Sunday, December 20, 2009

Yes, I am still hard at work on the film but you wouldn't know that from my postings to this blog! Sorry. The film is progressing really well; I'm a little over half way to completion of the film. Below are a few pictures from my filming last month of Bernd in Maine, hunting, celebrating Thanksgiving and unveiling his new cabin.

Thanksgiving

Hunting with Charlie.

The new cabin.

Toasting hunting season.

Thanksgiving dinner inside the old cabin.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Fall color

These are some frame grabs from my filming yesterday.





Friday, September 18, 2009

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Filming in Maine

Here I am leaving Bernd's cabin in Maine after a couple of days of filming. I have to carry quite a load. The pack on my back alone probably weighs around 70 pounds and it's a fairly steep uphill walk to the cabin. I should be in shape after this film is over!
Morning at Bernd's cabin in Maine.

A good time for writing.

On the outside looking in.

Selecting a stone for the foundation of the new cabin.

Working on the roof of the new cabin.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Equipment


This is what the camera looks like set up. I am now becoming really comfortable with it. Equipment like this has to become almost second nature to you; you have to know which dials to adjust and which menus do what, without a lot of thinking or searching.

I continue to be amazed at the quality of the images it produces too. I hope to put up a really great clip up of Bernd talking about writing soon. I hesitate to do that though until I figure out the best way to get the highest quality possible images up. Even the best online images are nothing compared to seeing them in their native high-definition format.

Thursday, July 30, 2009


I am fairly set with my equipment and am ready to pack the boxes away. I am including a picture here to show how much "stuff" I have had to get to make this film. This is on top of what I already had!

I love my new camera and am getting really outstanding images out of it. The low-light performance is truly amazing too! My new post-production workflow is going well and I have already edited a couple of sequences. In one of them Bernd talks about his six years at the Goodwill School and the formative influence it had on him and in the other he speaks about writing. These pieces are almost complete, I just need some historical pictures to show what Bernd is talking about. I'll put some video up when it is a little more finished.

I am off to Bernd's cabin in Maine tomorrow to film him working on the construction of a new building there.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

I'm still here; I've just been completely consumed with learning all of the new equipment and putting a new computer together and figuring out a new post production work flow.

Everything is working well and I have almost finished a segment that I shot in Maine a couple of weeks ago. In this 6 1/2 minute segment Bernd talks about his six years at the Good Will School in Hinckley and early lessons learned there. He also refers to the crisis the school is currently going through - they have had to temporarily close their residential program because of funding shortfalls. He talks at length about how if the school focused more on sustainability issues it might come back even stronger. There are a lot of values conveyed in this piece. I hope to be able to put the video online soon.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Yesterday was the first day of filming and very much a trial run. Everything seemed to go well though. I have a lot of experimenting to do with the camera to get the look I want.

Yesterday Bernd was going to release his pet squirrel so I decided to go ahead and film it whether or not my kit was fully together or I completely understood it.

The thing most notably lacking in my kit at this point is an on camera monitor which will help with focusing and being able to see the camera's image from positions other than directly behind the camera.

I will be filming Bernd in Maine this Sunday at the L. C. Bates Museum as well as at his cabin. I'll post pictures afterward.
This is Bernd's pet squirrel eating a cherry on the back of his chair as he writes.


Bernd has just freed the squirrel.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

It has been a whirlwind few days. I recently hit the $20,000 mark toward my first stage fundraising goal of $25,000, so I have decided to start the film.

I have been busy putting together a new camera set up. I am going to be using a still camera that shoots fabulous high-definition video. It's a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. The main reasons for using this camera are the wide range of lenses available, the ability to shoot full-frame 35mm video and the stunning images it produces.

I also need to get a sound recorder, as well as a follow focus unit, filters, compact flash cards and on and on.