"Extreme Civil War Reenacting," a review. Part 1 of 2

[11thVACoG]

I watched the episode last night(dvr'd it). It was a good episode, interesting. I even saw a few folks that I know.

[Mike OTDP]

I saw the show. It was unfocused. What I was expecting was a brief background on what reenacting is, interviews of participants talking about why they are spending their leisure time/money on it, entertaining stories about events, and maybe some discussion of the truly hardcore activities. Possibly a discussion of the debate areas.

What I saw looked like someone followed several reenactors around for a few events, clapped some random footage together, and ran it. Possibly a rush job.

[Julio C. Zangroniz]

Mike OTDP,
I can assure you that the documentary "Extreme Civil War Reenacting" was FAR from a "rushjob." The production crew from National Geographic was filming as early as April 2011, in Charleston, SC, and they continued to work through the Battle of First Manassas, in July. I know those are facts because I was there, not only to witness their efforts, but also to be part of the filming at five separate locations. I have heard a rumor that the filming --or actually, the videotaping-- continued until August 2011, but I have not confirmed that. Then the National Geographic people went into the "post-production" phases and didn't broadcast the final product until May 2012.
I won't disagree with you about the rather "unfocused" nature of the final version we saw on our television screens. But there's no question that it wasn't a rushjob. And as I said in my review, I expected far better results from National Geographic.
Julio

[maillemaker]

Gosh, sometimes I think you guys are too hard on yourselves. I only saw the two clips linked above (we don't have cable), but I thought it looked nice. Yeah, such documentaries always show your warts. To me, any time you can have one of these kinds of shows made that don't paint you as a bunch of cooks you've done well. Take pride in your exposure!

Sorry about your cutting-room floor disappearance, though! I had the same thing - the History Channel flew me up to Worcester, Mass. to do a segment on History vs. Hollywood for the movie "Kingdom of Heaven". There is about 5 segments of video and 20 seconds of voice for the effort.

Steve

[Julio C. Zangroniz]

Mr. Sheldon,
I know how the "Hollywood Set" has to work, and I'm more or less resigned to it. That doesn't mean I like it. I don't.
But after something like 26-32 "on-camera" HOURS, I was truly disappointed to be left out of the final product completely. Actually, not completely, since the producers were "kind enough" to include my name in the "thanks to" list at the end of the documentary.
Nevertheless, it will be a cold day in H*ll before I agree to cooperate with another filmmaker about Civil War reenacting.
Because I still feel "used and abused" by this particular group. In addition to filming/interviewing me at four events in four different states where I was attempting to cover the reenactments for publication, the National Geographic folks took an entire day out of my life when I agreed to let them come to my HOME and film me in two primitive camps I had set up in my backyard, at my built-in firepit, in my garage, in my basement, etc. etc. etc. The only place they DIDN'T film me was when I went to the bathroom. And that's because I was careful enough to lock the door behind me!
While at my house, they even "borrowed" 4-5 books from my personal Civil War bookshelves --tomes that they haven't returned YET (end of July, as I write), even though their final production was broadcast way back in May, nearly three months ago. I'm seriously considering sending the producer an invoice for 5-6 times the original cost of those books, because most of them are "out of print" now and it is bound to become a more "pricey" endeavor to secure duplicates.
As far as I'm concerned, others --anyone else-- can have all the glory.
I am DONE with Hollywood.
Julio

[maillemaker]

Like I said, Julio, I can understand not being happy with all the effort going unused.

I was just talking about the quality of the video clips. I think they gave a good showing of what you guys do. It looked very cool to me.

That is all.

Steve

[Anders]

Extreme Reenacting would be, IMHO, putting on an event.



Pards,