Behind the Scenes DVD – or Not?

In a little more than a week, my 99-day journey trekking around the world with my daughter shooting a documentary, Opening Our Eyes will be over.  Or will it?  My work is really just beginning as I contemplate all we’ve done, people we’ve met and interviewed and how I will put this all together in an edited, finished film.

There are hundreds of ways I can edit this documentary and quite honestly, beginning the process and deciding the direction is always the most difficult.  But there will be a moment when the light bulb goes off and the vision will be clear as to how to make sense of it all.  Then it becomes easy as the story unfolds – as it should from my heart.  It’s the story that can only be told by me and this case, me and my daughter.

My daughter and others have urged me to do a behind-the-scenes DVD

– she tells me “that’s what people want”,  to know more about the making of the film – more about the people behind the film.  As much as I agree with her and understand this interest on the part of the viewer, there is also a resistance to make myself part of the documentary.  With that said, a separate “behind-the-scenes” chapter could be the solution – to provide more information, without inserting the two of us into the film itself.

One thought does keep popping into my head that motivates me to provide a commentary on the why’s and how’s of this journey and the making of this film. Too many times when I’ve visited museums, I’ve been taken aback by some of the things that I over hear docents talking about in relation to the paintings.  They analyze and interpret what the artist meant by his choice of color, brush stroke and placement of objects within the art and how that related to what was going on in his life at that point in time.  I often wonder how they know that or even how can they be so sure?  Is it documented or is it really just someone’s interpretation that has become fact over the years?

My daughter and I do plan to sit down this week and attempt to do on-camera interviews – while we are still in the moment and before we get back to our normal lives.  Here’s where we need your help – tell us what you want to know.  Maybe you’re curious about how we survived the dynamic of a mother/daughter team for three plus months.  Maybe you want to know why we did this – or how we funded it.  Or maybe the questions are even more basic – what did we like? – what was difficult?– any surprises? etc. etc.  Perhaps you want to know more about the craft of shooting the doc– and how I went about that.  And maybe you don’t really want to know anything at all and just want to know about the subjects of our film.

But please tell me what you’re curious about – as far as the behind-the-scenes making of this film.  All questions are welcome – from the seemingly obvious to the more provocative.