The story thus far

Here is paper and a marker. Keep a strict log of your journey so I may study it when we meet again and point out your missteps....

- Gandalf

The point of this blog is largely to keep me on track and to make continuous incremental progress in this crazy venture of mine, making a boardgaming documentary.

So far, I have acquired the camera. I have read a book about Down and Dirty DV film making. I've imported practice clips of footage into Sony Vegas Video (30-day trial) and spent a couple hours EDITING IT. I even added a fade between a couple scenes. Just seeing the different sample styles of credit rolls made me giddy...

I've traded a few emails discussing the project with our friend Eric from BoardgameNews.com, who is already proving invaluable as an information source. One such suggestion was the Unity Games event coming up February 7. Talk about going from zero to 60...I'm going to need a tripod, extra battery, extra memory cards, lighting, interview questions, a babysitter, PLANS. Good lord, I need to make plans FAST! This is a good thing, really, but I want to give off at least a faint trace of competency here, and there's not much time to learn an awful lot.

So I contacted Dave at Unity Games last week and started asking about the event, and his thoughts on this project. Aaaaaand...they're off!

So now I'm listening to the Little Wooden Cubist #17 podcast Dave mentioned. Sort of immersion learning, even though I already know a decent amount about designer boardgaming. Another point in my favor that's starting to become apparent is that there is a SOLID boardgaming scene here in the local MA/NH/ME region.

I'm also scheduled to pay Jason Scott, director of BBS: the Documentary and Get Lamp a visit next week. For me, this is the equivalent of having the guru on the mountaintop turn up in your backyard instead. He's been an enormous help already with advice and equipment recommendations, as has TILT director Greg Maletic.

At Jason's recommendation, I've also started a spreadsheet of people I might interview for the film. I'm still at the stage where I can pretty much name them off the top of my head, but that's about to change, and I'm sure the Unity gaming day is going to be the catalyst for an explosion of names, contacts, and to-dos.

I count myself very lucky to have met people like Eric, Jason, and Greg who've been gracious enough to throw some of their knowledge my way. With people like these guys around, this thing could really happen!