Planning Ahead

1/13/18

This week I took a documentary film making course in Boston. It was an in-depth, hands on, step by step documentary film process that concentrated on everything from sound, story telling, camera work, editing, lighting, computer software and 'Treatment' i.e. pitching a story or concept to potential donors and producers. There were about twelve of us in the class, each with varying degrees of experience and backgrounds. Each of them were open to ideas, easy to communicate with and our instructor Michael Sheridan really knew his stuff. I'm always impressed with a person who is willful enough to travel to places like Afghanistan to film documentary stories and travel to third world countries like Bangledesh to chase down events in realtime. I left feeling empowered to continue on this process. 

'Live at the Midway' is morphing in various ways on how it will be told. I guess that's the normal pace of a documentary. I thought all there was going to be was rock n roll and interviews and some silly skits, but as the (ahem) years have gone by with the preparation of this crazy idea, this town, Jamaica Plain, has turned and become more gentrified and isolating. This film feels as if it's  becoming more about one's own tale of self preservation and survival as the economic hysteria becomes ever more present in the collective consciousness. If this can somehow resonate in the souls and minds of the country, then how is that a bad thing? 

Take, for example, the Hippie Hour. Now, you go to any town, in any State across the entire country and the chances of you finding a Grateful Dead covers band - or at the VERY least a classic rock, jam band, are going to be pretty, um, "high?" So you have a local band that has a paying gig for all the friends and friends of friends that come out to the neighborhood bar, the band gets paid, the pub gets popular and everybody gets together and it's a win win. I defy anyone who would see that as a negative impact on community. 

Still, it's not up to me. There's a lot of hidden variables involved. People have to be willing and ready to talk about shit on record. There's a lot of preparation to do even just for that! It's about meeting people and building relationships. Getting involved in the community on a deeper, more intimate level. I'm not doing myself any favors by going out one night of the week to the bar that I talk to the same people to over and over again about an idea that I'm working on. It's better to be out and about and attending community meetings, getting to know the club owners and getting perspectives. There's much more to this than just music and silliness. There's a story here. There's emotions. Real people doing real things with real struggles. Anyone in America can relate to this story. For this is an American story. One that is much more important to tell than any "leader" who talks openly about "shit holes" when we all know that he is a direct descendant of that hole.