Production week 1
I want to start off by once again thanking everyone for helping get 'Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers' made. This e-mail is going exclusively to the 2,871 of you who felt strongly enough to donate your hard earned money to help make this documentary. We appreciate your support and the faith you have in us to uncover the facts, reveal the truth, and tell the full story.
We want to keep you in touch with developments on this film that you made happen. We thought that a bi-weekly update of our progress, setbacks, and general goings-on would be a good way to let you know a little bit more about the process of getting 'Iraq For Sale' made.
Production officially started on Monday May 8th with Kerry and Nick criss-crossing the country and talking with people who were kind enough to open their homes, offices and hearts to us. These are ordinary American citizens who are doing some extraordinary things. I hate to say this, but just by speaking with us about what they have seen or experienced puts them and their livelihood in danger of being attacked and dragged through the mud. It is not easy to go up against major war profiteers, but the civilian contractors, soldiers, and relatives of deceased workers and military who have spoken to us thus far have put their fear aside and found the strength to speak the truth in the hope that by shining a light on the wrongdoing. They can help end the abusive practice of war profiteering, no matter what your opinion of the war, the billions made by corporations is inexcusable.
Of course, in any production there are some humorous moments. Moments that cannot be scripted or planned but make for beautiful footage. One such moment happened last week while Kerry and Nick were shooting the outside walls of a large compound owned by one of the corporations we are investigating (unfortunately I cannot specifically name the corporations, people, or places at this time - I'm sure you understand our need to keep that information under wraps for the time being).
This is a huge compound with several nifty features, one of which is a large 'obstacle' course used specifically for learning how to drive vehicles on the various terrains and situations that might be experienced in Iraq. The roads surrounding the compound are suburban with speed limits that probably don't exceed 30 miles per hour. Kerry and Nick were in their car on one of these roads filming the outside walls of the compound when one of the corporate vehicles with a big corporate logo proudly displayed, drove past them on the way into the compound. Apparently the 'obstacle' course does not include video cameras, because the driver of the vehicle got so distracted by the sight of Nick holding the camera that he drove off the little country road and hit a US Mailbox. So much for training!
The bulk of the week was spent interviewing people. Even though we have heard most of these stories already, nothing fully prepares you for actually seeing these people speak with strong emotions clearly etched on their faces and pain in their eyes from what they have seen.
The most touching moments so far (in my humble opinion) have been given to us by a father who went to Iraq to work as a civilian contractor to earn money to support his family. With his children in the room, he recounted the horrors he witnessing while in Iraq and the criminal behavior the corporation he worked for took part in. The most heartfelt part of the interview was when this father spoke of the lessons he wanted his children to learn from his life in Iraq - his choices and the temptation that money brings.
As I said, production just starting last week and this is just the beginning. Since Kerry and Nick are on the road, they send back the footage to us every day. The footage is then logged into our editing system by Mike. We are shooting everything on tapes, and this process is called digitizing. This will allow our editor, Carla, to view all of the material and to move it around so that the story makes sense.
Before Carla can start, all of the footage must be transcribed. We have two people working full time watching every frame and typing in every word that is said as well as a complete description of the picture. Once all that information is on paper and the tapes have been digitized, then Robert and the rest of the production crew can view the footage and make notes. We have a new system that we just put into place (and will be tested for the first time tomorrow!!) that will allow everyone in our offices to view the footage. It is very exciting for us. What makes it even better is this thing called InqScribe which allows us to make notes on the actual footage. So Robert can actually make a note on the actual footage when viewing something on his computer and Carla will get that note and follow through.
Well, that's all for now. As we get more footage in and the stories start to come together, I'm sure there will be more to share with you.
Thanks again for being a part of this project.