Work is moving ahead on the We are Family documentary on three fronts: Administration, Video Production and Sound Track. Our goal is to host an exclusive showing of We are Family on Saturday, March 23rd in Indianapolis.
Here is a brief report of the work going forward on these three fronts:
The Administration Front
The successful Kickstarter campaign that concluded December 1st provided us with the economic resources to move forward with completing the We are Family project. We are currently working on the following administrative tasks:
- Gathering release forms from the Arsenal Tech players and coaches
- Researching the use of You Tube videos.
- Seeking a venue for the exclusive screening
- Communicating with video production crew and musicians
- Getting feedback from consultants
- And much more…
Julian Dorsey, having recently graduated from college and back in Washington State for a few weeks, has been incredibly helpful in moving the administrative front forward.
Here’s an example of old IHSAA from the 1966 State Championship game which Arsenal Tech lost to Michigan City. We’re in conversations with IHSAA about using some of their wonderful historic footage.
Video Production Front
David Lichty spent the days and nights of his Christmas break from work bringing the footage together into a very rough draft of the story. He’s hoping by January 7th to have that draft where it can be viewed by the rest of the video production team and we can begin the cutting, crafting and creation of the story in earnest. We’re super thankful to David for his heavy lifting.
Hopefully by mid January we’ll have a draft of the movie that we all feel is close to what we are shooting for. At that point Tremayne Reed will be joining David in the creation of the final version, through multiple edits, cuts, and video craftsmanship. We are super excited to his artistic, urban, special “sizzle” at work on this project, and to be able to work with the great young man.
We’re also excited to have some important people providing consulting feedback on the documentary including Jeff Sparks, Donteau Gladney Sr., and Clarence Walker Sr.
We have a lot of work to do on this front, but we’re very pleased with how the footage is coming together. The hard part will be cutting it down!
Music Front
We’re taking the next steps on the Sound Track for the documentary. We’re working closely with the composers/musicians to take those next steps. A few songs have been delivered already. Many of the musicians/composers are waiting on the video draft to be at a point to where they can create their music based on the footage of the story.
Malcolm Jordan, for example, has submitted his terrific song “No Option”. I can’t wait to hear how this song gets synched with the footage.
Each of these musicians is a class act. I couldn’t be working with better young people! Their music will make an already inspiring story really come to life.
Conclusion
In many ways, I (Jason) am way over my head on serving as the Director and Producer of this project. At the same time, I’m honored that I get to help share the story of a team of incredible young men who achieved an improbable dream and inspired a whole city as they did so. I’m honored by the trust of over 110 Kickstarter backers who provided the necessary funding to see the project through to completion. I’m working hard to ensure that the story will be well told and inspire many more young men and women to follow in the tracks of the Arsenal Tech Titan State Champions!
