Video Progress Update 9/21/23

Hey everyone!

I wanted to write a progress update on the upcoming video, both for my own edification and for any who might be interested. I'm still conducting interviews. I have one scheduled for next week, and another one upcoming in the next couple weeks or so, after some preliminary discussions with the interviewee take place. As I've said in a previous update, gathering interviews has been much more challenging for this video than the last, and this has remained the case in the ensuing weeks since the last update. I'm asking people to open up about their personal beliefs and experiences in a vulnerable way. A leap of trust in me, who they do not know, is required of them in order to do this, and I try to keep this in mind. I've had a couple people ultimately decide not to participate after previously agreeing, which I understand and do not grudge. And like I've said before, this isn't slowing down progress, as there are multiple fronts I can work on whenever one begins to stall out. 

I've been experimenting more with visual motifs in this video. The story itself takes place mostly in the first half of the 20th century, and a lot of the drama and tension occurs through written correspondence between key individuals who are in different parts of the world--so I'm using After Effects and Premiere Pro to construct what I hope is a sleek visual system that I can use to show these back-and-forth exchanges in an interesting way. This is something that I haven't done before in a video, but it's necessary for this one, and I like what I've made so far, so I'm optimistic it will work well. 

Additionally, this story has a very large cast of characters popping in and out of the story at different times, so I'm trying to use the visual medium to my favor and construct some branching (hierarchical?) trees that I can use as an aid to lessen confusion. In short, I find myself needing to evolve as a visual storyteller in order to do this story justice. 

Ideally, a Halloween release would be the most appropriate, as this story is on the spooky side, but because that's in five weeks, I'm not sure I can promise this, barring some miracle. I think it's better to set the release window at some time before the end of the year. This is reasonable, and it will keep me from rushing out an undercooked documentary. 

More updates to come as the work continues. Thank you all for being patient with me. I really love this topic and I think you all will too. Very excited to show what I've been working on with you all. 

Talk soon,

AG