A year ago, the core team of ATDS was gathered in Connecticut, for a few weeks of editing. We worked together, we shared ideas, we helped one another with our edits.

We also celebrated Jamie’s birthday and Roger’s birthday. It was a really great time. Here’s a great set from that month.

Amazing how fast 2009 came and went. Things are looking good for some major progress to be made with editing in the coming weeks.

I have been working with many great musicians and bands to create an amazingly beautiful double soundtrack for the film. I also have been creating a great collaboratory photobook for the project, working with many great photographers.

Cheers for 2010! And thanks for all the support for the project.
Mike

We were chosen as one of 5 IndieGoGo projects to screen a teaser at the Sausalito Film Festival. We have been working on various interactive solutions for the film, so thought this would be a great opportunity to test out a possible way of showing interactive content with an audience. A new teaser was edited and shown in front of a sold out audience of 200 people. People loved the “Follow Your Own Path” interactive audience part. People picked Path B, so the choice was made and bam! we then got to see another minute of footage following Josh’s path.

After the screening we did a Q&A. Lots of people had praise and thanks and were intrigued by the project. How we had shot all that footage, who were the people, how could they get involved etc. People liked the interactive audience part, they thought is was neat that they could decide right there and then what they were about to watch. At the party, I talked to several more people, basically explaining the idea of having 8 main characters or 8 paths, where, after an introduction, they could choose which person to go down the ATDS adventure with.

Excited to see where our editing takes us. To contribute, head to our Funding page.

Mike

Here’s a great shot of Isis and Mike.

Also here’s another entry in the New Breed project for the Workbook Project:
http://newbreed.workbookproject.com/2009/08/diydays/

Here’s the video I made for New Breed’s Creative Collaboration discussion:

We recently were chosen to be part of the IndieGoGo Tease and Screen event at the Sausalito Film Fest

August 22, 2009 is the date! Here’s the direct ticket page: Link

Here is the Sausalito Film Fest Facebook page

Mike

Arin Crumley was featured as one of the 10 Indie Innovators in MovieMaker Magazine Issue#81. It was really neat what Arin said talking about the new project etc.

Creating this team was a lot of work. I believe that the power of us as a team, will eventually create such an amazing film. Can’t wait! Exciting!

Hey! Thanks everyone who reads New Breed. I really think it’s a great way for us to share tips and ideas. Thanks Lance and Zak and everyone who helps build this resource.

I feel that there are a million things I could share or talk about it. But here is one that is very important. Gear.

Our film was a unique project. I had about 25 people working with me on it, and with that many people it gets nearly impossible to manage the amount of gear needed to document the experience. If I was doing it all over, I would do things differently, but you learn as you go.

Roughly 6 weeks before Burning Man, my documentary was approved. Meaning that out of the hundreds of project proposals, As The Dust Settles was picked as one of 12 projects allowed to shoot out in Black Rock City at Burning Man 2008. Everything from then on became a mad rush of phone calls and emails and scouring ebay for gear for the project.

I spent a couple weeks buying all sorts of gear including:

• Finding 3 RED ONE cinema cameras owned by 3 different shooters
• Canon XTI DSLR cameras
• Canon EOS Lenses and ND filters
• Canon TX1 720p HD pocket cameras
• Samson Zoom H2 and H4 audio recorders
• 0-360 Panoramic Optics
• Dakota Alert MURS Long Range Walkies
• RODE NTG-2 shotgun mic
• PCLIX timelapse controllers
• Dozens of 16GB SDHC Class 6 Cards
• Dozens of 1 Terabyte hard drives
• 100 disposable cameras for the Anonymous Camera project

My brother Andy took charge and engineered and built a whole camera dolly that could be towed behind a bike, and a huge PVC cube, which would become our temporary living quarters out on the playa.

Buying Burning Man tickets 3 weeks before Burning Man was difficult, but not impossible. Here’s a shot of all 18 BM tickets we bought. We have a production blog going at: www.asthedustsettles.com

I have thought about the gear that we got for this project for several months now. If I had to do it all again, I would split up the gear, and invite people to be part of the project who had their own gear.

Buying/gathering all the gear was costly and also puts most of the risk on one person. If each person has their own camera and gear, then it puts the responsibility of the gear on many people. I feel that people are generally more responsible when dealing with something they own rather than something which they have invested no money into.

Mike Hedge Producer
www.asthedustsettles.com

I have three really great people working with me on the this project. They each are quite accomplished and were great to have out at Burning Man with me.

Twelve people are editing their unique individual stories. Once we have collected the edited segments, we will be creating one big mash-up script of all of the scenes we have edited. The remaining ideas and story lines that we find missing from the mash-up, will then be scripted out, and shot. These missing scenes will be edited into the film along with some animation and motion graphics.

We will then test-screen the film and adjust the film as needed, making sure the film flows correctly and isn’t confusing. Once a solid cut is together, we will bring in the original HD files and RED R3D files to create a master HD version of the project. We will also be doing a final surround sound mix and final color correction.

We are collaborating with many musicians and bands to create one of the greatest documentary soundtracks ever. We have been working with several labels in Europe and the US.

We also are working with eight top Burning Man photographers to create a complementary coffee-table photobook featuring much of the great photos taken at Burning Man 2008.

Our plan is to release the film theatrically, on Blu-ray, DVD, internet, mobile, and TV. A grass roots effort will be put into screenings and events all over the world, as we take the film on tour and really connect with the audiences in person. The plan is to have community supported distribution and also mainstream distribution. We hope to have multiple digital download platforms and a television release all going live as the film begins the theatrical release.

Anyone who attended Burning Man 2008 is invited to upload footage to AsTheDustSettles.com and have their material considered for the film. If interested in getting involved please contact: Mike Hedge at behedge @ yahoo.com

Here’s the same clip on blip.tv
http://arincrumley.blip.tv/file/2005805/

We are here in London!!!! Arin, Isis, Titus, me and Jackie. We had a great Day 1. In 2 hours Arin will be on stage for 10 minutes to pitch the film to over 200 investors, distributors, and potential collaborators/supporters.

peace.
Mike Hedge
twitter.com/mikehedge

My two DPs were Stephen Lucas and Clay Haskell. Nathan Garofalos and Owen Bryne were the two assistants. Nathan did all the transfers and backed up the hard drives. I had 25 people working on this film with me. Here is the team: http://asthedustsettles.com/team

We shot with the new Element Technica shock mounts on both cameras, and had the new Element Technica Hand Held unit on my RED. On my RED we had the beta Birger mount and various Canon lenses. On Clay’s RED he had the Nikon mount with various Nikon lenses. Both cameras just used various ND filters.

For the whole photo set http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikehed…7607102128312/

Anyone interested in participating
http://www.asthedustsettles.com/funding

We fly to London to pitch the film to investors and distributors as part of the London Film Fest/Power to the Pixel.

stay tuned at www.asthedustsettles.com
Mike