I got through that thing Monday I was dreading so much. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but then things seldom are. Just another experience for the old mental resume for whatever that's worth.
They located a good place to shoot the video, with more than adequate space for the camera distance, lighting and depth of field required -- upstairs at the city library. That building used to be a bank many years ago and I suppose the upstairs was office space or something. It was fairly open, especially one end of it.
The sitting down portion of the festivities lasted an hour and a half to two hours. They got me all situated and the lighting right, hooked me up with sound (and a bottle of water for the dry-mouth terrors) and got underway. The producer, P. J., told me initially that it was important to look at her during the process and not the camera; that's like telling a kid not to jam his hand in the cookie jar, and of course on more than one occasion my eyes strayed from where she was sitting beside the camera right into the lens.
There weren't any questions initially. She told me to simply start at the beginning and, in my own words, tell the story of everything that happened. That's what I did, for a lengthy time. We took a couple of breaks, for water and once for me to go outside and smoke. During the latter part of the interview, she asked me a number of direct questions.
At the conclusion, they had to let the sound and video sync in a process that took some time, which left me free to smoke all I wanted and to gab with Beverly and the other lady working at the library. And, it took some time for them to lug all their equipment down from the loft and load it in the back of a SUV rental. The entire rear area of the vehicle was jammed full and I mentioned they had a lot of stuff there. The guys, both of whom were probably in their mid to late twenties, said that was just a tiny portion of what they carried on some shoots. They seemed to enjoy their work.
I had agreed to guide them out to the Parrish Road location of "Haunted Bridge," the spot where the trio of miscreants had chopped the victim up with an ax and disemboweled him. After we had lunch in McKenzie, I did that and was surprised to discover I was going to be filmed out there as well.
I suppose I got a tiny taste of what actors routinely go through, as I was instructed on where to walk, how to indicate various features and what to say. Some of the video was shot from a tripod and some with one of those "steadycam" rigs, whereby the cameraman can move around without camera shake. In some of the shots, he backed down the road as I walked toward him from the bridge, although my attention was focus on P. J. who was to the right of him. . .well, I did look into the camera a few times.
We did many, many different takes, some "do-overs" and some totally different in content. The woman used sticks for "marks" I would walk to before saying a certain thing, or turning to make a sweeping arm gesture back toward the bridge before beginning my spiel. At one point, she had me appear to be searching for something on the ground around a pull-off beside the road. I was actually starting to get into that, but we lost all the daylight and had to quit. It was well dark when we left that location. They decided they were going to try to get a shot of the exterior of Casey's beer joint while they were in Huntingdon, so I gave them directions to that and headed back to the barn.
They were nice folks, the gal, the cameraman and the sound man. I've forgotten those guys' names already. They all said I did a great job, but I think they were bullshitting me. Hell, with the number of people to be interviewed and the show's length, I might get a sound byte or two and that will be about it. I'm glad I did it, for the experience and for a few technical things I picked up on the process of actually shooting that kind of situation -- wish I'd had the experience before I did the poetry video, it would have made a big difference.
Of course, there was some paperwork involved. I had to sign releases for the use of my interview and for the bit of written matter I furnished them. Now, I just hope they don't take some little bit out of context and use it in a way that will piss me off. It would be easy to grab a few words with that intent.
Yesterday, I got an interesting call from Talleah, another of the producers and the first one I spoke with when this thing came up. She asked me if I could recommend a lawyer for the production company, as they were going to have to file suit on the sheriff's department to get some of the photos and material they were seeking.
I told her it would be unlikely that any lawyer in Carroll County would want to take the case, however Jackson wasn't that far and had a plethora of attorneys who would. I can't imagine that CCSO is trying to claim that a case in which the defendants have been imprisoned for more than 15 years is still open and thus not subject to the Sunshine Law. But knowing how they operate around here, it doesn't surprise me. P. J. had told me during an earlier phone conversation that she wasn't getting any cooperation from them, and they seemed concerned they might compromise something that would aid the convicts in a future appeal effort.
That's a dumb ass way to look at it. All they have to do is furnish material and tell the facts, the truth. Nothing about that would ever help free the three animals who slaughtered Dennis Brooks, Jr. Their own statements condemned them, their admissions of guilt.
In fact, I've had a call in to the investigator over there for several days now and it hasn't been returned. I don't imagine any of them will talk to me about the case. That's fine, I don't need anything from them for my book -- though it would be nice to get that big problem area cleared up. But if I can't, I will make certain the gray area is described in detail. And I will note that I made every effort to resolve it and that old so-and-so wouldn't cooperate. Yes, I will use his name as well.
They located a good place to shoot the video, with more than adequate space for the camera distance, lighting and depth of field required -- upstairs at the city library. That building used to be a bank many years ago and I suppose the upstairs was office space or something. It was fairly open, especially one end of it.
The sitting down portion of the festivities lasted an hour and a half to two hours. They got me all situated and the lighting right, hooked me up with sound (and a bottle of water for the dry-mouth terrors) and got underway. The producer, P. J., told me initially that it was important to look at her during the process and not the camera; that's like telling a kid not to jam his hand in the cookie jar, and of course on more than one occasion my eyes strayed from where she was sitting beside the camera right into the lens.
There weren't any questions initially. She told me to simply start at the beginning and, in my own words, tell the story of everything that happened. That's what I did, for a lengthy time. We took a couple of breaks, for water and once for me to go outside and smoke. During the latter part of the interview, she asked me a number of direct questions.
At the conclusion, they had to let the sound and video sync in a process that took some time, which left me free to smoke all I wanted and to gab with Beverly and the other lady working at the library. And, it took some time for them to lug all their equipment down from the loft and load it in the back of a SUV rental. The entire rear area of the vehicle was jammed full and I mentioned they had a lot of stuff there. The guys, both of whom were probably in their mid to late twenties, said that was just a tiny portion of what they carried on some shoots. They seemed to enjoy their work.
I had agreed to guide them out to the Parrish Road location of "Haunted Bridge," the spot where the trio of miscreants had chopped the victim up with an ax and disemboweled him. After we had lunch in McKenzie, I did that and was surprised to discover I was going to be filmed out there as well.
I suppose I got a tiny taste of what actors routinely go through, as I was instructed on where to walk, how to indicate various features and what to say. Some of the video was shot from a tripod and some with one of those "steadycam" rigs, whereby the cameraman can move around without camera shake. In some of the shots, he backed down the road as I walked toward him from the bridge, although my attention was focus on P. J. who was to the right of him. . .well, I did look into the camera a few times.
We did many, many different takes, some "do-overs" and some totally different in content. The woman used sticks for "marks" I would walk to before saying a certain thing, or turning to make a sweeping arm gesture back toward the bridge before beginning my spiel. At one point, she had me appear to be searching for something on the ground around a pull-off beside the road. I was actually starting to get into that, but we lost all the daylight and had to quit. It was well dark when we left that location. They decided they were going to try to get a shot of the exterior of Casey's beer joint while they were in Huntingdon, so I gave them directions to that and headed back to the barn.
They were nice folks, the gal, the cameraman and the sound man. I've forgotten those guys' names already. They all said I did a great job, but I think they were bullshitting me. Hell, with the number of people to be interviewed and the show's length, I might get a sound byte or two and that will be about it. I'm glad I did it, for the experience and for a few technical things I picked up on the process of actually shooting that kind of situation -- wish I'd had the experience before I did the poetry video, it would have made a big difference.
Of course, there was some paperwork involved. I had to sign releases for the use of my interview and for the bit of written matter I furnished them. Now, I just hope they don't take some little bit out of context and use it in a way that will piss me off. It would be easy to grab a few words with that intent.
Yesterday, I got an interesting call from Talleah, another of the producers and the first one I spoke with when this thing came up. She asked me if I could recommend a lawyer for the production company, as they were going to have to file suit on the sheriff's department to get some of the photos and material they were seeking.
I told her it would be unlikely that any lawyer in Carroll County would want to take the case, however Jackson wasn't that far and had a plethora of attorneys who would. I can't imagine that CCSO is trying to claim that a case in which the defendants have been imprisoned for more than 15 years is still open and thus not subject to the Sunshine Law. But knowing how they operate around here, it doesn't surprise me. P. J. had told me during an earlier phone conversation that she wasn't getting any cooperation from them, and they seemed concerned they might compromise something that would aid the convicts in a future appeal effort.
That's a dumb ass way to look at it. All they have to do is furnish material and tell the facts, the truth. Nothing about that would ever help free the three animals who slaughtered Dennis Brooks, Jr. Their own statements condemned them, their admissions of guilt.
In fact, I've had a call in to the investigator over there for several days now and it hasn't been returned. I don't imagine any of them will talk to me about the case. That's fine, I don't need anything from them for my book -- though it would be nice to get that big problem area cleared up. But if I can't, I will make certain the gray area is described in detail. And I will note that I made every effort to resolve it and that old so-and-so wouldn't cooperate. Yes, I will use his name as well.
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