tumblr blog gets new look

During the initial filming of the documentary, JCHS school year 2011/12, our tumblr blog was used for updates from the production field. Today we're technically in post production and not even in North Vernon where the documentary is set which leads to very few updates to publish.

Tumblr remains a convinient blogging platform and during this period of production it will serve as a online journal for the filmmakers ponderings about the process.

If such ponderings are of interest to you, follow the tumblr blog here: http://musicmanfilm.tumblr.com

Sneak Peeks and Behind-the-Scenes!

We've started rollling out sneak peek and behind-the-scenes videos for the documentary. Subscribe to the YouTube page to stay up to date on all the future videos!

Here's our favorite so far:

Where Are We Now?

As 2013 comes to a close, we would like to update you on where we are in the documentary process.

POST PRODUCTION

Working through the nearly 200 hours of footage has been a slower process than we imagined. That said, it's been a rewarding one, especially once we start editing pieces together. The plan is still to wait until all footage has been viewed, logged and organized before the story is determined (besides the broader impacts-of-music-education story). During this process, however, small story pods have begun to take shape and soon we'd like to start unveiling some of those here on our website as well as on our YouTube channel. 

STORY

As mentioned above, the broad story or theme of our documentary is the impact of music education. We chose the Jennings County High School (JCHS) String Orchestra program as the vehicle of this story. All along, we planned on the documentary including stories of students and community members impacted by this music education program. While we still don't know which stories we'll focus on in the final piece, some of the events we filmed included concerts, class trip to Washington DC, fundraisers, student extracurricular outside orchestra, and performances in the community by the orchestra and individual students.

The founder and director of the music program, Eric Jarboe, as of 2013 has been teaching for 40 years. When we were filming in Indiana from 2011 to 2012, Eric had no plans of retirement. At the beginning of the 2013/2014 school year, Eric announced his plans for retirement and that this was going to be his last year teaching. This development creates new story possibilities for the documentary. 

PRODUCTION (AGAIN)

We are excited about the new story developments for the documentary. While a story about an orchestra program in an unusual place is an interesting and inspirational one, we feel getting to include the outcome of that program once it's founder and director retires is an even better one! Throughout the coming months, we'll be filming once again in the school and community as this story unfolds. 

EXPOSURE

The end of the year has brought with it opportunities for Music Man presentations. The first was at the 2013 Jarboe Family Reunion. Kelsy presented video clips, including a version of the documentary teaser. She also talked about the filmmaking process, our journey thus far and next steps. The second presentation was at the recent JCHS Orchestra Fall Concert where we premiered the Music Man Teaser. We feel it was well received and were happy to show the town of North Vernon what we've been working on.

Organizing with Markers (or Locators)

Using Markers, example 1In the wonderful world of Avid Media Composer, the editing software we are using for our documentary, there are these things called "locators" (or "markers" in the most recent software versions). In our attempts to organize the nearly 200 hours of footage we filmed during the 2011/2012 school year, we're using these markers to our advantage. Think of it as taking notes while watching a movie. As we watch, for example, a thirty-minute clip from String Orchestra class, we pause the playback to add a marker to indicate the action that is taking place. On average we add a marker every 5 to 30 seconds. We even have color coded our markers to help quickly find different actions.

Color-coded Marker GuideMost actions will be categorized as "reality" and marked blue. This includes Eric Jarboe, a main character in our documentary, (denoted in our markers as "EJ") opening the door to a classroom or talking to the class. When the camera is filming a student or group of students, we mark their action with a cyan colored marker. This will help us later on when we need to find footage of a particular student. "B-roll" is basically anything that is not "Reality"; it's footage than can be used in any scene at any time. For example, footage of a clock is considered "b-roll". We're also locating all the songs the orchestra plays, camera moves (i.e. pans, zooms, wide shots, etc), and production moments (i.e. Kelsy or Alburn).

Using Markers, example 2Interviews are typically transcribed, which means someone watches the interview and types everything word for word. So far, we've transcribed one interview with Eric Jarboe. However, our transcription isn't a word document. Instead, we again used markers. Red markers indicate the question or answer topic. Blue markers are the transcription of Eric's answer. His answers weren't always transcribed word for word and in these cases we use a blue marker but the text is all in caps.

Take a closer look at the example photos. These are just a small sampling of what we've been up to at Music Man headquarters the past five months, and what we'll continue to work on for a few more months to come. Cheers!

End of Prinicple Photography

After a year of filming in Indiana, co-producers Kelsy and Alburn packed everything up and moved back to Los Angeles, California. It was bittersweet having to say goodbye to the good people of Southern Indiana and the orchestra students that had inspired the filmmakers along the way. Now back in LA, the post production phase of the project has begun. This process will take twice as long as production did; the road ahead is long yet exciting.

The first six months will be spent watching the nearly 200 hours o f footage. This will require transcoding the media to 10:1m so it doesn't require hooking up four hard drives to view everything. Concerts and events, whereScreen grab of Avid Media Composer & the transcoding proccess more than one camera was used, will be synced and grouped so all of the angle s can be seen at once in real time. Going day by day, clips will be watched, notes taken about their contents, and then organized for accessibility.  

  

While moving through the footage, characters and stories will begin to develop. Hopefully, Kelsy and Alburn can watch it all in six months! Finally they'll choose the strongest stories and begin putting them together. 

For now, Music Man is in the unglamorous grunt work portion of the schedule. Once segments start to get built, some of them will be highlighted on musicmanfilm.com to whet your appetites!  Thanks to all who have supported the making of this documentary and stay tuned!