Bonfire Documentary Movie Blog

2011-06-22T11:23:00.003-05:00

Again, I am a horrible filmmaker...mostly because I haven't made a film. But with the advent of my new job and my ability to borrow some of the equipment here, I'm thinking that I might get started back to working on this documentary.

Right now, I'm importing my old footage into my work computer, so that when I have down-time, I can work on the doc. The main purpose of this is to get a video put together to put on my Kickstarter project page. I've already gotten confirmation that my project was accepted, and now I just have to think of rewards for those that are willing to contribute financially to the film.

What do you think would be some good rewards?

One of the problems that I've run into while importing my footage is that it seems there's a lot of timecode breaks and that the tape is just plain messed up. Seven years of sitting in different storage areas will do that to you, I suppose. The worst part is that the Chip Thiel speech seems to be one of the parts that's messed up. Argh! So, I'm just importing the whole tape into the computer, hoping that there aren't any breaks while I'm doing it. It's important to get this stuff on tape, because unlike the interviews and First Cut footage, I can't go back and get the Memorial Dedication footage back.

2009-11-18T01:24:00.003-06:00

10 years...it's been a decade since that night. Doesn't even seem like that much time has passed. But it has.

I've gotten older, and life has forced itself upon me. But the story is still there. As much as I'd like to think it isn't...it's always there.

Bonfire changed the course of my life. It did before it fell, introducing a group of people into my life who would be my life-long friends. Even though life sends us in different directions, we're always there for one another.

But it was the fall that taught me that I need to do something important with my life...I need to do SOMETHING with it, because your life can change in an instant.

I don't think about it every day, but I do think about it...weekly? monthly? In less than an hour, it'll be the 10 year anniversary of the collapse, and I don't even recognize the person I was then. Heck, I don't recognize the person I was FIVE years ago.

But it has made me realize that this is a story that needs to be told, and it needs to be told from OUR point of view, not some reporter or journalist looking for the next headline of the day.

Time to get back to work...

2009-10-28T14:57:00.003-05:00

I just got a call from KPRC in Houston, and they want to use "See You When It Burns" for a story they're doing on the 10th anniversary of the collapse.

After talking with the reporter for a bit, I realized that I really need to get off my ass and work on this film. I've taken the last few years off as other things have gotten in the way, but I need to finish what I started.

I'm going to wait till all the..to coin a phrase...hullabaloo around the anniversary ends, and then I'm going to get started again.

When the story airs, they're going to send a link to me, and I'll put it up here.

BACK IN THE SADDLE

2007-01-23T10:55:00.000-06:00

Currently, I'm sitting in my Documentary Pre-Production class, listening to my professor talk about getting started making our documentaries. I feel like I'm ahead of the curve, just because I've already got my idea, some footage, and lots of information about my documentary topic.

I'm ramping again for doing the documentary, after a long hiatus. I've got some more photos via Melissa and Mr. & Mrs. Adams (Miranda's parents) as well as more information from a book that I received. I don't know the title (I'm in class and the book is at home) but it kinda lit a fire under my ass, and made me realize that there are people out there who want to hear this story, the story about Bonfire.

NEW STUFF ON THIS BLOG

2006-09-15T17:09:00.000-05:00

Holy cow, I've spent the last few hours reading posts on TexAgs.com, posting posts, and updating this blog. I've now got the short embedded here, and I have a links section to the right that has different bonfire links you can check out.

I'm ramping up to start work again on the documentary. After I finished the short, I showed it to some of the deads whose opinion I value. Most of them told me I was doing a good job and to keep on going, so now that I have my weekends free again and I'm not working 7 days a week (small victories), I can concentrate again on the doc.

I'm going to be down in College Station a number of times in the coming months, and hopefully I'll get some interviews and more research done while I'm there. I'm pretty much at where I need to be, equipment-wise, and I just need to start going in there and getting some stuff on tape. The editing will come later when I can get my computer up and running.

Wish me luck!

THE SHORT IS NOW ONLINE HERE!!!

2006-09-15T16:43:00.000-05:00

Sorry the resolution is so crappy. I'm still learning how to export it.

THE SHORT IS DONE!!!

2006-05-01T10:18:00.000-05:00

I just finished burning the final copy for my short version of the documentary a few minutes ago, and it is in the can! I'm turning it in today, but I've got a copy with me so that I can show people whenever I want to! I'm going to use this short version to try and raise money for the larger documentary, sorta like a trailer for a movie that hasn't been filmed yet; a teaser trailer.

I've got a myspace account set up, so hopefully I'll be able to post the film up there so that others can see it on the internet. Check it out here:

Double Bit Films on Myspace.com

This whole thing has been a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but it's also put a fire in my belly to get this thing rolling. I've got all summer to shoot interviews, then I can go back to cut and stack in the fall, and then burn again in November, so I've got a bunch of footage that's just waiting to get filmed.

If you're interested in helping out with the film in any way (work, money, hugs and kisses) then shoot me an email at bonfiremovie@yahoo.com.

NEW NEWS!!!

2006-04-11T20:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, so for my final project for my film production class, I am going to be doing a short version of my documentary. I'm hoping that this short documentary can be used as a trailer to show investors who might want to shell out some cash for a longer documentary. I have all the footage I need for this short film, but I need interviews. So I'll be doing those in the next few weeks, at least for the Dallas folks.

I've also contacted a Texas country singer/songwriter about doing music for the film. I'm waiting to hear back from him. If he doesn't do it, I'm just going to have to use canned music until I can get some real money behind this bad boy.

It's starting to come together. By May, I'll have the short done.

I AM A WORTHLESS FILMMAKER

2005-11-18T12:28:00.000-06:00

I know I said I would do interviews. I haven't. I know I said I'd shoot some Bonfire 2005 footage. I haven't. I know that I said I'd have more of the movie done. I haven't. The only good news is that the photos I already scanned in, they're good to go. I tried a little side project to see how they were going to turn out, and they came out really, really good at the resolution I scanned in the Bonfire photos at. So yeah for me!

I am in College Station right now, about to go over to campus to film some of the stuff that's going on today. I read that there are some exhibits at the MSC about Bonfire, and then tomorrow Student Bonfire burns. I'll be there for that.

Other than that, I haven't done much. I changed the name of my production company to Double Bit Productions so that's about the only thing. I would set up a listserv for the movie, but no one reads this blog anyway, so there's really no reason.

THE FALL IS HERE!!! BONFIRE 2005

2005-09-06T07:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I didn't really do anything for the movie this summer. I had other things going on, namely an internship, but that is over now, so I can focus on the movie once again. I bought a lapel mike yesterday to start my interviews, which hopefully will commence here in the next month. By the time First Cut comes around at the end of this month, I want to have a couple of interviews done, most of the crew that's up here in Dallas. I can't wait to see what everyone says, how I can cut it together to make it a coherent story.

I also need to rescan the pictures. I don't think they're going to come out at the resolution that I originally scanned them in, so they need to be redone. Not looking forward to that, but at least it gives me something to do when I'm not filming.

Also, I'm going to try and get a Pay Pal account set up, so that if anyone wants to contribute to the film, they can. I realized that I'm going to need some more money to do this than I thought, to keep myself in digital tapes and tripods. Yes, my tripod of many years, that my parents bought me back when I was in high school, has finally broken. Luckily, I have another one that was given to me when I bought my camera, but I don't know how good it is. In fact, it's never been out of the box.

That's all for now. Hopefully, I'll have more to write, and I'll update more frequently than every 4 months!

SUMMERTIME IS DOCUMENTARY TIME!!!

2005-05-11T10:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know I haven't done much on here or on the movie in the past couple of months. School and work have kept me busy, but with the advent of summer, and the fact that I'm not taking any classes this semester, it's time to get back to my movie.

I've started scanning the pictures in again, and this time I've decided that I will scan 1 roll per day, thus making it about a week (minus the time I'll be in College Station this weekend) to get all the pics scanned. I bought a really nice photo album for all my pictures, so as soon as they get scanned, they get put into the album. I just hope I got a big enough album (300 picture capacity might not be enough).

This summer, I'm hoping to do some interviews (finally) and by the fall I should at least have enough footage for a trailer that I can show people (as in investors, maybe?) Remember, send any emails to bonfiremovie@yahoo.com.

HOW TO PAINT A POT

2005-02-14T15:25:00.000-06:00

It sounded like a good idea at the time.

The week before Bonfire 2004, I was at my parents house, and so I decided to film myself painting the pot that I would use at Cut. I've been meaning to edit the footage and put narration and music to it, but never got around to it. That is, until today.

And after doing all that work (including filming additional footage), what do I think of it? It's crap. Really boring crap. I don't know what I'm going to do with it (erase it).

That's pretty much all I've done lately with the movie. Just captured that stuff, edited it together pretty quick, and did the narration (which was more of a bitch than I thought it was going to be) I need to start doing interviews.

I've been pretty busy this past month, and will continue to be busy for awhile. Hopefully I'll get some time to work on it later.

CHIP THIEL'S SPEECH IS NOW CAPTURED!!!

2005-01-31T17:48:00.000-06:00

Today at class they gave us a really quick run through of Adobe Premiere Pro, which TK gave me a copy of. I installed it on my computer, and used it to edit together a little video of Chip Thiel's speech at the Bonfire Memorial dedication. It came out really good, with titles and everything. I was going to upload it, but it's 1.16 gigs, so that's way too big. I'll have to figure out a way to shrink it.

I don't know how this pirated copy is going to work. It keeps saying that I need to register with Adobe, but when I try to, it says that it's declined, and I can only use it for 30 days. If that's the case, then I'm going to have to find some way around that, or I'll have to put Adobe Premiere 6.5 back on my computer and edit with that. I have noticed a lot of differences with 6.5 and Pro. I like Pro, though, it makes everything really easy to edit. Worst case scenario, I put 6.5 back on my comp, and use Pro up at school and at the Texas Filmmakers Cooperative office.

The only problem I've found is with the pics that I've scanned in. I think they might be a little too big, and I might need to go back and mess with them to get them to fit on the screen. At least they're too big, and not too little. Not much I can do about that. The only bad thing is that the instructions don't tell me how to do that. Worst case scenario, again, and I'll have to rescan my pictures. Not looking forward to that, let me tell ya.

Hopefully some more people will see this website. I put the web address at the end of the video.

2005-01-26T11:24:00.000-06:00

Junior Red Pot Dan Finnell is flanked by his Aston Bonfire deads: Dave McLeod, Ty Jackson, Vic Maa, Dave Deptula, Tyler Milligan, Billy Martin, and Bart Taylor.

2005-01-26T11:22:00.000-06:00

Tagline sends a log to the upper reaches of Stack at Bonfire 1997

STILL SCANNING

2005-01-26T11:09:00.000-06:00

I've got all the color slides and black & white negatives from Bonfire 1997 scanned into the computer. Now, I'm just going through and scanning the color prints that CW had made a couple of years ago. I'm kinda worried, because I can't find the negatives for these prints, but I'm sure they're at the ranch or something. I know CW gave them back to me, and I never throw anything away.

Scanning the prints is taking so f'ning long because I can only scan two pics at a time. With my old scanner, I could scan in 3 or 4, and the new scanner is slow as hell on top of that. But, I can scan in negatives and slides and pics, so it's better than the old one. And it works.

I'll post some of the pics on here that I've all ready scanned in.

AND SO IT BEGINS!

2005-01-20T13:36:00.000-06:00

I guess a little bit about me to start off. I'm a graduate of Texas A&M, class of '99, with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism (which I don't even think they offer anymore, it's like a rare baseball card now) and a minor in Film Studies. I spent a few years working and now I'm back in school at the University of North Texas studying Radio, Television, and Film. I'm either going to get a 2nd bachelors in RTF, or I'm going to be in a fast-track program to their MFA in Documentary Filmmaking, which is what I really want to do. Currently, I'm in my 2nd semester of UNT, and in my first production class.

As for my bonfire expertise, I was a member of the 1997, 1998, and 1999 Fightin' Texas Aggie Bonfire. All my friends were involved with Bofire while I was at A&M, and it's something that had a life-changing impact on me. In fact, the fall of 1999 made me realize that I didn't want to be a journalist, but rather a filmmaker, something I've wanted to do since I was really little. I know this feeling is felt by more than a few of the people that were involved with Bonfire, and this is one of the most important things I want to address in the movie: The importance of Bonfire not only to the individuals that participate in it, but to the university as a whole. Everyone will agree that the A&M today, "New Army" isn't what it used to be back in the old days. But as a good friend of mine points out, what I thought of as the "good old days" were not what he remembers about his "good old days."

I went out to one cut this past year (job and school kinda hindered me about going out more) with the Student Bonfire, and it looks like our group of old people will be showing up in force next year. Hopefully, I'll finally sit everyone down for interviews and reminiscing. I've got a bit of footage from that, some from the Bonfire Memorial dedication (not all good, I was pretty far away and it's shakey), and hopefully I can hit up my old bosses at KBTX for some archived news stories. I'm pretty much just starting out right now, not even really sure how this thing will come together.

Right now, I'm scanning in all my pictures from Bonfires 1997 and 1998. I was in Photography in 1997, so I've got a few color pics and a lot of black and white negatives. If anyone out there has any bonfire pictures from any year, please send them to me at bonfiremovie@yahoo.com. If you can scan them and send them to me, great. If not, I can get the prints or negatives (or slides) and scan them in. Also, any video or film would be great too. I think one of my friends ex-girlfriends has the bonfire videos that they sold. Hmmm...I wonder if it would be weird if I called her for that. Probably. And I think my friend (TK) would kick my ass.

If I was a famous documentary filmmaker all ready, I'd have an intern doing this scanning, as it is long, tedious, boring, and long. But as I am not a famous documentary filmmaker, I have to do it myself.

Also, my production class this semester is going to teach me how to edit video on Adobe Premiere Pro, which TK just got for me. In over 9 weeks, I should start editing together the footage I've got, and I might have a small video ready by May. Hopefully, by then, I'll have all the pics scanned in. I all ready scanned in my slides from 1997, now I'm scanning in my negatives (b&w, 1997), and next will be the huge box of prints I have.

That's pretty much it for right now. I'll post more as more happens, but right now, it's boring. So boring, in fact, that I created this blog while I'm scanning.

-Bunter

BONFIRE LINKS ON THE WEB

2005-01-20T13:05:00.000-06:00

Here are some important Bonfire links that I've found.

Texas A&M Official Bonfire 1999 website
Here you can find out who to donate to, some information about Bonfire, and links to the commission's report and lots of other information.

Student Bonfire
This used to be called "Renegade Bonfire," but these kids seem to have everything under control. They put on a good thing this past fall, and I heard Bonfire 2004 was a big success. They need help, though, and support. Go out to cut and stack with your dorm next year!

Bonfire Coalition
Here are the people on campus who are working to bring Bonfire back on-campus (which evidently Governor Rick Perry wants as well). Help support their efforts.

Bryan-College Station Eagle
Tons of info on what is happening around A&M, and they have an excellent archive section with articles about Bonfire, the fall, etc. And they're not biased like the Batt!!!

The Battalion Online
A&M's student newspaper, which I refused to work for on the grounds that they are biased, don't care about journalistic standards, and are a bunch of leftist commies. Looking back on it, I probably should have gotten the experience.

I'm a published author on salon.com!!!
Here's my rebuttal of an article that was posted in salon.com after the Bonfire collapse. Read and enjoy my journalist skill!

I'll post more as they come to me!!!