Comments on: Main: Experiment in Democracy

By: Cheryl Colan

Cheryl Colan — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:00:02 +0000

Aw, Ru, thank you! I totally agree with your feedback. I have the 20 minute version without music in a FCP project file somewhere. If there’s ever time, I’ll sweeten it, just to have a “director’s cut.”

Actually for about four months after completing this I enrolled in a documentary class I’d already taken in order to have access to my film school’s equipment, and I continued working on this project. Jean and I interviewed several of the key players in the story, including Gus Gutierrez. We also documented a march back to the Santa Rita Center where Cesar Chavez conducted his fast. But we never found a reliable source of funding to continue, and, well, the finished documentary is sitting on a shelf next to your completed novel.

I remain one of the few people who have made use of this film archive. I probably have the most extensive log notes on what’s in there. Every few months I think I ought to troop back over there and see what further mining might uncover. Since I know how to use the film chain, I bet they’d let me, just to get more of the footage cleaned and logged.

By: Rupert

Rupert — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:21:25 +0000

Well, you haven’t bored *me* to death. I’m delaying watching the first episode of the second season of Desperate Housewives to watch it again and comment. Imagine that.
I’m so psyched that you did this. It’s such a *good* thing to do – document a 36 year old moment in history that would otherwise get lost and fragmented – putting all that archive to use. I can’t believe that you were able to get hold of all that footage. The balance of power in who gets to speak on TV is interesting. My favourite moment is that bit right in the middle when it seems like Gus Gutierrez stops himself after saying “Greedy…” as if he’s about to say “Greedy Bastards” or “Greedy Pigs”, pauses and says “People” – that right there seemed to be a moment that you wouldn’t see today, when all the world is media savvy and the different points of view in a dispute like this are (slightly) better covered.
And I LOVE the old colouring and grain of the 16mm. And the way it reproduces the 70s fashions, hair, voices. It reminds me of Hearts of Darkness – I haven’t seen Harlan County, USA. All the official characters are straight out of an early 70s Hollywood movie. The Maricopa County Recorder *is* the DA in Dirty Harry. I swear it’s the same man.
It must have taken ages. Great work. Only notes – if you ever get back to tweaking – the music beneath your voiceover after the UFW press conference near the end is a bit loud. And the v/o at the start was a little fast and I worried that I was going to get lost… but actually there’s a lot of info to convey and I got into it pretty quick.
Inspiring stuff – thank you, and thank you for flagging it for me to watch

By: Cheryl Colan

Cheryl Colan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:57:20 +0000

Thanks for watching & commenting, Heath. I think I’ve bored everyone else to death. D’oh.

By: Heath

Heath — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:16:36 +0000

That’s a nice piece Cheryl, I agree it should be longer….good job on the editing though, I know how hard it had to be to get it to 8 minutes….