I know, I seem to go months without posting. But.. (you can all quote along in unision) I have been busy! One of the things that has occupied my summer was planning for, attending, filming and then releasing DVDs for our stake youth trek. Dawn and I were asked last summer if we would be on the planning committee for the trek, with our responsibilities to film the event and release a DVD to all who attended.It was an exciting prospect.. to do another "non sports" related film, especially one where I could get my work and vision for filmmaking out to a much larger group of people. And so the long planning process began, which meant many technical things had to be thought out, and new gear purchased. We had to add a new camera to the arsenal, many new batteries (so that we could film all day without recharging), bags that would provide the right support for the conditions, and dozens of tapes. We also had to ask all the right questions such as "what do we do if it rains with all this technical gear in the middle of no where?! How do we communicate to coordinate event cues, what kind of gear needs to be set up as base camp (where we were sleeping at night and coordinating the gear). It was a huge creative and logistical challenge, but one that was well worth all the effort.
The planning year went by fast, and before we knew it, our van full of cameras was headed toward eastern Washington to set up shop. The next morning, the youth arrived and the Trek began. And what an amazing experience this was for us. Yes.. it was tough. Walking over 10 miles each day, doing possible triple miles from what the regular youth were doing as we ran back and forth filming various shots, up hills, whatever we had to do to be in the right place at the right time. Both Dawn and I had cameras going filming different groups and vantage points so that the full story could be told. We even got to watch our own son Tyler struggle in agony when he bent over to grab his water bottle, slipped and had his foot run over by a 500 pound fully loaded hand cart, breaking one of his toes. He worried the doctors may pull him off the trek, but he bucked up, stayed strong, and was an inspiration to many as he helped pull 20 hand carts up a steep ravine just a few hours later, broken toe and all.
Between the perfect weather, the costuming, the great food, the challenge of the trek and the MANY MANY spiritual experiences along the way, this was a trip to remember: A trip that, while it had its challenges, I would leave to do it again tomorrow in a heartbeat. What an amazing journey it was.
As for the video.. I was very pleased with how it turned out as well! While there were some hiccups in the production, the issues were things that only Dawn and I would notice in the final version. And we did what seemed almost impossible: Just 6 weeks after the event, we had the full 90 minute documentary film produced, DVDs duplicated and several hundred copies ready for every kid that went on the trek.
Since the message of our trek is one that we hope to share with the world, both so people can see what we experienced and hopefully other stakes can learn from our successes in pulling off a great trek, I have put the entire video online, in 6 chunks. If you would like a DVD copy, feel free to e-mail or contact me and I'd be glad to get you one. DVDs also include a montage of the entire trek and a bonus feature called "Behind the Trek" detailing the behind the scenes efforts and the logistics of how we pulled it off. So sit back and enjoy.. our 2010 trek experience:
