is realistic. Let’s just say I’m highly motivated. The forces conspiring to take our public lands aren’t waiting around for me to complete this project. I might also have time to begin editing on my laptop during my time in the monument. Because of the nature of my job I have 30 years of experience meeting deadlines for creative endeavors.
Once the documentary is complete, public showings in the Cleveland area will be done to fulfill that portion of the rewards. I’m looking forward to marketing the documentary to environmental groups, recreational organizations, and any other organization that is interested in the support of public lands. Making the documentary is just step one. Using it to influence people towards greater support of our public lands is the ultimate goal.
Overall I am very comfortable with the challenges I have created for this project. I have the outdoor skills, the audio and video skills, and the discipline to see the project to completion. Nonetheless there will be 2 challenges that I anticipate. The first will be making sure that I collect the best footage and photos to tell the story of The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and its relation to the current situation of Federal Lands, in the month I have allocated to collect the materials. I plan on spending the time leading up to the month I have to shoot, scheduling interviews. I also intend to use social media to get recommendations for people to interview, parts of the monument to visit, and events that I should be aware of.
The second challenge is the length of the documentary. I have limited experience working on large size videos. I also don’t have a firm projected length of the project – an estimate would be 30 to 75 minutes. I’m hoping that my desire to tell the story in a concise, clear, and entertaining style will be helpful. Also, on the larger projects that I’ve taken on, I have worked in smaller sections that I later connected to create the final video and I will probably use the same technique with this video.