I'd like to introduce ...

... the star of the show ... Deacon Chapin's 16mm film from 1978 about the Universal Brotherhood. I have spent the best part of the last two days watching, logging and capturing 7 hours of film. It has been a 6 year wait to do that. Veeery satisfying that this door is finally opened and the film has revealed all of its treasures.

Quite a strange feeling preparing to work with someone else's film. Deacon shot this 32 years ago ... i was about 18 months of age!! Kind of strange, he, his wife at the time and soundman Rock Ross begun the work that I will now complete. Some very nice shots in there, especially with silhouettes/lighting. Much of it is in wide-shot where individuals aren't recognisable, this is good news as I'm not sure how many of these people would want to be recognisable or agree to be a part of this film. This is like playing with someone else's clay ... would they approve of how I shape it?

After being immersed in this film for the last two days I think my perspective on the Universal Brotherhood has altered or at least refined. From the rushes it becomes apparent that there were two distinct aspects - the spiritual and the physical. Fred, of course was all about the spiritual but all the people are very focussed on the physical aspects of the community - farming, raising children, living, apples, bee-keeping etc. The film shows how separate the two were yet at the same time how they were so in tune with each other. I guess that is what the community was doing - practicalising the spiritual ... as Fred would put it.

So, now where? I see that this 16mm film is a gold mine and creates an excellent visual foundation for the documentary so I'm going to start syncing ... attempting to ... sync up sound. Then once that's done I'll head back to the narrative structure work i was doing the other day.