Last week

Our film is finished! I am happy with the finished result, and Hannah did such an amazing job putting it together, especially after many editing complications that should have set us back. Looking back on the beginning to where we are now with our film, I think our group did a great job. We didn’t even know what our subject was going to be for this project until 2 weeks into class, and with all of the deadlines that came and went so quickly, I think we utilized our busy and conflicting schedules to the best of our ability. I’m excited to see where this film will go, hopefully we will get into a festival, if not multiple! This class has been a learning experience for our group and I’m happy that through our last semester we learned a lot about balancing schedules and focusing on what we wanted to accomplish. 

Weeks 12-13

These past two weeks have been pretty straight forward for our project. We worked with a friend who does animation to try and create some simple animations to bring a little bit extra to our film and he was able to get us two great animations. We are still working with him throughout this coming weekend to get a couple more before it is due next week! Very thankful to have someone willing to help us since none of us are experienced in animation. As for editing, we almost have our final cut ready, but are still sorting out some aspects here and there, such as where we want to include certain b-roll and extra footage for more information about moonshine. We also have some small details in editing to work out. We are looking forward to having our final cut ready next week!

Weeks 10-11

These last two weeks have been all about communication for our group. We had to take a step back and try and sort through all of our schedules to try and find any times we could potentially film more for our film. With it being the end of the semester and all of us are graduating, it is difficult to try and prioritize our lives will all that is going on. With that being said, last Friday my group was able to get some extra footage to add in which will add a more light-hearted angle to the documentary. I unfortunately couldn't be there because I had to go out of town last minute, but they got pretty good footage. They had a handful of people sit down for mini interviews and take a shot of illegal moonshine and a shot of legal moonshine, getting facial and verbal reactions.
Me and Hannah also met with someone who is willing to help add some animations to our film, so we are just waiting through this weekend to see some of his first steps. As it seems we always do, Hannah and I had some minor editing problems while working on our cut which didn't let us get the cut we wanted, but we have set apart three separate times this coming week to really knock out a good edit and add some sound and color correction, as well as hopefully adding some of the animations.
I'm anxious for these last few weeks, but I know our group can come together to get the best possible film with what we have!

Week 9

This week for our group was mostly a re-grouping week. We discussed the direction we have come so far and where we want to go with the rest of the film. We also found a few more potential subjects, which is exciting. We definitely want to include more interviews to get the more personal feel that we were originally going for. The only thing now that we have to finalize is the filming schedule for the next interviews. As for the editing, Hannah has been doing a great job organizing the footage into a cut that she wants the final piece to model. It's difficult to have a rough cut when we don't have all of the interviews yet, but we still have time which is reassuring. We still have some progress left, but after meeting this week I think we all feel a little bit more confident about the film.

Week 7-8

This past week or two was our spring break, and all of us had separate plans which created a lull in our production schedule. I think overall our film has been great so far, but we have reached a point where we need to continue brainstorming to add a bit more, whether that be a new subject or more creative b-roll or something. We have been lucky to not have many (or any, really) hiccups during our production, so hopefully our start of editing will be the same way. We have already started sorting through the footage, but it will be nice to see some of the structure of the film come together over the next couple of weeks. We also are discussing who we would like to seek out as our next subject(s) and the direction we are trying to head in. We have a good chunk of work left to put into our film, but we have successfully stayed on track with our schedule, so I am happy to say we are not behind at all. Spring break put a sort of pause on production, but I know we are all ready to get back into the swing of things with our production for the next few weeks.

Week 6

For this past week we mostly focused on looking at our footage and sound and discussing how our first interview went. We talked about what worked and didn't work as we started looking at the b-roll and listening to the sound. Overall, the sound didn't turn out terrible. There was a bit of background noise, but that was probably just because we were in a big warehouse and it's tough to cancel out all sound. It was a learning experience, and we're eager to keep learning, especially this weekend for our next interview with the illegal "in the woods" style of moonshining. 

This weekend should be a good weekend for making progress on our film. Saturday we are going back to the distillery to get footage of the monthly open house that they have. They have food and there should be a ton of people, which will add a lively aspect to our b-roll of the customers that this distillery has. Sunday will be great, as we are heading to Dunn, NC to film our subject, Alex, and his family. It will be interesting to see a different side of the moonshine industry!

I'm looking forward to the progress we will make and have been making and look forward to really start editing and bringing our documentary to life. 

Week 5

This past weekend we filmed our first interview! It was very exciting and overall I think it went very well. Before shooting and during the first days of pre-production, I think we were all a little nervous for how our shooting would go just because none of us are super experienced in camera or sound. It was definitely a learning experience, but now that we have the first day of production over with, I think we all feel more comfortable in this project. It helped that our first subject, Don Walton of Walton's Distillery in Jacksonville, NC, was very compliant and eager to help us with whatever we needed. Before we even began shooting, he gave us a full tour with so many details of having a distillery and distilling moonshine. His interview went well, but I am nervous to see how the sound turned out. I filled in as the sound recorder this week and having very little background knowledge, I was definitely nervous. We worked as a team, though, and in the end I think we figured everything out just fine. I am excited to see this first part of our footage come together for next class and eager to film our "in the woods" moonshine experience and interview next weekend (2/26).

Week 4

This week has been good for our group. We were able to solidify one interview at Walton's Distillery for tomorrow, Friday, February 10 and another one for the weekend of February 25/26, but we are still working out the details for that since it will be a tougher and more personal interview with a family of moonshiners. We unfortunately weren't able to get up to Walton's this past week to get b-roll but we feel it wasn't completely necessary since we will be there all day tomorrow filming. We didn't see any use in going and getting b-roll simply for the assignment that we would probably not use in our final cut and instead look forward to having plenty of time to film tomorrow. I think all of us are pretty excited in the direction we are going but we still a few more people to get in touch with and set an interview time for.

Week 3

This week I'd say our group made pretty good progress. We worked hard on figuring out all of the stylistic details as far as camera equipment and sound equipment go, especially because we weren't as prepared last discussion past class. I think we are all eager and looking forward to learning the camera since none of us have any significant camera experience or knowledge. As far moving forward with this project, we have a little bit more to do with our experts, as we have contacted a few and are still in between communication figuring out details.

Week 2 - Expert Bios and Interview Questions

This week I'd say our group made good progress from last week, that being because we solidified a topic that we all seem to be interested in. We narrowed our focus down to moonshine and both the historical and artistic aspects of its production/ possible manufacturing and distributing. We still have some things to work out and discuss in the next coming week or two, but it feels relieving that our topic isn't still up in the air. I like this subject because it's something that all of us can really explore, no one in our group is really way more informed or involved with moonshine than the others, therefore we will be discovering it's story as we go. And I also feel it appeals to a more national or global audience because it is something that isn't necessarily well known in other areas than the south. Overall, I'm excited to keep contacted people and exploring this subject.


Expert Bios


1. Jay Cummings lives in the Charlotte area of North Carolina. He has had a love for the creation of moonshine since he was young, as it was prevalent in most areas of his family history. It is something that many family members became involved in and has acted as a foundation for gatherings and relationships for decades. (This is a more personal interview expert as he is my friend's uncle. He is a good potential interviewee because of the rich history of moonshine in his life.)

2. The Broadslab Distillery of Benson, North Carolina has rich history of the creation of moonshine since the prohibition era. It all started with a man named William "Bill" McLamb, and has since been passed down through the younger generations of the family. The family owns a popular and well-established distillery, the Broadslab Distillery, and the current owner is Jeremy Norris.

Interview Questions 

1. -Can you recall and describe the first time you were introduced to moonshine?
-How has moonshine played a role in your family's story?
-Is there a particular generation or set of people who enjoy making moonshine the most in your family?
-What is the best part of moonshine in its entirety to you? (the production, consumption, etc.)
-Why do you hope to continue this legacy in your family for generations to come?
-Does your family have a variety of recipes or is there one which everyone prefers?
-What are some stories about moonshine in your family that have special meaning to you?
-Why did you not decide to make a living off of moonshine production?
-Would you say that moonshine has an artistic quality to it?
-If you had to choose between drinking water or moonshine for the rest of your life, which would you choose?


2. -Can you tell me a little bit about your great grandfather and his legacy with moonshine?
-What does being the owner of a legal distillery that has moonshine entail?
-Would you say that your professional experience creating moonshine has made you more or less passionate about it and why?
-Can you recall and describe the most entertaining reaction you've seen after someone tasted moonshine for the first time?
-What would you say the benefits of owning a distillery are?
-What would you say the challenges of owning a distillery are?
-Why is it important that the history of moonshine continues to be passed down to new generations?
-What is your favorite part about keeping this business within the family?
-How has making moonshine left a significant mark on your life?
-Is there any type of legacy you wish to leave behind in this industry?

Week 1- Extensive Concept Research

For this week, one of our assignments was to further our documentary ideas into extensive concept research. Since our first class meeting, our group definitely had a lot to think about discuss in regards to our subject, since we wanted to stray away from the original proposed idea on internet safety. With that being said, we decided on the broad subject of prohibition or rather the opponents of alcohol that still exist in Wilmington (and possibly even Charlotte) even though this city is currently booming, especially with craft breweries. I think that we hoped to dive in and explore the history side of prohibition in Wilmington and the problems it caused since Wilmington is a port city and was a big import/export area of alcohol back in the day. From there we were thinking about looking into how this is still relevant today, by hopefully getting in touch with opponents of the alcohol based community in town and also those who brought the alcohol industry back to life. This is a very loose idea, but one that we have found to be interesting and more accessible to us in the community. We are still working around some of the basic elements of this idea, but we hope that feedback from class and further exploration on the topic will help us out. Here are some of the conversations about articles and sites we have begun to found on the topic throughout the last couple days that we have on our google drive:

"So from my research i’ve found out more about Wilmington’s relationship with alcohol and the legality of it all. What’s interesting to me is how it seems to be a war between people who love alcohol (and brew it themselves) and the people who want it banned (prohibition).  In Wilmington there are a ton of breweries and people who make their own alcohol.  I think we can talk about the people who make their own alcohol, the culture that goes along with it. Another thing that crossed my mind was moonshine.  And I found out there was a shootout between the “most notorious” moonshiners on the carolina coast and the police over in Brunswick county that ended with the moonshiners being sent to the electric chair. (I’ll post articles about them too.) So overall I think we could talk about how prominent alcohol is in a port city community (leaving it open to port cities instead of only Wilm so that it has a more universal effect) even though there were many people in the past that were trying to prevent that from happening.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20100306/north-carolina-has-complex-history-with-liquor

This is the best article i’ve found so far.  There are so many people mentioned that we could possibly even get in touch with.  Also a lot of interesting stuff- like I didn’t know Wilm had a “feast of pirates”. Also, I heard about Carrie Nation on Drunk History the other night. She’s crazy.  I think there is a lot more to this topic than we thought!

http://www.myreporter.com/2009/05/cw-and-elmer-stewart/

Article about Charles William Stewart and William Elmer Stewart

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20140320/News/605030720/WM/

Article about a Distillery trying to open in Wilm (back in 2014 so I need to look it up to see if it ever actually opened)

http://www.whiskyvrienden.nl/company.php?id=3837  This is the owner’s contact info. So far I can’t find anything about them ever opening so he may be someone to interview.

https://books.google.com/books?id=KYuDow4OEXwC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=moonshiners+hanover+county&source=bl&ots=f8urdGQsfN&sig=9NUyuInUOyh8NfcOpU_81k36BYs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM27-qgc3RAhXFeSYKHU8ZBI0Q6AEIKzAC#v=onepage&q=moonshiners%20hanover%20county&f=false

New Hanover county and alcohol

http://louistmoore.com/feast-of-pirates/

Super detailed article about the Feast of the Pirates which relates to our subject because this happened during prohibition...so they had an openly drunken parade in the streets of wilm while alcohol was illegal.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newcentury/5010

Short passage about NC Statewide Prohibition.

http://www.wwaytv3.com/2013/11/21/building-history-barbary-coast/

A short article about Barbary Coast which is the oldest bar in Wilm.  

BLOCKADE RUNNERS- ships that were used to reach Confederate sides with supplies sent from England and occasionally smuggled alcohol.

http://www.wilmingtonandbeaches.com/media/images/civil_war_paper.pdf

This explains Wilm’s history as a port for blockade runners.

-Megan

Here are a few links to articles more directed towards Wilmington’s booming brewery business, which could act in opposition to those who still want heavy rules and regulations against alcohol consumption. These are just random options, and could be a cool route to work into also, since the craft beer industry has become so popular in Wilmington in the last few years:

http://wilmingtonaletrail.com/craft-beer-is-booming/

This one is specifically about the craft beer industry in Wilmington, aka this is more than just a hobby it’s a way to make a living (stuff like that)

http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/more_news/2014/12/05/brewery_boom_benefits_more_than_just_the_breweries/12667

Also about the industry

http://www.wect.com/story/31419418/wilmington-breweries-say-nc-mandate-on-beer-production-hurts-us-all

This article is about an apparent mandate in the state of north carolina about beer production… could be something worth looking into

-Michaela "