Project Update
November 30, 2002
Project Update:This month proved to be another pivotal time for organization for shooting and for morale. The month began with a marathon writing and story boarding session with Jeff and I, we felt we understood what we needed to say, but the linear narrative still seemed unclear. The Washington D.C. trip in September seemed to accelerate the production aspect of the project whereas our original intentions where to preplan as much as possible and work out shots and story elements before shooting, so much for preplanning. Our early month meetings really helped us establish a clear narrative and shooting-plan for this project, I am sure this will evolve but at least a sound foundation has been established.
I had the pleasure of attending the first training session Andrew and Carlos held for Clinica Para Todas, the program they are working on will prepare non professional Spanish speaking volunteers to act as administrators for a local health clinic. I was able to act as the blood pressure test pilot for those who attended. The meeting was a lot of fun and it was great to see Andrew and Carlos working together.
The Diego Rivera shoot at the San Francisco Art Institute went off perfectly I am indebted to Peter for his effort in setting up that shoot. We arrived at the campus early and practically had the gallery to ourselves; the footage was great and hopefully will be a great addition to the project.
Jeff and I spent another day in Oakland shooting establishing shots of Fruitvale and the surrounding areas. During the day shoot we stopped by to see everyone at Centro Legal and to confirm upcoming interviews with Patricia, during that meeting Centro Legal graciously extended more financial support for our project. That surprise sent Jeff and me out galvanized to complete our preview of "Abriendo Los Ojos" being shown on December 5 at the Centro Legal Holiday fundraiser. As of this writing the preview is completed and being sent in the mail. Great job Jeff!
One last production note, Pablo Alvarado of NDLON has graciously approved the usage of music by Los Jornaleros del Norte as potential soundtrack material. Also we are still working on getting a translation for Eduardo Jimenez's Poem (currently on the web site) I contacted a school in Guatemala that teaches "Mam" to Spanish speakers and they agreed to provide a translation.
The month of December may include a shoot at Centro Legal no schedule has been established we certainly will began again right after the holidays.
Rick Gann