This post on The Palette Project Trailer was updated on February 9, 2016
I am so glad that only scant portions of the original Palette Project trailer have survived to version 2.0 as this video posts. When the Kickstarter campaign for this documentary began last October, I was so very uncomfortable with the idea this project was going to look like it was all about me. that this was going to appear to be a documentary about Michael’s vacation around the world.
I went to great lengths to explain at every opportunity that my twenty-five year long refrain… be the storyteller, not the story… was still intact. However, that trailer sure was pretty me-centric. The problem, as I saw it then, and see it now, is the editor’s curse. You cut the story with the video you have, not the video you wish you had. It’s pretty difficult to cut a promotional trailer about traveling the world in pursuit of good stories and good causes when you haven’t left the United States yet.
I’m happy to report I’m getting closer to my goal of taking a back seat in this story. It’s because the story,of course, is not about me. Oh, there’s still a little to much Michael in this trailer for my tastes, but I am so moved by the generosity and spirit of the people we’ve are meeting along the way – their willingness to share their time and their stories with me.
You’ll get this first chance to meet a few of them in this trailer, and you can rest assured that as the balance shifts away from the storyteller and to the stories themselves, there are more interesting people to meet along the way.
I’m also so in love with the idea that, for the most part, I would actually have to tell you that any of these people are handicapped in any way. That truth allows me to fall back on my preferred use of the word “handicap,” the way it’s used in golf, as an extension that levels a playing field so that everyone can compete on equal footing. These fine men and women are not handicapped. They are living with handicaps… they are employing tools, skills and abilities that allow them to declare that they are not impaired.
Thank you for allowingme me to introduce you to some of my favorite people around the world.
Onwards!
Some notes on the shooting:
Te header image for this post was shot with a Canon EOS 44i, an excellent camera for landscape videography. There are newer generations, bis camera has really held up, especially with the Canon 18-135mm lens.
One of the many reasons I found myself here, on the route to Uluru, was the description of the Australian outback by Bill Bryson. His book, In A sunburned Country, about traveling in Australia, is a great read
