It’s been a while since posting here and now is a good time to share a bit about progress on the film.
We are in midst of post-production and have a very nice rough cut assembled running about 54 minutes long. We shared the film at the BUILD PEACE Conference at the MIT Media Lab in Boston, MA and with friends, filmmakers, and peace-builders. Other sets of eyes and ears to critique the current cut of the film have helped me refine the film story and message. I couldn’t edit this film without this input and support and I am grateful to everybody who has offered feedback. Here is an update on post-production happenings.
– Dan Adeli (Cinematographer) in Nairobi is shipping a hard drive with the final minutes of footage that might find their way into this cut. This final production work includes documentation of post-election efforts, including community forums and using GPS mapping in peace work. I’m grateful for Dan’s ongoing support as a shooter and also in helping locate archival video.
– Talented local musicians and composers – Jonathan Henderson, Will Ridenour and Eric Kuhn – are creating music for the film. Jonathan and Will are composing works drawing inspiration from Kenyan music, including the sounds and rhythm of the nyatiti (string instrument). Eric is creating pieces with very different ethereal, ambient sounds. This music-making has been especially fun as Jonathan and Eric are former students of mine from my years teaching middle school. Check out this very short iPhone clip of Will improvising a bit in my studio with Jonathan adding hand clap percussion.
– Editor and post supervisor Scott Roy has been moving the cut along with great ideas and editing advice. In recent weeks he’s begun some color correction work. We’ve also been exploring ways to use simple animation segments to convey the power of SMS for peace and civic education work.
In my next post, I’ll update on some of the thinking and planning our film team is doing around distribution and audience engagement once the film is complete later this year.