2000 Miles to Maine DVD

[Mausalot]

In 2002, my wife and I went to the southern terminus of the AT to begin a video project that would unexpectedly turn into a full length documentary about thru hikers. We've screened to great response at the ATC Meeting in Waterville and the ALDHA Gathering at Dartmouth this past year. If you want more infoon 2000 Miles to Maine, you can go to http://homepage.newschool.edu/~at2k

And if anyone has any questions about taking video equipment on the trail (or editing footage after) please don't hesitate to ask.

[attroll]

I saw this movie at The Gathering in Hanover in 2003. I really enjoyed this movie. My girlfriend ordered the DVD last week and it should be here any day now. I am looking forward to watching it again.

[Mike Drinkuth]

In 2002, my wife and I went to the southern terminus of the AT to begin a video project that would unexpectedly turn into a full length documentary about thru hikers. We've screened to great response at the ATC Meeting in Waterville and the ALDHA Gathering at Dartmouth this past year. If you want more infoon 2000 Miles to Maine, you can go to http://homepage.newschool.edu/~at2k

And if anyone has any questions about taking video equipment on the trail (or editing footage after) please don't hesitate to ask.


HEY Mausalot...fellow cameraman here. What did you shoot it on? Mini-DV?Which camera?(i'm guessing Cannon XL-1) You carry a light? If so how'd you power it? Battery tap or what...surely not a brick belt! Did you do post on final cut, media-100, or avid? You pull audio from the camera mic or did you haul a DAT machine or just a shotgun mic?
I've thought about shooting my hike this year but my thru is a vacation for me and i'm so all or nothing...if I carried any video gear i'd want to carry it all so i'm just going to take my stylus 35mm and leave it at that.

[Senor Quack]

I bought this a while back and liked it. It's inspiring to people planning a through-hike but having doubts about themselves. You watch a guy start with high hopes, start to have serious doubts about his adventure days into his hike, then rebound with determination, successfully.

As an added bonus, if you play the extra features, you get to watch a guy rant for 10 minutes about nothing and everything all at once, while stoned out of his gourd.

[tribes]

I believe that the mass ramblings that Senor Quack are describing from the video are being done by a Sobo hiker named "Preacher". :D

[Mausalot]

Glad you folks have kind works about the video. Yes, that was The Reverend heading southbound. I interviewed him in Pennsylvania while in search of Buzz and Whiz kid who I had met in Maine. (Their Maine interview is in the video). They still owe me a photo because they did eventually finish.

Now for the technical stuff to answer Mike's questions. I shot on a three chip (best color) Sony mini-DV TRV 900 (540 lines of resolution). For comparison, VHS and standard TVs have about half that resolution, high definition twice that. The camera, alas, is not great in low light, though suprisingly my Pezel did a wonderful job at night for faces (and fire light when I could get it). We used two batteries: a 9 hour and a 7 hour. More than enough to get through the hundred mile wilderness in Maine. I think we carried the AC adapter just in case we needed to recharge.

I started with suplementary camera mounted mics and quickly switched to camera only, which if close enough to the subject, worked suprisingly well. My assitant and I worked off and on for a year editing on Avid Xpress DV 3.5 which is an awesome program. We had at least 14 hours of footage to manage and it handled it well. If you're thinking of shooting, it's all in the editing. So unless you're willing to commit to that, but you're serious about documenting your journey, worth it to lug a 35mm SLR instead.