Jen G’s Blog

Aside from all of the actual books I have been reading I have been watching many other Civil War documentaries.  I have not had the time to watch them in their entirety but it has been helpful to see the different styles employed.  So far I have looked at:
Ken Burns’ Civil War
The Civil War and Artillery by the History Channel
Gettysburg by the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee
Civil War Battles by Marathon Music and Video
Civil War Life: Left for Dead
Civil War Minutes: Union Vol. 1

Overall the best documentaries on these subjects in my mind are those that combine reenactments with still photos and interviews. I found the Gettysburg one confusing as it used all reenactments and unfortunately the poor acting was distracting. The musical score was very well done, except for the choir bit which I found too melodramatic. The History Channel one was very well done and I was impressed with the amount of photos and documents they were able to include in such a short period of time.  I think the Civil War Minutes is the best one I have watched so far.  It is organized into short, detailed, but interesting, segments which is more in line with what I hope to accomplish. 

Conveniently, my two sisters are in sixth grade and junior year in high school which are the two years the Civil War era is taught.  I asked my youngest sister for some input on some of the other documentaries that I was watching.  She said that the maps in one of them were helpful and I certainly agree, I plan on trying to include some in my film as well.  She also said I shouldn’t have an old boring narrator….I tried to tell her that many people see older narrators as more creditable but I also understand not wanting to be out to sleep.  I have some friends that I feel have good reading voices so I may ask them to assist me.  This also made me consider the fact that in all of the films I have watched so far, none of them had a female narrator.  Might I be so bold as to break the trend? 

 Currently I am working on writing up a general narrative that I can start planning my storyboards around. I am hopeful that I can get a reenactment lined up at one of not both of the sites before I leave.  Unfortunately, the holidays are a difficult time to get a hold of people.

Some time this week I plan on going out to Brentsville to reacquaint myself with the set up and possibly film some general background shots.