Trailer is Ready

The first piece of big news is that I now have an edited trailer ready to post online. I'm still working out the last details of the hosting and such, but creatively it's ready to go! I am SO excited about this. In just days, rather than trying to explain things to people, I will be able to show them. It's such a major step forward..
Thanks again to Nadine Laule for editing it! She did a really nice job.

I have made my first enlargements of my digital stills from the project. 7 shots at 12" x 18". I'm selling these to fundraise if anybody is interested. Asking $300 each. They are beautiful! They are printed through a photographic (not inkjet) process, so their achival value is the same as anything from a 35mm negative. Did I mention they look amazing? :)
Contact me if you are interested in picking one up.

Hilary and I have also been making more progress in the digitizing. (I can't believe I'm still digitizing!) Some things I've brought in since the last update include:
Major sections of the FORGE orientation in Jo'Burg South Africa before we headed north to Zambia.
Meetings with UNFPA, UNHCR, and various other NGOs upon our arrival in Meheba.
Interviews with me in San Francisco and Pittsburgh PA as I prepared for the trip.
Interviews with various members of the FORGE Botswana group.
A debate about whether Eric should shave his mohawk or not.
An interview with Lawrence in South Africa
Tom Silverman in Pittsburgh.
Taylor Algren, Executive Director of the World Refugee Academy
The trip to Victoria Falls on our last day together.
Another Repatriation Convey leaving Meheba.

I have also started going through some of the interviews and cutting those down to get into the real meat / gold. This has led to me cutting anywhere between 10% to 35% of the digitized footage. It also is making my newer rough DVDs much more interesting to watch. Speaking of which.. I've learned quite a lot about DVD Studio Pro and Compressor since upgrading to the production suite. I'm SO glad I did. I don't think I'll ever use iDVD again!

I started a yahoo group for the FORGE members and production staff to exchange thoughts.

I'm still trying to put together a deal to bring on a full time editor in January. It's looking good, so hopefully I'll have some more details on that soon as well.

This really is a monumental task, but I feel like every time I post to this blog, there have been major achievements. My excitement is only increasing.

David