Change in direction

After a consultation with Dr. Bailey and station manager (and narrator!) Alex Reed, I have determined that I have OVERsucceeded. I did in fact cram the history of ice hockey in Huntington into a half-hour, and that half-hour is incredibly cluttered. Somehow, I did not anticipate this, even though this was essentially the desired effect; maybe it's just how my brain works.

Bailey summed it up this way: "You need to tell A story. You're telling twelve on here." In the ensuing brainstorm, Alex tossed up focusing on the pitfalls of getting another hockey team into Huntington, which resulted in a triumphant foot-stomp from me so loud it could be heard at the end of the hallway. I was already thinking in this direction--after my first script, Bailey's primary complaint was that it ended on too much of a downer, and really, the only non-down end I can think of to this tale is another team playing in Huntington.

So for the award effort, the historical element will be limited more to how things did and didn't work with the Hornets and Blizzard, and will also have input from people who were with the previous failed professional teams in football and baseball, as well as the Huntington Heroes (who have not failed as of yet). I'll try and keep speculative parts to a minimum--in 30 minutes, let's say 25 minutes of what is and 5 minutes of what should (never) be. But as far as a historical archive, that corner of the operation will take a rest for the time being.

I'm taking a much more collaborative approach to this, and will be doing much more brainstorming among the people here; in the same vein, I'm inviting you all to give some input as to the direction and shape this should take--who to talk with, angles to come from, things I missed or that didn't come up earlier, etc.

THE PROJECT HAS BEEN TURNED IN FOR A GRADE

Thus ends the first stage. I have about 33:30 of actual footage, compressed down to 30. I graduate next weekend, which means a week-plus of downtime while I get my thoughts and future actions sorted out:
--I'm going to do some more interviews, get some more/better angles on Huntington hockey. My goal is to stretch this out to an hour, and have a damn good half-hour...
--...so I can submit this one for a National Broadcasting Society award.
--As far as future tangents, I'm still looking at the South. My most recent idea is to do a documentary film, mainly looking at the fans and their varied experience. At some point I will solicit suggestions for locations of particular interest; my shortlist includes Nashville, Raleigh, Pensacola, Winston-Salem, and Huntsville.

Voice done

Alex Reed dropped a voice track yesterday. Now to edit. My DEADline is next Friday.

Not Huntington, but an interesting idea nonetheless

From the website of the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville, KY. Naturally I would prefer Huntington--Pikeville's about 100 miles south of here, which is a bit farther than I can walk. But at the least it's good to know there's other facilities that could support a team in the area.

Skeet-shooting through a 20-some-page script

Currently working on editing/revising/clearing up etc. the rough script for the Final She-bang. Which will not be the FINAL she-bang, since this will end up going through the Dr. Charles Bailey Award-Gathering Diamond-Grinder Machine over the summer. But as far as getting me out of college, it'll be the Final She-bang. (That sounds less wrong than I'm typing it, trust me.)

All over but the shouting

The rough cut is 40:31. Script is 22 pages, being dissected by Dr. Bailey. Listening to that whole thing at half-speed, I found various bits that needed to be excised, and that will be done after I get the rough script back.

Voiceover will be done by Alex Reed, who has a much better hockey voice than I do.

Notable bit--a week late, but Todd McCormick came across a few episodes of Kicksave. I would like to put this all online, and I think that will be part of it.

Home stretch

I'm halfway through transcribing the rough-cut, which came to 40:31. This will be chopped to 30. It will not air in March as I had hoped, unless I'm able to do the rest of everything in record time (considering the rest of my life that I have to factor in there). But it is almost completely done.

I still exist!

It seems like it's been a lot longer since I've updated this--I've been in the studio. About done with the editing, but have Dr. Haptonstall giving one more interview tomorrow. I plan to have the speech all done by Wednesday night, transcribed before Friday, and music added by Monday.

I seem to update this weekly

Hope that's not too slow for you kids.

Calling Don Hatfield (former Huntington Advertiser hockey writer circa 1956) this afternoon. In the meantime, putting together a first cut of the final product. We're in the home stretch, kiddos...

Had another chat with Ernie

Talked for about an hour at WMUL; was quite a blast.

Tomorrow I will be trying to get a hold of a few people, primarily for the purpose of getting a hold of a few other people to fill in some blanks. I've been chopping up my already-done interviews into smaller bits, and will be arranging those afterward. If I have any interviews during/after that, I will slot it in wherever I can.